Page 11 of Undeniable Love

Tossing the ice pack aside, Tyler sat up. “Hey,” he began softly. “Don’t say stuff like that. Of course there’s a guy out there for you. You just need to take this time to get over all of this and not try so damn hard.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

He arched a brow at her. “Seriously? You give like…a thousand percent of yourself to everyone. You take care of all the people you care about, but you never take any time for yourself. When the right guy comes along, let him do some of the work.”

Tears stung her eyes because that was…that was…

Standing, she leaned over and hugged Tyler.

Hard.

Luckily, he hugged her back just as tightly.

When she finally pulled back, she gave him a watery smile before wiping away those tears. “Quick, tell me about some construction project until I get my emotions under control.”

Tyler shook his head even as he laughed. “There’s nothing wrong with showing emotions. And I meant what I said, Lucy.”

“I know,” she said with a sniffle, sitting back down. “Just…projects. Anything good coming to our little town?”

“Old Mr. Ramsey passed away last month and his family is looking to sell the property on the east side of town.”

“Wow! Really? What do you think will end up there? Houses? A business? A mall, maybe?”

“Not sure. I have a meeting with them on Monday to talk about it. It’s a little under four hundred acres, so they can sell it all as one piece of property or sell it off to multiple people. Personally, I don’t see houses going on the site. There’s not a need for it here in town. We need more businesses first, and then the residential builders can come in.”

“Why not both then? Half and half?”

“Like I said, I’m going to talk to them on Monday and see what they’re thinking. For all I know, they may have some stipulations for the sale. The property can be zoned for both residential or commercial, so I’m curious to explore all the options.”

They sat in companionable silence for several moments, before Lucy glanced at the clock on the wall. “Hey, how about grabbing a burger with me at the pub? Ever since I called off the wedding, I’m enjoying eating like a normal person again.”

Grinning, Ty hopped off the table. “Sounds good, but I’ve got to warn you, there’s a game on tonight. You know the pub is going to have all the pre-game stuff playing on the TV and Jax is sure to be highlighted since it’s his first game back since the whole incident.”

Lucy wanted to argue that her incident was worse than Jax’s, but she kept that to herself.

“Then I’ll sit with my back to the TV,” she reasoned. “You just need to promise to focus on me and not your buddy’s stupid face.”

Laughing, Tyler wrapped his arm around her as they moved away from the table. “Deal.”

A week later, the Warriors won their game and Jax sat through the post-game roundup before quietly picking up his duffel bag and heading out to the parking lot. His mood was definitely somber, as were Travis and Declan’s as they made their way out to their cars. No one mentioned going to Bruno’s—or anyplace else for that matter—and it kind of sucked.

“How’s the new truck?” Declan asked him when they approached the brand-new Dodge Ram.

Shrugging, he said, “It’s fine. I’m still figuring out half the options on it. I really liked my older one, but…”

“But the dunk in the lake really destroyed it,” Travis finished for him with a derisive snort. “Man, I warned you.”

Jax groaned. “Can we just…you know…not? I screwed up! I get it! And believe me, I paid the price. More than either of you.”

Luckily neither friend argued with him.

Tonight’s game went into overtime, so it was late and this time he was definitely going home to soak in his hot tub.

Alone.

“I’ll see you guys at practice Tuesday,” he said, and with that, Jax headed home.

It was a relatively short drive to his house, and most of the ride was spent decompressing from the game. By the time he pulled into his driveway, most of the tension he was feeling earlier was gone.

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