Tyler’s brow lifted. “Had I?”
“Yes. Being your girlfriend taught me to expect a certain behavior from a man and it helped to instill total confidence in myself. It also taught me not to sell myself short. In my book you were a tough act to follow for any guy.”
He smiled. If her intent was to stroke his ego, then she was doing a pretty good job, Tyler thought. At that moment the one question he had been asking himself since seeing her again yesterday resurfaced and he couldn’t help but want to know the answer. “Why aren’t you married, Megan? All you used to talk about was getting your education and getting married one day.”
Megan took a swallow of her water, deciding not to remind Tyler that at the time the man she’d thought she was going to marry was him. “I almost got married.”
That definitely got Tyler’s attention. “You did?”
“Yes. Jason and I met while in grad school and were engaged for almost a year.”
Tyler broke off one of the cookies that had been served as a complimentary dessert. He tried to savor it but all he could do was think about Megan in the arms of another man, and a bitter taste crept into his mouth. “What happened?” he asked, chewing slowly.
“Although we thought we were well suited, we later discovered we weren’t. Jason was a walking genius and could analyze anything to death. After a while it wore on my nerves. I couldn’t imagine spending the rest of my life with him.”
She decided not to add that Jason’s kisses hadn’t stirred her, his touch hadn’t filled her with desire and there was never a time she was tempted to rip his clothes off.
Tyler stopped chewing and met her gaze intently. “So you broke off your engagement?”
“Yes.”
“What about love?”
A long pause. Not that Megan had to think about the answer but she knew he needed to understand. “Like I said, Jason and I were well suited. He figured that with our intelligence our kids would be little geniuses. All I could see were kids growing up being too smart for their own good.” And she decided not to add they wouldn’t be Savoys, inheriting their father’s hazel eyes the way she always dreamed about.
“So you didn’t love him?”
Megan wondered if he was asking a question or making a statement. But she decided to answer anyway, wishing that she could tell him that he’d been the only man she had ever truly loved. “No, I didn’t love him,” she finally answered. “So, what about you?” she decided to ask, shifting the focus from her love life to his.
Tyler shifted in his chair. He knew what she was asking. Eleven years was a long time for him not to be in a serious relationship with someone. “No engagements, not even close,” he said as a half smile tilted the corners of his mouth. “I date occasionally but that’s about it.”
But even as he said the words, he knew that wasn’t about it.
Although he had spent a lot of time working it hadn’t been like he’d had to build up his practice. The persons whose animals he took care of were the same ones Dr. James had cared for, and since he had been his assistant, it had been fairly easy for him to come back home and get established in his private business. Also, the name Savoy had helped. His family was well known and respected around these parts.
It suddenly occurred to him just how intimate their setting was. The lights were low, jazz music was playing and the candles on every table were lit. He enjoyed the conversation he and Megan were having and decided that he liked the new grown-up version of Megan James too much. The transformation was startling and definitely pleasing to the eyes. And speaking of eyes, she still had a turn-you-on pair. He would never forget how those same eyes had darkened as he moved over her in bed that night just moments before he was to enter –
“It’s hard to believe you don’t have a steady girlfriend.”
Tyler swallowed. Glad her words had intruded into his thoughts when they had since they’d been headed for dangerous territory. He leaned back, hearing the implied message in Megan’s words. “I can say the same for you. It’s hard to believe you don’t have a steady boyfriend either.”
He took his statement one step further and said. “You’re a very beautiful woman, Megan.” He hoped she believed that he wasn’t just giving her a line but had meant every word he’d said.
“Thank you.” Megan nervously glanced around. She didn’t want him to take note of the effects his words had on her. From other men she would consider them just words a man would say in an attempt to score, but Tyler had always been different.
She noted that most of the people who had been sitting around them had either left or were in the other room where a jazz band was performing, which was another new addition to Paddy’s since the last time she’d been here. She sighed deeply, knowing she had to get things out in the open and make her request to Tyler. Now that she knew that he wasn’t involved in a serious relationship with anyone, she didn’t have any misgivings about what she was about to say to him.
“Tyler?”
He met her gaze. “Yes?”
She swallowed past the lump in her throat. “We’ve always had this special bond, haven’t we?” she asked, reaching across the table and squeezing his hand.
Tyler nodded, feeling tension, and something pretty close to desire creep into him. “Yes, why?”
“Because I need to ask a big favor of you.”
She removed her hand but that didn’t stop Tyler’s heart from pounding. “Sure, what do you need?”
She smiled. “My birthday is in a few months.”
He nodded. Knowing exactly when it was and how old she would be. “October tenth, and you’ll be thirty.”
Her smile widened. “You remember?”
“Yes.”
She leaned over the table, closer to him as if the words she were about to speak were meant only for him. “Do you also remember prom night?”
Tyler lifted a brow as he swallowed deeply. “Yes.” He wondered why she was bringing that night up and what one had to do with the other.
“Things didn’t go the way I had wanted and planned,” she admitted softly.
That was an understatement, he thought. He had known what was on her mind when she had suggested they go somewhere private to talk, since he could always read her like a book. She had sent out signs, big ones, all during the dance, and the smiles she had given him that night had meant to seduce. At sixteen she had decided she wanted to take their relationship to another level if he was ready or not. And unfortunately, he had played right in her hands.
Almost.
At the very last minute he had come to his senses. Pulling away from her had been the hardest thing he’d ever had to do.
“For a long time I was angry with you, Tyler, for what you did,” she said, interrupting his thoughts.
He nodded. “Your letters said as much,” he replied, trying to ignore the look in her eyes that had him thinking of things that he shouldn’t be thinking about.
“After I broke off my engagement with Jason my mother and I had a long talk, and although she had no idea what almost happened between us that night, she did tell me the truth.”
Tyler was about to pick up his glass to take a sip of water, then hesitated. “The truth about what?”
She eyed him steadily. “She told me about the promise my grandfather convinced you to make after finding that love letter I had written you.”
Tyler lifted a brow. He hadn’t known anything about a love letter. All he knew was that Dr. James had spoken with him privately, and the old man’s request was to promise that he would never touch his granddaughter in an inappropriate way. Tyler had known just what way the man had meant.
“Do you deny you made my grandfather a promise involving me?”
Tyler shrugged. “No, I don’t deny it,” he said, thinking there was no reason not to be honest with her now since it was water under the bridge. He watched as her gaze took on a determined glint just seconds before she began focusing on the candle once again.
“Hearing you confirm that makes what I’m about to say a lot easier,” she said in a slow breath before lifting her eyes to meet his. “You owe me something, Tyler, and it’s something I want.”
He looked at her in surprise at her. “I owe you something?”
“Yes.”
Silence filled the space between them as he racked his mind trying to figure out what he owed her. If it was an explanation of why things had ended the way they had that night, then she already had her answer to that. He had admired and respected her grandfather too much not to do what the older man had asked. Besides, a part of him had known that Megan wasn’t ready to become sexually involved with him, although she’d thought otherwise. He had been her first and only boyfriend, but their relationship wasn’t like the normal one for a couple.
He then wondered if perhaps she felt he owed her an apology for taking her to the hotel room in the first place knowing that he wouldn’t carry through with anything. The sad thing about it was that his control had gotten shot to hell the moment he closed that door and she had turned around, caught him off guard and kissed him.
Knowing that there was only one way to find out just why she thought he was in her debt, he finally broke the silence, asking quietly. “And just what is it that I owe you, Megan?”
Resting her cheek on upraised hands while her elbows rested on the table, she held his gaze. When he was unable to bear the tension a minute longer she finally spoke.
“You owe me a prom night, Tyler. One that will end the way it should have ended thirteen years ago.”
Tyler stared at Megan thinking he had clearly misunderstood what she’d said. “I owe you a prom night? One ending the way you think it should have ended?”
“Yes.”
Tyler quickly glanced around for the waiter. He needed something stronger to drink than water, but then he remembered he was the one driving. His gaze latched on to Megan again and he could tell from her expression that she was dead serious. “B - but why?” he stuttered, trying to make sense of her request.
“I have my reasons, Tyler.”
He watched as she picked up her water glass, take a sip then lower it again. He could tell she was nervous. It hadn’t been easy for her to make that request so why had she? “Then you’re going to have to share those reasons with me, Megan, because I don’t understand why after thirteen years you would want to go back.”
She set her elbows on the table and leaned toward him, making sure she had his attention which wasn’t necessary because she definitely had it. “For me it’s not about going back, Tyler, it’s about moving forward. I’m well aware it’s been thirteen years but I’ve been unable to get on with my life the way I should.”
Tyler leaned away from the table and from her. Megan James was too much temptation, and at the moment her request definitely had him remembering the way she had wanted their night to end, which meant...
Shivers moved up his spine and he felt heat easing through all parts of his body. Did she really expect them to…
He studied her gaze and knew that she did. But why? “You haven’t been able to get on with your life in what way, Megan?” he asked, still not understanding. She was insinuating that night had left some sort of a scar on her, and he wanted her to explain what she’d meant.
Megan glanced around. She was glad everyone had left and she and Tyler were the only ones sitting at the table in this particular section of the restaurant. She met Tyler’s gaze. He was waiting for her to answer, intently, attentively.
“I told you about my relationship with Jason and I also mentioned the guys at Harvard.”
“Yes.”
“Well, evidently you didn’t understand the depth of my problem.”
Tyler lifted a brow. “And what problem is that?”
She inhaled deeply before answering. “Years ago I had convinced myself you were the one; the person I would love the rest of my life, till death do us part. You can call it foolish and you can even call it a young girl’s fantasy, but I never thought of what we shared as short term even after you left for college. And although I knew my parents had my life mapped out as far as me attending Harvard, in my mind I was going to return here whenever I finished all my schooling. I was going to return here to you.”
He nodded. For a long time he had thought the same way she had. At nineteen when he had thought of getting married, Megan had always been the person he assumed he would marry. But that one night had changed everything. She had tested his control to the limit, and he knew if they continued to see each other when he came home from college that it would only be a matter of time before he broke the promise he had made. Her angry letters had been the excuse he’d needed to end things, so he had.
“Things didn’t work out that way, Megan,” he decided to remind her.
“Yes, but still, although you may have gotten on with your life, I was left with issues.”
She’d been left with issues?
He didn’t know what to say. Curiosity took over at that point. “What sort of issues?”
Nervously rubbing her arms with her hands, he watched as she focused on the candle again, as if using it to gain the strength and courage for what she needed to say. She then met his gaze. “I have sex issues.”