Page 28 of Don't You Want Me, Baby?

‘Fine.’ He gave her one last long look. ‘I can see you’re angry, and I get it. This is not over, Amber.’ Tyler let loose a snarl at the side of her, and Bradley shook his head at him. ‘Call me when you want to talk. I’ll be waiting.’

The doors swished closed behind him, and she leaned into her mate as cheers went up around them.

‘Good for you, love,’ someone said. She heard Bill mutter something about taking the trash out, and supressed a smile.

‘Thanks for being a neanderthal,’ she joked when things died down and she managed to catch her breath. ‘I thought you were going to physically chuck him out of the door.’

Tyler turned her to rest against his chest, stroking her hair. ‘Nah. I was planning to fold him up like a pretzel first.’

She laughed then, but it soon dissolved into little sobs. He shouted for Sharon, whispering, ‘Not here’ into her ear and taking her out into the hallway. When they got to the bottom of the stairs leading to her place, he wrapped her back into his embrace and just stood there. Let her cry it out, until her tears dried up to sniffles. Smelling his ocean scent through her teary sobs.

‘Can you believe him?’ she asked finally. ‘He didn’t even look guilty. Am I wrong about this?’

‘Nope. You should have called me last night.’ After a beat, he asked, ‘How did you find out?’

‘Denise from planning. She thought that Brad and I were applying together. If the council agrees to this, I’ve lost the Arms,Ty. Just when I’d got my act together. I feel like such an idiot. I never should have waited. I wish I’d never gone out with him.’

‘This is not your fault.’ His voice was a low rumble that vibrated through her body. His hand rubbing slow circles on her back. ‘He was never good enough for you. Idiot. Why didn’t you call me last night? I would have been there for you, Cherry. I hate the thought of you here alone, drinking by yourself.’

She pulled back, wiping at her face. ‘I didn’t want to hear a bunch of I told you so’s, and I didn’t want to have to find a new chef because you were in prison for knocking him out.’And I didn’t trust myself around you.

‘You should have called me. I would have come back, looked after you. I’m sick of you thinking you’re alone in all this.’ She thought of his face the night before, when she’d declared her need for a baby. She would be alone in that; she needed to stand on her own two feet. Having a man in the equation hadn’t exactly worked out so well lately. So she did what felt safer. Pushed him away. ‘Do me a favour, Ty. Spare me the lecture for now, please? My head’s pounding, and I feel like I licked a birdcage bottom.’

His laugh surprised her. His smirk all knowing. As if he knew what she was up to.It’s hard to hide from someone who always sees you.‘Okay, fair enough.’ He lifted her chin, dipping his head to meet her eye. ‘Am I really that judgemental?’

‘I don’t know. Lately, our energy has been a little off.’

His jaw ticked. ‘I know, but I would still have been there for you last night. I’ll always be there for you, Cherry.’ He pushed a tear-stained tendril of hair out of her eyeline. ‘Sharon’s got the bar covered. Before you do anything, take the day. Please. Go upstairs, have a shower. Get some sleep. You’ll feel better.’

She nodded, blindly agreeing. It did sound good. Her hangover was still giving her a headache, and crying hadn’t made it any better.

‘A shower and a nap sound pretty good right now.’

She dipped her head and felt his touch.Did he just kiss my forehead again? He’d stepped back before she had a chance to process it. ‘Get some sleep, okay?’

When she dragged her sniffling behind up the stairs, she noticed that all the gifts had been stacked up in the living room. Her phone and laptop were still on the coffee table, and someone had cleaned up her depression clutter from the night before. God bless Irene. Picking up her phone and turning it on, she saw that the battery was almost flat. There was a myriad of notifications on the screen. Banking, emails, missed calls, messages. Even looking at them made her eyes cross. Her printer, sitting on a side table in the corner of the room, looked like it had vomited a load of paper overnight. Tutting, she headed over, neatening the pile. Her business plan. Looking at the frozen image on the screen, a dim memory flashed back through the half dozen brain cells she’d killed with alcohol the night before. She’d done it. She’d gone all drunken planner. The last time she did this, she ordered a load of business books and fancy highlighters from Amazon. This time, she’d seemingly tweaked her business plan. Taking it back over to the coffee table, she plonked herself on the sofa and put it into a neat clip from her stationery box.

‘What else did I do?’ she asked herself.

‘You talking to yourself now?’ Tyler’s voice made her jump. He held his free hand up in surrender. ‘Hey! I come in peace. I brought you some food.’ A delicious steaming hot plate of burger, chips and his legendary coleslaw. Her mouth watered before the shock had a chance to wear off. ‘You should be getting some sleep.’

She tossed the business plan to one side and reached for the plate as he came to sit next to her. He frowned when he saw the image of Hugh on the TV screen. She clicked the off button on the remote and moaned as the first chip passed her lips.

‘Mmmm, I didn’t even realise I was so hungry.’

Tyler didn’t say anything; he was looking at the laptop screen on the coffee table, which had come back to life when she put the business plan down. She was just about to bite into the thick, juicy burger when she saw his stony face.

‘Cherry, what the hell is that?’ She was mid bite when he lunged across the keyboard and clicked on the bookmark labelled ‘sperm’. The website popped up, on a page markedorder confirmation.‘Amber, what the fuck is this?’ The food turned to ash in her mouth as she saw Tyler’s scowl. His eyes darkened as they darted over the words. Swallowing audibly, she leaned in.Shit. Shit. Double shitty shit shit. She’d gone and done it.Drunk her really had hit the nuclear button on the whole ‘life begins at 30’ thing. Her hangover had suppressed the memory of it all.I really did it.

‘Tyler, I?—’

‘You ordered sperm on the Internet? Are you freaking kidding me? What the hell’s going on?’ He was out of his chair and across the room. His eyes were scanning the place frantically. ‘I thought it was just drunk talk last night. You can’t be serious, Amber. Cancel it. Now.’

Even while she was still reeling on the fact that she’d actually done it, his tone and utter shock well and truly raised her hackles.

‘Don’t tell me what to do!’ She slammed the laptop lid down, slamming the plate down next to it. The coleslaw slid off the plate as she rose, landing in her lap. ‘Shit!’ She grabbed the sticky mess before it hit the carpet. ‘Give me a minute, okay?’ Stomping off to the bathroom, she left him standing there like an angry sergeant major, hands on hips. She could hear his foot tapping as she cleaned herself up. ‘I was drunk, okay?’

‘No shit. I knew I shouldn’t have left you alone after the party.’

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