“So what if she’s a virgin?” Alyssa argued. “You have a really kind, loyal side that would be good for her.”
The gorgeous blonde had gotten that part right. He’d once proven that he’d do anything for a friend.
“He does,” Kata agreed. “I might not be here if that weren’t true.”
“If you can just keep your pants zipped long enough, she’ll see it. And you’ll get to know her, too, and—”
“Nope.” Tyler finished the last of his beer and slammed the bottle on the table. “I’m done here. If you ladies want to stay and finish your wine, you’re more than welcome, but there’s no way you’re pairing me up with anyone.”
“Where are you going?” Tara, closest to the sliding glass doors, moved her chair to block his path.
He scooted her out of the way with a nudge of his powerful thigh. “Anywhere else. Bye.”
When he disappeared inside the house, Delaney panicked. It had taken her forever to track him down. She was at the end of her cash reserves and the end of her rope. Time had run out. No way could she wait until he felt like coming home again to confront him. There was too much at stake.
Dragging everything she loved and owned behind her, Delaney clung to the shadows, watching for anything suspicious, and ran for his front door.
***
THE doorbell rang before Tyler could escape the house. Damn it, if this was another meddling female trying to tell him how to run his life, he was going to shove a bottle of wine in her hands and send her out back with the rest of them. He had better things to do, like slap some sense into his buddies. What the hell had possessed all of them to marry such interfering women?
Clenching the knob with almost as much gusto as he gnashed his teeth, Tyler yanked the door open with a curse on the tip of his tongue. It died abruptly.
Oh. My. God.
He drank in the sight of the familiar, petite brunette. He knew those wary blue eyes, framed by thick, dark lashes, and that sweet oval face. Her stubborn chin. That wide bow of a mouth. His heart pounded. He found himself unable to take a breath. “Delaney?”
The sight of her hit him like a f**king two-by-four in the solar plexus. Was it even possible that she stood at his door? Or was he hallucinating after two silent years of wondering what the f**k had happened?
“Hi, Tyler.”
She shifted nervously, looking too damn tired and rumpled. Her dark hair hung in an unraveling braid. She wore no makeup, a faded T-shirt, and had dark circles under her eyes. By her side sat a black duffel bag on wheels. Something else squatted near her, around the corner. He couldn’t see more than a blue, waist-high plastic handle stretching vertically for about two feet.
What the hell? She refused to have anything to do with him for two years, then came to his door unannounced, bringing everything she owned?
“You’re a tough man to track down,” she murmured, then glanced over her shoulder at the empty street bathed in twilight. “Your alias threw me.”
Scowling, he crossed his arms over his chest. Yeah, he should invite her in, but last time he checked, she’d thrown him out of her life.
Of course, she wouldn’t show up now with luggage unless she was desperate . . .
“I was under the impression you’d rather I get and stay lost,” he drawled.
She shook her head, her dark braid swaying in the valley between her soft br**sts, the ones with the pretty berry red ni**les he’d never forgotten, no matter how many fake tits he’d fondled in the last two years. Tyler ignored the stirring of his c**k and swallowed back the memory.
“I’m sorry for the way things ended.” She bit her lip. “I know this is awkward—”
“As hell. Yeah. Where’s Eric?” He glanced down at her left hand, clutching the rolling duffel bag. Her ring finger was bare.
“We’re divorced.”
Fuck. And there came the two-by-four to his gut again. Tyler didn’t ask why; he knew the answer.
“I’m sorry as hell, Del.”
And he was. But there was a selfish side of him having a full-on, get-down party at the news that Del was single again.
Self-consciously, she rubbed her thumb under her naked ring finger. “Thanks. It was final sixteen months ago. I haven’t seen much of him since.” She pursed her lips together, glanced behind her at the quiet street again. “We don’t talk a lot.”