Perfect Together (27 page)

Confusion
crossed Nicole’s face. “Does Mike not want kids?”

Sam shrugged. “I’m pretty sure he wants the whole nine yards with Cara, but apparently any conversation they had about it involved it happening some time in the future. And they had a rough road getting together, so she was worried about how he’d take it.”

“Umm, I didn’t live here, so I don’t know what happened.”

“Right.” For some reason, he felt so connected to her, it was as if he’d had her in his life much longer. “Mike’s father isn’t Simon.” He’d already told her the bare-bones story but wanted to tell her more now. “Ultimately he left town. It was more complicated than that, but I’ll save those details for another day. Suffice it to say, Simon had always been in love with Mom and offered to marry her. We always knew Mike was Simon’s adopted son, but he never treated him any differently. Still, Mike had . . . I guess a shrink would call it abandonment issues, always felt different from us, like he didn’t live up. Until Dad got cancer last year, Mike was rarely home. Even when he came back as temporary chief, he didn’t plan to stay.”

A soft smile played around Nicole’s lips. “Until Cara.”

Sam inclined his head. “Until Serendipity got a hold of him, and Cara too. But he fought it the whole way. So she’s worried the baby will scare him off. Which will not happen.”

Nicole leaned against the sofa cushion and pulled her knees to her chest, her gaze never leaving Sam’s. “For two men raised in a loving home, you two sure go out of your way not to believe in the notion.”

Well, that was a fast turnaround,
Sam thought, and squirmed being under the spotlight. But she had a fair point. “I
guess it’s your own personal experience that defines a person more.”

“And what about your mom? She married Simon for security. Did she fight the whole love thing because she’d been hurt and abandoned by Mike’s real father?”

Sam’s head began to pound. “Not according to the legend of Ella and Simon,” he muttered, trying like hell to find a way out of this conversation.

“Interesting.” Nicole eyed him with curiosity but didn’t utter another word.

He decided conversation was preferable to this silent scrutiny. “Are you hungry?”

She laughed and rose to her feet. “Might as well eat. I told Aunt Lulu I’d be in this afternoon if I was up to it. But we aren’t getting deliveries until Monday, so I should be okay to rest up today.”

Subject dropped, just like that. Damn woman confused and confounded him. She told him, in so many words, she was in love with him; she asked pointed questions about his family and how he ended up not trusting in the notion, and then she left him alone with his thoughts.

“Crafty,” he muttered.

“What?”

“Nothing.” He followed her to the kitchen, but the doorbell rang, interrupting her chance to eat. Again.

“Expecting anyone?” he asked.

She shook her head.

He made it to the door first and looked out. “Stanton,” he muttered, letting him in.

“Tyler! What are you doing here?” Nicole asked, coming up behind Sam.

Tyler
pushed past Sam and headed straight for Nicole. “His brother called asking questions,” he said, glancing at Sam. “Mike told me you were in a car accident and they needed to rule out foul play.”

Nicole took a step back. “I’m okay. You didn’t need to drive all the way here to ask me that!”

“I also needed to come here and tell you that I’m going to wear the wire with my old man. Not you.”

“What wire?” Nicole asked, still in the dark because Sam hadn’t thought it was the right time to tell her yet.

Sam pinched the bridge of his nose and wondered if he’d go to jail if he decked Nicole’s ex. It might just be worth it.

Sam cleared his throat and both Tyler and Nicole turned to face him. “We hadn’t had a chance to discuss that yet,” he said pointedly.

“Shit,” Tyler said, realizing he’d spilled those beans.

“Yeah.”
Thanks a lot, asshole,
Sam thought. Though it was his fault Nicole didn’t know yet.

He’d wanted to spare her the worrying until there was a reason, but from the furious look on her face, she didn’t appreciate being left in the dark.

“What’s going on? What do you two know that I don’t?”

“The feds—” Tyler began, but Sam held a hand up, interrupting his explanation.

“I’ve got this,” Sam said.

“Now. You’ve got this now,” Nicole muttered. “But you’ve had plenty of time to tell me . . . what?” She perched her hands on her hips and glared at him.

“When Mike and Cole spoke to the feds, they said they wanted you to wear a wire to get information from his father so they could implicate Romanov. He’s a major drug dealer
and money launderer,” Sam explained, as Tyler remained silent.

“And you didn’t think I needed to know about this?” she asked, her voice rising.

Sam set his jaw. “I didn’t think you needed added stress right now, no.”

“Tell me you didn’t make that decision for me.” Her eyes grew dark and stormy, along with his mood, and a beat of silence followed.

They both already knew the answer.

Tyler swore out loud. “I didn’t mean to cause trouble.”

Sam ignored him, drawing a calming breath. “Can we discuss this later? In private?”

Nicole nodded, but her pain-filled expression told him she wasn’t up to the news. And he’d known that.

The doorbell rang again and Nicole threw up her arms, wincing in agony. “What now?” she asked, her voice rising. She glanced through the door before swinging it open wide. “Am I glad to see you,” Nicole said.

Macy walked in with a cake box in hand. “I was coming to bring you a get-well present from my family. Then I saw the car in the driveway.” Her voice darkened as she narrowed her gaze on Tyler, who’d clearly been caught back in town visiting his ex—before he’d told his current . . . whatever Macy was to him that he’d returned.

Now it was Tyler’s turn to be in the doghouse, Sam thought, taking no pleasure in anyone sharing his predicament. Having Nicole mad at him ruined his damned day.

“Might as well come in and join the fun,” Sam said to Macy.

She rolled her eyes. Handed Nicole the cake. Folded her
arms across her chest and glared at Tyler, hurt and fury warring for dominance.

Even Sam winced at what poor Stanton was in for.

Macy had taken one look at Tyler’s Porsche parked
in Nicole’s driveway and wanted to vomit. Of course he’d come
here
before letting her know he was back in town. If he was back. For all Macy knew, he’d planned on leaving again before she even realized he’d returned. But she refused to let him stop her from checking on Nicole and delivering her gift.

Once inside, it took all her willpower to keep her focus on her friend and not the man who’d asked her to wait but couldn’t be bothered to keep in touch.

“Anyway, Aunt Lulu said she can take the deliveries if you aren’t up to working,” Macy said, ignoring Tyler’s heated gaze.

“I’m not missing any more work because of this mess.” Nicole sliced a hand through the air for emphasis. “And what about you? What are you doing out and about? You were in that car with me,” Nicole said.

“What!?” Tyler stepped forward. “Are you okay?” He reached for her, but she backed away.

“I’m fine,” she said through clenched teeth. “Nice of you to ask.”

Tyler ran a hand through his hair. “I didn’t know. Mike only told me about Nicole. He didn’t know you and I . . .” He trailed off, obviously unsure of how to characterize their relationship.

Hurt rocked through Macy, but she didn’t want to deal
with him now. “What mess are you talking about?” she asked, referring to what Nicole had said earlier. “What don’t you want to keep you from work?”

“Umm—” Nicole glanced from Sam to Tyler.

“Macy, I’ve been trying to keep you in the dark for your own protection,” Tyler said, stepping closer to her again.

She turned to face him, lost and confused. “My protection? What are you involved in?”

Sam shook his head and groaned. “Macy Donovan, if you breathe a word of this around town, and I mean one word—”

“Hey! Just because I’m outspoken doesn’t mean I’m a gossip or I can’t be trusted,” she said, annoyed by the implication. “I can keep a secret. Ask Erin,” she said pointedly. She’d kept his sister’s pregnancy a secret last year.

“I know. I’m just trying to tell you how important this is. How dangerous,” Sam said to emphasize the point.

A chill rushed over her skin and she shivered. “Tell me.”

Tyler reached out and took her hand. He then began to explain how his father was involved with Russian money launderers and that he’d come after Nicole to protect her. He’d left Serendipity last week to try to talk sense into his father. That or find evidence of guilt so the feds wouldn’t want Nicole to wear a wire to get information.

Macy listened in disbelief.

“Then I heard about Nicole’s car accident and I thought maybe they’d sent someone after her. To scare her into coming back to Manhattan. So I came here to see for myself that she was okay. And to tell her if anyone was going to be wearing a wire, it would be me. Not her,” Tyler summed up at last.

Macy
bit down on the inside of her cheek. So he wanted to put himself on the line. For Nicole. She swallowed hard. Before she could speak, Nicole chimed in.

“And that was the first time I learned about me wearing a wire because Sam thought it was in my best interest to keep me in the dark,” Nicole said, her voice low, angry.

“Just like Tyler thought it was in mine?” Macy asked in a sugary-sweet tone she didn’t mean.

The two women locked gazes, and Nicole stepped up alongside Macy. “You two. Go away. We need to talk.”

“Give me a break,” Sam muttered. “You can’t be angry because I was looking out for you.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Yeah. I can.”

“Macy, I just told you everything about me. We need to talk,” Tyler said.

“Later,” Macy muttered. “If you’re lucky.”

Nicole met her gaze. “We’re taking the kitchen. You two stay here.” She grabbed Macy’s hand and pulled her into the other room, leaving the two know-it-all men alone.

Macy wanted to laugh, but her heart was heavy because she couldn’t separate what she’d learned about Tyler’s past from his feelings for Nicole. And unless
he
convinced Macy he didn’t have any feelings beyond friendship, she was getting out of this non-relationship before it ever got started.

Nicole and Macy retreated to the kitchen; Nicole
wanted to make her point to Sam that she was not happy with him making decisions about what she should know and when.

They sat at the kitchen table, staring at each other.

Nicole broke the silence first. “The last thing I want to do is fight with Sam, but I can’t believe he kept me in the dark.” They’d spent an entire weekend getting closer and all along he knew what her future held.

“Umm, same?” Macy sighed, propping her head in her hands. “Was he even going to tell me he was back in town?”

Nicole looked at her friend. “Honestly? He was probably going to wait until this nightmare was over. I mean, why get you involved in something potentially dangerous? If he cares about you, then he wouldn’t want you hurt.”

Macy
grinned, and Nicole narrowed her gaze. “What’s that smile for?”

“Oh, I’m just finding it amusing that you can justify Tyler’s reasons for not telling me things, but you’re furious at Sam for doing the same to you. For the same reasons.”

Nicole shot her a dirty look. “Fine. Be like that.” She glanced down at her hands, knowing Macy was right. “I’m not apologizing for being angry, though. Sam has to know he can’t do that stuff to me no matter how good his reasons.” Her parents thought they could control her life and decisions. She didn’t want anyone trying to pull that on her again.

“So tell him. Talk. Then at least you two can have good makeup sex. I don’t know what Tyler wants from me.”

Nicole rose from her seat. “Then I suggest you find out.”

“Good idea.” Macy stood too, her expression lighter than before. “But not until whatever this situation is, is resolved. I want him free. From the past and from you. No offense intended.”

“None taken.” Nicole understood how her friend felt. She headed back into the other room to find Sam and Tyler sitting in uncomfortable silence. “We’re back.”

Tyler jumped up first. “Macy, can we please go somewhere and talk?”

She shook her head. “Not now,” she said sadly, and Nicole’s heart hurt for her. “Come to me when you’re free—of everything. Then we can talk.” Macy turned and walked away.

“But—”

“Let her go,” Nicole said quietly, placing her hand on his arm. She waited until Macy had disappeared out the door before meeting Tyler’s gaze. “She has her pride, and this
situation is screwed up. She doesn’t deserve it. When you’re free of your family mess and yeah, of me, then you go to her. And see if you two can start from scratch. Get to know each other and see what happens.”

He groaned and nodded. “You’re right. Which means this fucking mess has to end.”

She blinked, surprised at his choice of words. Tyler Stanton never cursed. “I agree. Sam?”

“On it. I’ll go talk to Mike. See if he can make some calls and find out why the feds are stalling on making a move on your old man.”

Tyler paled but nodded.

Sam grasped her hand and pulled her through the house and into her bedroom. “I’m not leaving with you angry.”

She sighed. “I don’t want to fight with you either.”

“Is that what this is? Our first fight?” he asked with an endearing grin.

“Yeah. Because you decided what I should know and when.”

He shook his head. “It won’t happen again.”

“Promise?”

“I’ll do the best I can.”

She rolled her eyes. “That’s such a male answer.”

“Hey, I’m a man and a cop. I just want you safe. What do you expect?” he asked in a gruff voice.

Having already decided she’d made her point, she leaned in close and kissed his cheek. “Great makeup sex?” she asked, deliberately light, letting him know it was, in fact, finished.