at my side. Like a dog who looks menacing or unapproachable to a stranger, he’s the comfort no one will ever understand.
They don’t have to.
In the hall outside my apartment, I fish my keys out of my bag. There’s a note on the door from Elle.
If you’re coming home with NT, I’m going to kill you.
Tyler lifts the note off the door, frowning. “Who’s NT?”
“She means Ian. It’s an inside joke.” I take the note, crumpling it into a ball. My stomach tightens as I think about what the nickname means.
“Annie.” Tyler steps between the door and me before I can slide the key into the lock. “Why did you date him?”
I’ve asked myself the same question so many times these past few days.
“I thought he was what I wanted. He didn’t look at me like I was crazy when I told him about my dreams. Though I guess he liked it because he could take advantage.”
“I have always believed in you.”
I nod. “I know. That’s the other reason I was drawn to him.”
“Why?”
“Because he was safe. Because I didn’t love him the way I loved you.”
Tyler’s body relaxes, and I peer up into his face. There’s urgency that wasn’t there at the hotel, but he’s holding back.
“Say it,” I demand. “Whatever it is that has you looking all broody after I thought we had a good time.”
He captures my wrist, and I suck in a startled little breath as he strokes his thumb across my skin. The electricity between us that was content to sit back over dinner and drinks springs to life once again.
Tyler turns my hand and skims his thumb across the lines in my palm, so different from the lines on his. “The reason I’m unavailable isn’t because I’m seeing someone else.”
When his gaze meets mine, the emotion in his eyes hits me square in the chest. “It’s because my heart has always been yours.”
13
I didn’t come to New York to tell Annie Jamieson I love her. I came because I couldn’t let her go off to see some dickhead who hurt her without having backup. I know I’ve been that dickhead, but I won’t be him this time.
She’s flushed in the hall lights, a warm, lush shade that makes me want to kiss her everywhere. I want to capture her with my hands, my mind, so I can have her like this whenever I want.
“My heart has been yours since you walked into the pool house to steal my towel senior year at Oakwood,” I continue.
Annie’s lips part, those amber eyes blinking as she sucks in a slow breath.
If she tells me to leave, I will. I’ll walk out of here and never come back, never insert myself into her life again when she hasn’t asked for it.
Instead, she holds out a hand. “Give me your phone.”
I take it out, unlocking it for her.
She opens my contacts and hits a number, telling the driver downstairs he can leave.
Her meaning sinks in, and my body gets heavy—hard.
I turn us so it’s her back against the door, my hips colliding with hers. She doesn’t resist, doesn’t do anything but angle her face up to mine.
“Listen to me.” I plant my hand on the wall next to her head instead of threading it into her hair like I want to. “If this is about blowing off steam, about you being pissed at your ex or the world, I can be your friend. But I won’t fuck you tonight.”
Confusion clouds her expression. “But you said—”
“I know what I said,” I interrupt. My breath is too shallow for the words I need to say, but I say them anyway. “It’s not enough to know you’re not his, Annie. I need to know you’re mine.”
The words settle between us.
She weighs them as if each is worthy of its own assessment.
It’s what I wanted, for her to take me seriously, but Annie thinks on those words for so fucking long it’s going to break me.
“Tyler…”
Her arms wind around my neck, and she holds me tighter, hugging me with every ounce of strength in her. I breathe her in, but every part of me knows she’s going to say something I don’t want to hear.
“You’re right. I did find myself in New York. I’ve learned how to be tough. How to take care of myself and go after my dreams. I wouldn’t have become that person without everything that happened, and a lot of it is thanks to you.
“I’m not sure I can