He matches me swipe for swipe, nip for nip, one hand buried in my hair at the back of my neck, and the other pulling me closer as I feel his control begin to break. He uses the last thread of strength to pull away, his forehead pressed against mine as his chest heaves while he maintains his close hold on me.
“Carousel and then hotel,” I tell him.
He kisses me and then nods.
I kiss him a final time and take a step back, wrapping my hand in his and leading him back to where Nessie and Coop are in line for the two-story carousel that is lit and playing a friendly tune.
Somehow, everything feels better. The breeze, each laugh, every breath—are all more significant as we climb onto the carousel that feels like pages out of a picture book. We spin in slow circles, looking out across the pier and the crowds of people and the bay, and with each full rotation, my gaze comes back to Tyler.
On our way back to the hotel, our steps are rushed, forcing us to stop for Nessie and Cooper so they can catch up with us on multiple occasions as our eyes continue to linger on each other, silently undressing the other one as our thoughts and desires wander, quickly becoming increasingly difficult to rein in.
The elevator ride to the suite feels like torture as I breathe him in, imagining the feel of his hands on me—in me.
“Since Ty is off tomorrow and I don’t think there’s a chance in hell Cooper is going to agree to see the bridge again, do we need to have anything but our IDs to get into the event tomorrow if we separate?” Vanessa asks, breaking my focus.
I blink through my lust and nod. “I have tickets. I don’t know if they’re required, but they sent them to me. I have them in here…” I grab the thin stack of tickets in the front pocket of my purse and pull them out as we step into the suite. As I do, a card floats to the ground. Tyler bends to grab it, his brows furrowing as he turns it over.
“Avery? Why do you have his card?”
My heart beats to a different, quicker pace at the recollection. “It’s nothing.”
He pulls his chin back, accusation darkening his eyes as he flips it along his fingers like a magic trick. “You just happen to have his private mobile phone number?” He flips the card around to show me the number handwritten on the back.
“You’re making this sound like something when it’s nothing. Believe me, it’s less than nothing. He put it in there, and I meant to throw it away.”
He leans back, all confidence and swagger, and as far from being the Tyler I’ve begun to know since this trip began. “Then why didn’t you tell me?”
“I could tell you guys had some history or issue or whatever, and I didn’t want to make it worse. And I knew this was his attempt to make it worse.”
His eyebrows jump, his eyes rounding with disbelief. “So, it’s nothing, but you decided to keep it?”
“I didn’t keep it. I forgot it was there. I don’t want it. Throw it away.”
He rips it in half and in half again, dropping the shredded pieces to the floor. “Why’d he give you his number? What did he want you to get from me?”
Confusion furrows my brow. “From you?”
Tyler grabs an empty tumbler glass that held the whiskey he and Coop had been drinking while we’d waited on the patio for our bags to be unpacked and throws it at the wall. It shatters and rains across the dark hardwood. “He’s stolen ten-fucking-million dollars from me. Tell me what the fuck he wanted.”
“What the fuck, dude?” Cooper steps forward.
I raise a hand to stop him.
Cooper’s eyes are wide with warning. “You need to chill,” Coop warns.
Tyler doesn’t even give him the courtesy of a glance. His eyes remain glued to mine.
“Mind games,” I tell him. “He was trying to play a mind game.”
“I swear to God, if you helped him…”
I pull my chin back like he’s just slapped me because in many ways, he has. “Are you kidding me? You think he wanted my help stealing from you? You think I’ve been in on this for however many months—years—it’s been that he’s been doing this?” I let my questions settle for only a second before I slap him with the truth. “He accused me of being a prostitute. He assumed you hired me, and he wanted my services. And I kind of wanted to punch him in the face because my tolerance for assholes who treat me like an object is already in the negative thanks to another asshole who tried to force himself on me, but I didn’t because I could tell you two were both competing to be the alpha. I assumed it was a head game for you, but considering you hired a hooker to make out with you, who knows? Maybe he was right to assume I was a whore.”
The anger in his blue eyes magnifies and expands as he remains still, too still—scary still.
“What in the fuck are you talking about?” he asks, his voice menacing. “Forced himself? Who the fuck tried to force himself on you?”
I shake my head. “I handled it. There’s nothing to talk about. It’s done.”
“Not a chance,” Cooper says, stepping forward, his shoulders tight with anger. “What in the hell are you talking about?”
I glance at Nessie, feeling this situation spiraling faster than I can stop it.
She has both hands raised on top of her head, her eyes glassy. “You need to talk about it.”
“I don’t because there’s nothing to talk about. This conversation is about him,” I point at Tyler, “accusing me of aiding and abetting a criminal. It has nothing to do with that.”
“It has to do with you never telling me anything,” Tyler yells.
My eyes snap to him. “I didn’t need you to save me. I don’t need saving. Whether it’s money or muscles or whatever, I don’t need it—I don’t want it. Don’t you understand?”
“Did you know?” Cooper asks, drawing my attention as he looks at Nessie.
She looks like a deer caught in the headlights, her loyalty to me cutting impossibly close to her affections for him.
“Of course…” Cooper scoffs as he shakes his head, moving into the suite that now feels like a maze, surrounded by traps and unfriendly surprises as I move my attention back to Tyler, my anger is too strong to care about his.
“Tell me what happened, or I swear to God…”
“What?” I ask, challenging him though a voice in my head is tirelessly working to pull in the reins and tell me to calm down.
He sneers. “You have an hour to tell me.”
“Or what?”
“I start going down the list of shitheads you’ve dated and fuck up all of their lives. And then I find out the name of every guy who so much as looked at you wrong and do the same.”
I laugh, though I want to scream. I hate that he’s trying to flex his power. I hate it even more that I don’t doubt he would. “You’re such an asshole.” I spin toward the bedroom, hating another thing as I realize I don’t have my own space in this hotel.
“You have one hour,” he says. His shoes clip against the floor, and then the elevator dings as it opens.
Nessie is at my side before I even realize the tears are coating my face, chasing the previous ones in a rapid race to dampen my sweatshirt.
“What just happened?” I ask her, feeling myself deflate now that Tyler stormed away.