Jill Shalvis - Tangling With Ty

Beautiful? Sexy? Those weren’t adjectives she attributed to herself. Brainy, yes. Technically minded, yes.

But sexy? The man needed glasses. Only there didn’t seem to be a thing wrong with those amazing eyes of his. She opened the door to his soft laugh.

“Let me guess…you have work?”

“Right,” she said. “Work.”

All the way home it wasn’t that mocking laugh of his that Nicole thought about, but the flash of a shocking emotion she’d never imagined from Ty Patrick O’Grady.

Vulnerability.

TY WORKED the next few days as if he had a demon on his heels, and he did.

Her name was Dr. Nicole Mann.

But he was a man used to ignoring his emotions, and he could continue to do so through this job.

So why he made more trips to Taylor’s building than was strictly required, he had no idea. Today was no exception. It was late afternoon, three days after The Kiss.

And damn, it had been some kiss. Truth was, he wanted another taste. He wanted her gripping him tightly, wanted her weak for him. He wanted her to care.

Odd, when he didn’t want to care. God, how he needed not to care.

TAYLOR CAUGHT Nicole sneaking up the stairs to her loft apartment after a long day of work. “Hey, come in for a sec.”

“Um…well…” As always, she thought longingly of her bed, and of her plans to be in it within ten minutes. Of the new medical reports in her arms that she was dying to dig into.

“Oh, save the puppy-dog eyes, I’m immune. You can’t just work, read about work and sleep.” Taylor crooked her finger, a gesture she expected to make people come running. “Come on and take your medicine like a woman, Dr. Mann. I’ve got Suzanne inside and she’s so excited it’s almost making me think there’s something to this love crap after all.”

“Then why don’t you go get married?”

“Not in this lifetime. I told you, you and me, single forever. Now get in here. It’s time to try on the dresses I got us for the engagement party.”

Nicole wished she’d taken a double shift. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“Yes, I did. You’d have never gone to the store with me to try them on, and I know damn well you don’t have a single dress worth a damn in your closet.”

“Nicole, is that you?” Suzanne stuck her head out Taylor’s door and grinned, her red hair piled on top of her head, her gorgeous lush body zipped into some shimmery black cocktail dress that made her look like a sex goddess. “What do you think?” She spread out her arms and turned in a slow circle. “Is Ryan going to like this?”

Having rarely seen Suzanne in anything other than her usual catering uniform of black bottoms and a white blouse, or her gauzy sundresses, Nicole shook her head in amazement. “Are you kidding? He’s going to attack you on the spot. I’m attracted to you wearing that.”

Suzanne laughed and pulled Nicole inside. “This is so much fun. Now for you…”

Rule number one, never let them take you inside.

“This is going to be good.” Taylor rubbed her hands together and looked Nicole up and down. “Strip.”

Nicole merely laughed at the command, but Taylor just crossed her arms and waited expectantly. Nicole’s smile dissolved. “No. No way.”

“Yes, way.”

“Hey, stop that.” Nicole held on to her shirt as Taylor tugged at it. “Get your paws off me.”

“I got the perfect dress. Don’t worry, it was on terrific sale at a discount outlet, since I know how cheap you are.”

“How do you know that?”

“You live here, don’t you? The dress is emerald green, sparkly and designed to drive men wild.” She held up a shimmery piece of material that was far too small to possibly be a dress. “It’ll show off your great body, though you’re going to need a hell of a push-up bra.”

“Gee, thanks.” Nicole pulled off her shirt.

“You ought to think about buying a set of boobs,” Taylor said, making Suzanne choke on her soda.

Nicole glared at Suzanne, who pressed her lips together and wisely refrained from so much as smiling.

“Hey,” Taylor said, lifting her hands. “Just thinking out loud here.”

“Why in the world would I want to do such a stupid thing as buy a set of breasts?” Nicole asked. “To catch a man? I don’t want a man.”

Taylor lifted a brow. “If you tell me you’re interested in women-”

“I’m not a lesbian, you idiot.” Nicole stepped out of her pants. “I’m just happy being alone, that’s all.”

“Yeah.” For a moment Taylor looked inexplicably…sad. Because that was so unusual, Nicole almost asked her about it, but Taylor held out the green material. “Luckily, as I’ve always said, you don’t have to be celibate to be single.”

“Who said I was?” Nicole looked at the dress in her hands, and realized she had no idea how to get into it.

“So you’re telling me you’re getting some?” Taylor snatched back the dress, straightened it out and slipped it over Nicole’s head. “You’re too uptight and grumpy to be getting any. Unless you’re giving him his and not getting yours.”

Nicole pulled her face free. “ What? ”

Suzanne cleared her throat. “I think she means maybe you’re giving him orgasms but he’s not giving them to you in return.”

Nicole divided a glance between the two woman, each watching her with such pity in their eyes, she had to laugh. “You’re both nuts.” She yanked the dress down her hips and quickly ran out of material.

“I see Ty looking at you,” Taylor said casually, tapping a well-manicured nail on her perfectly painted lips.

Nicole pretended not to hear that.

“Ty?” Suzanne fussed with the straps of the dress at Nicole’s shoulder. “Who’s Ty?”

“My architect,” Taylor said. “Remember? I told you about him. But since you were kissing Ryan at the time, you might have missed it.” Taylor never took her eyes off Nicole. “He’s tall, dark and sexy as hell. Not to mention his delicious, eat-me-alive accent.”

“An accent can’t be delicious,” Nicole said, and both women laughed at her. “What? It can’t.”

“She’s ga-ga over him,” Taylor decided with delight.

“We’ll have to invite him to the engagement party,” Suzanne agreed.

“What?” Nicole got a bad, bad feeling as she smoothed down the dress. “Now why would you go and do that?” Both women were staring at her. “What now?” Self-conscious, she crossed her arms. “What are you staring at?”

“My God.” Taylor shook her head. “I can’t believe it.”

“Wow.” Suzanne sighed dreamily. “Just wow. You’re beautiful, Nicole.”

Nicole just stared at them, then laughed.

“You are,” Taylor said softly.

Nicole shot them a last fulminating look, then stalked over to look into the antique stand-alone mirror Taylor had in one corner. What she saw made her jaw drop.

It wasn’t often she slowed down enough even to look in a mirror. She dressed for comfort, wore little makeup and had her hair cut short for convenience. If she had to think about her looks, she saw herself in a white coat. Sexless, really.

She didn’t look sexless now. The emerald color made her skin glow and brought out her eyes. Even her hair, usually worthless in the way of obeying or looking good, seemed…well, decent. Maybe more than decent. And her body…she actually had one.

“You have to wear it.” Taylor said of the dress that clung to every inch of Nicole’s form. The spaghetti straps held the snug bodice up in front, crisscrossed over her slim spine in back, where the dress dipped sinfully low. The hem came high on her thighs, and slipped higher with her every movement.

“You almost look like you’ve got boobs and hips,” Taylor noted.