“No. I just know everyone in Southern Colorado, and some of them I didn’t even sleep with,” Ty replied with a smirk. “So I know you met with your old supervisor from the US marshals. She wants you to come back, right?”
His former boss had offered him any number of ways to come back. Not all of them involved leaving Colorado. “I’m mulling over my options.”
“Then mull this one over, big guy.” There was nothing about Ty’s manner that told him he was anything but serious. “I’m offering to share Lucy with you until you leave town.”
The words went through him like a shot, leaving him damn near speechless. He sat there for a moment and then forced the question out of his mouth. “Why the hell would you do that?”
Ty leaned forward, his voice going low. “Because everyone gets what they need. Lucy gets to satisfy her curiosity about you. You get to have her. I get to keep her. I don’t care about the sex. I mean I do care about the sex. I want the sex, but I’m not going to be some jealous asshole who freaks out when my woman even looks at another man.”
“She would be doing more than looking.” He didn’t like the way his whole body had tightened at the hint of a possibility of getting in Lucy’s bed. He definitely didn’t like the voice that had opened up at Ty’s words. The one that told him this was what he’d been waiting for, that he should go for it, that Ty was offering him the best of all worlds.
“My love for Lucy goes beyond the idea that I’m the only man who’ll ever touch her. Besides, after we’re married there won’t be any more sharing,” Ty said, that American-hero jaw of his going straight. “She can get you out of her system, and you can do the same with her. You can both move on.”
“And if she falls for me?” He knew it wouldn’t happen, but he found he couldn’t quite hold back the words. Ty was standing there challenging him, and he needed to do the same.
Ty huffed. “She won’t.”
“What if she does?” Michael pushed him a little more. It was an insane plan, and he wasn’t about to do it.
Was he?
“Then I’ll be there for her when you leave. You won’t take her with you. You know that wouldn’t be good for her. Her whole life is here.”
“And what if I decide to live my life here?” He was being perverse, but he couldn’t stand the fact that Ty was so fucking confident. He’d never intended to stay in Bliss for so long. He’d gotten stuck in a routine, and now he had a potential exit plan.
Ty shrugged that concern off. “It’s Bliss. We learn to share.”
No one would think twice about them sharing Lucy here in Bliss. They would be accepted, and their kids wouldn’t be judged for their parents’ lifestyle.
He hadn’t just thought about having kids, hadn’t considered this insane plan. “Just like that? You know from what I can tell, we don’t exactly get along.”
“That’s because I haven’t tried with you. I get along with everyone. I’m a goddamn delight, and you would be lucky to have me for a partner. Hey, is it so terrible an idea to have someone around who can trade off mowing the lawn? Split the chores with? It works for a lot of people,” Ty replied.
Michael slammed the rest of his whiskey down and reached for his wallet. He slapped a twenty on the counter. “It won’t work for me. My answer is no.”
Because it couldn’t possibly be yes.
He started for the door.
“Think about it,” Ty yelled.
Think about having the only woman he’d wanted in years? Think about the fact that if he fucked up, Ty would be there to take care of Lucy? Think about how he could be warm for a while?
Yeah, he was pretty sure he wouldn’t think about anything else.
* * * *
Ty watched the door slam shut and sighed. Nothing was going the way he wanted tonight, but then what should he have expected? Michael was right. They didn’t get along. Michael had never taken to his sunny personality. Of course he hadn’t exactly tried.
Axl Rose was wailing again.
And then he wasn’t. The place went quiet, and he turned to see Sawyer standing there, the plug to the jukebox in his hand. “Fucker hasn’t figured out how to hack electricity yet.”
Sawyer met some interesting people here at Hell on Wheels. And by interesting Ty meant crazy and often deadly. “You know Cam Briggs has a background with this kind of thing. He could probably fix it for you. I’m sure you miss your daily dose of Skynyrd.”
Sawyer snorted and moved to the bar. “Gotta keep the assholes happy, man. If I don’t, they tend to try to stab me. Sometimes I wish my granddad had dreamed about opening an ice cream parlor or something.” He glanced down at the twenty. “Novack thinks a lot of this whiskey. I can buy two bottles for this. And somehow I don’t think the deputy is going to be racing over here to solve my GNR problem.”