“Yes.” He looked at her. “Now you understand.”
“I wouldn’t go that far, Tyler. I can’t say I understand. As long as y’all are happy.”
Tyler loved Peggy. He wasn’t close to his own mother, usually saw her only once a year, if that. They talked on the phone from time to time, but she always steered around the subject of Thomas like he was non-existent, treating him like the elephant in the corner. Tyler hadn’t bothered trying to tell her about Nevvie.
Peggy, however, felt like a mom to him.
“She’s had a rough life, Mom,” he said, dropping his voice. “She was adopted, then her adoptive mother basically abandoned her after her husband died and she remarried. We’re the first real family she’s had that she can count on.”
Peggy nodded. “I can tell. You two hold onto her tight. I think it would kill her to lose you.” She sat at the picnic table. “We once had this little dog, it’d been abused. Poor thing scared of its own shadow. The longer we had it, the more it settled down, but it still clung to me. If I left a room, here it’d come, on my heels. She’d get frantic if I went outside and didn’t crate her first. She’d try to look out the windows and find me.”
Peggy watched Nevvie. “She reminds me of that little dog, Tyler. She only looks comfortable if one of you are around. If you’re both there, she relaxes.” She leveled her gaze at Tyler. “Don’t go ruining this by being stupid men, either. Stay focused on the important stuff and stay away from the petty crap. Hold her tight, son.”
Tyler nodded. “Believe me, we will.”
Chapter 22
Nevvie strolled into Tyler’s office, waving a card at him. “When, pray tell, sir, were you telling me about this?”
He looked up and a sheepish smile erupted. “Sorry, sweet. I guess it slipped my mind.”
“Mmm hmm.” She sat in his lap. Wearing an oversized T-shirt and nothing else made it easy to feel his bulge grow against her thigh. “Thomas just called and asked me to find out what to wear and remind me to send anything to the cleaners if that was necessary.”
“Oops.” He kissed her. “Forgive me?”
“Tyler, I can’t go.”
“All three of us are going. I’ve already RSVPd.”
The card in question was an invitation to a Christmas party, being thrown in three days by the head of the English department, a professor emeritus, one of the men Tyler used to work with.
“How are we supposed to explain who I am?”
“You’re my wife.”
“And Thomas?”
“He’s my husband. Don’t complicate this, dear.”
“I don’t care about me, but you’ve got a reputation.”
He kissed her, silencing her protests. “Love, it’s my reputation. If my being open about my relationship with Thomas didn’t raise any eyebrows, why should this?”
She glared at him.
“Right. Love, I don’t have a problem with it. Seriously.”
“You don’t have a problem telling your former co-workers about me?”
“No.”
There was more. She recognized the playful gleam in his eye. “Tyler.”
The sheepish look returned, melting her. “You’ll look beautiful in that black gown.”
“Tyyylerrrrr.” Now she knew for sure there was more.
“It’s supposed to be dressy.”
“Tyler!”
“My ex-wife might be there.”
Nevvie absorbed this information and snickered. “Which one?”
“One.”
“And you can’t resist the urge to parade me around in front of her.”
“I can’t get much past you, can I?”
“Not anymore. I’ll make sure my black dress is ready. I’m assuming you want me to buy different shoes?”
His cock throbbed along her thigh. “Can I pick?”
“Sure, but I’ll be glued to your arm all night so I don’t fall and break my neck.”
“All the better.”
He sent her to get dressed and drove them to the mall. It took a few minutes of wobbling and careful steps, but she finally agreed to a pair of stiletto pumps.
“If I break my ankle in these things, you’re waiting on me hand and foot, got it?”
He pressed close into her hip, letting her feel his stiff cock. The shoes brought her almost to eye level with him. “Love, I plan on keeping you on my arm all night long.”
“You’re deliberately baiting these people.”
He kissed her. “If you and Thomas ever team up against me I fear I’m in trouble. You know me too well.”
She sat, removed the shoes, and put her sandals back on. “What’s going on?”
He sat across from her, his elbows on his knees, and dropped his voice. “I left the department on good terms. As with any workplace, there were cliques.” He shrugged. “Because I didn’t write ‘literary’ books I was somewhat of a pariah amongst the tenured profs.”
“But your books make damn good money.”
“Lucky for me.” He took the shoebox from her so he could pay.
“Where in the food chain was your ex?”
He looked away and shrugged. “She moved in with another professor during our divorce. They both still teach there.”
“During?”
He shrugged again. It finally hit her. There was more to the story than he originally told her. “You didn’t tell me everything about how and why she left, did you?”
He eventually met her gaze. “It doesn’t matter this many years later, does it, love?” he softly replied.
Nevvie wanted revenge for the bitch cheating on him. That’s the only thing the old pain in his eyes could mean. “What does she teach?”
“Her specialty was American literature.”
“Literary type.”
He nodded. They stood.
“I can’t dance in those shoes, you know. I can barely walk in them.”
His smile reached his eyes. “We’ll tuck your shorter heels in the car, just in case. Thomas can always fetch them for us.”
“I’ve never been arm candy before.”
He leaned in close, his lips by her ear, his voice barely a whisper. “Believe me, Thomas and I will enjoy snacking on our arm candy after the party.”
She gasped as his eyes twinkled. Damn he knew how to get her wet!
“It doesn’t bother you some of the people there will talk behind your back and think I’m a slut for having two men?”
“No, because all the men will be jealous. I don’t care what the women think.”
“Except One.”
“I don’t care what she thinks either.”
“Liar. You want to rub her nose in it.”
“That, my love, is a bonus.”
If she could survive her first weekend with Thomas’ family, a party with a bunch of strangers she might never see again should be easy.
That was her rationale.
Thomas insisted she ride in the front seat of the Lexus while he took the back. “I’m surprised you didn’t hire a limo,” she snarked as they pulled up to the country club where the party was being held.
Tyler smiled as they waited for the parking valet. “I considered it, but then I figured that would be showing off.”
Both Thomas and Nevvie laughed.
“Is he always like this?” she asked Thomas.
“No, but if the usual snots are here, it’s the first time they’ve seen him in a few years. Believe me, they make shit for pay, a lot less than you’d think. I don’t mind dropping a few jaws.”
“You’re as bad as he is.”
Thomas helped her out while Tyler handed the keys to the valet and walked around the car. “Sugar, it’s a guy thing. I’m sorry, we can’t help it. We have penises, and that means we sometimes get into pissing contests.
She tried to stifle her laughter.
Tyler grinned. “I don’t know I would have phrased it exactly like that, but he’s absolutely correct, sweet. Come along.”