Page 21 of For Always
“In fact, Gabriella and I need to go over some of the details for the project, so if you’ll excuse us, Hannah.”
Tyler didn’t wait for Hannah’s or Gabriella’s response. He took Gabriella’s hand and led her through the foyer and into the living room. He kept walking, nodding to a few people he’d already spoken to and leading her to the bar in the corner of the room. He stopped walking and released her hand. Then he grabbed a glass and fixed himself a drink.
“Hannah is a handful,” he said after the first gulp.
“I could see that,” Gabriella replied. “You had both your hands full of her.”
Tyler cursed. His hand clenched the glass tighter and he looked at her.
“It’s okay, Tyler,” she told him. “You don’t owe me any explanations. We don’t owe each other any explanations.”
“Because there’s nothing to explain,” he said.
She nodded. “Because we’re not sleeping together.”
“Well, glad we’ve gotten that out of the way,” Jagger said coming to stand behind Gabriella. “Otherwise I might be concerned about why my brother is so intent on keeping you around.”
Gabriella spun around quickly to face Jagger, while Tyler scowled over her shoulder at his brother.
“I was going to wait until tomorrow to suggest a time for us to meet,” Gabriella said to Jagger. “But let’s go ahead and set our meeting for tomorrow afternoon. I can be here at three. Does that work for you, Jagger?”
The bite to her tone was obvious. The look on Jagger’s face was a cross between surprise and irritation.
“That time is good for us,” Tyler answered.
“Fine,” she replied with a quick look over her shoulder to him, before she walked away.
Tyler took another swallow of his drink while watching her walk away. That dress fit her perfectly, molding the curve of her ass in a way that made his dick twitch.
“She’s a—” Jagger began before Tyler abruptly cut him off.
“Don’t,” he said, slowly lowering his glass from his mouth. “She’s doing her job and you need to stop trying to press her buttons about it.”
“She’s an outsider,” Jagger replied.
“And so is Brooke, so we’re even.”
Jagger picked up a glass and began fixing himself a drink. “Brooke is going to be my wife. We’ve scheduled the wedding for December 1stbecause she wants to honeymoon on Grand Serenity Island in the Caribbean. They’re having some type of anniversary holiday celebration there she keeps going on about.”
Tyler had been following Gabriella’s procession across the room, but was sidetracked by a very interesting sight.
“You sure about that, little brother? Looks like she’s becoming pretty chummy with someone else.”
He nodded in Brooke’s direction when Jagger only looked at him quizzically. The frown on his brother’s face as they watched Brooke toss her head back and laugh, while rubbing a hand up and down the arm of a guy dressed in black denim jeans, black boots and a gray shirt with sleeves rolled up to his elbows. That made the tattoos on each arm visible, even though Tyler couldn’t make out what the tattoo was specifically or what the words beneath it stated.
“That’s Noah Windmyr,” Jagger said through clenched teeth.
“Who?” Tyler asked. He looked at the guy’s face again, studying the five o’clock shadow at his jaw and the disheveled mud brown hair.
“Noah. Jessie Windmyr’s son. Remember Jessie used to work here on the ranch.”
Yes, now Tyler did remember. Jessie Windmyr was a stout man with a bald head and a gold front tooth.
“He’d been a ranch hand when we were kids. But when I came home for Christmas that year, he was in the house a lot. When I asked Dad about it, he’d just said that Jessie had been promoted. He never said to what position.”
“Noah was in the same grade as me, that’s probably why you don’t remember him,” Jagger said.
His brother threw his head back and swallowed the scotch he’d poured before starting across the room. Tyler followed Jagger, because this was Dessie’s dinner party and the last thing she’d planned for was a brawl in the middle of the living room. He’d lost sight of Gabriella and wondered if she’d gone into another room. And if so, who was she with?
