Holy canolli—there he was. Prince Edward Bernard Wallace IV, heir to the throne of Andera. The guy was actual royalty. Rich, well-educated royalty. And instead of leering at Calli’s cleavage or making inappropriate sexual innuendos, he was asking about her work. And actually listening to her answers.
Calli asked Annabelle about her favorite books, trying to draw her into the conversation, but it was hard to discuss literature when Calli and Edward were staring at each other like they’d unlocked the secrets of the universe.
She hung in there for a while, sipping her champagne and making sure Edward didn’t set off any of her sleazy-guy sensors. He seemed genuinely absorbed in his conversation with Calli. So much so that he hadn’t even glanced at the beautiful women all around the bar. Calli was the only one in the room he was interested in, which made Annabelle’s sacred best-friend duty clear. She needed to make herself scarce.
“Sorry, you two—I’m not much of a conversationalist right now. My head is pounding.”
“Oh no!” Calli said. “Too much vodka?”
The prince made a vague motion with one hand, and, all of a sudden, there was a tall glass of ice water and an aspirin in front of her. “Drink. You will feel better.”
“Thank you. But I think I’ll head home and get some sleep.”
“Of course.” Calli grabbed her purse, such a good friend it didn’t occur to her that ditching royalty to escort Annabelle home went way beyond her job description.
“You stay.” Annabelle shoved Calli back into her chair. “I don’t need your help to get a cab.”
“But if your head is bothering you…”
“It’s not that bad. I’m more tired than anything else. So I think it would be better for everyone—” she tilted her head toward the prince “—if we said goodnight here.”
“Oh. Oh.” Calli hugged her. “Thank you. You’re the best friend in the world.”
“Right back at you.” She pitched her voice low enough that neither the prince nor his entourage could hear. “But promise me you’re going to make him work for it. Just because he’s royalty doesn’t mean he gets lucky on the first date.”
“As long as you promise that next time we go out, we can focus on finding you a man.”
“Sure.” Annabelle even managed a smile as she said it. But as soon as she was in the elevator, the smile collapsed. She was happy for her friend. Thrilled. But she couldn’t help wishing that someone would look at her the way Edward had been looking at Calli. Someone intelligent and kind and—
She cut off the thought, but it was too late. A distinct image had already formed in her mind.
Ty.
CHAPTER 7
AS THE TAXI pulled up in front of Annabelle’s building, she made the mistake of glancing at her phone. Nine-thirty PM, and she was home, walking up the same, pathetic stairs to the same, pathetic doorstep, where—
She stopped short.
Right there, in front of the same door she walked through every morning and evening, was Ty.
He was dark and disheveled and obviously pissed off, and every muscle in her body strained toward him.
All at once, she was wide awake. Wired. Like her entire body was aware that something important was about to happen.
Ridiculous. This was just her body’s natural response to being in close proximity to a hot guy.
Except, being near the prince hadn’t done this to her. The prince hadn’t had stubble. Or biceps that could—
“This is for you.”
“Huh?” She’d been so busy checking out his muscles, she hadn’t noticed the bouquet. Gerbera daisies. The mixture of magenta and white was as cheerful as a summer morning even in the dim porch light.
She had it clasped to her chest before she realized what she was doing.
What the heck was going on? She’d been sure he’d disappear as soon as he read her note.
She cleared her throat and tried to remember how to make words come out of her mouth. “You remembered my favorite flowers.”
“How could I forget? You were so afraid I’d get the wrong kind, you wouldn’t let me buy your corsage.”
Digging her keys out of her purse and opening the door provided a convenient excuse to avert her face. The sad fact was, she’d been afraid he’d stand her up if he was responsible for anything more than showing up at her house. It had seemed too good to be true that the popular jock every girl wanted had accepted her invitation to prom. Sure enough, it had been.
She shook the memory off. A bouquet proved nothing. Ty had probably picked them up at the grocery store while he was stocking up on beer.
“Thank you, but it’s been a long day. I need to get some sleep.” She walked through the door without making eye contact.
Big mistake. She didn’t notice Ty following her until he was inside the apartment.
He closed the door, and her already small living room shrunk to the size of a damselfly egg.
She sighed. “What are you doing here?”
“We have plans, remember? Your tutoring session?”
“No.”
“Just no?” He sounded more curious than pissed off. “You’re not gonna bother telling me you have a headache or you already made plans with a friend, or you need to organize your sock drawer?”
“It’s inappropriate for the two of us to be together. I can’t go out with a student, even if it’s not a real—”
“Already taken care of. I switched out of your section this morning.”
She folded her arms across her chest. “It doesn’t matter, anyway. I don’t want to go out with you.” It felt surprisingly good to say it. To take a stand.
“Because you don’t think I can help you? Or because you’re afraid to try?”
Because you already broke my heart once, and if I let you in, you’ll do it again. “What does it matter? Either way, there’s nothing in it for you.”
“See, sweetheart, that’s where you’re wrong.” He moved in like a leopard stalking his prey, not even taking his gaze from her for long enough to blink. “I’ve been a shit friend. I realize that now. But I want to make it up to you.”
Her whole body shivered, like he’d whispered the words against her bare skin.
She took a step back. She needed to get away, but there wasn’t enough space in her apartment to keep her safe from Ty. There wasn’t enough space in the universe.
His eyes burned into her. “I need you in my life.”
She came up against the counter dividing the kitchen from the living room. And then Ty was right in front of her, his big body caging her in.
“So what’s it gonna be?”
She couldn’t leave with him. She couldn’t risk something that felt so much like a date without all those old, dangerous fantasies resurfacing. And they lived happily ever after.
“I…” She tried to make herself say it. Three simple words. I’m not interested. That shouldn’t be so difficult.
But every time she breathed, she inhaled Ty’s scent—soap and sun and man. Her traitor body leaned toward his. He hadn’t even kissed her, and she was already more turned on than Christian had ever gotten her. Darn it.
Her fist clenched around what she was pretending was his neck, and something cold dripped onto her arm.
The flowers—she was crushing them.
Longing pierced through the desire. The anger.
She wanted everything those flowers symbolized. A healthy relationship. A chance at Happily Ever After.
It wasn’t going to happen with Ty, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t help her. Maybe he was right, and a little one-on-one tutoring really was all she needed. If there was even the slightest chance, she owed it to herself to try.
“Okay.” She forced herself to meet his gaze, despite the butterflies doing battle inside her stomach. “But if we’re going to do this, I need…”
“Name it.”
“Rules. Parameters.”
“Whatever you want.” His gentle tone was a stark c
ontrast to his determined, predatory gaze. “You’re safe with me.”
Her stomach dipped and swayed, like she’d reached the top of a roller coaster. Except this wasn’t some amusement park ride that had been tested by millions. This was her life. And she wasn’t safe. But, for whatever reason—the dress, the promise she’d made to herself in the mirror, that temporary illusion of control she’d had while looking out of the window at Top Shelf—she was going to do this anyway. “I don’t want this to drag on. Just long enough to…you know. Fix me. Or decide it’s not going to happen.”
“And how are you gonna make that call?”
“Simple.” It didn’t feel simple. Not with Ty watching her expectantly. But she forced herself to go on. “Five nights. Five lessons. If that’s not enough to get me over my issues and into bed with you, we call it quits.”
Her heart thrashed against her ribcage, and her lungs stopped working entirely. Why had she said that? Ty had offered to tutor her, not become her personal gigolo.
“Why five nights?” he asked, like the time limit was the only strange part of this arrangement, and she remembered how to breathe.
“It’s enough that there won’t be any expectations. No messy emotional involvement. And then we can go back to being friends, like none of this ever happened.”
“Fair enough.”
Sweat gathered at the back of her neck. Was she really going to do this? No matter how many rules she specified, it was impossible to guarantee her heart wouldn’t become involved.
“Anything else? Particular areas you want to cover? How far you want these lessons to go?”
“No crazy roleplaying or bondage. Just your basic, everyday sex.”
“I can work with that.” Not even a hint of a grin pulled at his lips.
She was sliding toward the edge of a cliff, barely clinging to the dirt with her fingernails. “Then I guess we’re ready.” Her voice came out amazingly steady, considering the circumstances. “Let’s get started.”
*
Annabelle heard the music even before she noticed the wrought-iron sign marking the club’s entrance—a mixture of guitar, bass, saxophone, and trumpet that was impossible to ignore. Her hips swung, syncing to the beat, like she was already dancing with Ty’s strong arms around her. God help her, but she wanted this.
“ID?” the bouncer asked.
He glanced at her license for a second, then moved on, his flashlight spotlighting Ty’s hands.
They were callused. Rough enough that she’d feel every ridge if he touched her. She’d know it was Ty.
Her skin prickled with awareness.
She swallowed. Forced her gaze away.
Ty’s hand found the bare skin behind her shoulders. He was barely touching her, but she felt every inch of contact like a brand.
It took all her concentration to navigate the narrow staircase. With each step, the darkness was more complete, the music louder. The bass crawled under her skin and the trumpet blared inside her chest, until she wasn’t listening to the music, but living inside it.
She strode through the double doors leading into the club like she belonged there.
Old fashioned lanterns illuminated a bar running the length of the room. A giant chandelier over the middle of the dance floor gave just enough light to show the dancers gliding into complicated spins and crossovers. One woman flew through the air, did a flip, and landed in her partner’s arms, so confident he was going to catch her that she’d risked a concussion.
Annabelle stopped short. She could never do that.
“I need a drink,” she shouted over the music.
Ty changed course immediately, leading her toward the bar. It was lined with couples. Couples standing back to front, so close they seemed melded together. Couples sitting in each other’s laps. Couples making out.
Ty ushered her into a small empty space, forming a human barrier around her so that she wouldn’t be jostled by the crowd.
Anyone who looked at them would assume they were like those other couples. And, for a moment, she let herself pretend they were, closing her eyes and relaxing into Ty’s touch.
His hand slid down her back. She shivered, all her awareness centering on that small patch of skin where he was touching her.
She wanted more of him. That hand spreading wide, pulling her against him, until their lips—
Desire morphed into panic. She clapped a hand over her mouth, like she needed a physical barrier to prevent Ty from moving in for a kiss, even though he hadn’t budged.
She couldn’t feel the music anymore—only sickness rising in her throat. Her brain filled with all the curse words she was always scolding her siblings for using. Even in her imagination, she couldn’t behave like a normal woman.
She took a deep breath through her nose and swallowed and swallowed, until the bile burned her stomach. At least she was no longer in danger of throwing up all over Ty’s jeans.
What she needed was some liquid courage, but the bartender was deep in conversation with a blonde wearing only half a shirt.
What the heck were they talking about? How long did it take to order a cosmo?
The blonde ran her hand over Bartender’s pecs, and the last of Annabelle’s patience evaporated.
“Excuse me!” she shouted. “I need two shots of vodka! It’s an emergency!”
The blonde didn’t look happy, but the bartender poured vodka into two shot glasses. He slid the shots onto the bar.
Ty grinned. “Ordering for me already?”
She downed the first shot. For once, she welcomed the burn. It muted the potency of Ty’s gaze. “Who says that second shot is for you?”
She hadn’t entirely been joking, but Ty downed the shot before she could claim it. “Ready?”
One word, but it was so full of heat it almost singed her.
“Uhm…” She squeezed her empty glass. Were they just going to start going at it like the couple next to them? Why had he brought her to a club for this? It was dark, but it wasn’t that dark.
The woman next to Annabelle angled her head, slipping her date some tongue, and where the heck had the bartender gone, because Annabelle hadn’t had nearly enough alcohol to pull that off. “I need another drink. Since you stole my other shot.”
“Later.” Ty extracted the empty glass from her hand. He set it on the bar, along with a twenty. “There’s gonna be a lot of spinning. Don’t want you to hurl on my shoes.”
“Spinning?”
He stood. “C’mon. This is an awesome song.”
He wanted to dance? What kind of a lesson was that? “Uhm…I don’t really dance.”
“You danced at prom.”
“No. I wrapped my arms around you and swayed to the music.”
He shrugged, like he didn’t understand the difference. “I’ll lead. All you have to do is follow.”
Yeah right. She’d be lucky if she didn’t fall on her ass. But she was enough of a chicken that she welcomed the chance to put off the lesson part of the evening, so when Ty pulled her forward, she followed.
The dance floor was packed with couples, but as if Ty had willed it, an empty space materialized in front of them.
“The basic step is simple.” Ty spoke directly into her ear so that she could hear him over the music. “See what she’s doing? A step to the right, then the left, then back.”
His breath heated her skin, making her shiver. She tried to replicate the movements of the woman next to her, and crashed into a support pillar. “See! I told you I can’t—”
“C’mere.” He pulled her to him. One arm circled her back. He entwined his other hand with hers, bringing her even closer. “Close your eyes.”
“If I close my eyes I won’t know where I’m going.”
“You’re going where I take you.” His voice whispered across her ear, but she felt it everywhere.
His thumb traced the beat of the music against her knuckle. Up an inch. Down an inch.
Her heart thudded like a trapped a
nimal. She closed her eyes, trying to calm down, but the absence of sight only made her other senses more acute. She felt every bunch and flex of Ty’s muscles. Heard every rasp of his breath.
This is how he would feel above her. All that heat and energy concentrated on her as he—
“Annabelle.” His lips brushed the shell of her ear, and every single neuron in her body fired at once.
“Y-yes?”
“We’re dancing.”
Her eyes flew open. “No we’re—”
Good God, he was right. They were dancing.
There was a faint hitch when he moved his right leg—the remnants of his injury—but he held her securely, guiding her through the steps so decisively that she didn’t have to think about where she was going. He spun her out, then pulled her back in, and somehow her feet knew where to go.
She laughed. Her pulse raced, but her nerves disappeared.
Ty laughed along with her. He turned and the chandelier illuminated his face.
The world around her slowed, going fuzzy around the edges, like she was watching him through a zoom lens. He looked like Prince Charming gazing at his princess on the last page of the fairytale. Like he’d slayed dragons and scaled mountains and crossed deserts, all to get to her. Like she was everything he’d ever wanted.
Like, this time, things would be different.
He spun her out, and the slight distance was enough to allow rational thought back into her brain.
You’re smarter than this, Annabelle. You remember what happened the last time you gave your heart to this man.
But it was hard to concentrate on things that had happened seven long years ago when Ty pulled her close. When he leaned in to hear her over the music, like every single word that tripped out of her mouth was vitally important.
As they left the club, he held the door open for her. He drove her home, manning the steering wheel with his left hand, his right holding tight to hers, and she forgot this wasn’t a real date for minutes at a time.
Only a lesson, she chanted inside her head. Not a date.
Ty squeezed her hand. He pulled into a guest space in front of her building.
Love and Learn (Voretti Family Book 2) Page 7
