Real Men Don't Quit

by Coleen Kwan

  The need to see him became a burning itch she could no longer ignore. Picking up her mobile phone, she quickly texted him. SORRY ABOUT LAST NIGHT. CAN I MAKE IT UP TO U TONIGHT?

  The answer came less than a minute later. LOOKING 4WARD 2 THAT!

  “Mumma, what’s so funny?” Chloe’s question broke into her daydreams.

  She realized she was grinning like an idiot. “Oh, nothing, baby,” she replied, returning her attention to the morning routine. “Nothing at all.” How on earth was she going to make it until tonight?

  It turned out she didn’t have to wait very long. That afternoon, at the end of her shift, she was about to grab a quick lunch before heading over to Chloe’s babysitter’s house when Luke strolled into the store. Her breath caught at the first sight of his tall figure.

  “Hey.” He gave her a smile that sent a tingle all the way to her toes. “Thought I’d pick you up for lunch today. Am I in time?”

  She nodded, trying desperately not to beam too much at him, and failing. “I, um, I…” Shoot, what was she trying to say again?

  Ally bustled up, waving hello to Luke, and gave Tyler a quick push toward him. “Off you go, then.”

  Tyler managed to gather her bag from behind the counter before following Luke outside. “Where’re we going?”

  “Home.” Threading his fingers through hers, he tugged her toward his Range Rover, which she’d parked right outside the store. “You’d better let me drive.” He looked in an awful hurry.

  The tingle in her intensified. “Okay.” They got into the car and Luke sped away. Silence quivered between them. To break it, she asked, “How’s the writing going?”

  “Really good. I worked out a major plot point this morning, so I figure I deserve a long lunch.”

  Now the tingles had spread to her breasts. She licked her lips. “So…um, what are we having for lunch?”

  He took a moment from his concentrated driving to flash her another toe-curling smile. “Something hot and delicious.”

  Oh boy, the things he could do to her nipples with just a few words… She moistened her mouth. “That sounds good. I like it fast, too.”

  “You do?” He started, looking like he’d just swallowed his tongue.

  She nodded, unable to stop staring at him. Wow, he looked so good, good enough to eat. If he didn’t get them back soon, she’d have to start her lunch right here in the car.

  They got to her house in record time. They managed to shut the front door, but they never made it to the bedroom. In the hallway, pressed up against the wall, they came together in an eruption of lust that Tyler had never experienced before. By the way Luke reacted, she had a pretty good idea it was a first for him, too.

  Afterward, when her legs were like jelly and she was about to collapse, he braced her in his arms, cradling her as he ran his lips lightly over her face.

  “Okay?” he asked, still out of breath.

  Her heart was going a million miles an hour, her clothes were ripped off, and she’d just had the best sex ever. Oh yeah, she was more than okay.

  “Yes.” She moved her mouth softly over his. “I like having lunch with you.”

  His eyes crinkled at the corners as he smiled. “And I like lunching on you.”

  The insistent heat in her started glowing again. Already? She was becoming quite a glutton where Luke was concerned. A warning voice began to pipe up at the back of her mind, but she had no problem squashing it as she twined her arms around his neck.

  “Isn’t this fun?” Ally grinned at Tyler from the opposite chair while a manicurist attended to her cuticles.

  “Your man is solid gold,” Tyler replied. They were at the hair and beauty salon, ostensibly enjoying a girls’ outing as a treat from Nate, but in reality it was the day of Ally’s surprise wedding. Nate had been sensitive enough to realize that though his fiancée might love a surprise wedding, she would hate to show up for it scruffy and ungroomed. So he’d hit on this trip to the salon to get Ally spruced up and also to keep her out of the way while he saw to the last-minute arrangements. After she and Ally were done here, they would drive to Clifton Gardens where the surprise would be sprung. Nate had even organized a small tent set up in the park where Ally and Tyler could dress before the ceremony.

  “Ooh, why don’t I go for something wild?” Ally craned her neck over the nail colors on offer. “How about electric purple or acid green?”

  “You’d hate it by the end of the day,” Tyler hastily replied. Somehow she didn’t think her friend would want to be married with her fingernails flashing purple or green. “Why don’t you go for a pearly pink like the one I’ve chosen?”

  Ally blinked in surprise. “I never thought you’d go with such a mild color. Are you sure that’s what you want?”

  Tyler had picked it because she didn’t want to stand out. Today was Ally’s day, and all the attention ought to be on her. “I must be getting conservative in my old age,” she quipped.

  “Oh, yeah, and next year you’ll be joining the Burronga Bridge Club, too, I’ll bet.”

  An hour later they were done, skin rejuvenated, faces made up, nails polished, hair gleaming, legs waxed. As they drove back through town, anticipation stirred in Tyler. Were they on schedule? She hoped so. She prayed Nate had everything under control. He was such a capable organizer, but on his wedding day he was bound to be wired.

  “Why do you keep checking your watch?” Ally said as they pulled into the street leading to Clifton Gardens. “Are you late for something?”

  “Uh, it’s nothing.”

  “Why are we going this way?” Ally straightened as they neared the wrought iron gates leading into the park. A familiar figure stood on the sidewalk, watching them. “What’s Nate doing here?”

  Tyler didn’t say anything, instead bringing the car to a halt in front of the gates. Nate, handsome in a pale gray suit, stepped forward and opened the door for Ally.

  “Nate? What’s going on?” Ally asked, still appearing perplexed as she slid out the car. “Why are you all dressed up?”

  He cleared his throat, nervousness printed all over his face, and offered her the long-stemmed rose he was carrying. “Ally, my darling, will you marry me?”

  “I don’t understand. Of course I’ll marry you.” She took the rose in a daze. “But we’re already engaged, aren’t we?”

  “Ally, will you marry me today?”

  “Today?” She stared at him. “What’s going on here?”

  “I know you’ve been worrying over the wedding, and I wanted you to enjoy the occasion, so I decided to bring the wedding forward a few weeks and spare you the concern.” Her poor man swallowed visibly. “I’m throwing you a surprise wedding party right now.”

  For a few heart-stopping moments, Ally just gaped at Nate. But then she threw herself into his arms. “Oh, Nate, that’s the most darling thing ever…” The rest of her sentence was lost as she smothered him with kisses.

  A relieved Nate hugged her and gave Tyler the thumbs-up over her shoulder. “That’s great, because a whole bunch of people have turned up today.”

  That was the cue for the guests to come pouring out of the gates. For a few minutes there was nothing but hugs and exclamations all around. Finally Ally, tears threatening her makeup, made a beeline for Tyler. “I can’t believe you kept this a secret from me!” she squealed as she hugged Tyler. “No wonder you were hassling me to choose a wedding dress!”

  “We’d better change so the ceremony can go ahead.” Tyler grabbed her friend by the wrist and pulled her into the park. “Come on. You don’t want to make Nate wait at his own wedding.”

  After Tyler had seen to Ally, she changed into her own simple frock and slipped out of the tent, where Luke was waiting for her with Chloe. Tyler kissed her daughter and admired her princess-y dress before turning to Luke.

  “Very demure.” Luke’s eyes lit up with appreciation as he took in her pale lavender dress.

  “I didn’t want to stand out today.”

>   “You’re standing out anyway. That contrast between your outward properness and what I know is simmering just beneath is really working on me.”

  She grinned back at him before glancing down at Chloe, but her girl was too busy with her posy of flowers to notice. “You don’t look too shabby yourself.” She studied his single-breasted jacket, silk tie, dress shirt, and navy trousers with interest. “This is the first time I’ve seen you wear a tie.”

  “Don’t get too attached to it. I’m taking it off as soon as the ceremony’s over.”

  “Thanks for minding Chloe this afternoon.”

  “No problem. We had a lot of fun reading together.” He ruffled Chloe’s hair, and when the girl offered him one of her mangled daisies, he tucked it into the buttonhole of his jacket.

  The air caught in Tyler’s throat at the sweet, casual interaction between the two. How had it happened that Luke had insinuated himself so quickly and seamlessly into their lives? The three of them stood together like a regular family unit—mother, father, and daughter, just like so many others here among the guests. But they weren’t a family unit. They were just a random, unstable compound that would soon dissolve under its own fickleness.

  A few minutes later, the ceremony began. When Ally and Nate walked up to the minister, the glow in their faces struck Tyler anew. She’d always known these two were mad for each other, but to see them so palpably in love brought a lump to her throat. The feeling persisted throughout the ceremony, and by the time they were declared husband and wife and finally kissed, she was almost too choked to breathe.

  “You okay?” Luke murmured in her ear, his arm hovering protectively around her.

  “Yeah,” she managed to get out, surprised that he’d noticed. “Don’t know what’s the matter with me.”

  “It’s a wedding. People are allowed to tear up.”

  All the other women around her were looking teary. Ally’s grandmother and sister were both weeping as they embraced the newly married couple.

  “Not me.” She never teared up—not at weddings, movies, breakups, nothing. This scratchy feeling in her throat must be an allergy. Pressing her lips together, Tyler squared her shoulders before they moved forward to congratulate the bride and groom. Nate beamed with happiness, while Ally was radiant.

  Tyler had never seen her friend so transformed. “Told you your wedding would go off without a hitch,” she said after they’d hugged and kissed.

  “I can’t get over it.” Ally was almost hyperventilating. She threw an adoring glance at her new husband, who was chatting with Luke. “I’ll be boring my children and grandchildren about this wedding for years. Everything is so perfect. Nate seems to know exactly what I like.”

  Yes, it appeared Ally and Nate were set to enjoy a blissful marriage. The wedding party swung into full gear. Waiters began circulating drinks and canapés, while a band starting playing discreet background music.

  Chloe was busy playing with Ally’s twin nephews, leaving Tyler free to mingle and enjoy the party. Luke seemed happy to stick beside her, but soon a handful of book fans found him and hung around, reluctant to let him go. Pretty soon the conversation began to wear on Tyler, and she figured she wouldn’t be missed if she slipped off.

  “You can’t leave me.” Luke clasped her hand as she attempted to edge away.

  The sensation of his fingers threading between hers sent a pleasurable shock through her arm. She smiled at him. “I’m just going to chat with Ally’s sister.”

  “I’ll come with you.” He threw an apologetic glance at his fans. “Excuse me.”

  They couldn’t fail to notice him holding her hand, Tyler thought, which might explain the black looks she received from them before she walked away with Luke. Strangely, she rather enjoyed their envy.

  “Sorry to drag you away from your adoring fans,” she said, “but I didn’t have much to contribute to the literary discussion.”

  “Me neither. I should’ve been an accountant instead of a writer. Nobody ever wants to know about accountancy.”

  “Do you want to leave early? I know you’re not exactly a party animal.”

  “No. I like being here.” His footsteps slowed. He was still holding her hand, even though they were now well clear of his admirers. “I like being with you.”

  She caught her breath. For endless seconds the moment seemed suspended in time. A myriad of different details impressed upon her—the scent of honeysuckle, the sound of children playing, the curve of Luke’s lips, the dimple in his chin, the whiteness of his teeth, the crease in his tie—imbuing her with the sense that something crucial was happening, that her entire world was tilting on its axis, and that afterward nothing would ever be the same again.

  Then a small body cannoned into her legs, and Chloe was bawling about something, shattering the mysterious interlude. “Baby, what’s the matter?” she asked as she picked Chloe up.

  Hiccupping and sobbing, her daughter blubbered something incomprehensible. “What’s that?” she asked.

  Luke turned to her. “Seems she and Ally’s nephews are fighting over her pony.”

  “Oh.” Before she could say anything further, Chloe twisted toward Luke, so he had to gather her into his arms. The girl wailed into his shoulder.

  Luke patted her back. “Don’t worry, moppet. We’ll sort it out.” He glanced back at Tyler. “Do you want me to handle this?”

  Tyler hesitated, reluctant to turn over the situation to him, but with Chloe clinging to him like a limpet, she had little choice. “Sure.”

  Wondering what would happen, she watched as Luke coaxed Chloe to reapproach the boys. Some intense negotiation ensued. The bedraggled pink pony passed between the boys, Chloe’s lower lip trembled ominously, but eventually the animal was back in her grasp, at which point Chloe relaunched herself into Luke’s arms and wouldn’t let go of him.

  “It’s fine,” he assured Tyler when they returned. “I’ll carry her for a while.”

  She ought to have been relieved he’d handled the pink-pony crisis so easily, but instead she was ever so slightly freaked out by his competence and the way Chloe stuck to Luke like a koala to a eucalyptus tree while they mingled with other guests.

  “You’ve got a nice young man there,” Ally’s grandmother said to her when they were briefly alone.

  Ally’s grandmother had never approved of Tyler, which made her comment all the more surprising. And unsettling. She shouldn’t have held Luke’s hand so publicly. That had given everyone the wrong idea. “Thank you,” she replied.

  Luke was more than nice, she mused, her gaze drawn to him once again as he stood a short distance away talking to someone while Chloe, still in his arms, trotted her pink pony up and down his shoulder. He didn’t appear to mind Chloe mangling his jacket.

  Tyler couldn’t drag her eyes away from Luke. He was a truly special person, a person who seemed to understand all her insecurities and weaknesses, a person she could respect and trust, a person she could envisage spending all her time with. A man she might fall in love with, heart and soul, if she didn’t watch out.

  If she hadn’t already.

  Dampness stung her skin. Beneath her feet the ground suddenly felt unstable. Panic kicked at her, sharp and unfamiliar. She spun away, desperate to get away from her thoughts.

  …

  “Boys are horrible,” Chloe declared to Luke as they walked to his car. The party was ending, the couple had already departed on their honeymoon, and he had offered to settle Chloe in her booster seat while Tyler collected her things from the changing tent.

  “I’m a boy,” Luke said. “Am I horrible?”

  Chloe frowned at this conundrum. “You’re not a boy,” she finally declared. “You’re all growed up.”

  He unlocked the rear door of his Range Rover. “Not all boys are horrible all the time. I’m sure those boys will be better behaved next time.”

  “We-ell…maybe, but they’re not allowed to play with my pony.”

  “Okay.” He lif
ted her into the booster seat.

  Chloe still eyed him doubtfully. “Luke…”

  “Yes, moppet?” he said absentmindedly as he concentrated on the safety harness.

  “Can you be my pretend daddy?”

  The innocent words slammed into his chest. For a few seconds he couldn’t breathe before the bruising air rushed painfully into his lungs. As he struggled for an answer, Chloe continued to look at him, her eyes wide and trusting.

  “Why would you want that?” he croaked out.

  The girl played with his tie. “’Cause my daddy can’t be with me, but you can, and I like you.”

  “Thank you, moppet. I like you, too.” He hauled in another breath. “But I can’t be your pretend daddy.” Or any other kind of daddy.

  “Why not?”

  The back of his neck prickled. “Uh, because daddies have to stick around, and I can’t do that, I’m afraid.”

  “Oh.” For a terrifying moment he feared she would crumple into tears, but after a short contemplation, she shrugged her shoulders. “Okay,” she said cheerfully before turning her attention back to her pink pony.

  Feeling like he’d been sucker punched, he fastened the safety harness and straightened up from the car. He hoped like hell Chloe wouldn’t repeat her request to Tyler. Though maybe she already had. Hell and damnation. Chloe was bright and adorable, but he couldn’t have her making assumptions and asking difficult questions. Or putting ideas in Tyler’s head.

  Damn, that was pathetic of him, but his disquiet continued to squall. He rubbed the back of his neck. He hadn’t felt this panicked since he’d cottoned on to the plans Jennifer had for the two of them. Her dreams of marriage and parenthood had closed in on him like padded walls, suffocating him. He’d fought his way out of that cell only to stumble into another ambush. What was wrong with him?