The Beauty Within (27 page)

“Mm
hmm…
”

“Who is it, Wen?”

“Your man,” Wendy said, her eyebrow arching as she looked at him. His

grin had widened at Wendy’s announcement. It sounded good, sounded
right
.

“My who?”

Wendy rolled her eyes and looked over her shoulder. “Gunnar, girl!”

Tyler appeared behind Wendy’s shoulder, and the smile she gave him was

shy. “Hi…”

“I wanted to see you,” Gunnar said unapologetically, not caring Wendy

was watching them avidly.

“Why?”

“
Jeg tenker på deg hele tiden, elskling
.”

“What?”

He grinned and lowered his voice, bending his head closer to them. “I can’t

stop thinking about you, baby.”

Tyler ducked her head, and Wendy rolled her eyes again before stepping

from the door and pushing Tyler towards him. Gunnar stepped inside the

house and pulled Tyler into his arms, kissing the top of her head gently.

“I
just
got off the phone with you,” Tyler murmured, but her arms went

around his waist anyway.

“Not the same,” Gunnar said quietly, closing his eyes as he breathed in her

scent and let her arms take him to that place of complete serenity. He opened

his eyes to see Wendy still watching them, and he smiled.

“Nice to see you, Wendy.”

Wendy nodded. “You, too, Gunnar. How have things been?”

He looked down at the top of Tyler’s head and smiled. “Wonderful.”

“I hear you have a birthday coming up—”

“Wen!”

Gunnar smiled at Tyler’s admonishing tone to her sister and he kissed Ty-

ler’s forehead. “Don’t worry. I’ll let you surprise me—”

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Savannah J. Frierson

“Who said I’m doin’ anything for
you
?”

Gunnar merely tightened his arm around her and gave her a skeptical look.

“You aren’t?”

“Gunnar…”

“It’s the big three-five after all.”

“Ew!”

“That’s what
I
said!” Gunnar said to Wendy’s sound of disgust.

“You two are ridiculous!”

“So says the woman who has seven years before she worries about it!”

“Because five is
so
much closer—”

“Ladies,” Gunnar said, chuckling a bit. “Two days, here. I’ve got you both

beat!”

“And I’m not birthday gift enough for you?” Tyler said with a faux pout.

Gunnar cupped Tyler’s face and gave her a sweet kiss to the lips. “You’re all

the birthday gift a man could ever want or need,
kjære
.”

A throat cleared. “I need to go home,” Wendy muttered, picking up her

purse from the couch that was next to them. “Y’all make me wanna find

Damon and give him some good lovin’…”

“Just as long as you don’t make him late for work tomorrow morning,”

Gunnar teased, smiling down into Tyler’s blushing face.

“Touché,” Wendy said, eyeing the pair. She kissed Tyler’s cheek and

squeezed Gunnar’s forearm. “Don’t have
too
much fun you two!”

They remained standing there long after Wendy’s car pulled out the dri-

veway, his fingers sliding through her hair and her breath warm and wonderful

against his chest.

“You told her about us,” Gunnar said after a few moments.

Tyler snorted and burrowed her face further into his neck. “She figured it

out.”

“How so?”

“When I came home from that session…she was here waiting for me, con-

cerned because I hadn’t answered the phone. And then she just guessed from

there.”

He smiled and brought her even closer. “I loved you damn good, didn’t I?”

“Your ego is showing, Mr. Daniels,” Tyler muttered.

“Damn straight it is,” Gunnar said, pulling back to stroke the sides of her

face. “How can it not when I have you as my woman?”

Her brown eyes closed at his question, and her sigh was soft. “Your wom-

an…”

“Yes,” Gunnar said, dropping a kiss to her nose. “And I’m your man.”

Her eyes opened. “I can’t believe it.”

“Why not?”

The Beauty Within

147

She shrugged and gave him a lopsided grin, smoothing her hands along his

shoulders and collarbone. “If someone would’ve told me we would be together

like this after our first meeting…”

He picked up one of her hands and kissed the pads of her fingertips.

“Sometimes first impressions are overrated, don’t you think?”

She merely smiled and hugged him again. “I missed you, too, Gunnar.”

That was the sweetest thing anyone had ever said to him. He kissed her

temple and squeezed her. This woman had rocked his world and set it right, a

world that had been off-kilter for so long he’d gotten used to it. His LA years

had been doozies, full of experiences he could barely confess to a priest, and it

took one painful, heart-wrenching experience to tell him enough was enough.

Something had told him coming back to North Carolina was the first step in

getting things back on track, and he thanked goodness for his patience, or else

he would’ve missed out on the best thing that had ever happened to him.

“Are you staying?” she whispered after a few moments of silence.

“We both have work in the morning,
kjære
,” Gunnar whispered.

“I know.”

He pulled back and framed her face, brushing away tendrils of her hair

from her temples and forehead. “Would you like me to stay?”

Tyler bit her lip and touched his chin with gentle fingertips. “We don’t

have to do anything, Gunnar…”

“And while I love making love with you,
kjære
,” Gunnar began, dipping

down his chin to nip at her fingers. “I get just as much pleasure from holding

you too.”

Her face brightened. “You don’t mind?”

“Baby,” Gunnar said frowning. “I love being with you. It’s my favorite pas-

time, actually.”

She giggled and tweaked his chin. “Silly!”

“It’s true!” Gunnar said, nipping at her fingers again. “I count down the mi-

nutes at work for when I can see you next.”

“You do?”

“I do…”

The smile Tyler gave him robbed all the breath from his body because of its

beauty. It was scary and thrilling how quickly this woman had become so

important to him, so central. Then again, his father had said when you meet

that right person, you knew it instantly; it just took some people a long time to

admit it and be comfortable in that knowledge. Gunnar Daniels, two days shy

of his thirty-fifth birthday, didn’t want to waste any more time than necessary,

but he wouldn’t rush Tyler, either. He was a patient man.

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Savannah J. Frierson

Gunnar was glaring at her, though the heat in his eyes had little to do with

anger or the reflection of the candles that flickered from the cake the servers

had just put in front of him. A ridiculous birthday song blared through the

dining area, drowning out the televisions and other conversations throughout

the pub. When the servers screamed “THIRTY-FIVE!”, there was a loud cheer

and applause, Wendy and Valerie doing very impressive whistles with the two

fingers in the mouth. Gunnar let a slow smile form on his face and he kissed

Tyler’s cheek.

“You will pay for this,” he promised.

“With interest, I hope,” Tyler purred back.

Gunnar took a finger and swiped off a large glob of chocolate mousse be-

fore presenting it to her. Tyler took the finger in her mouth and swirled her

tongue around it almost indecently, oblivious to the catcalls the rest of their

party shouted at them, solely focused on the heady look in those gray eyes.

“A whole lot of interest,” Gunnar agreed, taking the finger from her mouth

and putting it in his before wagging his eyebrows briefly and starting to cut

the cake.

Laughing silently, Tyler helped him pass out slices of cake, glad Gunnar

had been such a good sport about it. She’d asked for Damon’s help for what to

do to celebrate Gunnar’s birthday, and he’d suggested the pub. Tyler had

agreed it should be a small thing, but Damon knew how much he abhorred the

restaurant birthday celebrations, so, of course, Gunnar had to have one as well.

“So mean!” Tyler had said, noticing the evil gleam in Damon’s eye.

“And yet, you’re gonna do it, aren’t you?” Damon said, seeing the matching

gleam in hers.

So here it was on a Friday, with Gunnar, Tyler, Damon, Wendy, Valerie,

and the new employee Victor sharing in the celebration of Gunnar’s birthday.

Everyone had much fun telling whatever stories he or she knew about Gunnar,

or his or her own experiences with birthdays, recent and not so recent.

Damon’s birthday had been during the holiday season, which meant much

drinking and slurred, off-key singing of Christmas carols. Gunnar had laughed

as Wendy had regaled them all with the story of a drunken Damon hollering at

the top of his lungs atop the roof as he pretended he was Santa Claus.

“I was acting out the scene! I
swear
Santa came that year—y’all can’t tell me

nothin’
!” Damon said in his defense.

Wendy sucked her teeth. “I thought he was gonna fall and break his

neck—!”

“I almost did,” Damon admitted, and he pointed his fork to Gunnar. “You

missed one hell of a party, Son!”

“I was in Norway visiting family,” Gunnar said apologetically, nuzzling his

nose against Tyler’s temple. “To think I could’ve met you much earlier and

under…livelier circumstances too!” he whispered for her ears alone.

The Beauty Within

Tyler had been thinking the same thing, and had squeezed his thigh un-

derneath the table in agreement.

After everyone had her fill, Gunnar opened his presents. Damon and Wen-

dy gave him an mp3 carrier for when he would go jogging since he hadn’t had

one. Valerie and Victor gifted him with a new book by an up and coming

fitness guru who had new weight-lifting techniques they thought he would

like. And Tyler gave him a box of Milky Ways from Sam’s Club and a gift

certificate to Soul Cuts—ten free haircuts.

“A woman after my own heart,” he’d murmured right before expressing his

gratitude with a kiss.

“That’s lazy!” Damon had accused good-naturedly.

“It’s sentimental,” Wendy disagreed, hooking her arm through Damon’s

and leaning her head against his shoulder.

“I couldn’t get away with a gift like that,” Damon grumbled.

“No, but I’m not Gunnar, and you’re not Tyler. What works for them may

not work for us…”

“At least Gunnar will save some money—damn, it, woman! That hurt!”

Tyler laughed as Damon rubbed his side where her sister had pinched him,

and Wendy rolled her eyes dramatically.

“There’s something to be said for
some
body fat, dearest,” Wendy said, not

the least bit apologetic.

“Perish the thought!” Valerie said. “Body fat on
Damon Wilkes
? The world

would surely come to an end!”

“Shut up, woman!” Damon said, scowling at them both.

Gunnar laughed and brought Tyler closer, running his lips against her

temple. “This was a great party. Thank you so much.”

“You’re welcome,” she replied, squeezing his thigh again. She wouldn’t

admit she was growing slightly uncomfortable with the topic. Out of all the

people at the table, she was the least in shape, and she suddenly felt conspi-

cuous. It was silly to feel that way, and she knew it, but she couldn’t help but

feel lacking at a table full of people who would look very much at home on a

magazine cover or catwalk.

“I’m going to go to the bathroom,” Gunnar whispered, having no idea of the

thoughts whirring through her head. She gave a nod and smiled when he

kissed her temple before sliding out the booth.

“You’re good for him.”

The pronouncement had come from Valerie, who was grinning at her

broadly. Tyler smiled back and blushed. “I try to be.”

“Try,” Wendy scoffed. “My sister is far too modest for her own good. Any

man would be lucky to have her.”

“You’re no piece of chopped liver, either, baby,” Damon said, nipping at

Wendy’s cheekbone. Wendy giggled and turned her head to give her boyfriend

a quick kiss to the lips.

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Savannah J. Frierson

“Sickening,” Valerie muttered, and Tyler laughed. “I’m surrounded by hap-

py couples. Someone shoot me!”

“Agreed!” Victor said good-naturedly. Though Tyler had just met him, she

thought him a cool person.

“Whatever!” Damon exclaimed. “Just ’cause your girl had to go out of town

this week, don’t be all bitter and shit!”

Valerie’s girlfriend worked for a marketing firm, which made her travel

through the Carolinas and Virginia with some frequency.

Valerie pouted. “You’re making me miss her though.”

“And
you
,” Damon said, pointing to Victor, “just about every girl in here is

checkin’ you out, so I don’t wanna hear it!”

Victor shrugged, neither confirming nor denying Damon’s allegation,

though he did flash a smile to a pretty blonde standing at the bar.

“I’m used to them by now,” Tyler said. “But I empathize completely.”

“And now
you
can’t talk, because you have your own man now!” Wendy

declared.

Tyler blushed and looked at her hands. It was odd to be taken, yet she