The Beauty Within (34 page)

anyone can say or do to derail her from it. Unfortunately, your excuses aren’t

good enough, not when they go against clinical studies and the results she sees

on the infomercials, and you, my dear, aren’t a doctor. So, be honest with her.

Yes, she wasn’t honest with you from jump, but she didn’t deny it, either.”

“Kind of hard when I have the evidence in her face,” Gunnar mumbled,

then his mouth quirked. “I guess it’s a Carver thing to be swayed by clinical

studies.”

“I guess our experience with Dad…”

Gunnar winced, but didn’t have the heart to say their father had died any-

way.

“Tyler likes to exercise all her options before she throws in the proverbial

towel,” Wendy said with an understanding smile. It was as if her mind had

gone down the same path his had.

“There’s no towel to throw, proverbial or otherwise,” Gunnar said. “Why

doesn’t she believe me when I say she’s perfect?”

“Because you can leave.”

“That makes no sense!”

“Why doesn’t it? You’re not beholden to her, you’re just a guy. Guys like

their women to be perfect, or else she can be turned in for an upgrade. It’s

happened before, and she’s trying to do everything she can so it doesn’t happen

again.”

“But I’m not Quincy!”

“Doesn’t matter. She’s still Tyler.”

He’d come to that conclusion earlier, but to hear Wendy reinforce let some

of the air out of his sails of righteousness. “How can I break through to her?”

“Support her.”

“I am!”

“By destroying some probably very expensive pills and giving her ultima-

tums?”

Gunnar glared at Wendy. “Are you on her side?”

“I’m understanding her side, which is something I don’t think you’ve really

set out to do. Gunnar, I don’t know if you know this, but you’re a damn fine

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Savannah J. Frierson

man. A damn fine man who people expect to have a damn fine woman on his

arm—”

“I
have
a ‘damn fine woman’ on my arm—!”

“Be realistic,” Wendy said, though her eyes warmed at his description of

his sister. “This might seem like a merry-go-round to us, but for Tyler, it’s a

vicious cycle in which she’d been trapped for the majority of her life. It amazes

even me that someone so capable, competent, talented, and lovely in my eyes

can’t see her worth. But my voice is small, not insignificant, but small com-

pared to all the messages and images she sees around her.”

“But—”

“And when
you
had been one of those mouthpieces for those messages, Ty-

ler’s basically waiting for you to wake up and realize who you’re with. Like

Quincy did.”

Gunnar opened his mouth to say he wasn’t Quincy, then snapped it shut. It

actually didn’t matter
who
he was. He could be Bob or Steve or Frank, but he

was still a man, and a man had hurt Tyler. She was equating hurt with his sex,

and why shouldn’t she? Outside of her father, what man had ever truly shown

her unconditional love? Quincy certainly hadn’t, and though Gunnar loved her

unconditionally, to be sure, his ultimatum didn’t help to underscore that.

Besides, the way they had met…first impressions, apparently, were never

forgotten. She was afraid he’d go back to that point, and what other place

other than LA would he be the most susceptible to do that?

“I love your sister,” Gunnar said.

“I know you do,” Wendy assured him, reaching out to pat his hand.

“Does she know that?”

Wendy sighed and patted his hand again. “She’s scared.”

“I’m not exactly the world’s most courageous man when it comes to this,

either.”

“She thinks you have less to lose.”

He scoffed in disbelief. “She thinks wrong. She’s everything to me! I’d been

in love before, not going to deny it, but…”

“She feels the same way,” Wendy revealed. “She barely survived Quincy.

She’s terrified of not surviving you.”

“She doesn’t have to worry about it,” Gunnar promised. “I’m not going to

leave her because she does something I don’t like.”

“No, just give her ultimatums of ‘my way or the highway’,” Wendy said

with an arched eyebrow.

Gunnar sunk in his seat. That was exactly what he’d implied by saying he

wouldn’t stick around. But Tyler wasn’t the only one with a vulnerable heart.

She didn’t know how much it had taken for him to let her in completely, or

that he was now getting painful reminders that he could only love someone,

not command her to do what he wanted her to do, even if he had her best

interests in mind.

The Beauty Within

183

“This is so hard,” Gunnar bemoaned, resting his forehead on the kitchen

table.

“It is, but if it was easy, I don’t think we’d appreciate it half has much.”

Gunnar grumbled incoherently. This was all Quincy’s fault. If he hadn’t

been such a
rasshøl
to Tyler, she wouldn’t have these self-esteem problems.

And she wouldn’t be yours right now.

That thought unsettled him even more.

They heard the front door open, and Gunnar popped up to go into the liv-

ing area. Tyler stumbled to a stop and frowned at him while Gunnar eyed the

meal-replacement shake in her hand.

“Tyler…”

“It’s not the pills,” she snapped. “What are you doin—?” She looked at the

kitchen suspiciously. “Gunnar Sven Daniels! If you blacked out my food…”

The urge to yank the shake out of her hand overwhelmed him, but he felt

Wendy’s presence behind him and he just clenched his teeth before taking a

deep breath.

“Gun—”

“I love you, Tyler.”

The shock that registered on Tyler’s face would have been comical if the

situation wasn’t so grave. Her mind was still processing the declaration when

he approached her and kissed her cheek. “Unconditionally.”

He left her house before she could respond, hopping into his Jeep and driv-

ing to his gym so he could lose himself in spreadsheets and receipts. He didn’t

get very lost, however, for his mind continued to replay the scene at her house.

The brilliant hope and utter despair that had filled her eyes at his parting

words shook Gunnar deeply. He knew she’d been hurt and even knew she was

over Quincy, at least in the romantic sense. In her sense as a woman, however,

Quincy still held the reins of that, and it was about time the man relinquished

them and gave them back to her. Gunnar wanted to help Tyler break this cycle,

and to do that meant he had to go to the person who started it.

Rasshøl
!

Gritting his teeth slightly, Gunnar pulled up a search engine and typed in

all the information he knew about Quincy Lucas in order to glean more. It

didn’t take him long to find things, especially since it seemed Mr. Lucas was

very active in the community. Mentoring. That had Tyler’s imprint all over it.

Gunnar decided to send Quincy an e-mail requesting that they meet. Pre-

ferably in a public place so he could prolong Quincy’s life. He’d be no good to

Tyler in prison.

After the message was sent, Gunnar took over for one of Victor’s cycling

classes, and went home later than he’d anticipated. He was lonely, puttering

around his home and missing his Tyler. He called her and was mildly relieved

he got her voicemail.

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Savannah J. Frierson

“I love you, Tyler. I miss you,” he said softly into the recording, then hung

up before the second beep.

He climbed into bed with his laptop to do a last check of his messages, and

he saw one that made him scowl and smirk simultaneously.

I’ll be in town next Thursday and will stay until Sunday for a conference. We can meet at

Jessie’s
, not far from Tyler’s barbershop—two doors down. Late lunch, early dinner,

around five, if you can be free.

Q. Lucas.

Gunnar snorted to himself. Of course he could be free. He
was
the boss.

Eighteen

Jessie’s
was the soul food restaurant Tyler had mentioned to Gunnar when

he’d first gone to her barbershop. He knew why the other man had chosen it—

Quincy thought it would intimidate him because he would be one of the few

white faces in the black establishment.

No dice.

Gunnar ordered a sweet tea and took a chunk of cornbread the server had

placed in the center of the table after he’d taken their orders. Quincy merely sat

back in his chair and looked at him with an indistinguishable expression.

“So…you’re dating Ty now.”

Gunnar swallowed the bite of cornbread he’d been chewing and nodded.

“We’re in a relationship.”

Quincy nodded as well, his eyes narrowing slightly. “You’re a bit paler than

I imagined.”

Gunnar shrugged. “I’m surprised you imagined her with anyone, given you

seemed to think she’d wait for you.”

Quincy smiled a little. “She spoke about me?”

“She sobbed about you,” Gunnar said flatly, effectively wiping the grin

from the other man’s face. Both men gave the server insincere smiles as he

placed their drinks on the table. “From the looks of things, however, seems to

me she wasted her tears,” Gunnar finished once the server left again.

Quincy scowled at him. “You don’t know me.”

“I know you’re an asshole,” Gunnar said, his expression bland as he took a

sip of his tea. He licked his lips and hummed his approval. “That’s all I need to

know.”

Quincy’s jaw clenched, but he took a sip of his lemonade in lieu of saying

anything. It was clear the man wanted to deck Gunnar, but he had to keep up

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Savannah J. Frierson

appearances and his suit in pristine fashion. Nevertheless, Gunnar knew they

wouldn’t leave this restaurant as close friends.

“Of course Tyler would tell you that—”

“Tyler didn’t have to tell me a damn thing,” Gunnar said, his eyes growing

mutinous. “In fact, she tried not to. I had to pry it out of her. I wasn’t even

dating her at this point. She told me about the date you two had; she told me

how you treated her when you two broke up. What kind of ‘man’ would make

a woman feel so utterly unworthy to bolster his own value? That is the worst

kind of coward.”

“And here you are, ready and willing to be her white knight…literally.”

“I’m ready and willing to be so much more than that,” Gunnar said, his eyes

and tone making his meaning clear.

Quincy regarded his lunch mate silently, cocking his head as if the tiny

change in perspective would give him insight into the man himself. “You have

even more to lose than I do.”

“And that’s why you don’t have her now,” Gunnar said. “All you can see are

the sacrifices and none of the gains.”

“I had to get myself right—”

“And you couldn’t do that with Tyler?” Gunnar asked dispassionately. He

shook his head and his mouth twisted to a disgusted expression. “She was too

good for you.”

“I know she was,” Quincy said, his voice contrite for the first time since

they started the conversation. The server returned with their meal—both had

order the fried chicken platter. Gunnar grinned when he realized this was the

same meal Tyler had eaten when he’d chastised her about “clogged arteries.”

Considering the food tasted so fantastically, Gunnar could understand why

she would risk it.

“Ty ever fry you chicken?” Quincy asked, his eyes rolling into the back of

his head at the first bite into his chicken thigh.

“No.”

“Heaven on a plate,” Quincy determined. “That girl can throw down in the

kitchen!”

Gunnar allowed a small grin, thinking about that spectacular breakfast

they’d had after his birthday, and he scooped up a forkful of black-eyed peas.

The amount fat and calories in front of him would be well worth the extra

miles he’d run this week. “And what did you cook for her?”

Quincy blinked at him with a confused expression. “Cook? I don’t cook.”

“I baked her some chicken with some wild rice and green beans,” Gunnar

said, putting some collard greens on his fork next. “Right after we made love

for the second time. She seemed to like it.” He smiled softly at the memory as

he ate the forkful of food.

The Beauty Within

Quincy lips formed a thin line and his jaw clenched again, his hands tigh-

tening around his glass of lemonade so hard Gunnar thought he might break it.

“Why are you telling me this?”

Gunnar finished chewing the collards, then broke of another piece of

cornbread, and finally had another swallow of tea before answering him.

“Just…making conversation.”

“I had her first.”

“And I’ll have her forever.”

Quincy’s expression grew even darker. “You think you’re better than me.”

“I know I am.”

“You know wrong.”

Gunnar’s eyes turned to flint and his mouth into a hard line. “I know that

when God gives me a blessing, it would behoove me to be thankful and hold on

tight to it instead of treating it as something replaceable and worthless—”

“I
never
—”

“You made Tyler worth less than a job,” Gunnar said, his eyes narrowing

and his appetite almost gone. “You chose a law firm over her love.
You
did that.

Now you regret it, and you have no one to blame but yourself.”