Walker Bride (9 page)

“Ow,” she groaned.

“Sorry,” he said as he lowered himself down
on her and she tangled herself around him again.

Tyson didn’t know what was going to happen,
but dear God, he just didn’t care. Every part of him had stiffened
the moment he saw her in that thin T-shirt. He couldn’t be held
responsible for this.

This wasn’t just his masculine needs taking
over. She was as fueled up as he was.

They were mature adults. Something like this
was bound to happen anyway, right? They’d been skirting around it
for months at dinners and parties. After she’d felt him up while
she measured him, it had only added fuel to the fire that had been
simmering.

She ran her hands over his chest, and he was
sure he’d growled an inhuman sound. Then she bit his lip, and that
only caused him to grind his body closer to her.

With her hands flat against his chest, she
pushed him back, but her sapphire blue eyes remained locked on
his.

He watched, with great appreciation, as she
lifted the T-shirt off her body, exposing her pale, soft skin for
him to feast on.

His eyes moved directly to the tattoo she had
on her rib cage.

“Chinese?” His breath could hardly carry the
words.

She nodded. “Breath of life.”

“Sexy,” he said as he ran his fingers over
the ink and she arched beneath him.

God, he’d never wanted anyone as much as he
wanted her right that moment. He was so thankful his sister talked
him into driving to town to speak to her.

Talk to her. He wasn’t supposed to be doing
this. There was supposed to be business going on.

Pearl reached up and wrapped her arms around
his neck, pulling him back down atop of her. Business was going to
have to wait. They were working on another kind of partnership.

It wasn’t Tyson’s style to act on impulse,
but something about Pearl Walker had him forgetting all about that.
If he were coherent enough, he’d be thinking that beneath him, half
dressed, was his brother’s cousin. He’d be damning himself for
letting a simple gesture escalate to this. He’d be fighting harder
so that his sister didn’t get hurt in the crossfire.

But there was no stopping him. Her fingers
were working the snaps on his shirt and a moment later her hands
were on his skin.

God was going to strike him down—and damn, it
would be worth it.

Pearl’s chest heaved under his as she pushed
away his shirt. She nipped at his lip, and he was sure the
maddening pace of his heart meant it was going to explode.

The rush of blood nearly deafened him. Then
there was the steady knocking of his heart in his ears. No—that
wasn’t his heart.

Pearl pulled her lips from his. “Someone’s
here.”

He kept still. “Do we just wait for them to
go away?”

Her eyes fixed on his, and she nodded. But
the knocking continued. Then he heard the one voice that ripped the
moment from them.

“Tyson, I see your car. I know you’re in
there. What are you two doing? Open the door,” Lydia’s plea
continued with more persistent knocking.

In one fluid motion, they were both off the
couch and frantically dressing.

“Did you know she was coming over?” he
asked.

“No. Did you?”

“No. She sent me. Why would she follow
me?”

“Why did she send you?”

He realized they never had talked about his
reason for being there. Lust seemed to have gotten in the way.

“You need a partner.”

“I have one,” she said quickly raking her
fingers through her hair and tying it back up on the top of her
head.

“No, Lydia says you need another one. You
need more money for the building.”

“She should have told me that,” she whispered
as she headed for the door.

“I was here to tell you that.”

“So what do you have to do with it?”

“I’m your partner,” he managed before she
pulled open the door and his sister stood there staring at both of
them.

“Oh, good. You’re both here. Are you burning
something?” she asked as she stepped inside. “Anyway, did you talk?
Are we cool?”

Tyson ran his hand over his head and realized
his hat was on the kitchen floor. Seriously, it had to be very
obvious what they’d been doing.

“We didn’t get down to the specifics quite
yet. I didn’t get here too long ago.”

Her eyes widened. “Oh, I thought you came
straight here.”

He winced and hoped she didn’t notice it. “I
was just telling her how you said that you needed another
partner.”

Lydia smiled that energetic smile that could
quickly become contagious.

“Pearl, I thought it would be better if he
talked to you about his partnership. We could use more funding, and
he’s willing.”

Tyson pursed his lips. He didn’t quite
remember telling her he’d do it, but that was how his sister
worked. She spun things to benefit her—and it usually worked.

Pearl smiled, but it was obviously forced.
“We hadn’t gotten to that quite yet.” She shifted him a glance then
turned toward Lydia. “I ruined my breakfast when I answered the
door. What do you say we all go out, and we can discuss this new
partnership?” Her words were strained, but by Lydia’s reaction, she
hadn’t noticed.

“I’d love that. Oh, there’s a new brunch menu
at Toddy’s. What do you say?”

They both looked at Tyson as if he were the
deciding party. “Fine.”

“If you don’t mind, I’m going to head
upstairs and take a very quick shower. I wasn’t quite ready to
receive visitors this morning. I’ll only be a few minutes. Help
yourself to coffee,” Pearl added as she headed for the stairs.

When she’d disappeared, Tyson walked toward
the kitchen, Lydia close in tow. He picked up his hat from the
floor, and the two dropped forks. He tossed the forks in the sink
and placed his hat on his head when Lydia hauled off and punched
him in the arm.

He wasn’t sure if it hurt or if he was simply
shocked.

“What in the hell was that for?”

Her eyes were narrowly staring at him, and
her lips were in a tight line. “What are you doing?”

“I was going to get coffee.”

“That’s not what I mean, and you know it.”
She wound to hit him again, but this time, he moved out of her
way.

“You’re crazy.”

“You’re making a move on Pearl.”

“I am not,” he said, fully convinced that
since she was the one that took her shirt off, she’d made the first
move.

“You can’t sleep with her.”

“I didn’t.”

“You’re thinking about doing it.”

“I’m a man. Of course, I’d think about
it.”

He flinched when she reached out to touch his
arm. “Tyson…”

There was a tone—a damn maternal tone. He was
a forty-two-year-old man. He should be able to carry on with anyone
he chose.

“Lydia, it’s not like that.”

She pulled back and crossed her arms in front
of her. “Really? That’s not how it looks.”

What was he supposed to say to that? If she’d
walked right in she’d have gotten one hell of a show.

Tyson let out a long breath. “I like her.
Okay? Fine, I’ve said it. I like her.”

“I need this business to work.”

“And it can’t work if I’m seeing her?”

Her eyes widened. “I knew it.”

He held his hands up in surrender. “Stop. You
don’t know anything.”

“Every time Mom gets personally involved with
a business partner, something goes wrong. You’re going to mess this
all up.”

“Okay then, I don’t want anything to do with
it.”

“You have to. I need you to be part of
this.”

Tyson lifted off his cap and ran his hand
over his hair. “This is very confusing to me,” he said as he
adjusted the cap back low over his forehead. “I’ll tell you what.
Find another partner. I like her.”

“There is no one else. No one I trust
enough.”

He bit down hard, so hard his jaw popped.
Family was more important than any amount of money or any degree of
lust. He knew that. He abided by that. And right now it really
sucked.

Pulling his keys from his pocket, he leaned
in and kissed his sister on the cheek. “Tell Pearl I’m sorry I
won’t be joining you.”

Tyson started for the door with Lydia
following. “Where are you going?”

“You made it very clear I can’t help you and
have her. I think you’re wrong, but you two had this arrangement
first. I’ll always choose you, Lydia. You’re my family, my blood,
my sister.”

Pearl walked down the stairs and straight to
the kitchen to find Lydia standing there alone.

“I heard the door.”

Lydia wrinkled up her nose and closed her
eyes tight before opening them and looking at Pearl. “Tyson left. I
think I upset him.”

Trying to make it seem as if it didn’t
matter, she simply nodded. “Okay, then just you and I for
brunch?”

“You’re not mad?”

“Mad that you pissed off your brother? No,
should I be?” She gathered her purse off the kitchen table. “Do you
want to drive or shall I?”

Lydia studied her for a moment. “You can
drive. We can head over to the new building and look at it too.
Sometimes just looking at it makes my day better.”

“That sounds like a plan.”

Pearl and Lydia walked to the front door, and
Pearl locked it behind them.

What had happened while she was in the
shower, she wondered. Perhaps it was good that Lydia arrived when
she had. Pearl’s family was temperamental enough. Did she really
need a man in her life that was the same? After all, if he’d walked
out because of some little disagreement with his sister, he wasn’t
too open to others then.

All the better.

Right now her focus needed to be on her
business. This venture with Lydia had to work out, or Pearl could
lose everything, and she wasn’t willing to risk that, not even over
a man that made her melt into a pile of goo as Tyson Morgan
did.

Brunch was excellent. Lydia filled the entire
morning with talk of exciting plans for their business. She’d been
in contact with a woman named Gia Gallo, who owned a small store
not far from Pearl’s bridal store.

“She’s this tiny Italian woman who sells
gifts from Italy. She remembered seeing Bethany in her store before
when I mentioned that I knew her.”

Pearl lifted a bite of eggs to her lips. “You
were name dropping?”

“Seriously, when you can, you do.”

Pearl wasn’t sure Bethany would like that
much, but she wasn’t going to say anything. Lydia’s hands flew
about as she told her that Gia had agreed to open her location in
their building.

“So not a wedding mecca anymore?” Pearl
asked.

“She has beautiful lace from Venice.
Something old and blue?”

“That’s all?”

Lydia laughed. “No. That’s not all. She comes
with rent.”

Pearl had to look at it, in the same way,
Lydia did. It was a business. They were doing this to make money
and a lot of it.

However, her mind wasn’t focused on the
business at hand at all. It was wandering off to Tyson and
wondering why he’d left without another word.

She continued to listen to Lydia talk about
her plans all the while wondering if Tyson would show up on her
front stop for a third time tomorrow.

~*~

Lydia’s truck pulled up the drive toward the
Walker’s barn. Right on time, Tyson thought as he pulled a beer
from the cooler he had on the tailgate of his truck.

He watched as his sister parked and climbed
out of her truck, an enormous smile on her face.

“What are you doing here?” she asked as she
walked toward him.

“Waiting for you.” He held out the beer to
her, and she took it. “Still can’t convince you to to keep your
horse in our barn?”

She laughed as she twisted the cap off the
bottle. “He likes it here better.”

At that moment, Tyson couldn’t blame the
horse, or his sister, for spending all their time there. He found
he tended to like it better too.

Tyson reached into the pocket of his shirt
and handed his sister the folded piece of paper he’d tucked there.
“This is for you.”

Lydia took it from him and opened it slowly.
He watched her eyes widen and tears quickly well up in them.
“Tyson, this is a lot of money,” she said looking back down at the
check he’d handed her.

“Is it enough?”

“It’s more than enough. We didn’t need…”

“Take it. I believe in what you’re building.
I think it will do well for you. Susan’s already been talking about
the kitchen she’ll be able to cater out of.”

Lydia tucked the check into her pocket and
held her bottle up to his. “To partnership,” she said

He tapped his bottle to her. “Silent
partnerships.”

Tyson lifted his bottle to his lips, but
Lydia lowered hers. “I’m sorry about everything I said to you today
about Pearl. I had no right to…”

“You were right. We’re partners now. All
three of us. There can be no
getting involved
with
partners.”

She took a breath to speak again, but Susan
was running up the road toward them waving. Tyson chuckled. “She’s
been waiting for you. Some wedding planning something. It’s way out
of my league.”

Lydia moved in and kissed him on the cheek.
“Thank you for this. You won’t regret it,” she said as she turned
and walked toward Susan.

He took a pull from his beer. He’d never
regret giving her his money, even down to his last penny. But he
wasn’t so sure about the rest of it. Hormones and a beautiful woman
might have put him in the position he’d found himself in that
morning. He thought about that position—her beneath him, skin to
skin. Taking another pull from his beer, he let the heat of it
settle in his belly. But there was more.

He tipped his head back and let the small
breeze drift over him. There was something more than just heat and
attraction between him and Pearl, he thought.