Page 88 of Until You

Chapter Twenty-Four

Tyler was waiting for her when she walked in, not that she was surprised. He was sitting in the bar and stood when he saw her, moving straight for her with appreciation in his eyes.

When he reached her, he slipped an arm around her back and gave her a gentle kiss. “Thanks for meeting me.”

“Thanks for asking.”

“Since you only have forty-five minutes, I thought it’d be faster to eat in the bar. If that’s okay with you.”

“Sounds good.”

He led her to a booth in the bar and gestured for her to sit on one side. She slid onto the leather seat and hid her shaking hands under the table.

Why was she so nervous?

“It’s a good thing I dressed up today,” she said. “It’s not every day I eat at the Capital Grill.” She’d always been a believer in “dress to impress” with her job. She wore a fitted, sleeveless black dress with a pencil skirt and a deep V neckline, along with three-inch black patent-leather pumps. Her hair was up in a twist, but a few wisps had escaped around her face.

“You look gorgeous.” His gaze drifted to her cleavage then quickly returned to her face. “But you always look gorgeous.”

She flushed, and he grinned, but it looked more boyish than rakish and she couldn’t stop her own huge smile. It felt like they were on new ground.

“I’ve never eaten here,” she confessed. “What’s good?”

He named several items, keeping his eyes on her the entire time, never letting them leave her face until the waiter appeared a couple of minutes later, leaving menus and taking their drink orders.

“Water for me,” Lanie said. “I need to head back to work.”

“Same,” Tyler told the waiter.

After he left, Tyler’s gaze turned concerned. “Randy stopped in my office this morning.”

She froze and tried badly to recover. Randy must have told him about the Aiden fiasco with Britt. “Oh?”

“He told me that you and Britt had an argument.”

Her face flushed, but this time in utter embarrassment. “Oh, God. What did he tell you?”

He reached across the table and covered her hand with his own. “Lanie. It’s okay. Nothing hurtful or embarrassing. He just said Britt went off the deep end and blasted you about your job and your past relationships.”

“Did he give you details?” she asked in horror.

“No. And I would have stopped him if he had. That’s for you to share with me, if and when you feel comfortable telling me. I don’t want to hear it second- or thirdhand from Randy.”

She nodded.

“But he did say she’s worried about your job situation.”

“I haven’t told her I turned in my resignation and I’m not going to until I know what I’m going to do. Which is part of the reason I contacted the headhunter. To make Britt happy.”

“The only person you need to make happy here is you.”

“Thanks. But I wanted to do it too. It would be nice to be able to see her more often and hang out on random occasions.”

The waiter came and took their order, and Tyler told her about his afternoon and evening with Eric, but none of the messy personal details, like why he hadn’t spent much time with his brother in recent years.

“I’m taking him out to dinner on Wednesday night. I’d like to start seeing him weekly so he knows I’m not just blowing smoke up his ass.”

She smiled. “I think that’s a good idea.” Wondering if she was sticking her nose where it didn’t belong, she decided to ask—he could tell her to mind her own business if he didn’t want to answer. “What spurred this decision to start spending time with him?”

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