Ty shrugged. “I have no idea, man, but as long as we’re having it, you should know that I call bullshit.”
“Bullshit?”
Ty nodded sagely. “Bullshit.”
“What is that supposed to mean? You can’t just call bullshit. You have no idea what I’ve been through and what I’m capable of.”
“I know you’re real damn capable of being a jerk, but you’re not with Lucy. You grumble and growl your way through everything, but when she walks in a room you’re suddenly a big old ball of jelly.”
He did not like the thought of that. “I am not.”
“Are, too.” Ty sounded like a kid on a playground. Rubber and glue.
There was a laugh from the group of women across the café, and Michael turned to glance over. Lucy was sitting in the middle of the women, and she was so pretty it hurt. Dark hair and big eyes that kicked him in the gut every time he saw her. He wasn’t quite sure why she did it for him. He worried that it was about the fact that she was the polar opposite of Jessie.
“There. That look on your face is precisely why this could work,” Ty said.
It was time to stop being a wishy-washy prick. He needed to be in or out, and having the conversation with himself wasn’t fixing the problem. His brain told him this was a bad idea and it would end up hurting someone. His dick thought it was a perfect idea. So he needed to put it out there and make a logical decision. He could still make those. “I don’t see what I bring to the table. Even in the short term.”
His dick saw exactly what he brought, but then his dick might have an overinflated sense of importance.
Ty considered the statement for a moment. “Lucy wants you. You coming in for the short term means Luce gets to satisfy her curiosity, and she won’t wonder if it could have worked. Because according to you, it won’t.”
It was perverse since he’d literally said the words about fifty times now, but he wanted to argue. “So I’m just the second dick.”
“Do you want to be more?”
That was the question. It was the idea that he wouldn’t have any responsibility that made him say yes in the first place. But then morning had come, and he’d started to wonder what the hell he was doing. “I don’t know.”
“Here you go.” Shannon slid a plate in front of him. Eggs, bacon, toast. His usual.
“Thank you, ma’am.” Ty’s eyes had a sparkle in them as he looked down at his plate.
When was the last time he’d been so enthusiastic about something simple? About anything at all? The last few years had been misery and self-punishment. But still the idea of being nothing more than a curiosity rankled.
“You want half?” Ty gestured to his apple fritter. “It’s delicious but Doc says I should watch my cholesterol. I thought maybe half of it could go into you.”
He was a dork. “You should stop eating like a five-year-old. You’re a medical professional. You shouldn’t walk around eating fried dough for breakfast.”
“It isn’t breakfast,” Ty countered. “The omelet is for breakfast. The fritter is my breakfast dessert.”
“There’s no such thing.”
Ty chuckled as if he’d said the stupidest thing ever. “Of course there is. There’s dessert for lunch and dinner. There’s one for breakfast, too.”
“First of all, there isn’t a lunch dessert. Second, how do you not weigh five hundred pounds?” Michael suddenly feared for Ty’s arteries.
“I run a lot. The whole EMT thing keeps a man on his toes. People don’t think you’re serious about saving them if you don’t run. Then there’s picking up people. That helps with the upper body work.” Ty’s smile faded. “Damn. Cassidy is pointing our way. Have you done anything that might indicate alien possession?”
He turned slightly and sure enough, Cassidy was pointing their way, and she wasn’t the only one to notice them. The whole table had turned, and he decided he didn’t particularly like having all that attention from the women of Bliss.
Lucy stood, picking up the plate of food that had been placed in front of her. Her shoulders squared and she started walking toward them.
“Damn. Okay, so I’m going to need you to back me up, brother,” Ty said.
What the hell had put that glint in Lucy’s eyes? That stare of hers promised retribution. What exactly did she think was about to happen?
She ignored him completely and put the plate down on the table in front of Ty. It landed with a smack but nothing fell off. “Did you do this?”
Ty’s hands came up in the universal gesture of surrender. “I did not make any pancakes this morning. None. I’ve been sitting right here with my friend, Mike. Haven’t been in the kitchen at all, have I?”
She frowned. “That’s not what I meant and you know it, Ty. I don’t know what you’re up to, but I’m not playing around. You don’t get to do all this sneaky stuff to get me to…what? What are you trying to do?”
Ty muttered something but Michael was stuck on what a brat she was being. Ty had to play those games because she wouldn’t allow him to help her and why?
She was saying something to Ty about keeping his nose out of her business, and he’d had about enough of that.
“Lucy, pick up that damn plate, go back to your table, and eat your breakfast. He sent it to you anonymously because he can’t stand the thought of you going hungry.” Michael eased out of the booth, standing over her. “And you’re acting like a woman who doesn’t care about anything but her own feelings, and I don’t think that’s who you want to be.”
Lucy’s big eyes had widened, and for a moment he thought she was going to walk away without saying a thing. “What are you two doing together?”
“Baby, we’re only talking,” Ty said, watching them both. “He doesn’t believe in breakfast dessert.”
Her gaze shifted between the two of them. “I don’t understand.”
He did have something to add to this. Discipline. Control. She obviously needed a little, responded to a lot. Tyler kind of did, too. He would have sat there and taken her emotional outburst without confronting her about the problem. “We’re negotiating.”
“About what?” The question was a little puff coming out of her mouth. Like she was deathly afraid of the answer.
“Go out with us tonight and find out.” Had he meant that air of challenge to the question?
Hell, yeah he had. Now that he was standing in front of her, his blood thrummed through his system. All of their encounters before this had been polite, stilted in the way that two awkward people could be. They’d tiptoed around each other, but the insertion of Ty had given her a confidence she hadn’t had before. He liked it. But she needed that sassiness only when it was deserved.
“Go out? I…I…” She seemed to stumble with her reply.
“You wanted me to make sure the flue in the fireplace is working before it gets too cold,” Ty reminded her. “I can do that tonight. I’ll pick us up some dinner and beer, and maybe we can watch a movie.”
“I…” She didn’t seem to be able to get past that one word.