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“That’s why you brought, Mama? You scared, T?” I crinkle my nose and try to clear the snot from my airway so that I can breathe again.
This feels weird, us standing here, talking to each other without someone hurting or screaming.
“No, I brought Mama because she wanted to come and was afraid to fly.” He answers honestly.
I don’t have time to respond before another person I don’t recognize appears out of thin air in my kitchen.
Where are they all coming from?
“He brought me because he was scared. Hi, I’m Casey.”
A stunning blonde woman with tattoos covering both arms and bright-red lipstick steps between Tyler and me and offers me her hand. She’s wearing a pair of black pencil pants, paired with black wedges and a gold-trimmed blazer with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows.
“Um, hi. Who are you and why are you in my house? When did this become a rave?” I stick out my hand tentatively, and she shakes it with the grip of a man.
“Actually, I’m this guy’s legal representation. I hate all men though, so I totally get the whole hate in your heart thing.” She pulls back long enough to give me a once-over. “Damn girl, you are smokin’ hot. You have great hair, has anyone ever told you that?” Her smile is beaming.
Tyler physically picks up the tiny blonde and sets her back down again behind him.
She doesn’t so much as wobble in her high heels. Even with them on, Tyler is easily a full head taller than she is.
“Don’t mind her, she’s driving the Uber.” He cuts his eyes at her over his shoulder. “Isn’t it against your policy to get out of the vehicle?” He says through clenched teeth. His annoyance with her is kind of comical.
She swats at his arm with more force than I was expecting, and he flinches.
“Eugene. Don’t set me off.” She reels back and he fully covers her face with his large hand, which only appears to anger her more.
No way is this woman his Uber driver.
“Oh my God, dude, she knows your middle name?” Damien chuckles from beside me, clearly not connecting the dots fast enough.
“Are the two of you together?” I ask, needing to know if the chemistry firing off between them is coincidence.
“No!” She shouts.
“We’re engaged,” Tyler answers at the exact same time.
“Wow.” It’s all I can manage to say. My mind explodes, all of my preconceived thoughts obliterated. I tilt my head to the side, and study the two of them together, happy to give my brain something else to focus on.
They’re complete and total opposites. She’s feisty, I’ll give him that. He’s just always seemed so, I don’t know, strait-laced to me, and she looks so…I don’t know what the right word is. She looks like a baddie.
Tyler grabs her left hand and holds it up in front of where he wrestles her to remain still at his side. “I submit the following proof into evidence.”
I take a step closer because I recognize that ring.
I study the sparkling diamond on her finger. She stops trying to fight his hold on her. “It’s Dad’s ring, isn’t it? The ring he gave Mom?”
My mom would only have given that ring to him if she was sure this woman was the one for him. She was saving it.
“It is.” He says, and I can instantly feel how serious he is about this woman. She’s his Damien. She’s the chicken to his waffles.
She huffs as if to say the charade is up. Tyler drops her hand, and she smiles up at him adoringly. That’s when I see the truth of the duo in front of us.
She steps forward, and this time Tyler lets her. “I’m Casey Stafford, and yes, I’m entering into a legally binding contract with your older brother. Don’t let it get out though, I like to keep my options open, just in case.” She winks as if that’s a totally normal statement, anyone else would say in the same position and then keeps talking. “He’s pretty sweet, and he’s hella cute, am I right?”
She covers the side of her mouth and leans into my space to whisper. “If I tell him, it goes straight to his head, and we can’t have him walking around with an ego the size of Texas, now, can we?”
She pulls back again and speaks to the room. “The bit about me hating men was true though. Disgusting creatures, the lot of them.” She sneers, and I turn to watch Damien’s reaction to the scene unfolding in front of us.
