What was going on here? “Fine. I’m too old for her.”
“She’s twenty-seven. You’re what? Fifty?”
Michael felt a growl in the back of his throat. He was surprised he could still be offended. He’d thought he’d gotten past all that. “I’m thirty-five, asshole.”
If he’d intimidated Ty, the other man didn’t show it. “So not exactly a dinosaur. You’re eight years older than us.”
It was about far more than a number. “I wasn’t really talking about age. I was talking about experience. I’ve seen a lot of crap in my days.”
“And she grew up taking care of all her siblings in poverty I would bet you can’t truly understand,” Ty pointed out. “You aren’t living in squalor because you have to. You still own a house in Florida and have a decent-sized savings account. That place you live in isn’t the best you can do. It’s your choice. It’s your prison.”
He downed the rest of the whiskey and shoved out of the booth. “Good for you, kid. There’s your answer. I’m fucking messed up beyond all repair, and that’s why I can’t touch the princess.”
Ty followed him. It seemed to be the theme of the night. “That’s my point. She’s not a princess, man. She’s a woman who’s seen some shit, too. She doesn’t need a hero to come in and save her. I’m not saying she doesn’t need help every now and then. I hope that once I get her in bed, she’ll let me buy her a new car. It won’t be easy, but I can manage the payments when Mountain Adventures gets going again.”
He couldn’t say the kid didn’t work hard. He reached for the bottle. It was a blended whiskey he’d never heard of. God, he hoped it wasn’t one of Mel’s tonics. Still, he poured far too much of it into his glass. “I offered to loan her some money to fix her car.”
He’d done it the night of the Fall Festival. He’d helped her pack up the Trio stall and walked her back to that steaming pile of crap she drove. The battery had been dead. He’d given her a jump. She needed a new battery, but she said it would have to wait until next month.
She’d turned him down on the loan offer.
“There’s no fixing that car. I think it’s cursed,” Ty offered as he poured himself another margarita. He grabbed a can of lemon-lime soda and cut the drink with it. “And she’s real proud. She doesn’t want anyone to think she can’t handle things. That comes from being the oldest of five kids in a family that got a lot of visits from child services.”
His gut twisted at the thought. It pointed out that he knew very little about Lucy’s past. He knew quite a bit about her current life, but she didn’t talk about her parents at all. “Her childhood was that bad?”
“Like I said, there wasn’t a lot of money. Her dad was in and out of prison and her mom ditched her early on. Her dad kind of collected women who walked out. She had to hold things together or they would have been split up. She still behaves like everyone’s looking at her and if she’s not strong enough she’ll lose everything.”
“I didn’t know about that.” It explained a lot about how Lucy behaved.
“She doesn’t talk about it.” Ty slapped at the bar as though trying to make a point. “That’s why you need me.”
“I appreciate the info, but I meant what I said. I’m not good for her. She needs someone… I don’t know…shinier. If you stay close to her, I think she’ll turn to you eventually.” Ty was just about the shiniest person he knew. There was a sunniness to the man that sometimes made Michael want to punch him in the face. It was like the universe loved Tyler Davis and blessed him with warmth.
Michael got the darkness.
He would bet Tyler Davis wouldn’t have gotten tricked by a woman. He wouldn’t have lost his whole life because he loved the wrong person. No, Ty was going to end up with Lucy, and that made his gut curl with envy. It was time to give serious consideration to the offer he’d recently gotten. At first he’d blown it off, but the thought of watching as Lucy and Ty became a couple made him want to walk away. It might be time to start over again someplace new. If he stayed here in Bliss, he didn’t trust himself to not become the villain. The temptation Lucy offered might be too much to turn away. Keeping them apart would be wrong, especially when he knew damn well he couldn’t give her what Ty could.
“Or we can go after her together, give her everything she needs, and when you decide to go back to your life, I’ll be there to take care of her.”
Of all the things he’d thought he might hear this evening, that was the last. “What?”
There was a challenge in Ty’s blue eyes as he turned Michael’s way. “Tell me you aren’t thinking about going back to your old job.”
He’d allowed that Ty might know about his place in Florida. A couple of people knew he hadn’t sold his house there. But no one knew he’d met his boss in Alamosa last week. Susan Conners had somehow gotten his new number and asked him to join her for lunch. He’d thought about saying no, but he had to admit the thought of breaking up his everyday routine had been too tempting to avoid. The days had become a never-ending cycle. Again he blamed Nell. Until he’d followed her around, he hadn’t realized how much he’d missed work. “You have someone following me?”
“No. I just know everyone in Southern Colorado, and some of them I didn’t even sleep with,” Ty replied with a smirk. “So I know you met with your old supervisor from the US marshals. She wants you to come back, right?”
His former boss had offered him any number of ways to come back. Not all of them involved leaving Colorado. “I’m mulling over my options.”
“Then mull this one over, big guy.” There was nothing about Ty’s manner that told him he was anything but serious. “I’m offering to share Lucy with you until you leave town.”
The words went through him like a shot, leaving him damn near speechless. He sat there for a moment and then forced the question out of his mouth. “Why the hell would you do that?”
Ty leaned forward, his voice going low. “Because everyone gets what they need. Lucy gets to satisfy her curiosity about you. You get to have her. I get to keep her. I don’t care about the sex. I mean I do care about the sex. I want the sex, but I’m not going to be some jealous asshole who freaks out when my woman even looks at another man.”
“She would be doing more than looking.” He didn’t like the way his whole body had tightened at the hint of a possibility of getting in Lucy’s bed. He definitely didn’t like the voice that had opened up at Ty’s words. The one that told him this was what he’d been waiting for, that he should go for it, that Ty was offering him the best of all worlds.
“My love for Lucy goes beyond the idea that I’m the only man who’ll ever touch her. Besides, after we’re married there won’t be any more sharing,” Ty said, that American-hero jaw of his going straight. “She can get you out of her system, and you can do the same with her. You can both move on.”
“And if she falls for me?” He knew it wouldn’t happen, but he found he couldn’t quite hold back the words. Ty was standing there challenging him, and he needed to do the same.