Page 46 of Just One Fake Date

She definitely wanted to know.

Seven

Silence.

Ty checked his phone again, but there were no messages from Shannyn. It was after nine by the time he got back to his apartment, his work done for the day, and reheated his take-out dinner. He changed while it was in the microwave, then stood at the kitchen counter, eating it out of the box.

Just another day.

But on this particular Wednesday, Ty was impatient with his routine. His life felt stale instead of fulfilling, dull instead of focused.

All because one unpredictable woman hadn’t even texted him.

Of course, she didn’t have a reason to text him, but that didn’t stop other women of Ty’s acquaintance. He’d thought she might be curious about his plan.

But no. She kept him guessing, one more time.

It had been great talking to Shannyn in the middle of the night, her voice a soft murmur in his ear, her jokes making him smile. He didn’t think it was his imagination that she was less defensive on the phone and wondered why that would be. He had to stay alert because he never knew where she would go with anything, and he enjoyed having to lift his game. Shannyn never let him get away with an easy answer.

Ty respected that.

She also, apparently, was the one woman in the universe who didn’t need his reassurance or his skill at fixing things. Ty scrolled through his messages, noting that they were all from women who wanted something from him. His sister Paige had called while he’d been meeting with a client, probably intent on changing his mind about her tagging along with Derek. He should probably call her Princess Persistence, since it was so impossible for Paige to consider not getting her own way. His mom hadn’t called again, evidence that she was still annoyed with him. Ty was good with that for the moment.

Giselle had left a message that she was flying home and changing her routes, along with some commentary on his character that proved her views were similar to Shannyn’s. She was a lot less succinct about it, though, and Ty was much more indifferent.

Then there had been Cassie’s message, received loud and clear, that she was available, at the partners’ meeting that night. Neon lights couldn’t have made it more evident and Ty was both embarrassed and annoyed. They’d talked about this before, obliquely. He was going to have to be more direct, and wasn’t looking forward to that. It wasn’t that he was worried about breaking any hearts—in a lot of ways, Cassie was like Paige. In others, she was like Kyle. She just wanted what she wanted and unfortunately, it was him.

The salient point was that there wasn’t one word from Shannyn. Not a text message. Not a missed call. Silence. They had a deal and she was sticking to it. Ty respected that, but was intrigued that she wasn’t following up about his idea about her roof. Did she think he’d forgotten? Or that he wasn’t going to bother? Wasn’t she even curious?

He suspected that she’d just carried on, intent on solving her problem herself. As much as that was refreshing, he wanted Shannyn to want his help.

He couldn’t wait until Saturday to talk to her. He wanted to tell her about Derek. He also had to warn her about what had happened with his family. It was the responsible thing to do.

And Ty was always the responsible one. He finished his dinner, cleaned up, then called her.

If he was holding his breath while the phone rang, he was never going to admit it to anyone, least of all a certain woman with a house with a leaky roof in Flatbush.

Shannyn was croppingimages and listing the very few she had to retake when her phone rang. Fitzwilliam was snoring on the old laptop and her tenants had finally turned off the television for the night. She was enjoying the silence.

She smiled when she saw the caller. “Are you calling to admit defeat or celebrate a triumph?” she asked by way of answering.

“Couldn’t I call just to talk to you?” Tyler replied, a smile in his voice.

Shannyn found herself smiling. “You could, but you probably wouldn’t. You’re a very goal-oriented kind of guy.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“No. It’s a consistent thing.”

“You make that sound like a bad thing.” He sounded relaxed and thoughtful, as if she had his undivided attention, which was seductive. Shannyn wondered if he knew he was keeping his voice low, just the way she liked it best. If he guessed how effective it was at making her knees melt, he was probably doing it on purpose. The man had charm and he knew how to use it.

The realization didn’t change one bit of her reaction.

“I don’t know. Is it that bad to be reliable?” she asked lightly. “Some women really go for that.”

“But not you?”

She laughed a little. “We’re totally opposite, Tyler, and if you don’t know it, I’ll tell you so. I would never work two jobs for a decade just to make sure all my retirement funds were topped up. I’ll bet you just got home and ate take-out for dinner. Again.”

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