Then he’s gone, climbing into the passenger seat before they are both taking off toward the fire.

  CHAPTER

  TEN

  Tyler

  “Have you seen Amara since we’ve been back?” I try to act casual as I grab the end of the hose and start to roll it tight.

  I notice Liam pause out of the corner of my eye and wait for what I know is about to come. The inquisition, the drilling me for information I honestly don’t have but would like to have myself.

  “What’s going on with you two?”

  “Not sure I know what you mean?” Because I have no fucking clue, its good, it confusing, then its nonexistent all in the same fucking hour. She’s all over the place, letting me kiss her one-second, to having a fantastic night together, then telling me next, that it was nothing but a drunken reaction to our sadness. I swear after last week I have whiplash.

  “Well, let me see,” Liam stands tall and places his hands on his hips. “The entire ride to the resort you two acted strange, then we got there, and I hear all about you having interest in her and she kissed you. Then you spend a night with some unknown girl in our suite,” He shrugs. “Not to mention the ride home with you two was weird as fuck and here you are now asking if I’ve seen my cousin that lives in the same town as both of us and has a salon only a few streets over from the station. So, that’s what I mean by what is going on with you two?”

  Yep, I should have kept my shit securely tucked away.

  “That is the shit I’m worried about when it comes to the two of you. You’re the guy that shops around weekly, you never make anything last longer than a night or two with any woman and I don’t want Amara hurt.”

  His opinion of me pisses me off. I was seconds away from admitting what happened with Amara and I but, fuck that.

  “What makes you think she’ll get hurt?” He arches his brow like the answer to that question is the easiest possible one. “Maybe, I’ll be the one hurt.”

  This makes him laugh, and if he wasn’t one of my best friends I may have wiped the grin off his face.

  “Just do me a favor, and don’t play with her head. She’s too sweet for that.”

  Liam lifts his hose up and places it in the side compartment before walking off ending the conversation.

  I’m left with his words hanging heavy in the air. My stomach in knots over what the people I care most about, actually think of me. Yeah, I’ve managed to keep my relationships with women limited and detached. I’m not some asshole who sets out to break the hearts of innocent women. Everyone I’ve ever been with knew where it was going or not going from the start. I never lied, never made promises I couldn’t keep.

  I lift my hose, throwing it up and stacking it in tight next to the others. Closing the door, I latch it and move to the front of the station. Stepping outside the front open garage door, I lean against the frame, crossing my arms over my chest. My mind racing, my thoughts jumbled with a mixture of what I want and what I should do. The problem is I think somehow over the last several days those two have gotten intertwined and what I should do, may also be what I want and more importantly, what I need.

  It’s late, just before five when I push through the front entrance of Indulge Salon. The scent of hair products, oils, hairspray and fruity shit hits me like a wall. There is only one woman in the salon chair, Hannah, a stylist and a Calloway long timer standing behind her working on said woman’s hair.

  Glancing up she offers me a smile. “Hey there Tyler, you looking to get a perm?”

  Instinctively I lift my hand and run it through my long hair, smiling at her.

  “Nah,” I chuckle. “I don’t think I could pull off curls.”

  “With a face like that I think you could pull off just about anything.” Offering me a wink she gets back to work, and I see movement to my right.

  Amara has stepped out from the back, her arms full of towels and a few bottles of what appears to be shampoo.

  Immediately I step in close and take the bottles from her.

  “Thanks,” her voice is low, and if I’m not mistaken a little shaky.

  I watch and wait as she places the rolled towels onto a shelf, doing her best it seems not to make eye contact. I wish more than anything that I didn’t make her so nervous. When she’s done with the placement of the towels she turns and points to the bottles, which I hold out to her.

  I step back allowing her more space and she steps around me and starts back toward the back again. I follow, though I’m not sure she wants me to, but something has got to give with us. Whatever it takes for us to get over this awkwardness I’ll do it.

  Amara pauses near the dryer and looks back over her shoulder. “I know you’re not here to get something done with your hair.”

  “Are you saying I need something done with my hair?”

  She offers me a smile. I feel the effect of it settle deep in my chest. “You could use a haircut.”

  “Just got it cut.” I counter and she shakes her head.

  “You and your hair, honestly you are worse than a woman.”

  “If I’m not mistaken I think you like my hair,” I move into her side and lean my shoulder to the wall, getting a better view of her face.

  “Are we going to talk about what happened at the resort?” Because it's all I can think about.

  Amara opens the dryer door and starts to sort through the towels, folding them and avoiding my stare.

  “How long are we going to pretend what happened between us didn’t happen?” I want to reach out and touch her, but I hold back.

  “What’s there to talk about, we spent the night together?”

  “I’m aware, I was there and very present.” She glances over at me, and I waggle my brows hoping to trigger a smile from her.

  “Really?” She narrows her eyes at my innuendo, making me chuckle. “You were drunk.” She insists with her own smirk.

  “I wasn’t that drunk,” finally giving in to the urge to touch her I reach out and move away the hair that has fallen forward, my fingertip grazing her jaw. “I remember more than you think I do.”

  She swallows hard.

  “In fact I remember pretty much everything.”

  Amara takes in a slow deep breath and busies her hands with another towel.

  “I remember the way you gave in and stopped overthinking things. I remember the moment you let yourself go and just focused on the way us being together made you feel. I also remember every little noise you made, the soft whispers in my ear and the moment when you—,”

  “Okay you can stop,” Her voice is shaky as she looks behind us like she thinks someone may witness our conversation. “I get it, you weren’t completely out of it, but that aside I think we both know that if we weren’t drinking, it probably never would have happened.”

  “I’m not sure I agree.” It may not have happened that night, but I have no doubt it would have eventually.

  She arches a brow at me indicating she doesn’t believe me.

  “Are you honestly going to stand here and tell me that you didn’t feel something prior to that night?”

  She doesn’t answer me.

  “Because if I remember correctly I recall a specific night where you admitted that you’d wanted to kiss me for so long.”

  “Do you plan on holding that night over my head every time we talk?”

  “No, but I do plan on mentioning it until you admit that this thing between us wasn’t by accident.”

  “Ty,” she lets out an exasperated breath and fists the hand towel she is holding. “You and I will never work.”

  “And why’s that?”

  “Because you can’t be with just one person, and I don’t share.” Back to this again. What in the hell does everyone in this town think, that I’m some whore bouncing from one bed to the next.

  “What makes you think I can’t be with one person.”

  “Name one steady girlfriend you’ve had since I’ve known you, one that you’ve kept longer than a week.”

  I hold her stare, running my past relationships through my mind when I come up empty which only pisses me off. “Well, maybe it's because I’ve been ignoring what’s been right in front of me.”

  “You expect that line to work.” She grins and I can’t help but smile back at her. “This,” she motions between the two of us, “it won’t end well.”

  “So, then why does it have to end at all?”

  Waiting far too long, I step closer and cup the back of her neck pulling her body to mine. She starts to protest but I don’t wait for her words. Instead I press my lips to hers, and for a few minutes do all I can to remind her why this can work.

  CHAPTER

  ELEVEN

  Amara

  “Mar,” I jerk back from Tyler, and immediately bring my hand up to cover my lips. The burn from his whiskers reminding me of what just took place. My heart is racing when Lauren hurries into the back holding a magazine in her hand. Leah follows close behind, blowing a huge bubble from her lips, allowing it to pop as she skids to a stop in the doorway.

  I watch as my seventeen-year-old twin sisters look at Tyler, then me, and then one another, and smile.

  Of all the moments for them to barge into the shop, it had to be now.

  “Hey, Tyler,” Leah is the first to speak and I can sense it before she even speaks another word.

  I love my sisters. Absolutely adore them, we are close and have an amazingly strong bond, but they are also seventeen years old and still in that little giddy girl stage that drives me crazy.

  Let’s not forget that Leah is very blunt, and vulgar at times. She has no filter and now, right at this very moment I need her to find her filter.

  For the love of God, please let her act normal.

  “Sorry to interrupt, but now that you have thoroughly investigated my sister's mouth with your tongue do you mind if we ask her something.”

  And... she goes in for the kill.

  “I’m sorry to break it up before you two get to the good stuff but this should only take a minute.” She adds and I know without a doubt in my mind she is not done. She is never done.

  “Unless you only need a minute then we can wait. Some guys are like that, a minute or two tops and they’re finished.”

  “And how would you know?” I ask and she shrugs, blowing another bubble. “Leah?”

  “So I found this really cute hairstyle,” Lauren interrupts and saves her sister. She is always trying to offer ease to a tension filled situation. She is a lot like me, but she is worse when it comes to the shy department. Lauren is the brains, Leah is the brawn, playing every sport imaginable and excelling at it.

  I forgot Tyler was standing off to the side taking the three of us in and I glance in his direction to find him watching us with a smile.

  “Can you do this to my hair?” Lauren thrust the magazine in front of me and I lean back a bit to keep from eating the pages. “I’m thinking instead of the black though I want auburn highlights.”

  I look at the picture and then at my sister. Her long blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail, her glasses on her face and a hopeful look in her eyes.

  “You really want me to cut off all your hair?” I feel myself getting all sentimental and it isn’t even my hair. But when I say hers is long and beautiful, I mean it's full of natural waves and hangs to the middle of her back and it’s a pretty blonde, that most women spend hours in my chair to attempt to gain.

  “She wants to look less like me.” Leah interrupts and I glance back at Lauren.

  “Is that why?”

  “I don’t know, maybe,” I want to grab hold of her and hug her close. If there is one thing that flares me up like nothing else it's when one of my sisters is hurting. I get a fire in me that throws my entire body into conquer mode and contemplating all the ways I will make whoever it is pay dearly for whatever they did.

  I’m not a mean person, but for these two girls I will go dark.

  “Why don’t you let me style it differently, maybe pop in a few highlights, frame your face a bit?” Reaching out I lift a small piece of hair that has fallen from her ponytail and is hanging at the side of her face. “I think going so drastic will be overkill and the last thing I want is for you to hate it afterwards.”

  “Or I could dye mine black.” Leah shrugs and I narrow my eyes at her. She is such an ass sometimes, but a beautiful one at that.

  It terrifies me sometimes how gorgeous the two of them are. I know our brother Tucker is constantly threatening the life of a new hormone ridden teen boy each week. He’s like a personal bodyguard neither one of them wants but has, and they have no choice in the matter.

  “You will not dye your hair black, and if you try I will shave you bald as punishment.” I point at her, and she wrinkles her nose but doesn’t test me.

  “So tonight,” Lauren asks again with a hopeful expression that I can’t deny.

  “Sure,” I tug her arm and she stumbles forward allowing me to offer her a big hug.

  “We’re gonna have a late night here, so you are responsible for dinner and drinks.” I don’t give Leah a chance to argue before handing her my credit card. Her eyes light up. “Food and drinks only, this is not your approval to shop online for things you don’t need.”

  “What if I buy three of the same top I’ve been eyeing? Your boobs would look great in a low V cut,” she wags her brows.

  “No,” I say, and she sticks out her tongue at me. Again I am reminded of Tyler being here.

  “Come on kid,” he steps forward. “Let's go get dinner.”

  “Wait.” What is happening?

  He looks back at me and winks. “She doesn’t need to be running around by herself, so I’ll go with her.”

  “I’m not a baby you ogre.” Leah challenges him much like she does our brother. “I’m perfectly capable of driving myself and getting back here in one piece. I have mace and a foot.”

  Tyler chuckles. “Yeah but if you went by yourself I wouldn’t get the chance to see this top that would complement your sister's chest,” he offers me a wink. “Not that they aren’t perfect in a t-shirt too.”

  “Oh my God!” I mumble.

  “Now we’re talking,” Leah links her arm with Tyler’s and starts to drag him off. “I guess being seen around town with a hot as sin older guy that happens to be a firefighter wouldn’t be too bad for my image either.”

  And with that they are gone, and Lauren and I are left staring after them.

  “What just happened?” Lauren asks after a few silent seconds.

  “That was your evil twin making it pretty much impossible for me to avoid the one guy that I know could break me.”

  Suddenly I feel exhausted, and I know I have hours ahead of me. I may have said I would do Lauren’s hair but that only meant I would be doing something to Leah’s too. They are a package deal, with one comes the other and they will have me here all night.

  Don’t get me wrong I love spending time with them both, but from the looks of it, Tyler will be joining us.

  I’ll be forced to filter Leah’s comments and fight the tension and attraction I feel in his presence. After tonight I may need to take a day or two off to recover.

  Welcome to my life with two teenage girls and a guy that seems to have no intentions of making this situation easy for me to escape without battle scars.

  CHAPTER

  TWELVE

  Tyler

  “So what do you want from my sister?” I glance across the cab of my truck to see Amara’s younger sister giving me the type of stare that I’d expect from a protective father.

  “How old are you?”

  Crossing her arms over her chest she continues to hold my stare. “Old enough to know what ultimate bachelor with a revolving door means.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Calloway isn’t that big of a town Tyler, and people talk. Besides Missy Morgan has a very big mouth and she talked about how you and her older cousin had a little ‘fun’,” she says the word fun while making quotations with her fingers. “In the backseat of her SUV a few months ago, then you walked away and never called her again.”

  I turned into the first available parking space in the square then placed my truck in park.

  “Then there was Payton Rhoades, Julianne Phillips and yeah, um, shoot, what was her name.” She places her finger to her lips like she’s deep in thought.

  “You know that redhead that was here for the summer staying with her aunt.”

  This kid is a bigger smartass than Spencer.

  “Ah, Shelby Cooper, old man Cooper’s granddaughter. I heard that one went south for you real quick when he came home to find the two of you half naked on his back porch.”

  She’s managed to recap the last few years of my life in a few sentences. Somehow hearing it come from a teenage girl's mouth, makes my stomach sour.

  “So, like I asked earlier, what do you want from my sister? Because Amara isn’t a one-night stand kind of girl. She has a huge heart, and that heart will break if you aren’t careful with it. She tries to be tough, tries to pretend that it doesn’t hurt and someone that doesn’t know her that well may fall for her charade. But someone that knows her, and loves her can see right through it.”

  “I think this is a conversation I should have with Amara.” Fuck this kid is a bear, and she is two-seconds from chewing my arm off.

  “Or you could have it with me. Unless you want me to invite my dad, maybe my brother, I’m sure they'd be interested in your response to my question too.”

  I stare at this girl, feeling like I’ve just been tossed around by the world's strongest windstorm. Baffled by her sass I can’t help but feel proud because she is fierce, and that shit will carry her far.

  “Those women you mentioned weren’t looking for anything more than what we had in the moment.” How do you tell a kid that you had an itch to scratch and that was the sole purpose of being with those willing women that had the same kind of itch? Or a firefighter fetish they wanted to live out. Whatever it was they went in understanding what the outcome would be.