“Okay, I’ll rephrase that. You’re in love with her now.” Dropping her hand, she said, “Question is, what are you going to do about it? Maybe, if you had told her you were in your new relationship for the long haul, that she wasn’t just another in a long line of short affairs, she might have been more comfortable sharing her burdens with you, and you would’ve known what was happening. You weren’t around for her in Boise, and she got along fine without you, or us. I’m sure she’ll do so again.”
Amy left him standing there in surprise at the cool rebuke in her tone and words, wondering if she was right. Was he as much at fault because of his lack of communication as he blamed her for? How could he fault Tam, and the change in their relationship he’d succumbed to for his failure to watch out for her when he was just as guilty of not being up front with her?
“I do,” he called out as Amy and Jason strolled up the steps to the house.
Jason was the one who turned his head and asked, “You do, what?”
&
nbsp; “Love her, am in love with her.”
The foreman cocked an eyebrow. “Then I suggest you do something about it before you lose her again, this time for good.”
Chapter 13
“Men,” Nan scoffed. “Can’t live with them, don’t want to live without them.”
Tamara sipped the beer Caden had handed her with a knowing look of support, peering at her friend over the bottle. Seated at a table with BDSM play taking place upstairs and down, the two of them had turned down several offers to play, Nan offering to stay by her side and keep her company for as long as Tamara wanted. At least she was one friend who didn’t turn her back on her when confronted with feelings she didn’t want to acknowledge, like someone else she was trying so hard not to think about.
“You are so right, Nan. I’m going to miss you. How long did you say you’ll be gone?”
Nan grinned. “Just a few weeks. I haven’t been back to New Orleans since Christmas and Jay misses me.”
“How is he? Is your brother still single?” Tamara injected a teasing, hopeful note into her voice.
Laughing, Nan raised her beer in a salute. “Now you’re thinking, girlfriend. Too bad Jay is now a diehard New Orleanian. We’re as close as siblings can get, yet he’s only made the trip to Willow Springs once to visit me since I inherited Gram’s shop.”
“But he grew up here with you. Doesn’t he miss Willow Springs? I did when I left.” Tamara remembered Nan’s older brother as a good looking, friendly teen before he’d gone off to college and then settled in Louisiana, where Nan’s parents had retired to before they’d both died in a car accident.
“Sure, but like a lot of young people itching to see the world beyond Montana, he left without intending to return permanently.”
Tamara let her eyes wander up to the loft as she heard a strident cry, a sigh of despondency escaping her as she spotted Avery bound on the St. Andrew Cross, Master Grayson running his hands over her quivering, glistening body. “Too bad I can’t take off from the new job yet, otherwise I could go with you for a few days,” she stated, sliding her gaze away from the look of contented pleasure reflected on her friend’s face.
Nan’s frown turned fierce. “Don’t you let that moron drive you away again. I swear, if you do, I’ll come after both of you.”
“Whoa, what or who has you showing your claws?” Master Dan asked as he, Greg and Devin strolled up to their table.
“Go away.” Nan waved her hand holding the beer. “We’re not doing men tonight.”
“Girls? Can we watch?” Master Greg wanted to know with an eager glint in his eyes.
Tamara laughed and Nan rolled her eyes. “Sorry to disappoint you, but not girls either,” Tamara quipped, liking the way the two business partners and best friends were looking at her. It helped her ego to know other men found her attractive and wanted her, even for just a few hours, and helped dispel her gloom. Her face warmed from the appreciative light in their eyes as they took in her short black skirt paired with a soft gray satin tank that draped around the shape of her braless breasts. Unfortunately, the rest of her body remained cold to the thought of baring herself for another’s touch.
Dan fisted his hands on his hips and narrowed his dark chocolate eyes. “What has the two of you sitting here pouting?”
“We’re not pouting, just not in the mood to play,” Nan returned with a lift of one slim brow.
Tamara flicked her a quick look and saw the lust her friend always exhibited toward Master Dan. She knew the two were good friends outside the club and that he was the one Dom Nan enjoyed playing with on a regular basis. Wearing a calf-length, sheer sheath that revealed her turgid nipples and every dip of her curves, it was obvious to Tamara that Nan would be engaged in a scene with him, or someone else by now if she wasn’t sitting here with her.
Feeling guilty, she nudged her with her foot under the table. “Go on, Nan. You don’t need to sit here and keep me company.”
“Not when we’d be happy to,” Master Devin said.
Master Dan held out his hand to Nan. She took it but cast Tamara a concerned look before rising. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, go.” She waved her on and Greg and Devin joined her at the table as they walked off.
Left alone with the two Doms, Tamara tried to drum up some enthusiasm for their company. Who wouldn’t be thrilled with the attention of two men who could make a girl cream her panties with just a look? But if her melancholy and disinterest the past hour was any indication, the one short week Connor had indulged her craving for more of him had ruined her for anyone else, at least for the time being. Instead of admitting she wouldn’t change her mind about pairing up with anyone tonight, she started to tell Master Greg and Master Devin she planned to leave early when the words lodged in her throat as Connor walked in.