Page 95 of Just One Fake Date

“What?”

“I’m offering you a deal.” His tone was temperate, but Shannyn heard the steel underlying that. “I think I should know about Cole, whoever he was and whatever happened beyond him leaving. I think your relationship and its end is important, but you disagree. I’m offering an alternative solution.”

“Why?”

“Because I think success is much more likely when you have choices.”

“Success? Is everything about winning?”

“Hardly. I’m defining success as you not turning into a feral cat before we finish this meal.”

Shannyn smiled despite herself. “A feral cat?”

“I always thought you were fierce, but I hadn’t seen the half of it.”

The waiter brought their entrees, which smelled divine and offered a perfect distraction. Shannyn had ordered chicken piccata and it was served with asparagus risotto. She studied the plate, gathering impressions and ideas instead of answering Tyler.

He waited.

He was negotiating.

So would she.

“Do I get to choose the story?”

His smile was quick and triumphant. “Of course. But if you need ideas, I have a list of suggestions.”

“I’ll bet you do. Go on.”

“Well, Cole is an obvious one, but that’s out. How about the third thing you miss about living with a man?”

Shannyn shook her head immediately. There was no way she was going to sit in a restaurant like this, knees brushing at intervals, telling Tyler how much she liked sex in the morning. “That’s out, too.”

“Why you would do anything for your mom?” He clearly wasn’t short of ideas.

“Wouldn’t you do anything for your mom?”

“I would do a lot for my mom,” he admitted. “I would give her a kidney. I buy her flowers on all the right days and I take her phone calls even when she’s driving me nuts, but there are limits.” He eyed Shannyn. “It sounds like you don’t have those limits and I’m wondering why.”

Answering that question would mean confiding the story of her own past and Shannyn figured that would give too much away. An analytical man like Tyler would make all sorts of conclusions from that much detail—not only was he likely to guess right, but he might use that insight against her.

“Nope. I’m not telling that story.” She held his gaze, wondering whether she was breaking her own rule of not provoking him. “What else do you have?”

Tyler’s mouth tightened for just a second and his eyes got a little darker. When he spoke though, his voice was completely calm. “How about the reason Adrian calls you Taz?”

“It’s just a nickname. No secret there.”

Tyler lifted a brow, skeptical, and his voice hardened. “Don’t shit me. There’s a reason.”

He was right.

Shannyn looked at her plate. She considered the options and knew he wasn’t asking a lot. “Okay. I’ll take that one.”

Shannyn was a riddle,wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma; but Ty had to believe there was a key. He was ready to accept any crumbs, even the smallest bit of data, in his determination to figure out what made her tick.

It took her a few minutes to compose her thoughts, but he didn’t push her. He would have waited all night for her confession and not made an issue of it even if she hadn’t told him.

He had a major case of curiosity, one that only Shannyn could solve.

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