Until You

by Denise Grover Swank

  Oh my fucking God. He was jealous.

  “Tyler?” Lanie asked. “Are you okay?”

  No. He was far from okay, but there was no way in hell he was going to admit that. He’d slept with her one time. One fucking time. Why was he feeling this way?

  But she was watching him, waiting for an answer.

  “I’m fine,” he said, reaching his hand up to run it over his hair, but he hit his gash and sent a spike of pain through his head. “Son of a bitch.”

  “When was the last time you took anything for the pain?” she asked, digging in her purse.

  “This morning.” He started to pace, his chest tightening. He needed to pull himself together.

  She handed him two tablets and a bottle of water. “Here. This should help.”

  He swallowed the pills and chased them down with a gulp of water.

  Lanie studied him with worried eyes, and he resisted the urge to haul her to his chest and kiss her. She’d kill him if he did. For one thing, she wanted last night to be a secret, but for another, he had no idea if she still wanted him. For all he knew last night was a one-time thing for her.

  When did he start second-guessing himself?

  “Lanie,” he said, then paused. “About…I mean…”

  “Tyler! Lanie!” Holly called. “We need you.”

  Lanie gave him a worried smile. “We can talk after the shoot.”

  “Yeah.”

  They walked over to the thirty-foot wooden bridge that spanned over a narrow section of a small lake in the park. Holly had already positioned everyone else on the bridge, leaving Lanie and Tyler for last, although they were between Celesta and Alvin and Rowdy and Mindy, Brittany’s maid of honor.

  “This is a romantic location,” Holly teased, “so let’s have some fun with it.”

  A romantic location, he thought.

  Tyler decided he’d never been one to sit around and whine. If he had, he’d be working as a mechanic in his father’s auto shop. He’d always taken matters into his own hands, and that’s what he was going to do now.

  He was supposed to stand behind Lanie for the pose, and as he pressed his chest into her back, he got a fantastic view of her breasts. “I’ve thought about you today,” he whispered.

  Her breath hitched. “Oh, yeah?”

  “Great smile, Lanie,” the photographer said.

  Tyler laughed behind her, rested his hand on her hip and watched the rise and fall of her breasts, getting more turned on by the second as he remembered her in her white lace bra the night before.

  “Tyler!” the photographer shouted. “Can you look at the camera?”

  Lanie chuckled as the photographer took several shots.

  But when they changed positions, Tyler caught Celesta’s glare.

  He always had attracted the crazy ones, although Lanie didn’t even come close to that category. Maybe that was why he was obsessing over her.

  Holly moved them into a new position, and Lanie stood at Tyler’s side. She instructed Tyler to put his arm around the small of Lanie’s back while she put both hands on his shoulder. He held her closer than necessary, but she didn’t seem to mind, glancing up at him with a knowing smile.

  He leaned close and whispered, “I loved watching you come last night, while my tongue licked your—”

  “Tyler!” Holly shouted. “You’re supposed to be looking at the camera, and Lanie, what happened to your smile?”

  Tyler shot Lanie a grin, feeling satisfied with himself when he saw the lust in her eyes. Her chest rose and fell, pressing her breast into his arm, and it was taking every last thread of willpower to keep from kissing her. Sure, his plan to drive her crazy was working, but it was working on him, too.

  They changed positions again, this time with the women facing the men, then glancing over their shoulders at the camera. Tyler’s fingers dug possessively into her hips, holding her tightly against him. He glanced down at her chest, catching a glimpse of the edge of her bra, then back up into her eyes. “Black? I bet you’ll look gorgeous sprawled out on my bed wearing nothing but your black bra and panties.”

  She stared up into his face, her eyes hooded, and her breath shallow. “Are you purposely trying to drive me crazy?”

  “Is it working?” he asked with a bad-boy smile.

  She lifted her eyebrows and answered him with her own wicked grin.

  “Lanie!” Holly called out. “You’re supposed to be looking back at the camera.”

  Lanie’s eyes gleamed with mischief, then she turned around and did as she was instructed.

  The next pose was with the men sitting sideways on the edge of the bridge, and the women standing to their side with their hands on the men’s shoulders. Holly had given the men fishing poles, and had Britt on the bank of the small pond directly underneath Randy so it looked like he was trying to catch her.

  Lanie stood next to Tyler and leaned into his ear. “You got to taste all of me, but I didn’t get to taste all of you.”

  He glanced back at her and she licked her upper lip with the tip of her tongue.

  Thinking of what she could do with that tongue drove nearly all the blood in his body to his groin. “Shit,” he murmured under his breath as he shifted, trying to relieve the pressure as well as hide the evidence of how turned on he was at the moment. He held the fishing pole over his rapidly increasing erection.

  “Oh,” Lanie cooed in his ear. “Do you have another booboo? Do I need to kiss it and make it all better?”

  Fuck it all. He turned, about to pull her between his legs and kiss her right there in front of everyone, when a policeman walked up.

  “You all got fishing permits?” he asked as he pointed toward the fishing poles.

  Holly looked startled. “They’re not really fishing, Officer.”

  Tyler secretly thanked the police officer, even if he was currently a pain in Holly’s ass.

  The police officer gestured to the men who had fishing pools extended over the side of the bridge. “Looks like they’re fishing to me.”

  Tyler stood and gave himself a moment to settle down, preparing himself to intervene if necessary, but he questioned how convincing he’d be with a tent pole in his pants.

  “That’s because they’re props,” Holly said. “We’re using them for a photo shoot. The rods don’t have any fishing line or lures on them.”

  The officer hooked his thumbs into his belt and scanned the group. “So none of you all have a fishing license?”

  Randy started down the bridge toward the policeman, carrying his fishing pole. “I have a license, officer, but as Holly said, none of us are really fishing. You can see the pole.”

  “I’m still going to need your license, sir.”

  Tyler set his pole on the bridge and gave Lanie a grin. “Don’t go anywhere.”

  She laughed. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Lanie watched Tyler walk down the bridge, grateful for the reprieve to catch her breath. Good Lord, she’d been about to toss caution to the wind and throw herself at him. The police officer had saved the day.

  “He’s an attorney, you know,” Celesta said behind Lanie.

  Lanie gave her a tight smile as the woman walked next to her. “So I’ve heard.”

  Celesta leaned closer. “He’s down there with Randy arguing for our rights. It’s heroic, don’t you think?”

  Lanie was pretty sure heroic didn’t describe someone convincing a police officer not to hand out a fine, but then a quick glance to Holly made her reevaluate. It might be heroic if it kept the wedding planner from having a stroke.

  Randy and Tyler stood next to each other talking to the police officer, gesturing toward Holly and the bridge.

  “They work together, you know,” Celesta continued. “In the same law firm.”

  “Really?” Lanie tried to keep the interest out of her voice, then felt stupid that she hadn’t put it together. She’d seen Tyler at the coffee shop in Randy’s building. But i
n her defense, when she’d looked at the directory in the lobby, she’d seen that the office building housed seven law firms.

  Celesta moved closer and gave her a condescending look. “I saw the way you were looking at him, but you really shouldn’t waste your time.”

  Lanie fought a grin. “Really? Why’s that?”

  “Britt says he’s taking a break from women, but I know Tyler. He doesn’t take breaks from women. After so many months, he’s going to be starving. And I plan to be there—lying out on the buffet table when he decides it’s time to eat again. He’s had me once.” She winked. “So he knows how good it is.”

  Lanie would have laughed if she hadn’t been disgusted by the image in her head. “There are probably health codes prohibiting that kind of thing.” Lanie plastered on a smile. “But lucky for you, Tyler’s an attorney. Why don’t we ask him?”

  Celesta leaned closer and gave her a warning look. “Just stay out of my way.” Then she walked down the bridge toward Holly and Brittany.

  Wow. So Celesta was another of Tyler’s crazy exes. How many did he have?

  The police officer said something to Holly, then shook Randy and Tyler’s hands before he headed back to the parking lot.

  “Misunderstanding,” Randy said as he came back onto the bridge. “But we’re good.”

  “We have a few more shots, if you’re up to it,” Holly said, looking relieved and exhausted.

  Everyone agreed, and Holly conferred with Brittany about what to do next.

  Tyler walked toward Lanie, and she gave him credit for looking nonchalant. He stood next to her, keeping a respectable distance, but he turned his back to everyone and gave her a sexy smile.

  “Someone thinks you’re a hero,” she teased. “Your admirer.”

  The hopeful look on his face fell. “You mean Celesta.”

  “You two had a thing.”

  “Lanie…”

  “I don’t care.” She chuckled when she saw the surprise on his face. “Hey, I know you’ve been around, and I know it’s in the past.” She paused. “It is in the past, right?”

  “Distant past.”

  “How distant.”

  “Four years.”

  “Okay.”

  Holly set them up in their next pose, and Lanie whispered, “Any more crazy exes I should know about?”

  He paused.

  “Okay…let me rephrase that. Any other crazy exes I need to worry about in the foreseeable future?”

  “No.”

  She grinned up at him. “Good. Just wear a condom and we’re good.”

  He looked surprised, but she laughed. She might worry about his exes if they were going for something long term, but this would last a few weeks tops, because she was leaving Kansas City by the first week of October. The question was where she would end up.

  She and Aiden had left the baseball game early and gone to Gates Bar-B-Q. Between Aiden’s complaints that Kansas City barbecue had nothing on South Carolina dry rub, he’d laid out an impressive plan for his company and Lanie’s part in it.

  “I can’t match Margo Benson’s salary,” Aiden had admitted, “but I can give you a percentage of the company.” Then he grinned. “And a great dental plan.”

  She’d studied the figures on his laptop, and a knot had formed in the pit of her stomach.

  “What’s holding you back?” he asked. “Are you worried about us working together?”

  She’d looked into his face. “No. I think I’d love working with you. But it’s change, which makes it scary.”

  “From everything you’ve told me about your new VP, your days might be numbered anyway, so you’re smart to turn in your notice. Have you got any other leads?”

  “No. Honestly, I haven’t had a chance to look.”

  “You might want to put a few feelers out.”

  Or just take his offer. It was a great one. She could afford the pay cut, but something was holding her back. She just couldn’t put her finger on what.

  But her career options could wait until tomorrow. She was going to focus on the distraction next to her.

  Holly seemed thrown off by the police officer’s appearance and soon told them they were free to leave after reminding them to meet at a specific location in front of the Royals’ stadium for the next set of photos on Thursday night.

  “Since Aiden dropped you off,” Tyler said with a lazy grin, “you probably need a ride home.”

  Her eyebrows rose playfully. “Are you offering to make the sacrifice?”

  “I could be bribed.”

  She resisted the urge to kiss him. It was a good thing she only had a few weeks left or she could see herself possibly falling for him, which would be a disaster of epic proportions. She was sure the two women she’d run into from his past were just the tip of the iceberg. Tyler Norris had a shelf life. “Good,” she said. “But I need to talk to Randy first…alone.”

  He looked momentarily surprised but said, “I’ll help Holly load up her car.”

  “Great.” She made a beeline for Randy, who was deep in a conversation with Holly and Britt.

  “I still can’t believe that policeman,” Britt said, shaking her head. “Did he really think I was fishing wearing a wedding dress?”

  “He was a little overzealous, but we worked it out,” Randy said.

  Britt noticed as Lanie stopped next to them, and grabbed her arm. “Okay, I need to know all about the total cutie who dropped you off.”

  Randy squirmed. “I’m going to help Tyler.”

  “Actually, Randy,” Lanie said, “you’re the one I need to talk to.”

  Understanding filled his eyes, and he tilted his head, gesturing over to a picnic table about twenty feet away from the group.

  “You’re not getting out of giving me details that easily,” Britt said in warning.

  “I’ll tell you after I talk to Randy,” Lanie said. “Although I suspect you’ll be disappointed.”

  Britt started to protest, but Lanie rushed over to the table Randy had already moved to.

  “You know she’ll break you down,” he said with a grin. “Resistance is futile.”

  “She’ll truly be disappointed. He’s just a friend.”

  The look he gave her suggested that he didn’t believe her. “Hey, what you do with your personal life is your own business, but I suspect you didn’t ask me over here to talk about your love life.” He took a deep breath then looked uncomfortable. “I meant to talk to you Friday night, but things got a little chaotic, and I didn’t want to tell you on the phone.”

  Her heart sank. “You have bad news.”

  “Not really…More like a good news, bad news scenario.” His mouth twisted to the side. “First I have to make it very clear that everything you and I discuss is purely unofficial. Just me talking to my fiancée’s cousin. You are not my client.”

  Why was he acting so weird? “I don’t have any qualms about paying you, Randy.”

  “No.” He paused. “No. You can’t pay me…The company that filed the injunction hired my firm.”

  “What?” She realized she’d nearly shouted the word, then turned her back to the group.

  He leaned closer and lowered his voice. “I didn’t have anything to do with it, another attorney in the firm is handling the case, but me officially consulting with you could be seen as a conflict of interest. As far as I’m concerned, we never met in my office, and I’d prefer you keep it to yourself.”

  “Britt—”

  “Britt knows that our discussion wasn’t official, and I’ve reminded her the whole thing is confidential.”

  “But does she know about your firm filing the injunction?”

  “No, and I prefer to keep it that way.”

  Lanie was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that his firm was helping try to shut down her store, let alone the fact that he didn’t want his fiancée to know. “Are they going to try something else?”

  “Lanie, even if I knew I couldn’t tell you.”
<
br />   She pushed out a frustrated breath. “They’re screwing with my job, Randy.”

  “That’s the good news.”

  “It’s good news they’re screwing with my job?” she asked in disbelief.

  “No, but I’ve looked over your contract, and as long as you’ve had exemplary conduct during the course of your employment, you’ll receive a significant bonus when you leave. Have you had any disciplinary demerits in the past?”

  “No…But if anything stops this opening, I’ll get fired. That’s a pretty big demerit.”

  “The contract states that you’re required to give three weeks’ notice. Your bonus becomes structured after that. If you get a disciplinary reprimand during that time, your bonus will go down.”

  Her eyes widened. “How is that good news?”

  “They can’t give you a reprimand for a delay caused by an outside force. It’s in the contract. Only if it doesn’t open on time.”

  “So I can get a million delays, but as long as I open on time, I still get my bonus?”

  “A fifty-thousand-dollar bonus. So injunctions might still get filed against the store, but as long as the Margo Benson legal team keeps overturning them, you should be fine.”

  She sucked in a breath. “You figured out I’m opening a Margo Benson?”

  He leaned closer and cast a sideways glance toward the group. “It spread like wildfire once a paralegal told an assistant. But the firm thinks it’s contained.”

  “Thinks.” If word got out…just one more thing to worry about. “You realize you’re giving me advice that’s in conflict with your firm?”

  “Now you know why we never met in my office about your contract. You were there helping me figure out a wedding gift for Britt.” He hesitated. “So are you going to give your notice?”

  All of this scared the crap out of her, but it was the smart thing to do. Still, she wasn’t ready to pull the trigger just yet. “Yeah, in fact I have a solid lead on a new job. That’s where Aiden comes in. He’s an old friend and he offered me a job in Atlanta. We were discussing it this afternoon, and he offered to drop me off.”

  “You can’t tell Britt that.”

  Lanie’s jaw dropped. “What? Why not?”

  “She wants you to stay here. She’s already shed a few tears about you leaving.”