I hauled ass back home because I needed time to think this through. I started making my way upstairs to my room, all the while thinking about how I could rectify this mess without getting caught up in it. I had to be discreet and find a way to pull Vicky and Noah apart.

When I opened the door to my bedroom, I found Sarah inside.

Lying in my bed.

She was wearing a cream beige nightie that hugged her voluptuous curves, barely covering her ass and pussy. She beamed at me when she saw me enter the room.

"What are you doing here?" I barked at her, I wasn't trying to be rude, just running low on patience.

She climbed out of bed like a lazy cat who had all the time in the world and made her way towards me, her dark brown hair flawlessly cascaded down her shoulders and her watermelon-sized breasts bounced when she walked in my direction. There was a time when I enjoyed burying my face in those. Sarah had been a good distraction, and that's all she'd ever been to me, a warm body that had kept me occupied on lonely nights.

I didn't think I'd ever given her the illusion that we'd become something more in the year that we'd known each other. I'd maintained the barrier needed to distinguish between friendship and dating. I'd used Sarah to fill the void that had been empty because of Vicky.

No matter how hard I'd tried to get Vicky out of my head, no matter how many times I told myself that I'd find someone better, it never happened because when I'd left Cold-Bay, I'd left a part of myself with Vicky. She was a light for my darkness, a lone gas station for my endless desert, the only woman who knew me for what I was and if I let her get married to another man, I would be losing a shot at a good life. I wasn't about to let that happen.

Sarah stood on her tiptoes and circled her arms around my neck, "I'd been waiting." She whispered in her sultry voice as her lips traveled from my cheek to my jawline.

I disentangled her body from mine and held her at arm's length. "I told you it was over."

Rejection registered on her features, "Vicky doesn't love you."

"She does, it's just that she's reluctant to admit it."

"But I want you, Tyler. I love you. We spent two years together, and I thought we had something. Vicky told me clearly that she doesn't want you anymore and she's ready to move on."

"You know me for two years; Sarah, Vicky and I grew up together, we've known each other for almost twenty years now. When she entered womanhood and got her periods for the first time, I was the one who showed her the stain on her skirt in school and helped her clean up; I hugged her while she cried that evening. I taught her to drive a car. She was my first kiss, the girl I lost my virginity to and..." I stopped myself before blurting out more. "Vicky knows the real me. I lose her, I lose everything."

"So I can't even think of competing with that, can I?" She had tears in her eyes, and I tried to feel remorse, pain, or something, but all I could feel was relief that she understood what I was trying to tell her. "You used me!"

I didn't try to deny it and just stared at her.

"I manipulate people to get what I want, but I never lied to you about our friendship."

"What if I said I wanted more than that?" she said with pleading eyes.

"Then I would tell you that I'm not the right guy for you." I walked around her towards my wardrobe and pulled out a shirt.

I made sure she wore it and buttoned it up for her. She cupped my cheeks, and it was my instincts that told me that Sarah was the type of woman who thought they could change a man through their love or some bullshit like that. She read too many of those sappy romance novels.

I was far from a hero; I was born as a villain.

"Things aren't good between Vicky and me but since we used to be best friends before, I've gotta look out for her, you know. She's about to make a huge mistake and I won't let that happen."

"Tell me what I can do."

Sarah was my only close friend who had no idea about my mental health. Maybe it was my selfish desire to hide it from her, to have one person who didn't judge me for what I was and I wanted to keep it that way. Instead of answering her, I pulled her close and claimed her lips with mine. She answered my kiss with a burning urgency and gave me some tongue. She knew this was a parting kiss.

I pulled her away, "Here's where I'm going to ask my secretary to book you a ticket back to London. You're going to pack tonight and Morgan will drop you to the airport in the morning."

"You want me to leave..."

"I'm sorry."

Tears sprang from her eyes freely. "Victoria is a lucky woman."

She had no idea.

"Not lucky," I stated. "She's just stuck with me."

Tyler was standing on my doorstep, looking like a fallen angel sent on earth to wreak havoc. He wore a black t-shirt with a print of his favorite band 'Ghost', the fabric highlighted his toned, ripped body, and sculpted biceps, the jeans hanging low over his hips, snug deliciously to his thighs. He had a sheepish look on his face, and as usual, I couldn't decipher what was going on in his mind.

Looking this gorgeous should have been a heinous crime.

If I had to compare Ty to one of the desserts in our bakery, I'd say he was a decadent dark chocolate cake, so moist and gooey that it would melt in your mouth the second you took a bite with just the perfect combination of sweet and dark, mostly just dark.

Great!

Amazing how I was thinking about how good he looked to eat while he analyzed me with a knowing smirk on his face like he could read my thoughts.

His blue eyes raked over my body, making a slow assessment like I were a rare species he'd collected years ago and that has somehow managed to escape.

Now that might be true.

What was shocking though was the fact that, his look was so potent that I had to clench my thighs together. I hated how much effect Tyler's presence still had over me, if I had at least ten percent of this desire for Noah, maybe things would have been a lot easier.

He planted his booted foot inside the door and stood so tall, my neck hurt to look at him. "Can I come inside?" the low timber in his voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

He was asking permission to enter, but it gave me the impression that he would shoulder his way in if I denied him access.

"Sure." I opened the door for him to enter, trying my best not to show him how he was affecting me.

He stepped inside and scanned the place. He hadn't been in my house since he'd left to study in the U.K. It was strange to see him back here, a place where he used to spend most of his time growing up.

"Nothing's changed much, apart from some pictures on the walls." He commented and I followed his gaze.

I instantly knew what he was talking about.

There used to be a huge collage made with polaroid's stuck on the wall, the photos consisted of Archer, Tyler, and I. Those were pictures of the three of us over years, goofing around at home, or from winter dance, prom, parties, and my favorite picture was of me leaning against Tyler's shoulder with my eyes closed and him looking at me so lovingly, you'd think I held his world in my hands. All those pictures were the only remnants after Tyler left town and it had been too painful to look at them and wonder what went wrong so I had it removed and stashed it in one of the boxes in the basement.

"Can I offer you something to drink?"

He grinned and I saw a flash of that seventeen-year-old Tyler who used to be my best friend until he screwed up. "Since when have you become so formal?" He lowered himself onto the couch. "I know where your fridge is. If I need a drink I'll fetch it myself."

"Still so cocky even after all these years."

"Runs in the family." He chuckled.

"Any particular reason why you're here?"

"Now we're going to play dumb, are we?" He was still smiling, but I could sense the brewing storm behind those dark eyes.

When I didn't respond to that question he patted the space on the couch beside him. "Come sit beside me."

I sat down beside him but maintained the distance for my sanity.

"I won't beat around the bush and get straight to the point. Do you love Noah?"

The question caught me off-guard. The part where I'd asked Noah to marry me was completely on a whim, and when I'd come home and sat down, I'd decided that it wasn't such a good idea. I had only spoken to Archer about it, and I knew he wouldn't spill it to Tyler.

That meant, Noah told Maya or someone and the news reached Tyler.

"Noah is a good friend."

"That's not what I asked you. Do you love him, yes or no?" He regarded me with the same cold stare.

"I won't answer that."

"You want a loveless marriage?"

"It's none of your business. I will marry whomever I want."

"Just so you could get rid of me?" He asked me in a challenging tone.

"If that's what you think it is about, then sure."

He chuckled, "Do you think if you get married to Noah or anyone else, it would stop me from pursuing you?"

I matched his stare with a heated look of my own. "You would be bold enough to want an affair with a married woman?"

The corners of Tyler's mouth twitched up, and before I knew what was happening, he grasped my thighs and pulled me towards him so I lay flat on my back on the couch. I gasped when he brought his mouth close to my ear, and my heart thumped against my chest, the scent of his expensive perfume, something like wood-spice entered my nostrils. "It won't just be an affair," he whispered in a sensuous voice, "I will ruin the man you marry, baby."

He stood up leaving me staring up at him. My hands were balled into fists and angry, frustrated tears began spilling out of my eyes, "Why are you doing this to me?! You could get anyone you wanted!"

Tyler completely ignored my outburst and calmly said, "It's a good thing I'm still in a mood to play nice. I'll give you two days to end your reckless behavior and call off this wedding you'd planned. Tell Noah you changed your mind."

"Or what?" I asked in a tone of defiance.

"Bad things are going to start happening."