Page 16 of A Constant Surprise

I began emptying out the bags on the counter and getting everything ready to make the lasagna. Despite not always having ample time to do it, I really enjoyed cooking, and over the years, I had gotten pretty damn good at it.

I had no idea what time Tyler would be home, but I decided to go ahead and get started. Lasagna was something that would keep for awhile if it had to.

I couldn’t help but wonder what (or who) he might be out doing. I mean I didn’t think Tyler Wendell, notorious ladies’ man, would go too long without getting laid. And since that first drunken night we had together, I had kept my word on keeping my hands to myself.

Our first week together had gone well. His easy-going personality surprised me due to his very commanding presence whenever he entered a room

Despite his money, he appreciated the little things. Every night, we would pick out a new movie to watch, and he wouldn’t say a word when I would snack the whole time and fall asleep ten minutes before the end. He would just carry me upstairs and lay me in my bed…a perfect gentleman the whole time.

Although we hadn’t had any more sex, that didn’t mean I hadn’t been tempted. It was damn near impossible to keep my hands to myself when I was living with such an Adonis. When he would come downstairs freshly showered, no shirt on, and a pair of jeans that hung low under his perfectly defined abs, it took every fiber in [MHL3]my being not to climb him like a tree.

My teeth bit into my bottom lip as I stood there making pasta sauce replaying the events of that first night. Experiencing what that man could do in the sheets made me completely understand what the entire female population saw in him.

Memories ran through my head of his hands all over me…how he touched me like he knew exactly what I wanted…what I needed. He was so in tune with everything my body craved. After not being touched in years, he was the perfect medicine.

Shaking my head, I attempted to clear my mind of all the dirty thoughts before I soaked my panties.

It was hard to believe that my whole life had completely turned upside down in the course of a week. I had gone from living with my best friend to living with a man that I barely knew.

Only now, he didn’t seem like such a stranger. Something about him put me at ease. I felt like I could be myself…or at least more myself than I’d been with anyone else. And although I still wasn’t ready to spill my deep, dark secrets, I found myself wanting us to have a deeper relationship than I had in years. As friends, of course. I knew I wasn’t ready for more. Honestly, I wondered if I would ever be ready.

I could feel him wanting to know more…wanting to drag my secrets out of me, but I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t let him into my fucked-up past.

He would never look at me the same. And I couldn’t handle losing what we seemed to be cultivating.

It was nice having another person in my life besides Emily who seemed to care about me in my day to day life. I enjoyed having someone to talk to…someone to come home to…someone who seemed genuinely happy to see me.

I had to admit that was a really great feeling.

Chapter 10 – Tyler

When I walked in the house, the smell of garlic immediately wafted through the air. Something smelled amazing.

Thank God for Jacinda.

But when I stepped into the kitchen, it wasn’t Jacinda standing at the stove. It was Sam.

She was blaring rap music on her phone and dancing along, still not noticing that I was there.

I watched her hips sway back and forth to the beat and the bottom of her full ass hang out from beneath her shorts. If she were mine, I would have bent her over right then and there and fucked her while she leaned on the counter.

But she wasn’t mine. And I wasn’t going to do anything until she asked for it.

I inched toward her, and a floorboard squeaked beneath my feet making her jump and whip around.

I just kept walking in the room her acting as though I had just come in and hadn’t been standing there watching her like a creeper.

“Hey, you,” she said with a nervous grin and reaching for her phone to shut off the music.

“Hey. Something smells good.” I peeked over her shoulder to see what she was fixing.

“Lasagna,” she said before I could even look.

“Where’s Jacinda?”

Her face blushed. “I…uh…sent her home. I hope that’s okay. I just wanted to make you dinner to say thank you for all you’ve done for me this past week. I mean she didn’t really need to be here if I was cooking, and I thought maybe…”

Her nervous rambling was adorable, but I cut her off. “Sam, it’s okay. I’m glad she had the night off for once. I just didn’t know you cooked.” I shot a grin at her.

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