She laughed, his exuberance contagious. “Boy, you’re in a good mood.” He was a good dancer.
“You have no idea. I wrote over three thousand words, and that’s more in a few hours than I’ve written in months on that story.” They came to a stop but he didn’t release her, looking deeply into her eyes.
“I mean it, Nevvie,” he said, his voice dropping. “Please don’t ever leave us. I—we need you, sweetheart. I told you, we’ll do anything to keep you, give you anything you want. You have no idea how much we love you. Promise me you’ll never leave us, please.”
Had her heart stopped? Was she dreaming? What he meant and what she felt had to be two totally different things, right?
Still she nodded, unable to speak.
Then he smiled. She knew even if it meant never getting laid again in her life it was worth it to stay with these two men and keep feeling the way she felt at that moment. Tyler gently kissed her on the lips and enveloped her in a long, nearly desperate hug.
“Anything you ever want, Nevvie, I mean it. Anything.”
She couldn’t stop the words before they left her mouth. “I love you,” she whispered.
His smile widened, beaming. “We love you too, Nevvie.” He gently kissed her one more time.
Oh, boy. She knew their love wasn’t the love she meant, but she wasn’t too proud to take what she could get.
And she was damn happy to have it.
An hour later, Tyler appeared in the kitchen with an inch-thick sheaf of papers and a mechanical pencil.
“What’s that?” she asked.
“I want you to go make yourself comfy and start working on this for me.”
“What?”
He pushed in close. “My sweet muse, I want your opinion. Nits, logic and plot flaws, grammar, all of it, mark up the manuscript, anything you have questions or comments on.”
She tried to back away but he cornered her. “Tyler, I don’t have any experience doing that.”
“What grades did you get in English?”
She blushed. “Straight A’s.”
“Then you’ll do fine.” He waited, the papers outstretched.
She reluctantly took them. “Okay, fine. You might be sorry you asked.”
He kissed her cheek, his eyes beaming. “You can do no wrong, sweetheart. Seriously. Even if you aren’t sure of yourself, jot it in the margins anyway. Let me be the judge.”
He returned to his office and she sighed. Obviously the rest of the items on her to-do list for the afternoon were pre-empted.
Thomas arrived home and found her curled up on the couch with a cup of hot tea and the manuscript. He walked over and kissed her on the cheek. “What’s that?”
“Tyler’s newest. He wants me to edit the rough draft.”
“He’s trying to horn in to get more time with you.” Thomas grinned. “Sneaky bastard, making more work for you.”
“He’s calling me his muse. I think you’re in trouble.”
Thomas found Tyler in his office and gave him a kiss. “Did Nevvie get a promotion?”
Tyler leaned back in his chair, a smile on his face. “She’s brilliant, Thomas. She read one chapter and made a few simple comments that totally cleared my writer’s block.”
“You still have to share,” Thomas teased.
“I know, my sweet. I will. I need her to look through that draft, another set of eyes on it. I know you hate editing.”
He nodded. “Yeah, it’s worth it just to have her doing that, no offense, sugar. I love your books, you know that, but I’m not an editor.”
“And you benefit from my improved mood.” He winked.
Thomas grinned. “Then it’s definitely worth it.”
The next day, Thomas had already left for work and Nevvie prepared to start her morning cleaning before tackling Tyler’s manuscript and email. His fan mail ranged from glowing to downright creepy. It hadn’t taken her long to figure out which rare ones to save for him to personally answer, which to answer for him, and which—most—to delete unanswered. She found her thoughts slipped into a British accent when she answered for him, conjuring his voice in her head and typing what he’d say and how he’d say it.
She’d started the dishwasher when Tyler walked into the kitchen to refill his coffee mug. Smiling, he leaned against the counter.
She recognized that playful look. “Okay, what did you do?”
He handed her a sheet of paper and she took it, puzzled. She read it and her jaw dropped. “You didn’t?”
He grinned.
She squealed and threw her arms around him. “Center ice? Oh, Tyler, that’s fantastic!”
“You’re more than welcome, sweetheart. I want to keep my muse happy.”
“Wait.” She re-read the paper. “There’s only two tickets.”
He sipped his coffee. “I like hockey well enough, but I’m not a fan. You and Thomas appreciate it. He’ll be home around four to pick you up, and then the two of you shall make an evening of it.”
“What about you?”
“I’ve got a hot date with Abernathy and the shadow.” He grinned. “I plan to turn my music up loud and pound at the keyboard all evening long.”
“That doesn’t seem fair.”
“Shh.” He took her into his arms. “I bought the tickets. Don’t you think I’d get myself one if I wanted to go? It’s not that I don’t want to go, but frankly, it’d be like me dragging you and Thomas to watch Manchester United. You might have fun, but your hearts wouldn’t be in it. In the nearly twelve years we’ve been together, if nothing else Thomas and I have learned it’s perfectly okay to do things alone instead of being joined at the hip. The things we do together we take great joy in.”
His eyes. Those damned blue eyes. With her arms around his neck she could pretend he was her boyfriend and not her boss. Sexual harassment? Ha! Could she sue them for not sexually harassing her?
“Okay.”
His smile melted her heart. Whatever he wanted, anything, she’d give it to him. She spent more time with Tyler, but she knew she loved them both. She could spend the evening with Thomas without guilt. Riding the bike together was one thing, but a whole evening without Tyler was something else.
“Good.” He kissed her forehead and patted her on the bum. “That’s settled then.”
Chapter 11
She was ready to go when Thomas arrived. It took him a few minutes to change clothes. At the door he hugged Tyler and gave him a goodbye kiss.
They noticed her expression.
“What’s wrong, sugar?” Thomas asked.
She stuck out her lower lip in a fake pout. “I don’t get one?”
Both men laughed. Thomas, then Tyler, gave her a kiss. She closed her eyes. Between her fantasies and her right hand, if she could live like this forever, she would. Just to feel like this all the time.
“Sorry, dearest,” Tyler apologized after he stepped back. “Didn’t mean to leave you out.”
“That’s better.”
Thomas offered her his arm. “Ready?”
“Let’s go.”
“Have fun, you two,” Tyler said. “I hope they win.”
They arrived over an hour early and snagged a great parking spot. Thomas held the truck door for her and offered his hand for the walk to the box office. She didn’t want to let go, enjoying the feel of his warm, strong fingers around hers. Her fantasy that he was her boyfriend could survive a few moments longer. Thomas retrieved their tickets from Will Call and escorted her upstairs to eat.
The restaurant was expensive. As if reading her mind, Thomas caught her eye. “Anything you want, Nevvie, you order it. Don’t worry about the price. My treat, seriously.”