She gratified him by flushing a dull crimson. And then floored the hell out of him by saying, “Can’t you please call me Nessa? Even Jay calls me that now. And you know how much I hate ‘Vanessa’.”
The trouble was Tyler did know. He’d witnessed Mrs. Ward, Nessa’s mother, wielding the name “Vanessa” as a kind of verbal whip, berating her daughter for being “too this” and “too that”. Nessa had never been good enough for her parents. In fact, the Wards had seemed to actively dislike their offspring. He’d wanted to die of embarrassment the couple of times he’d stayed for dinner when he and Nessa had been dating. Awkward didn’t begin to describe the experience. And here he was, deliberately calling her “Vanessa”—serving up a heaping of Mrs. Ward in every syllable.
Shame turned the mouthful of insanely tender steak Jay had cooked tonight into a solid lump. He took another swallow of soda and choked it down.
A glance at Jay’s blank expression left him clueless about her feelings on the matter. Fine. He’d follow her lead. And if she got pissy about it later, then tough. “Okay, Nessa.”
“Thank you,” she said, smiling so sweetly it made him want to barf.
“Whatever.” Sheesh. How had this turned into a Jay and Nessa against mean old Tyler-fest? Girls. He’d never understand them in a million years. The only thing that’d make this situation worse would be his sister, Caro. The three of them ganging up would make the toughest guy whimper and run for cover.
His cell phone blared the ringtone for his parents’ home line. Great. He so did not want to deal with his mom right now. He fished the phone from his pocket, intending to reject the call and put it to voicemail.
“You should take it,” Jay said. “If it’s your mother it might be important. And you should give her my landline number, too.”
A chill skittered a spidery little dance down his spine. What did Jay suspect? What hadn’t she told him? Damn. Too late to have her up about it now—not that he’d do it in front of Nessa in any case. “Hello?”
“It’s Mom,” his mom said. She always stated the obvious when she called.
“Hi, Mom. What’s up?”
“What makes you think something’s up? Aren’t I allowed to call you to check how you’re doing?”
Jeez. So much for the apology for her shitty behavior he’d kinda been expecting.
He hopped down from the barstool. “I better take this in the sitting room.” Huh. Like that was gonna help with privacy given Jay’s super-hero hearing. But at least if things got nasty again Nessa wouldn’t be listening in.
“Am I interrupting something?” his mother said, her tone frosty.
He half-ran from the kitchen into the living room. “Only a very nice dinner that took a lot of time and effort to prepare.” Hell. He probably shouldn’t have said that.
“Oh. Well, I’ll call you later.”
“It’s okay Mom. Jay’ll reheat it for me. So what’s up?” He mentally kicked himself. “I mean, thanks for calling. And, uh, I’m fine. Everything’s good. How’re you and Dad?” And when are you going to apologize for being such a bitch to my girlfriend, or are we supposed to pretend it didn’t happen?
“Do you have anything on this weekend?”
Uh oh. Please God don’t let them be planning another “surprise” visit. The last one had been bad enough. But Nessa and Jay and his parents in the same room? Nightmare of monumental freaking proportions. “I’m not rostered on to work this weekend,” he said, carefully. “But if someone calls in sick I could be called in at a moment’s notice.”
“I’m sure there must be someone else they can call if you’re not available to fill in,” his mother said.
Double uh-oh. Time to cut to the chase. “What’s this all about, Mom?”
“It’s been nearly five months since we last saw you. And your dad and I—” A sigh gusted through the phone line.
This couldn’t be good. Not if she was making such an effort to choose her words. What the hell was up? Imminent divorce?
“I don’t want to hear any more of your excuses. We want you to come down for the weekend. Caro’s going to be here and we thought it’d be a good time to—” Another pause. “We thought it’d be nice for us all to get together.”
He plunked his butt on the arm of the couch and sagged with relief. A get-together. Nothing to be worried about. Well, save for him still being pissed at his mom for the way she’d carried on. Which was why he kept making excuses whenever she hinted he should visit. “Can’t do a whole weekend,” he told her. “I have a couple of assignments due and I’m already pushed for time. How ’bout we head down Saturday morning, stay the night, and head back Sunday morning after breakfast. How does that sound?”
A sharply indrawn breath clued him in that he wasn’t gonna like what she said next. Jesus. Here we go again. Same old, same old. He didn’t have to be Einstein to guess the next words out of her mouth were likely to be “I’d prefer you don’t bring your girlfriend.”
“This is supposed to be a family get-together, Tyler.”
It was Tyler’s turn to suck in a breath—a reeeally deep, calm-the-heck-down-but-make-it-clear-where-you-stand breath. “We will be down Saturday. Expect us around lunchtime.”
“Anyone would think you two are joined at the damned hip!” His mom virtually snarled the words.
“Don’t start, Mom.”
“Or what?”
“Or it’ll be just you, Dad and Caro for this family get-together.”
“You’d choose her over your own family?”
“Don’t force me to make that choice, Mom.”
“But your dad and I have something we need to discuss with you.”
“If you need to have a private discussion with me, I’m sure Jay won’t mind heading out for a jog ’round her old neighborhood. She’s quite a reasonable person.” Unlike someone else I could name.
“Why are you making this so difficult, Tyler?”
“I’ll see you Saturday.” He disconnected the call before she could say anything else and totally piss him off and he blurted something he’d regret.
Shit. What was up with her? His mom had always been pretty reasonable so far as moms went, but these last few months she’d been like a different person. Sure, he could put a lot of it down to their stand-off over his continued relationship with Jay. But….
Could she be going through early menopause or something? Nah. Surely that was hot flashes, not biting people’s heads off and coming across all mean as a rattlesnake.
He glanced up to see Jay standing in the doorway. “You heard all that, I suppose.”
“You should go without me.”
“You’re my girlfriend. If she’s uncomfortable with that, then tough. Her problem.”
“If it’s a personal family matter she needs to discuss with you then—”
“You’re my girlfriend. Whether she likes it or not, to me you are family.”
“Am I?” She came into the room and shut the door behind her.
“What?”
“Your girlfriend.”
He frowned. What was that supposed to mean? “What the hell, Jay. Of course you are.”
“Then why haven’t we had intercourse? Isn’t that what couples who are boyfriend and girlfriend do?”
His brain must have fried because he couldn’t think of a single thing to say.
“Is it because you don’t really believe I’m human, either? Like your mother?”
“No! Jesus, Jay. It’s not that. It’s just—”
“It’s just what?” She cocked her head, staring at him, analyzing him, trying to understand. Trouble was, he wasn’t sure he understood it himself, so how the effing heck was he supposed to explain it to her?
“I want to be sure it’s right,” he said.
“I don’t understand.”
Huh. That makes two of us. “I want you to want it for the right reasons, not just because it’s what you believe couples do.”
“Statistics show—”<
br />
“Jay.” Tyler ground his teeth and tried to channel calm. “This isn’t about statistics. This is about you and me. This is about you wanting to be with me.”
“I do want to be with you. Otherwise I wouldn’t have come back to you.”
Yes! Mental fist-punch. “That’s, uh, great.” Better than great. Try freaking fantastic. Now calm down. Don’t screw this up. “But there are a whole heap of reasons people want to be around another person.”
“Such as?”
“Because they’re lonely. Because they’re scared to be alone. Because being around that someone makes them feel good, gives them a sense of security. Because… because… they need that person in their lives to feel whole, complete.” Because they feel obligated to protect that person, like Jay felt she had to protect him.
“Those are all excellent reasons,” she said. “So why is it not enough for me to simply want to be with you?”
God. Why was this so hard? Would he even be having this conversation if Jay were human? “I want—need—to know your feelings go deeper than want. Do they, Jay?”
“Are you talking about love?”
He nodded because the “yes” had choked in his throat.
The too-blue gaze that had been flaying him, laying him bare, turned inward. “I… I don’t know. I’ve never been in love before. I’ve never been capable of loving anyone before. How do I know if what I feel for you is what you call love?”
Tyler stifled groan. Served him right. Now what was he going to say? Like he was the love guru who was so in touch with his feelings. Heck, he couldn’t even bring himself to say he loved her because he was scared shitless she might say it back without knowing what it really meant. For all he knew she “loved” him like she had loved her creator. Or in a best friends kinda way, like she loved his sister. And now he had to explain this incredibly important, life-changing concept to her.
“Uh, how about you start by telling me what you do feel for me?” And if it was all about needing to protect him from the big bad world, he’d try his utmost to hide that she’d ripped out his heart.
“I want to be with you. When you’re not here, I think about you and worry about you. When I see you, I feel warm inside—lighter, somehow, like everything is finally right and the way it’s meant to be. When you touch me, I want more. Whenever you leave, everything seems duller, less colorful, and something inside me aches.”
The breath he hadn’t even realized he’d been holding rushed out in a whoosh. Sure sounded like love to him. Thank God. “Ditto,” he said.
“Really?” Her face lit up like she’d just won a prize.
“Damn straight. Come here.” He opened his arms in invitation.
A blink and she was across the room and in his embrace.“And how do you feel about me?” she asked, her face turned upward—another kind of invitation if he wasn’t mistaken. And he didn’t think he was. Not this time. Not now.
“Isn’t it obvious?” He pressed his lips to hers, gently, then not so gently at all, demanding everything she had to give.
When he pulled away they were both breathless. He loved that despite all her superhuman enhancements, he could do that to her—kiss her breathless.
Jay recovered first. “Does this mean you want to have intercourse with me?”
Tyler spluttered with laughter edged with a longing that was so great it bordered on helpless despair. “God, Jay. I’m a guy. And you’re gorgeous. I wanted to get busy with you from the moment I first saw you.”
A smile curved her lips and he wanted so much to kiss her again that he ached. Her smile deepened. She slid from his arms but only to take him by the hand and tug him from his perch on the arm of the couch.
He let her lead him from the room, but instead of heading back toward the kitchen as he’d expected, she started up the stairs.
“Where’re we going?” he whispered, keeping his voice low so Nessa wouldn’t overhear.
“To bed.”
His heart skipped a beat and the room spun. Oh. My. Freaking. God. He wanted this. He’d wanted this for so long. But…. Shit. He couldn’t go through with it. Not now. Not like this. He eased his hand from her grip and she let him go.
Confusion crinkled her brows and glittered in her eyes. “What’s wrong, Tyler? Your body’s responses tell me you’re ready to have intercourse.”
He snorted. “I’m only human. I’m ready all right, but I don’t think you are.”
“I have extensively researched human sexuality and I am fully aware of what’s involved. Further, if you have concerns at my readiness, I am capable of manipulating my body functions to ensure my—” She frowned. “Perhaps it would be best if I did not explain my capabilities in this instance.”
He bit his lip so he didn’t smile. “Yeah. Awesome as it is to know you can get yourself all fired up without any help from me, we guys kinda prefer to think we’re the ones responsible for girls ‘getting ready’. If you know what I mean.”
“Then before I provide you with any further amusement, perhaps you would care to explain what you meant by your previous statement about ‘readiness’.”
Was it his imagination or did she sound just the slightest bit snippy? God, she was cute when she was POed about not fully understanding some human idiosyncrasy or other. “I mean you’re still treating this like some lab experiment—you’re analyzing everything. When you’re too caught up in the moment to be analytical about it, then you’ll be ready.”
“But if I’m too caught up in the moment to analyze it, how will I recognize my readiness? How will I know I’m… ready?”
“Believe me, you’ll know. C’mon. I need to finish my dinner. Wouldn’t want that steak to go to waste.”
She trailed him back into the kitchen. Where, to Tyler’s complete astonishment, Nessa was washing up the pans. Without being asked, bribed or coerced. Surreal.
Just like it was totally surreal that he’d turned Jay down. Pete would slap him upside the head and call him all kinds of an idiot—Chandler, too. But Tyler knew he was doing the right thing. He needed to go slow. If he rushed it, if he gave in and let her give him what she thought he wanted, when she thought he wanted it, without truly being cognizant of her own needs, he would never forgive himself.
Good things took time. And Jay was a good thing—real good. She was worth waiting for.
~~~
Tyler tossed the overnight bags into the back seat of the fancy SUV Jay had retrieved from the parking garage, and slammed the door. He leaned against the side of the vehicle, scuffing one of his sneakers across the sidewalk as he waited for Jay to finish her conversation with Nessa. A week ago, if anyone had told him that his ex would show up on Jay’s doorstep, she would be delusional enough to make a pass at him, and she and Jay would go from active dislike of the bitch-slapping kind to almost-friends, he’d have laughed himself stupid.
He didn’t trust Nessa, which was why he’d insisted Jay not mention their new houseguest to Caro when they saw her. He didn’t want his sister getting involved with Nessa again. Nessa had this way of charming people into letting her get away with stuff. And no way was Tyler standing by while Nessa finessed Caro and dragged her into any more of Nessa’s shit.
Nessa waved as Jay jogged down the stairs.
Tyler flipped her a half-hearted wave in return and climbed into the passenger seat. The instant Jay opened the driver’s side door he said, “Are you sure you’re okay with leaving her alone in the house?”
Jay waggled her fingers at Nessa and settled in the driver’s seat. “Feel free to say ‘I told you so’ if she cleans out the house and vanishes before we get back.”
Tyler leaned his head against the headrest. “Oh, I will. You can bank on it.”
Jay belted herself in and started the engine. “Chill, Tyler. It’s not like I can’t afford to replace everything in the house. I would hope that by now Nessa knows she can ask for help from me, but if she’s desperate enough to steal then so be it.”
&n
bsp; Tyler waited ’til she’d pulled into the stream of traffic before continuing to voice his concerns. Sure, Jay could multi-task like nobody’s business, but that didn’t mean he was comfortable with her seeming to pay more attention to him than she did to the road. Truth be told, having her change gears, speed up or slow down, and once even change lanes while keeping her gaze fixed on his face, was nerve-wracking in the extreme. Not that he’d ever let on. Yanno, being a staunch-as dude and all that.
“I hope she doesn’t get too nosey,” he muttered.
“If she does, she won’t find anything at all remarkable.”
“You hope.”
“I know.”
“Must be nice to be so damned sure you’re right all the time.”
She reached over to squeeze his knee. “There’s no point fretting about what Nessa will or won’t do. She’ll either show her true colors or surprise us both.”
Tyler snorted. “You know what they say about leopards and spots.”
“A leopard never changes its spots.”
“Yeah. That. And just so’s we’re clear, Nessa’s the leopard.”
“I kind of got that but thank you for the clarification. Would you like to put on some music?”
“Nice try but I don’t distract that easily.”
Her smile was full of promise and when she ran her tongue across her lips, he couldn’t tear his gaze away. He groaned. “Okay, you win. I do distract that easily.”
“I like to win,” she said.
“Gee. I hadn’t noticed that about you.”
He stabbed his finger at the car stereo and something operatic filled the car. He gave a full-body shudder. God. Hideous. He quickly selected another station, relieved when it turned out to be soft-rock fronted by a relatively un-obnoxious DJ. “So you trust her now, huh?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Relieved to hear it. Because I don’t trust her, either—and not just because she tried to throw herself at me.”
“Don’t forget the part where she was practically naked—”
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