Page 73 of Spark
Addison surprised him by throwing her head back to laugh.“Okay, first of all, Ryan’s a hothead, not a dickhead.While I wouldn’t mention any of your and Chloe’s extracurriculars”—she paused to smirk—“I don’t think that conversation will go as poorly as you think it will.As for your past, a bit of free advice from someone who’s been there?”
Tyler nodded, and she tilted her head, her smile going soft.“Trusting people with your heart is hard when it’s been broken before.But trusting therightperson with it?Will be the easiest thing you ever do.”
“That makes a lot of sense, actually,” he admitted.“Thanks.”
“Of course.Oh!”Addison brightened.“And by the way, as a cop, I might be super grateful that you’ve got her back, but as her best friend, I would be remiss if I didn’t say that if you do something stupid, Ryan cutting off your junk will be the least of your worries.’Kay?”
Having absolutely no doubt that she meant it with her whole heart, Tyler held up his hands.He wasn’t an idiot.“Understood.”
“Excellent.Now go.Esme’s making bracelets for everyone in the bridal party, and believe me, you don’t want to miss it.”
23
Chloe looked at the contents of the shopping cart in front of her and shook her head.“We’re going to need way more butter than that.”
Tyler looked into the cart, his blue gaze assessing.“We already have three pounds,” he said with a laugh, but she held up a hand, unmoved.
“A girl can never have too much fun or too much butter,” she said, plucking two more packages from the refrigerated case and putting them into the cart before grabbing one more, just to be on the safe side.“Anyway, what do you think makes my chocolate chip cookies so good?Spoiler alert: it starts with a B and rhymes with shutter.”
Tyler walked beside her while she pushed the cart, his smile sexy enough to make her knees wobble.Thank God they weren’t in the frozen foods aisle, or they’d have to pay for everything he melted.“Fair enough.Theyaregoing to make me the most popular firefighter in the house tomorrow.”
“Well, good, because I fully intend to have you and Esme do all the heavy lifting involved in making them.”
In the five days that had passed since the Dempsey family dinner, Esme had kept to herself more often than not.Although she’d been a lot less ill at ease than a few weeks ago, she was still far from an open book.On the plus side, she’d adjusted fairly well to her home-school schedule, working with Miss Beverly for a few hours each morning, then doing assignments and logging in for discussion groups with the online academy instructors and other students.Carleen had taken her to the library, where she’d picked up a teen fantasy novel about twin sisters with mystical powers that she’d deemed “okay”, but read in a day and a half, then asked to go back for the rest of the series.Chloe popped in to do her daily check-ins face-to-face every afternoon, spending a few hours making bracelets with her or curled up on the sectional, watchingThe Great British Bake Off.But Esme still didn’t talk about the trial, or anything else remotely close to what she’d seen Leo Navarro do.Tom, Carleen, Lou, and the CFS therapist all agreed that her guarded behavior was beyond normal, and Chloe knew—God, she really,reallyknew—they were right.So, when Esme had agreed to a Sunday-night hangout with her and Tyler, she’d wanted to go all-in with Esme’s favorites.
And speaking of favorites.Chloe snuck a look at Tyler, her heartbeat picking up the pace.While her days this week had been spent either at Sweetie Pies or helping Ryan and Addison take care of last-minute wedding prep, and her afternoons had been all Esme’s, her nights had belonged entirely to Tyler.Part of her wanted to blame his easy-does-it smile or his ridiculous shoulders.And chest.And abs, and really, was it too much to ask that a plain white T-shirt actually lookplainon this man?
But as much as Chloe couldn’t deny the physical attraction between them or the fact that the sex they’d been sharing was absolutely fucking incendiary, she also couldn’t deny that her feelings for him had surpassed her pants.Tyler was smart and funny and kind, there with mini-cinnamon rolls when she woke up in the morning and listening to her unload her fears about Esme and the trial.They stayed up late into the night, eating cheesy buttered noodles and watching movies based on Jane Austen’s novels (she’d admit it—he’d hooked her) and talking while spooned together in her bed, and every single minute felt perfect.Hefelt perfect.
Which meant Chloe was considerably screwed, but even that felt too good for her to care.
“Hey, I’ve been thinking about something, and I wanted to run it by you,” Tyler said, bringing her back down to aisle five.
“Yes, I thinkEmmais better thanSense and Sensibility, and no, you’re not going to change my mind, although you’re more than welcome to try,” Chloe said, bumping his hip with hers.
He bumped her back, his smile turning wicked and heating a path all the way through her.“A) I’m extremely persuasive, and B) even though you’re so wrong, that’s not what I had in mind.”
“No?”
“Nope.I was actually thinking we should tell Ryan about this.”
Chloe clapped to a halt, her sneakers squeaking on the linoleum.“Sorry, you…what?”
Tyler looked at her with so much certainty, her breath caught.“He’s my best friend and your brother.The longer wedon’ttell him, the more it feels like we’re sneaking around, and I don’t want to sneak around.”
“Oh.”The word collapsed out of her on a sigh.“Well, what do you want?”
“Right now, in this moment?”he asked, and she nodded, her chest suddenly feeling far too tight for her rib cage.
“We can start with that, sure.”
Tyler leaned in to brush a kiss over her mouth.“I just want you.”
“Okay,” Chloe said, her voice as breathless as she’d ever heard it.But she’d never been so sure of anything in her life.
“Okay, you’re good with Ryan knowing?”
“Okay, I want you, too,” she said.“And, yes.I’m also okay with Ryan knowing.”
