looks smaller from farther away.’
Fair enough.
‘Did you tell her how you felt?’
It didn’t take a genius to work out they weren’t talking about a national monument any more.
‘I thought she knew.’
‘She might not have married Danny if she knew.’
‘No.’ He’d accepted that long before he came to terms with it. ‘Anyone who sees them together knows they’re good for each other.’
‘Can’t be easy to watch.’
‘Wasn’t for a while...’ A guy could come up with a lot of reasons not to attend Sunday lunch when he needed to, but that would change now, thanks to her.
‘No one else figured it out?’
He sincerely hoped not—because that wouldn’t be at all awkward—but realistically all he knew for certain was, ‘You’re the first person to bring it up.’
There was a palpable moment of hesitation before she asked, ‘Do you still love her?’
Not in that way. He wouldn’t be standing there with her if he was in love with someone else. He wasn’t wired that way. ‘Part of me will always feel something for her. Just because it didn’t work out the way I thought it would doesn’t make it any less real.’
‘Why didn’t you tell her?’
And there it was: the million-dollar question.
When he didn’t answer she leaned back and looked up at him. ‘You don’t know?’
‘We were friends. I didn’t think she was ready to hear it, but the fact is I never knew why until recently.’
‘You don’t want to tell me,’ she surmised.
Considering some of it had to do with his attraction to the woman he was with, not so much.
‘Do you regret it?’
He looked into her eyes. ‘It’s history.’
‘You want to change the subject,’ she said. ‘Okay. What are we doing—you and me, Tyler and Miranda?’
‘What do you think we’re doing?’
‘I thought it was foreplay,’ she answered frankly. ‘Neither one of us is interested in making a commitment, are we?’ There was a beat before she added, ‘We enjoy each other’s company—most of the time—and you know I want you.’
He did. Even if he couldn’t see it in her eyes, he could hear it in her voice. Her tone was liquid as she said the words, thick with sensuality and more potent than any drug. Resisting her was the equivalent of a slow, painful death, every muscle in his body straining towards her.
‘I know you want me.’ Her lips formed a decadently sinful smile. ‘Some things are hard to hide...’
To prove the point she brushed her stomach across his abdomen in a deliberately provocative move. Tyler sucked in a sharp breath through clenched teeth, unable to stop his body from reacting. She had that effect on him even without trying. When she put effort into it he didn’t stand a chance. He dropped his hands to her hips to hold her still.
‘What do you want me to say?’ he asked tightly.
‘I don’t want you to say anything. I want you to take me to your apartment, take me to bed and take me.’
He’d never wanted anything more. ‘I can’t.’
‘Why not?’
‘It’s not that simple.’
‘Yes, it is.’
He wished it were. ‘You need to think this through.’
‘You think I haven’t?’ Removing one of the arms around his waist, she snaked it between them and raised a hand to set fine-boned fingers against his jaw as she looked deep into his eyes. ‘I haven’t thought about anything else since the moment I laid eyes on you.’
Utilizing every microscopic fraction of resolve he had left, Tyler removed her fingers. ‘We can’t do this.’
‘Look me in the eyes and tell me you don’t want me.’
‘I’m not gonna lie about that.’ Not after she’d so ably demonstrated his weakness.
‘Then what is the problem?’ There was a brief flash of fire in her eyes. ‘In case you hadn’t noticed I’m throwing myself at you. That doesn’t happen very often.’
Some of his frustration bubbled to the surface. ‘Damn it, woman, I’m trying to do the right thing here.’ He glanced over her head to see who was watching what they were doing, his fingers tangling with hers at their side. ‘You’re not making it any easier.’
‘And I’m not going to until you can give me a rational explanation for why this can’t happen when we both want it to,’ she said on a note of exasperation.
‘I won’t take advantage of the situation.’
‘Uh...hello...woman willing to be taken advantage of over here.’ She lowered her voice. ‘I want to have wild, uninhibited sex with you. I want to feel your hands on my body. I want...’ she rocked forward and pressed her breasts