God, just the thought that the six weeks they’d spent together three years ago might be one-sided made her feel like someone was ripping out her internal organs without any pain relief.
Had he laughed at her, was he still laughing? Did he think she was a gullible idiot? That she was easily manipulated? God, she had to know.
Right now.
Sage lunged for her phone and pulled up his number, punching the green button. Tyce answered just after the first ring.
“Yeah?”
“Where are you?”
“In the alley behind the store—I went out the back exit,” Tyce replied. “Why?”
“Wait there,” Sage ordered, her skin prickling with embarrassment. She disconnected the call and picked up her coat, draping it over her arm. She could cope with a baby, with being on her own, but she didn’t know how she would handle the truth that she was simply a means to an end for Tyce.
And a very easy lay.
God, she’d never felt more off-balance in her life. She looked at her favorite brother. “I’m going to go. I’ll talk to you later.”
Linc placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “Shall we all have dinner at The Den tonight and you can break the news to the rest of the family? That way you can answer all the questions that I don’t have the answers to.”
Sage nodded. “Sounds good.”
Linc pulled her into his arms and rubbed the top of his chin across her head. When he spoke, his voice was rough with emotion. “Our baby is having a baby. How is that possible? How did it happen?”
Her eyes burning from unshed tears, Sage knew that in order to stop her tears from falling, she needed to diffuse the emotion swirling between them. “Well, Latimore and I met and then we stripped each other naked—”
Linc took a hasty step back and slapped his hands over his ears. “Shut up, shrimp. God, now I need brain bleach to get that picture out of my head.”
* * *
Sage was a bundle of dread and anxiety.
She wanted to run away and hide, to do her ostrich impression—head in the sand—but at the same time she needed to know, she needed to have her worst fears confirmed.
Because when they were, she could, finally and without a smidgeon of doubt, bury those lingering doubts around whether walking away from Tyce three years ago was the right thing to do.
She’d know and she could be free of the what-ifs that occasionally plagued her. What if she was braver? What if she took a chance?
When he told her that it was all one-sided, then she could finally step away from him, physically and mentally.
At the door leading to the alley Sage punched the master code into the access panel and heard the click. She gave the heavy door a hard push and stumbled down the two steps that led into the narrow space behind the building.
“Easy there,” Tyce said, grabbing her arms and keeping her from doing a face-plant.
Sage slapped his hands away and tossed him a scathing look. “Did you deliberately set out to meet me three years ago?”
Tyce frowned and his expression turned inscrutable. “Initially, yes.”
“And after that?” Sage demanded, hearing the shrill note in her voice. “Did you keep sleeping with me to get information about the business and my family?”
“You didn’t give any,” Tyce pointed out.
“That’s not the point! Did you use me for information?” Sage shouted, slapping her hands against his chest. “Did you keep sleeping with me because it was a means to an end? Were you into me, at all?”
Sage felt her ribs squeezing her heart and lungs and thought that her skin felt a size too small. She reminded herself to breathe, telling herself that she could deal with hearing that Tyce wasn’t that into her, because it would give her the impetus she needed to stop thinking about him, dreaming about him, being tempted by him.
“Is that what you think?” Tyce asked, gripping her wrists and holding her hands against his broad chest. And, just like that, heat flowed into her and her fingers tingled with the need to touch and to explore. She could feel the slow, hard thump of her heart against her tight ribs and her nipples tightened, desperate for attention.
Tyce was touching her and that was all that was important…
“Are you seriously asking me whether I was pretending to be attracted to you?”
Tyce’s harsh question reminded her that they were standing in an alley in the rain-tinged wind. Oh, and that she was as mad as hell with him.
“Are you insane?” Tyce demanded, his face saturated with frustration. He abruptly dropped her hands and slapped a hand on the top of her butt, jerking her into him. Sage released a surprised gasp when her stomach connected with the long, hard length of him. Holy cupcakes, he felt so good…