Page 7 of Falling for the Hot Billionaire

He agreed, pressing his lips together and nodding. Why did it feel like there was more to the story that I wasn’t privy to? I was left out of the loop somehow, but I still didn’t get it. It felt like it was meant to be. I didn’t really believe in coincidences, not one like this.

We talked for a while, and he got me up to speed on what he’d been doing since he got out of the hospital. It sounded like he had been doing an overhaul to his whole life and I didn’t know how to take it. I wanted to say that it was a good thing. It all seemed to be going in the right direction, but at the same time, it was a lot of change and I had to wonder what it was all from. My mind came to one conclusion but dismissed it as soon as it ran through my thoughts.

After a well-made dinner of fish and vegetables, we went for a walk. I pointed out some of the places that I liked to go in the neighborhood and that was what led us to the park. Tyrell was trying his best to keep me laughing and he was doing a good job of it. It felt good to be with him and once I knew that he wasn’t married any longer, it was easy for me to see him in the way that I always had. Knowing he was a free man just gave me permission to continue on in the same vein. I wanted him, and now, I could have him.

We were sitting on the top of a picnic table, the one I had lunch at several times a week. Tyrell looked handsome in the moonlight. I thought for a moment that he was going to kiss me. My heart started to pound, and it was hard for me to deny how badly I wanted that as well. Tyrell made me feel alive and now that he was single, fantasy could become reality.

“You are really young, you know,” Tyrell commented offhandedly.

“I am almost twenty-seven. I’m not that young.”

He sighed and said that he couldn’t even remember what he was doing at my age, but it wasn’t saving lives. I wasn’t going to argue with him about it anymore. I’d said how I felt about it all.

“You know how old I am.”

I agreed, I knew everything that was in his chart and that was quite a bit. “Yeah, mid-thirties.”

“I am a decade older than you.”

“You say it like it’s a bad thing, Tyrell.”

He sighed and looked at me again. “Isn’t it?”

I didn’t agree or disagree. I was stunned in that moment by his clear blue eyes staring back at me. How could I think of anything to answer when breath wasn’t even coming with ease?

“Not always. It just means that you have experience.”

“I have experience how it is not supposed to be. That I have loads of. If I knew anything about real love though, I wouldn’t be divorced twice before I’m forty.”

“Twice?” I asked with astonishment. He had been busy.

Tyrell looked away for a moment, like he was embarrassed, and admitted that he had been married twice before and divorced. That was a lot for me, considering that I didn't think I'd even had a proper long-term relationship. Every guy I dated always wanted more than I was willing to give at the time, so it was hard to have a real connection that lasted very long. That same scenario had played out time and time again, and I was honestly used to it at this point. I'd given up on the ‘happily ever after’ that every woman was supposed to hold her breath for. I knew that I wasn’t going to get it and had come to peace with it.

“Well, at least you try. I will say that your last match didn't seem to be a very good one. You guys are like night and day.”

Tyrell agreed. “I think that's what I was looking for. I was looking for a way into certain groups and Monica was it. She knew what to say, knew all the right people, and knew just what to wear. We weren't together very long, but she helped me with my image.”

I didn't know how I felt about that. How could he marry someone, confess to the world that you were going to be together forever, and then everything change? She was a nightmare, don't get me wrong, but I found that a little cold on his part. Having said that, I was cold on the outside and said that we should probably get back.

I think he knew that something was up, but he didn't say anything to me about it. Instead, we walked back in silence and when we got to his place, he asked if I wanted to come in for a drink. I was feeling weird and didn’t think that I should.

“I don’t think that it’s a good idea.”

He frowned. “Right. I'm sure that you have things to do.”

I didn't disagree with him, though I didn't have anything to do. I’d take a shower and reply to a couple of emails, but the rest of the night was going to be spent reading a book. I didn't know how I was supposed to feel about my neighbor, but Tyrell was fairly different from the man I imagined him to be. I thought about him a lot, fantasized about the two of us together. Now, reality was here, and I was quickly learning that I was in over my head.

Tyrell was on my mind as I went about my business that evening, and I was a little late getting to bed. Why was it that when I got exactly what I thought I wanted, I then wasn't sure if I wanted it or not? Was it just a basic human nature thing, where I wanted what I couldn't have, and as soon as I had it, I no longer had the desire for it? That wasn't it though. I felt just the same about Tyrell as before.

* * *

I raninto him again the next morning when I took my morning run. He asked me out again and I made an excuse about how I had to work the next few shifts in the night and needed sleep. It wasn't a lie, I had picked up a few shifts, but I could have made it happen if I wanted to. Something just made me pause, and I knew that part of it was because of my own insecurities. It had nothing to do with him. It had to do with me being in my own head.

He answered like he took it okay, said that we had to get together another time soon. I agreed to some extent, but I just remembered thinking that Tyrell was dangerous, and my best bet was to stay as far away from him as possible.

7

Tyrell

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