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Michael stood a few feet away, his brow crinkling in confusion as Tyler came to a stop beside her. He hadn’t shaved in a couple days, and while she used to like the ruggedly sexy look on him, now he looked unappealing as hell.
Amazing how a man calling off your wedding could do that sort of thing to a girl.
A few months ago, she’d thought he was the best thing that had ever happened to her. A man no one else could live up to.
And now?
Just standing near him put a sour taste in her mouth.
Michael’s gaze swept between her and Tyler, realization crossing his face. His gaze briefly trailed over her clingy blouse and full breasts. Tracked back up to meet her gaze. “I didn’t realize you were seeing anyone.”
Melissa stiffened, leaning ever-so-slightly into Tyler.
How was she supposed to explain this? She didn’t exactly want to tell her ex that he was just her client. That he was friends with Jason and Amy.
Tyler wrapped his arm her shoulder, pulling her close. “You must be the ex-fiancé,” he said with a smirk. “I’ve heard all about you.”
Michael frowned.
“Tyler Braxton,” Tyler said, holding out a muscled hand.
Michael cleared his throat, finally gripping Tyler’s hand and introducing himself.
“We were just headed out, right, beautiful?” Tyler said.
Melissa recovered, plastering a smile on her face. “That’s right, snookums,” she said sweetly as Tyler choked back a laugh. She slid her arm around his waist, nestling into his solid frame. “We should get going. I know you’re tired after being up all last night. You’re insatiable, aren’t you?”
She glanced up at him and smiled, amusement twinkling in Tyler’s eyes.
“Some people say that,” he admitted.
“I should get going,” Michael choked out.
“Absolutely,” Tyler agreed. “I prefer having Melissa all to myself.”
He smirked as Michael clenched his jaw, and then they were continuing on their way, Tyler seeming to know where she was parked. Melissa glanced back over her shoulder, watching her ex hurry away. He nearly bumped into a couple leaving the bar in his haste to get inside.
“How’d you know this was my car?” she asked Tyler.
“I saw it this morning. Did you forget you’d parked right in the driveway?”
Melissa blew out an exasperated sigh, pulling away from him. She instantly missed the warmth of his body, but that didn’t mean they needed to stand here in the parking lot with their arms around each other.
They weren’t dating or something.
They weren’t anything.
“I didn’t realize you had such a memory for detail. Thank you for walking me to my car,” she said, her gaze darting back to the restaurant as the doors swung shut behind Michael.
Tyler raised a brow. “And you’re welcome for rescuing you back there.”
“Hmmph. I could’ve handled it myself.”
“You could have,” he agreed. “Maybe I have a thing for damsels in distress.”
“Maybe I’m not in distress,” she countered.
His full lips quirked. “Maybe not. Doesn’t mean I minded holding you close. I’ll see you tomorrow, beautiful. Drive safely.”
Her mouth dropped open in surprise, and he chuckled. “I never imagined you as the type to be rendered speechless.”
“I never imagined you as the type to have manners.”
He chuckled, taking the keys from her. His fingers briefly caressed hers, and she startled at his touch. At the warmth of his skin brushing against hers. Tyler clicked the key fob and opened the door to her SUV, gently guiding her inside before handing the keys back over. “You’re cold,” he said in a low voice. “And it’s been a long night.”
She opened her mouth, but before she could even utter a response, he was shutting the door. Turning away.
She locked the doors and then started the engine, watching in the rearview mirror as Tyler disappeared into the parking lot. He was a puzzle, that one. Shoot, knowing him, he was probably heading back into the bar for another beer and a new woman for the night. And not that she knew him.
He seemed to enjoy that silly little act they’d put on for Michael. Wrapping his arm around her shoulder and pulling her close. Never mind that their little performance was over the second it started.
She had enough to worry about without letting her ex get under her skin.
So what if he thought she’d moved on already. It served him right.
Pulling her phone from her clutch, she sent her sister a text.
Call me the moment you hear anything. Day or night. I’m headed home. Xoxo
Her phone buzzed almost immediately with Becky’s reply.
I will. I just keep telling myself this is all a misunderstanding. That Brody is fine.
Melissa nodded to herself, thumbing a quick response.
Of course he’s fine. He has to be.
Becky didn’t respond immediately, and she sighed. Not knowing had to be worse than knowing the truth, didn’t it?
***
Tyler sauntered across the parking lot, grumbling. Since when did he help a woman into her car and then leave? That wasn’t exactly his style. Ever. Normally he’d be taking a woman home from the bar, not sending her on her merry way. Hell, hadn’t he done exactly that last night?
Jason and Amy were still inside, ordering dinner, but once Melissa had said she was leaving, he’d decided to call it a night, too.
And wasn’t that unexpected.
Jason wouldn’t have been surprised in the least if Tyler had gone back in and chatted up a woman. He just wasn’t in the mood for a random hookup though. Not when the memory of Melissa in his arms was emblazoned in his brain.
Her soft curves pressed up against him.
Her silky red hair swishing around every time she moved.
Women like that were dangerous—used to attracting men wherever they went. If he wasn’t careful, she’d have him eating right out of her hand.
Odd that he felt protective of her though. Despite the façade she put on for the world, he sensed there was something more vulnerable and fragile beneath. Maybe it was that her ex had called off their wedding. Maybe it was something else.
Not that he’d ever find out. He’d meet her tomorrow, hopefully find a home in the next week or so, and then move on with his life. Move in to his house, meet a new woman every week. Continue on as life had always been.
His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he pulled it out, answering in a low voice.
“Tyler, bro, we’re all down at the pool hall,” his friend Braden said. Tyler heard voices and the crack of the cue ball in the background, followed by a round of laughter. “I thought you were meeting us here.”
Tyler muttered a curse. That had been the plan—until Jason had mentioned Melissa’s name. He wouldn’t normally hang out with his buddy and girlfriend, but when they’d mentioned her?
Game over.
He’d ditched his buddies just to see the look on her face when she’d shown up at the bar.
And hell it had been worth it.
Wide eyes. Full breasts bouncing as she moved. Those pink lips he couldn’t get enough of. And that gorgeous red hair. “I swung by the bar for a drink. Met up with Jason and a couple of others. I’ll be there in thirty.”
Braden chuckled. “A drink, huh? We’ve got pitchers of beers here. I don’t suppose she has a name?”
“Who?” Tyler asked as he climbed into his SUV.
“The woman you’re not taking home with you tonight.”
He chuckled. “I’m taking a night off,” he said, starting the engine. He revved it a couple of times, feeling his SUV rumble beneath him. Hell if he wouldn’t mind off-roading through some of the open space around here. Taking his baby out for a drive over the open land. On a gorgeous night like tonight, he could cut through the field and head down to the lake. Not that that sort of thing was fun alone.
But with a blanket and beautiful woman? A private night under the open sky was damn perfect. He couldn’t exactly drag a woman he’d just met at the bar out there though.
It was too secluded for a woman to agree to go with a man she just met.
And he wasn’t the type to have a serious girlfriend.
Maybe a group of them could head over one weekend. Bring a cooler of beers and some women and enjoy the night air. Briefly, Melissa flashed through his mind, but he brushed that thought aside. Even if she was friends with Jason and Amy, it didn’t mean he’d be taking her along with him.
“Uh-huh,” Braden said, drawing his mind back to the present. “More like you crashed and burned, which isn’t your usual MO. Liam and Grayson are already here. We all know Jason never joins us. Get your ass over here.”
“Yeah, yeah. Don’t get your panties in a twist. I’m on my way.”
Twenty minutes later he was pulling into the pool hall on the outskirts of town. The well-worn florescent sign hung above the front door, and paint was beginning to peel on the exterior of the building. A few guys stood around outside smoking, and he pulled into the lot, gravel crunching beneath his tires.
The bar they usually frequented was in the small town near Quantico—full of plenty of local women eager to meet a Marine. Although the pool hall had a rougher crowd, he and his buddies never ran into trouble.
No one was about to mess with a group of military men.
Pulling into a free space, he crossed the gravel lot, stuffing his keys into his front pocket.
Ironic how he’d just tucked Melissa into her fancy SUV and then headed over here. A woman like that was probably used to being wined and dined. Hadn’t she said her honeymoon was supposed to be in fucking Bora Bora?
Not that he was exactly piss poor or something. He’d saved his hard-earned cash to make a down payment on a house. Had learned the value of a dollar from his working-class parents.
That didn’t mean he and Melissa didn’t come from different worlds though.
Maybe he was comfortable now, but that didn’t mean he didn’t know what it meant to do without. He had a feeling she’d been handed everything on a silver platter her entire life. Maybe she worked hard as a realtor now, but he was willing to bet mommy and daddy had helped pay for her college education.
He’d joined the Marines at eighteen to make something of himself. Just like most of the other guys he knew.
Pulling open the door to the pool hall, he strode inside. Low music thumped over the speakers, conversations carried on around him, and he heard some of the waitresses giggling as a few patrons tried to chat them up. He paid for a couple of rounds of pool and headed off to the back where his buddies were.
They liked the corner table to see what was going on around them. That and years of training in the military had made them constantly aware of their surroundings. They could easily see who was coming and going from there.
Not that he expected to run into trouble.
Sauntering across the room, Braden looked up and chuckled. “About time you showed up,” he said with a grin.
“You fellas missed me?” Tyler said with a smirk. “Or you couldn’t meet any women without me around.” He shrugged out of his leather jacket and grabbed an empty pilsner glass, pouring himself a beer from the full pitcher. An empty one already sat to the side.
“In your dreams, pretty boy,” Braden said. “Liam’s been flirting with the waitresses all night long. Grayson and I need someone who’s actually ready to play pool.”
“Hey now,” Liam said with a laugh, running his hand through his cropped blond hair. His blue eyes glinted with amusement. “How many times have we watched you chase tail, bro?”
“Hoorah,” Grayson said, sauntering up to them. “So, who’s the babe?” he asked Tyler. “You’re late because you were grabbing drinks with a woman?”
“There’s no babe,” he said, a wave of protectiveness washing over him. So what if he did find Melissa hot as hell? He didn’t want his buddies imagining what she looked like. He didn’t want them thinking of her at all.
“I guess not since you’re here with us. What happened to the woman from last night?” Grayson asked. “She get bored of you already?”
“Too clingy. I could hardly get her to leave this morning.”
“Shit, next time go to her place,” Braden said with a chuckle. “Disappear in the middle of the night like any self-respecting Marine.”
“Well that’s classy as fuck,” Tyler said. “I don’t always stay the night, but I do give them a parting gift before I go on my merry way.”
“A parting gift,” Braden snorted.
Tyler leaned back against the pool table, taking a swig of the hoppy brew. “A couple of orgasms never hurt anyone. Leaves them wanting more.”
“So that’s why your name and number’s plastered all over the ladies’ room,” Liam quipped.
“And you would know, asshole,” Tyler said.
“And yet you still went for drinks with a woman and didn’t take her home? Most be true love,” Grayson countered, grabbing his cue.
“Hell, she’s my realtor,” Tyler said, walking over to pick up his own. He set his glass down on the table. “I need a house, not a beautiful woman for the night.”
“What’s the rush?” Liam asked, walking back over to them. “You’ve got a decent apartment.”
“I’ve gotta move out of my apartment. They’re converting them to condos or some shit like that.”
“So buy that,” Braden said. “Problem solved.”
“I’m ready to have a place of my own. I could just do another rental, but I’ve had it with landlords and small one-bedrooms.”
“Think you’ll stick around Virginia long enough to make buying a house worth it?” Braden asked, raising his eyebrows. “I’m only here two years before my next assignment.”
“That’s the plan. I’ve been deployed damn near enough times. After this stint at Quantico is over, I’ll be leaving active duty. Maybe working at the Pentagon. I hate to say it, but a desk job is sounding pretty good right now.”
Grayson shook his head, racking the balls. “I can’t see it, man. You, at a nine-to-five desk job? No fucking way.”
Tyler shrugged. “What the hell are we doing on base now?”
“Temporary duty. Training the young ‘uns.”
Tyler smirked. “Hell, if you want to get deployed again, go for it. I’m just saying I’ve had my fill. When my last two years are up, I’m out.”
Braden walked over, taking a swig of his beer. “All right, boys, enough chit chat. Let’s play some pool.”
