Page 4 of Teddy Sinatra: Go Your Own Way
“Is it Bruno?”
“Bruno? Please. We divorced before that year was out.”
Teddy hadn’t heard that part. All he knew was that she had gotten married. When he left a woman, he left for good. Wasn’t interested in her backstory. Although he did, just once, inquire about Cait. “Sorry to hear that.”
“I’m not sorry. He was a world-class cheater. Worse than you.”
Teddy took a swig of his whiskey. He actually was never a cheater, because he was never in any exclusive relationships with anybody but Nikki. But he always got accused of being one after he stopped fooling around with his lady friends.
Caitlan smiled at him as if she didn’t mean to shade him. Because she really did need him. Because Teddy had that special sauce. He was no perfect little pretty boy by any means, but he had that rugged man-ness, that gorgeous sexiness in such a muscular, masculine way, that men dreamed of being like him and women dreamed of being with him. Teddy was a protector. A strong man. She missed that. She needed that.
“If Bruno’s not the problem,” Teddy said, “then what’s the problem?”
“Not Bruno, but another man. Which is the story of my life. But I’m worried about this one, Teddy.”
Teddy stared at her. He already knew her sudden appearance in his life could be staged. His antennae was already up. But Caitlan, like Nikki, had always been a straight shooter. Then he caught himself for comparing her to Nikki. “What’s his problem? Why are you so worried about him?”
“His violent outbursts used to be so infrequent that it was manageable. I mean, at least I could manage it.”
“But?”
“But now that shit’s happening every week.” She looked Teddy dead in the eyes. “He’s gonna kill me, Teddy, if I don’t do something.”
“Then leave his ass. What’s the problem?”
A look of distress crossed her pretty face. “May I?”
Teddy thought it unusual, but he slid his mug over to her and she took a long swig of his whiskey. Nikki’s friends at the table further over were beside themselves. If drinking behind somebody wasn’t an intimate move, they didn’t know what was.
Teddy would have agreed with them as he watched her swig it down. Cait was always a tough broad too. Like Nikki. Then he caught himself. There he go again!
“I need your help,” she said. “I need you, Teddy.”
She said it in a way that was so heartfelt that Teddy felt it. But he was Teddy Sinatra, not Joe Blow. He knew she could have changed from the girl he remembered, and it could all be a con.
But they split on decent terms. He used to like her a lot. He still was digging her vibe. “Text me his name and address. Will he be at home tonight?”
Her eyes lit up. “Yes. All night. He never wants to go anywhere. Does that mean you’re going to take care of it?”
“Me? No. But I’ll send a couple guys over. Give him a taste of his own medicine. When they finish with him, you won’t have any more trouble out of him.”
It wasn’t what she had hoped to hear. She wantedhimto handle it. But it got her back on his radar. She was back in the game.
That was why she placed her hand on his hand and leaned toward him. “Thank you so much, Teddy. Thank you.”
Before Teddy realized it, she had leaned in so far that she had kissed him on the lips. He quickly removed his hand from beneath hers and frowned. “Cut that shit out,” he said to her. “Your ass may be divorced, but I’m still a married man.”
Caitlan hadn’t expected him to still be going hard for Nikki Tarver. He never went hard for her like that! But most married men pretended to be all in love with their wives the first time she came onto them. Because they knew that was expected of them. But they’d rarely met anybody as great looking and as great in bed as she was. And they always remembered that particular trait of hers. They always caved.
“Sorry,” she said. Then she smiled. “Not sorry.”
Teddy smiled as well. She was always good for a laugh too. But he wasn’t playing with her ass. He stood up.
“You still have the same number?” she asked him, although she knew he had.
“It’s the same number.”
“I’ll text you his information.”
