I could feel the easy, effortless grin in the corners of my lips as my sight landed on the man in the entryway. I took him in, starting with his polished shoes as he stepped inside. I trailed my gaze up the length of his pressed pants, along the creases of his white shirt, and paused at the perfect knot in his tie. All bets were off when I made it to his face.
At the sight of his slate-colored eyes, I gasped.
The natural silver accents in his thick hair made my throat close up.
And when he said, “Wow, Tate,” I rolled off the couch, no longer caring about being sexy.
I landed on my front with a hard thump, and then I pulled myself to my hands and knees to crawl to safety. The carpet burn would hurt later, as well as every other body part that slammed into the floor, but that didn’t matter right now.
I scurried around to the back of the couch in search of a blanket or towel to cover myself. Hell, I would’ve appreciated a damn sock. But no . . . I had to go and throw everything into my room before posing like a Playboy Bunnabe. Realizing I had nothing to shield my body with other than the sofa, I pulled myself onto my knees and peered over the back. “What the hell are you doing here, Michael?”
The lust on his face was obvious, though it was nothing compared to the desire in his tone when he said, “I came to talk to you.”
“You literally just saw me at work a couple of hours ago.”
“Yeah . . . but this is something I didn’t want to discuss there.”
I shook my head, dumbfounded that I had even allowed this conversation to go on for this long. “Turn around!”
Reluctantly, he pivoted on his heel until he had his back to me. And when I shouted, “Close the damn door, Michael!” in the same threatening tone my mom had used when I’d air-conditioned the neighborhood, he swept it closed.
I used the pathetic excuse for privacy he gave me and bolted into the alcove just outside my bedroom and bathroom.
There’s an art to swiftly entering a room. You simultaneously grab and twist the handle while also leaning into the door with your body. It’s technically three steps, but all are performed at the same time, making it one fluid motion. Works like a charm.
Fun fact: The door has to be unlocked for it to work.
I wrapped my fingers around the knob to my room, but before I realized it wouldn’t turn, I’d already slammed my face into the wood. And because I’d pushed instead of leaned, I didn’t just stumble back . . . I fell onto my ass.
Not only did my forehead, nose, and cheek ache from being smacked into a door, but my butt also hurt from the lack of padding beneath the cheap carpet. I might’ve cried out in pain, or maybe he’d heard the literal head-on collision. Either way, Michael came running. He knelt next to me while I held my hands to my face and pressed my thighs against my front.
“Are you okay?” The asshole couldn’t even hide the laughter from his voice.
“I’d be a lot better if I could put some clothes on.” I thought about that for a second and then added, “Or if you’d leave. Whichever.”
He reached up and tried the handle, only to say, “It’s locked.”
I lowered my hands and glared at him. “Obviously.”
Then he glanced around, probably looking for another option. Seeing the bathroom, he tried that, too. “Why would you lock yourself out of your room . . . naked?”
“Because Jay’s coming over, and he’s—” I froze, eyes wide and mouth hanging open. “Shit, Jay’s coming over. You have to leave.”
“He’s on his way now?”
“Hell if I know. What time is it?”
Michael pushed back the cuff on his work shirt to check his watch. “Quarter after five.”
I released the breath I held and allowed a small amount of relief to wash over me. “Yeah, he’s on his way. But he probably won’t be here for another fifteen minutes.” I glared at him again. “That doesn’t mean you can stay.”
Rather than say anything, he began to loosen the knot below his chin. Then he released the buttons at his wrists, followed by the ones down his chest. When he had his shirt untucked and open, he hung his tie on my doorknob and slid the crisp white fabric down his arms.
Without a word, he held his shirt out for me to take—a peace offering of sorts. And in that moment, all I could think about was covering up. Since everything I owned was out of reach, I took it from him. At least he gave me some privacy to put it on.
Luckily, Michael was quite a bit taller than me, so it hung low enough to cover all the goods. And with it buttoned up, he couldn’t see anything, which was all I cared about. But now that I was somewhat dressed, all I wanted was for him to leave.
He didn’t get the hint—evident in the way he made himself comfortable on the couch.
“Seriously, Michael . . . you can’t be here.”
“Why? Because your boyfriend’s coming?”
The jealousy alone was enough to tire me out, but the undercurrent of anger riled me up. I mean, he had no right to be pissed at me for dating anyone—or sleeping with . . . whatever. I’d dealt with it enough over the last several weeks; I would not put up with it in my own home.
I stood in front of him and set my fists on my hips. I probably looked like the love child of a scorned woman and Superman, but that was beside the point. “This has to stop, Michael. You don’t get to decide when we talk. For months I tried to get you to have a conversation with me, but you refused. Well, guess what? I don’t want to hear whatever it is you want to talk about right now.”
He leaned forward and buried his head in his hands with an exaggerated sigh. I hated it when he did that. It didn’t matter what the situation was; he had a way of using that one act to make me feel like I’d done something wrong, and then he’d use it to his advantage. Like he did now. When he lifted his head, he gently wrapped his fingers around my wrist and directed me to sit next to him. And like a child, I obeyed.
“I’m sorry, Tate.” His voice dropped low and filled with exasperation. “I was too caught up in my own head, trying to sort through my own issues. I wish I could go back in time and change it, but I can’t. That’s what I’m trying to do now. I’m trying to make it right and praying like hell it’s not too late.”
I swallowed harshly, needing all the courage I could muster to get this out. “In case you were wondering . . . dating someone else doesn’t bode well for your argument.”
“I ended things with Rebecca.”
I had to take a second to absorb that, because I honestly hadn’t expected those words to come out of his mouth. “You did?”
“Yes, I did. I’ve wanted to for a while, but I needed to figure a few things out first.”
“And what exactly did you figure out?”
“That I love you. And I miss you. I fucked up, Tate, and I’m ready to own it. I’m ready to do what it takes to make you mine again. Tell me what it is, and I’ll do it.”
My head spun, and I felt like I was being pulled in all directions. But that was what he did to me. He’d make me so turned around that I didn’t know which way was up anymore. Over the last several weeks, I’d been his personal yo-yo. When he’d first heard about Jay, something had changed. And as much as I’d thought this was what I wanted, I wasn’t so sure anymore.
“Why now?”
He shook his head and turned into me, placing his hand on my thigh. “Because I can’t wait another day. If it were up to me, you’d put my ring back on, and then I’d take you to your room and make love to you.”
I began to wonder if he’d sniffed a few bottles of glue before coming over. “Michael, don’t you have to be in love with someone—or at the very least, love them—in order for it to be called that?”
He brought his hand to my face and cupped my cheek, much like he’d done a thousand times before. “I do love you, Tate. I never stopped.”
It was like the clouds had parted and the sun shone through, basking everything I’d been blind to in a sea of light. I placed my hand near his s
houlder, the heel of my palm over his clavicle with my fingertips along the side of his neck.
It was all so clear.
My heart spoke up.
And I listened.
“When you found out about Jay, I prayed it would make you jealous. I believed with my whole heart that if you saw me happy, you’d realize what you walked away from and try to get it back.”
“And I did.”
I licked my lips and nodded. “I know. I’ve waited seven months to hear you admit that. I spent nights dreaming of this moment, days thinking about it. I knew you’d come around. If I just remained in front of you, never let you forget me, forget what we had . . . I knew you’d see it.”
“I didn’t forget,” he breathed out, his airy words blasting my face as his mouth drew nearer.
My heart knocked against my sternum, and the thunderous beats resounded in my ears as my entire body flushed, my next words perched at the tip of my tongue. And when his lips were in reach, I whispered, “Too bad I don’t still feel the same.”
He stilled, no longer leaning in yet not backing away, either.
“You don’t deserve a second chance to break my heart, Michael.”
He pulled away, though his palm remained on my face. Confusion darkened his grey eyes while he studied my expression, likely searching for a sign that what I’d said was a lie. He wouldn’t find one.
“Is it true? Are you really having his baby?”
I shouldn’t have laughed while he sounded so sad, but I couldn’t help it. “No. It’s not.”
Finally, he gave up the act of being hurt. His brows dipped, pinched together, showing me his true feelings over my rejection. “You’ve been playing me this whole time?”
“Excuse me?” I balked. “You think I played you? How?”
“By trying to make me jealous, then stringing me along. And once I come around, you laugh in my face, like this has all been a sick game to you.”
It took monumental effort to keep from rolling my eyes. “I never told you to leave her. I never even asked you to. Whether or not you stayed with her was your decision, based solely on what you wanted. Yes . . . I wanted you back. Hell, last week I felt the same.”
“Then what changed?” His desperation was as clear as day in his unsettled eyes; it must have burned through him, considering his hand scorched my cheek where he touched me.
“I’ve wanted us to make it work ever since you broke up with me, but I never actually stopped to think about why. Maybe it’s because you’re all I ever knew.”
Before I could go into the real reason I refused to ever give him another chance, he asked, “Then how can you be so sure that you don’t want this?”
“Because there’s not one ounce of me that wants to be with you.”
“It’s him, isn’t it?”
“You think I’m turning you down for Jay?” That notion made me giggle under my breath.
The lines between his eyebrows deepened. “Didn’t he give you that ring?”
I glanced at my finger, admiring the piece of glass that now sat on my right hand—I hadn’t been able to bring myself to take it off completely after hearing of the rumors at work. “Well, yeah. But it’s not an engagement ring, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
“Then why’d you let everyone believe it was?”
“I didn’t. If you assumed it was, that’s on you. I never told anyone I was getting married—hell, I never even said it came from a guy. In fact, had it not been brought to my attention, I never would’ve known what was being said behind my back.”
“Okay, but if you knew what everyone thought, why didn’t you speak up and correct it? By not saying anything, you purposely allowed that rumor to stay afloat.” He might’ve had a small point there, but I wasn’t about to admit that.
“I told Amanda, the house gossip, that it wasn’t. No one ever came to me to ask, so I didn’t feel it necessary to hold a press conference and clear the air.”
“Well, maybe you should have, because everyone’s still under the impression that you’re pregnant and engaged to that asshole.”
“Why would they still think that if Amanda told them all it wasn’t true?” I now had both hands on his shoulders, seconds away from shaking him out of pure frustration.
“They think you’re too embarrassed to admit it, so you’re denying it.”
This was all very unsettling.
And rather insulting.
“Basically, what you’re telling me is, everyone I work with thinks I’m a liar. What have I ever done to make them think that?” I mean, aside from the fact that almost everything out of my mouth over the last month had fallen anywhere between “half truth” and “utterly ridiculous whopper” on the fact-o-meter. But they didn’t know that, so it was a moot point.
His lids lowered while he sucked in a lungful of air. As his exhale passed his lips, he opened his eyes, first setting his sights on my mouth, then meeting my gaze. “Why won’t you give me a second chance?”
“Because of the reason you broke up with me in the first place.”
“Which was?” Clearly he didn’t know what Amanda had overheard.
But before I could answer, the front door opened.
And in walked Jay.
20
Jason
When Tatum had invited me over, letting me know that my cousin would be gone for hours, I won’t lie, my dick had gotten hard. And I knew without a doubt that this would be a night I would never forget.
I just hadn’t anticipated the memorable part coming at the beginning of the evening.
She had told me to just walk in, so I opened the door and took one step inside. But one step was as far as I got before the wind was knocked out of me. Tatum sat on the couch looking sexy as hell in a man’s work shirt. The problem was, it wasn’t my shirt.
I stood motionless in the doorway, two sets of eyes locked on me. Shock marred Tatum’s features, while irritation and abhorrence pinched his. Even though they both had their heads turned my way, their hands never moved from each other.
“Am I interrupting something?” I wasn’t sure how my voice remained so steady through the intensity of my heartbeat pounding in my throat.
“No, you’re not interrupting anything.” Tatum pushed him away—something she should’ve done before I’d shown up. Oddly enough, she didn’t act concerned or even guilty for being caught half-naked on the couch with this guy. “Michael was just leaving.”
Names weren’t my strong suit. But in this case, even though I’d only heard his name once or twice, in one conversation a while ago, there was no way I would’ve forgotten it.
“Michael? As in your boss?” It was a common name . . . could be a different Michael.
“Umm . . .” She glanced between him and me a few times. “Yeah.”
He huffed out a wave of incredulous humor while shaking his head. “That’s what you told him I was to you? Your boss?”
A violent shade of red colored her cheeks, her uncertain eyes trained on me. But when she spoke, she directed her answer at him. “Yeah.” It seemed she’d lost her vocabulary . . . along with her clothes.
“Congrats, Tatum—you won. You made me jealous.” He pushed off the couch to stand and turned to her. If he said anything, I didn’t hear, too lost in my thoughts to recognize much else.
Michael was Tatum’s ex . . . as well as her boss.
He glared at me as he moved toward the door. When he stopped, I thought he’d take a swing at me, so I took a step farther inside. However, instead of turning this physical, he shook his head and peered over his shoulder. “I’ll get my shirt from you tomorrow.” And as he walked out, he mumbled, “Have fun with the cheating douchebag,” under his breath, leaving me frozen in a state of utter confusion.
Tatum seemed slightly flustered, but then again, it was Tatum . . . slightly flustered was normal for her. Yet she managed to shake it off and stand, which did nothing but remind me of the fact that she was wearing her ex’s shirt.<
br />
“Jay . . .” It was so hard to tell if she was nervous and scared or just uncomfortable.
But I had things on my mind other than how she felt. “I thought we agreed we wouldn’t fuck other people. The least you could’ve done was not invite me over to watch.”
She held me in place with her wide eyes. “Nothing happened, Jason. I swear.”
“I have a hard time believing that while you’re standing here in your boss’s shirt. Or is he your ex? It’s all very confusing to me. Because, you see, when you told me about your boss, you left out the fact that you used to be engaged to him. And when you told me about your ex, you neglected to include the part about him being your boss.”
Tatum fell back onto the couch in defeat, yet she made eye contact anyway. “Kelsey called him my boss. And when I went to talk to you about it, I didn’t think anything of it. It wasn’t intentional—I swear.”
It wasn’t like I could argue with her about that. After all, it was entirely possible she was telling the truth.
However, it didn’t do anything to calm me down.
“Did you use me to make him jealous?”
Tatum closed her eyes and shrugged.
“So you told him we were fucking? Did you tell anyone else?”
She started to shake her head but then stopped, opened her eyes, and looked right at me. “It’s complicated, Jay.”
“By all means, uncomplicate it for me. Kelsey won’t be back for hours, so we have time.”
Her shoulders rose when she filled her lungs with air and then dropped during her harsh exhale. “The week before I met you, he hired his new girlfriend at Fathom. It wouldn’t have been so bad if she didn’t talk about him all the time.”
I could tell this would be a long story, but I didn’t have any desire to sit next to her on the couch, so instead, I crossed my arms and made myself more comfortable where I stood.
“Everyone there knows what happened with me and Michael, so anytime Rebecca would talk about him or what they did on their day off together, they all just watched me with pity. I got tired of it, so I blurted out that I had moved on.”
The (Half) Truth Page 25
