Page 120 of Just One Fake Date

“She doesn’t ask about grandbabies anymore,” Damon noted. “And nobody in her circle of friends tries to fix me up.”

“That’s not a small thing,” Cassie said. “The people they pick when they fix me up.” She shook her head. “It’s scary sometimes.”

“Deeply scary,” Damon agreed. “I was motivated to find another solution.”

If Kyle went home at Christmas without bringing a date, they’d all move into action. “What was the name of that magazine again?” he asked, already thinking of offering to work through the holidays.

Cassie and Damon cracked up.

“Theo’s working with you tonight, right,” Cassie said to Kyle and he nodded.

“Thank goodness there are two of us. Are you coming?” Kyle asked Damon, who shook his head. “Of course not,” he continued, answering his own question. “Youalwayssay you have a date on Friday night and I think it’s crap. You’re just leaving all the work to me.”

“It’s all the work you want,” Cassie noted.

“Natasha must be waiting,” Kyle said.

“Jealous?” Damon teased.

“No, skeptical. You probably just say that because it gets you out of working a weekend shift, leaving more for me to do while you’re with Natasha.”

“Youarejealous,” Damon replied.

“But isn’t it going to blow your perfect cover story when you tell your mom about Natasha?”

His partner turned away. “Maybe, maybe not. See you in the morning.” He waved and headed out with purpose, Cassie matching steps with him. Ty was crossing the lobby, looking so purposeful that Kyle knew better than to ask him doing a shift at the club. He spoke to Damon and Cassie as they passed, then went straight to Jax in the office, asking her for some summary.

“All work and no play,” Kyle taunted as Ty headed into the conference room, obviously intending to work, but Ty just gave him a look and shut the door behind himself.

Kyle and Theo were on their own.

And the DJ would be waiting for those mix suggestions. The best kind of work, in Kyle’s opinion, was work that felt like play, and with the club, he had plenty of that.

Ty arrived earlyat Shannyn’s place on Saturday. There was a Dumpster beside the driveway and two skids of new shingles beside the porch. There was also a canopy set up beside the garage, with some lawn chairs and a table. Ty guessed that was their break zone. He waved to Aidan, who was surveying the house with a mug of coffee in hand, and got out to put on his new-to-him boots.

Derek pulled in behind him and parked, then eyed the Porsche. “Next job is to fix the garage?”

Ty laughed. “I’m not the one defining priorities.”

“Yet,” Derek concluded and Ty didn’t argue. Derek introduced Paul, a lanky teenager who apparently didn’t talk much. “You won’t recognize Ty if you ever see him again,” he told Paul. “He’s a suit-and-tie guy. In fact, we should document this moment.” He took a couple of pictures with his phone, then Shannyn came out of the house.

She looked so happy that Ty couldn’t help but smile.

She came right to him, and he hoped it wasn’t all a performance as she reached up to kiss him. “I warned my tenants and they decided to go away for the weekend,” she said and he realized that she also had her camera. “So, you can make as much noise as you need to.”

“Excellent,” Derek said and fitted Ty into a harness. Paul unloaded ladders, leaning them against the house with Aidan. Derek handed Ty a pair of heavy gloves and a nasty-looking tool. “First the old shingles come off. Let’s try to get that done before lunch.”

“Are we saving the gutters?” Aidan asked. “What about the flashing?”

“We’ll try. I’ll have a look and call it then. Let’s do it!” Derek shook his head. “The sooner it’s done, the sooner I’ll be able to scrape Paige off the ceiling.”

Ty laughed and they got to work.

It was the last time he laughed in a while. He wasn’t expecting it to be quite so hard.

Shannyn tookbefore pictures of the roof and some of the guys, sneaking a few shots of Tyler when he wasn’t looking. The best one was pure beefcake, when the guys broke for lunch. Tyler went to his car and changed his T-shirt, dropping the top of his overalls and peeling off his soaked shirt. His hair was wet and tousled, and he reminded her of those calendar shots of firemen. He wiped off the sweat, pulled on another shirt, and accepted a bottle of water from Aidan, tipping his head back to drain it.

Derek was clearly intent on teasing him when the guys came into Shannyn’s kitchen to load up their plates for lunch. “Now you know what it’s like to work for a living,” he said to Tyler who smiled at Shannyn.

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