A man who was willing to share the woman he wanted but only because he believed Michael would walk away in the end.
While Lucy started to open her wine bottle, Michael glanced around the neatly appointed kitchen. There was a big basket of apples at the end of the bar.
“Did Ty bring you the apples, too?” It was quite a few. At least twenty of them.
“Nope, they’re for a project I’m working on. I’m experimenting. It takes a lot of apples to make the perfect pie, you know,” Lucy replied. “Ty would never just eat an apple. It has to be covered in sugar or fried to an inch of its fruity life for Ty to be interested in it. But he does know his pizza. The pizza place usually gives Ty a big discount so he gets two pizzas because I love mushrooms and he can’t stand them. He won’t even split a pizza with me because he says mushrooms anywhere ruins the thing. If you’d gone you would have been charged full price, but that waitress will give it all to him for half off.”
That didn’t sound right. “So Ty buys two pizzas but only pays for one and one of those pizzas is entirely for you but you don’t have to pay because it’s buy one, get one free?”
“No, I would pay my half, of course” she began and then went silent.
He stared at her for a moment, waiting for her to reach the proper conclusion.
“There’s no buy one, get one free that’s only for Ty, is there?” She poured wine into her glass. “He told me it was because the waitress is sweet on him, but she couldn’t possibly be there every single time we order pizza.”
He had more news for her. “I eat a lot of pizza since I don’t have a working kitchen. They haven’t had a waitress for six months. The owner’s sons took over running the whole place. So unless one of them has a big crush on Ty…”
She growled, a sound he found utterly enchanting. He had to admit, he was more attracted to her because she could protect herself. He’d watched her, and she’d given that shit every opportunity to make the right choice and when he hadn’t she’d taken care of him.
“Why would Ty do that? Why would he lie to me?”
It occurred to Michael that he could undermine Ty if he wanted to. Lucy was looking at this as a deception. All it would take was for him to agree with her and maybe he could turn this into a night just for the two of them. She was already wary of how Ty felt about her. All she needed was a little push.
He glanced down at the beer and realized even as far gone as he was, he couldn’t fuck over Ty. He wouldn’t be sitting here with her if it wasn’t for Ty.
“He worries about you having enough to eat.” She had to get over this pride thing when it came to food. “I believe you do the same with your siblings. It’s food, Lucy. He’s not making sure you have fifteen pairs of designer shoes. He wants to make sure you don’t go hungry.”
“He’s the one who pays it forward by buying me breakfast at Stella’s.” She seemed to be putting all the pieces together. Her mouth firmed in a stubborn line. “And that also explains why his mom looked at me so weird when I told her how delicious all her casseroles are. He’s making them. I knew I recognized that dish from his place. I just thought he never sent it back to her.”
“Yes.” He knew it was Ty’s story to tell, but he wasn’t going to lie to her. “He works hard to make sure you have the food you need. I’m with him on this.”
She frowned and stared down at her drink. “Of course you are. You don’t understand.”
He eased off the barstool because she needed to know how he felt about this. “I don’t understand what?”
She bit her bottom lip as he rounded the bar and got into her space. But she didn’t back up the way she had with that douchebag. She stood her ground, her eyes coming up to meet his. “Don’t understand what it means to be an object of pity.”
He barely managed to not roll his eyes. “Really?”
She gasped as though realizing her mistake. “Michael, you did nothing wrong. You didn’t know she was going to hurt Alexei.”
“Yes, and that’s why they all pitied me. That’s why I couldn’t go back. I was a marshal. I was literally supposed to catch the bad guys, not ask one to marry me, so when I talk to you about pride, I know what I’m talking about. Pride has kept me in a prison for two damn years. Don’t let pride keep you hungry. Don’t let it cost you a lifelong friend. Ask yourself what you would do if he was hungry. If I was hungry.”