“Fine. You tell me what’s so great about him. Did he give you a few mind-blowing orgasms and—”
“I’m done,” she said before storming off. Not only was he making a scene, but he was making her feel as though she owed him an explanation. It took her back to another man and another time she’d rather forget…
“Tenley, wait,” he said, jogging to catch up with her.
Thankfully she was wearing running shoes and the studio was only a couple of miles away, so she kept walking. She didn’t need him to give her a ride. She didn’t need anything from him.
“I’m sorry, okay? I shouldn’t have said that.”
Her pace slowed, but she didn’t stop. She heard his footsteps cease. He was clearly waiting for her to give in, but she turned to face him, walking backward instead. “No man is ever going to disrespect me again, Rowan.”
Chapter Six
Rowan was taking his frustrations out on the heavy bag when his brother walked into his home gym, eating an apple.
“Hey,” he said, straddling the weight bench. “What’s up?”
“What does it look like?” Rowan said, pummeling the bag.
“Looks to me like you need to get laid.”
He glared at him. “When are the painters gonna be done at your place?” He braced his hand on the bag as he caught his breath. “I’m getting sick of looking at you.”
“I thought you were going out for lunch with that hot little bartender,” he said, tossing the apple core into the wastebasket in the corner.
“I did.” Reaching for the water bottle he’d tossed aside, Rowan said, “But we kind of got into it.”
Reese chuckled, lying back and eyeing the weight on the bar before hoisting it over his head. “Why am I not surprised?”
Rowan watched him do ten reps, wondering if his brother was right. Maybe he should stick to one-night stands. “She made a date with some dude right in front of me.” He knew he wasn’t wrong to be pissed about that, but he should have been mature enough to take it up with her when they were alone and he’d calmed down.
“Seriously?” Reese asked before doing another set. “Guess she was trying to send you a message, huh?”
Rowan would have agreed, but he knew how to read women. Tenley was definitely into him. “Anyone else and I would have said she was doing it to make me jealous. But Tenley isn’t into games. She’s a straight-shooter.” And he loved that about her.
“So why do you think she did it?” Reese struggled with his last rep, so Rowan moved closer to spot him.
“I don’t know.” He thought about what had led up to it. He’d slipped his arm around her waist, trying to send a message to her friend that they were together. Maybe that had set her off. “We were getting along great. Then some jerkoff shows up and she turns on me.”
“You didn’t go all bat-shit crazy on her, did you?”
His brother knew him better than anyone. Reese knew Rowan got jealous when he was really into a woman. Which wasn’t often.
“What would you have done?” Rowan asked, reaching for a towel to wipe the sweat off his forehead. “Kept your mouth shut and let her—”
“I wouldn’t have acted like I owned her, and I’m assuming that’s what you did.” Reese sat up, rolling his eyes when his brother didn’t respond. “Of course that’s what you did. Isn’t that what you always do? You’re such a dumbass.”
He’d fought with his last girlfriend plenty because they were both jealous hotheads and didn’t trust each other. Turned out he’d been right not to trust Elle since she cheated on him.
“This girl’s different,” Rowan said, sinking onto the leg press machine. “She’s not like Elle.”
“But you treated her like she was.”
“Yeah.” Rowan barely knew Tenley. They’d only been out a couple of times, shared a few kisses. He sure as hell didn’t have the right to assume he was the only guy she was seeing. He knew that, but when he thought about her with someone else, it made him crazy. “So what do you think I should do now?”
“Is she working tonight?”
“No.”
“Perfect. Go to the bar and talk to her brother. You said he seems like a pretty cool guy.”
“He is, but how is Walker going to help me—?”
“Who knows her better than he does, right?”
“I guess.” Rowan considered his kid brother’s advice, wondering if it would make her even more upset if he talked to Walker behind her back. She hadn’t been very forthcoming about her past, but after a couple of pseudo-dates, he didn’t think he had the right to expect to know her secrets. “You think she’s hiding something from me?”
“I think you’re paranoid because of what happened with Elle,” Reese said, moving on to the universal gym. “Not all girls are gonna screw you over, you know. Though why you’d wanna get tied down with just one is beyond me.”
Rowan was thirty. He’d been single a long time, had more than his fair share of women, and he couldn’t shake the feeling it was time for something more serious. He thought about his recent conversation with their old man…
“Dad said something to me recently. He said losing Mom nearly killed him. Had it not been for us, he wouldn’t have survived it.”
Reese swallowed, looking as affected by those words as Rowan had been. “What’s your point?”
“Don’t you ever want to feel like that about anyone?”
“And risk losing them?” he asked bitterly. “No thanks, I’ll pass.”
It hit Rowan suddenly, like a sledgehammer upside the head. That was the reason his brother was still single. He didn’t want to risk falling in love because he was afraid of losing someone who meant everything to him, the way they’d lost their mom when they were kids.
“What happened to Mom,” Rowan said, his head down. “It was a fluke, man. Most people don’t die in their thirties.”
“But some do.” Reese put himself through his usual paces, barely breaking a sweat.
“You can’t go on being afraid, you know. Mom wouldn’t have wanted that for you.”
“I’m not afraid of shit,” he said, breathing between reps as he moved on to pull-ups.
Reese was pretty fearless when it came to most things. He’d gone skydiving, rock climbing, white water rafting. Hell, he’d even driven his buddy’s race car at death-defying speeds and lived to tell about it. But he’d never been in love, and Rowan been too self-absorbed to ask why. Until now.
“Why haven’t you ever gotten serious with anyone?” Rowan asked, thinking about the dozens of beautiful women his brother had introduced him to over the years, women who would have done anything to be Reese’s one and only.
“Don’t need the hassle,” he said, reaching for a clean white towel from the stack Rowan’s cleaning lady kept on a shelf in the closet.
Rowan made his way over to the water cooler. “Maybe you’d be happier,” he said as he filled and drained a plastic cup before tossing it in the trash. “You wouldn’t be drifting like you are. Mad at yourself and the world.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” he asked, looking at Rowan as though he suspected his brother was high. “Where is this coming from?”
“You’re so cynical. Down on women, your profession, your neighborhood, everything. Everything sucks. You ever consider maybe you’re the problem?” Rowan didn’t want to be cruel, but somebody had to call Reese out. As his best friend and brother, he was the logical choice.
“Worry about your own life,” Reese said, tossing the sweat-drenched towel at Rowan. “I’ve got mine under control.”
Rowan reached for his phone when it buzzed, hoping it would be Tenley. No such luck. “Hey, Ace. What’s up, man?”
“I just got off the phone with your girl. Is she as hot as she sounds?”
That was when he remembered he’d texted Ace when he and Tenley were at the deli, suggesting he call her roommate because he thought they might hit it off. The beautiful blonde was just his friend�
�s type.
“Yeah, she’s hot. You guys getting together, or what?”
“Yeah, tonight. You and Tenley wanna come?”
“Uh, I don’t think she would wanna see me right now.”
“Uh-oh, what happened? I thought you were really in to her.”
Rowan rarely talked to his friends about the girls he dated, but Ace got him the way few other people did. Ace knew he was ready to find a good girl and stop chasing tail.
“Apparently some other dude’s just as into her,” he said, clenching his fist as he paced the gym, remembering her interaction with the guy in the park.
“That’s no surprise,” Ace said, laughing. “I’m sure lots of guys are into her. She’s a rocket, man. Not to mention where she works. She must get hit on all the time.”
“Yeah, but it happened right in front of me, and she didn’t blow him off.” Rowan raked a hand through his damp hair. “In fact, she was the one who suggested they get together for dinner next week.”
“So you’re thinking she might be another Elle? If so, better you found out now, right?”
“No, she’s not like that,” he said, thinking about his ex and how different she and Tenley were. Elle was flirtatious. She fed off attention from other men and got off on Rowan’s reaction. Instead of instigating a fight, Tenley had walked away.
“How can you be sure?”
He headed down the hall to the bathroom, planning to take a shower. “I knew right off Elle was bad news. Hell, she dumped her boyfriend to get with me. I ignored my gut ’cause she was so hot. I won’t make that mistake again.”
“So where do things stand with you and Tenley? You think you’ll see her again?”
Rowan closed the bathroom door, leaning against it. “I want to.”
“You gonna call her?”
“I don’t know. I might give it a couple of days, let her cool off.” He considered his brother’s advice. “Reese thinks I should talk to her brother, try to get a feel for where her head’s at before I get in too deep. What do you think?”
“Might not be a bad idea,” Ace conceded. “If you think she’s worth the trouble.”
“She’s definitely worth it. No question about that.”
***
Walker was slammed when Rowan walked into the bar that night, yet he still made his way over and shook Rowan’s hand. “Hey, man. Good to see you again. My sister isn’t in tonight, if you’re looking for her.”
“Yeah, I know. I was hoping I could talk to you if you’ve got a minute.” Stupid question. It didn’t look as though the poor guy could spare a second, much less a minute.
“Uh, sure,” he said, looking around. “Let me ask one of the girls to bring a couple of drinks back to my office. What’ll you have?”
“A Corona’s good.” Rowan knew he shouldn’t be drinking at all, since he’d be training mode again soon, but since he wasn’t sure what to expect from his discussion with Tenley’s brother, he went for it.
Walker had a quick word with the waitress who’d filled Rowan in on Tenley during his last visit before he led the way to his office. As he closed the door to the dimly lit, spacious office, it was clear the room had been soundproofed because Rowan could finally hear himself think.
“So what’s up?” Walker asked, sitting behind his imposing mahogany desk as he pointed at a black leather chair across from him.
Before Rowan could respond, the waitress tapped on the door and poked her head in. “I’ve got your drinks here, boss.”
“Great, bring them in, Maura.”
They both accepted their drinks, saying “Thanks” in unison before she winked at Rowan and left the room.
“So, uh, about your sister…” What can you tell me about her? When Rowan realized how stupid that sounded, he began questioning his sanity for coming here at all.
“What about her?” Walker asked, tapping his beer bottle against Rowan’s. “Is she giving you a hard time already?”
Rowan could tell how protective Walker was of his little sister, so he knew he’d better be willing to take the blame if he expected any help from Walker. “We kind of had it out today.” He tipped his bottle back while Walker did the same. “I overstepped. It was all on me.”
“And let me guess… my sister let you have it?”
“Yeah, you could say that.”
“What happened?”
“We ran into a friend of hers while we were having lunch in the park. Actually, he’s a customer of yours. Sounded to me like they’d been out together a few times—”
“Andrew,” Walker said, scowling. “He’s the only one of my customers she’s ever dated. She knows how I feel about my employees mixing it up with the customers, so she usually steers clear, but I guess this guy wore her down.”
“What do you know about him?” Rowan knew he was overstepping again. He had no right to ask about the other men in Tenley’s life. They hadn’t even slept together yet, and after the way she’d left him hanging today, he wasn’t sure they ever would.
“He runs one of his daddy’s car dealerships,” Walker said, looking disgusted. “He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Wouldn’t know how to do a hard day’s work if his life depended on it.”
Walker and Rowan obviously had that in common—they were no strangers to hard work and had no respect for anyone who was. “Doesn’t seem like Tenley’s type.”
“I wouldn’t have thought so either,” Walker said, shaking his head. “But maybe she was ready for something different.”
“Different how?”
By the way his blue eyes flashed with regret, Rowan guessed he’d said more than he intended to. “Let’s just say she’s hooked up with some losers over the years. After the last one cheated on her, she said she was done with men, but this Andrew guy somehow convinced her he wasn’t like all the rest.” He shrugged. “I don’t think she’s serious about him. They’ve gone out on a couple of dates at most.”
“Has she said anything to you about me?” Rowan could almost hear Tenley screeching in his ear, warning him to back the hell off, but that didn’t stop him from asking. “I know this may sound like a stupid question, but you think she’s into me?”
Walker laughed, raking a hand through his short dark hair. “Man, that’s tough to say. Wasn’t all that long ago she swore she’d never go on another date again.”
“Why is that?” Seemed like an extreme statement for a beautiful young woman to make, even one who had been burned one too many times.
Walker sighed. “If you grew up in our house, you’d understand.”
“That bad, huh?”
“Let’s just say we didn’t have the best role model growing up. Our mother was—is—pretty messed up, and Tenley didn’t want to follow in her footsteps.”
“So she hasn’t dated a lot?” Rowan found that hard to believe. Sweet and innocent weren’t words he’d use to describe Tenley. If that had been his perception, he never would have pursued her. A girl like that would never be able to handle the groupies and lifestyle that came with his career.
“I didn’t say that. She’s dated, but she’s…” Walker checked his Omega. “Man, I’m sorry, but I’ve got to get back out there.”
Before Rowan could stand to shake his hand, someone tapped on his door and popped her head in.
“Walker, Brendan said you were back here.” Tenley stared at Rowan, her eyes narrowing as she threw open the door. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Busted,” Walker said under his breath as he rounded the desk. He kissed the top of Tenley’s head as he passed her. “We can talk later. Go easy on him, sis.”
“Like hell I will,” she muttered, slamming the door as she glared at Rowan. “I’ll ask again. Why are you here talking to my brother?”
He leaned back on Walker’s desk, crossing his arms. “You wouldn’t talk to me. What choice did I have?”
Rowan wasn’t big on backing down, not even when he knew he should. So he stood his ground, prepari
ng to let her tear a strip off of him because he deserved it. If she’d gone poking around in his life, asking other people questions she should have asked him, he would have been pissed too.
“You could have taken a hint and backed the hell off,” she said, stepping closer. She was too small to be intimidating, even though he knew those little feet and hands could be lethal weapons to someone who wasn’t trained in self-defence. “Who do you think you are, insinuating yourself into my life like this? I barely know you. And what’s more, I’m not even sure I want to know you!”
She had every reason to resent him, but that didn’t mean he was going to let her write him off that easily. “There’s something between us.” He waited, daring her to challenge me. “You feel it; so do I. So when I saw you flirting with that guy in the park today, I got pissed.”
“You had no right to. We’re just friends.”
Rowan wasn’t sure whether she was talking about him or Andrew, so he asked, “You really gonna go out with him?”
“Why not?”
“Why waste precious time with him when you could be spending it with me instead?” He wasn’t arrogant. He just knew a good thing when it was staring him in the face, and he suspected she did too.
“You’re so full of yourself,” she said, rolling her eyes. “What makes you think you’re so much better than him?”
“I didn’t say I was better. But I’m more your speed.” He knew she’d have more in common with him than with a guy who wore thousand-dollar suits every day and got weekly manicures. “You can’t deny that.” When she didn’t try, the light bulb went off. “That’s the problem, isn’t it? He’s a safe bet. I’m not.”
“I don’t have time for this,” she claimed, turning toward the door. “I need to talk to my brother, then get out of here.”
Before she could turn the knob, Rowan wedged his body between her and the door. “That’s it, isn’t? The last guy cheated on you, and you think I will too?”
“Don’t feel sorry for me,” she said, trying to side-step him.
“Can you just give me a second?” he asked, feeling pathetic for having to work so hard. “I won’t even touch you.” He raised his hands in supplication though he was dying to use his mouth to convince her since he was sure pretty words would fail him.
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