She huffed. “He does not.”

“Oh, he does.” Eric opened the fridge and pulled out the eggs. “And when you’re not looking, he’s staring at your boobs, too. Next time he does it, I’m going to kick his ass. God, I hope he has a record. Maybe he’s on the lam. Then we could kill him and claim self-defense.”

Belle looked horrified.

“He’s teasing, baby. At least kind of.” Tate settled himself on one of the kitchen table chairs and looked at the mess of computer equipment, legal files, and writing implements all over the table. He couldn’t see a single inch of the antique cherry surface anymore. Frowning, he made a mental note to clear off the dining room table and relocate the office elsewhere so they could all sit down and eat together. Kellan was right. They needed to behave like a family.

It would just be so much easier if they were back home, in their recently constructed suburban paradise, instead of this never-ending home improvement project.

“You can’t kill Mike. I need him.” Belle rested her head on his shoulder. “I have to get the electricity working properly. Have you noticed that power works selectively in certain rooms? And some spots are just weirdly cold.”

“That last problem is HVAC. The vents are probably screwed up, baby.” Eric put a cup of coffee in front of her. “It’s one more hassle and expense to add to the list that you don’t need.”

“You know,” Tate began, “we could hire someone to revamp the whole place, find someone capable of handling everything.”

Belle’s head snapped up, and he felt her whole body stiffen. “Are you saying I’m not capable?”

A voice in his head told him he was walking into dangerous territory. That same voice always told him he wasn’t going to get the girl or say the right thing. But he had Belle now, and she wasn’t like every other bitch who’d snubbed him after sex. She didn’t expect him to say the right thing all the time. That stupid voice was the product of self-doubt, and it had to go.

“Of course you’re capable. I know you want to stay here, but we need to get back to Chicago, baby.”

Hadn’t they settled this last night? Yeah, she’d said a few days ago that she wanted to stay in New Orleans, but surely she wouldn’t have gone to bed with them if she didn’t intend to share a future. Chicago was home, and he was anxious to get back. Although he kind of loved that it wasn’t cold here yet. He also dug the nifty, weird vibe and charming architecture of New Orleans. When he jogged, he always found something new to see. The city was a chameleon, changing on a daily basis. Tate found it a little weird and wonderful. He’d even found himself running down Royal Street beside a group of dudes in red dresses the other day. He didn’t know what the hell was up with that, but they’d looked as if they’d been having fun. Pretty soon he wouldn’t have anything in Chicago except frigid temperatures and another average season for the Bears, but everything they’d worked for was there.

She slid off his lap, looking incredulous. Tate wished he hadn’t brought the subject up.

Belle took a long sip of her coffee, her stiff body suggesting she grappled for patience as she turned back to them. “I know you need to get back. I’m glad you stayed here with me for a while. I really enjoyed your visit and appreciated your help with the house.”

Tate frowned, his whole body going on alert because he’d heard that flat cadence coming from a woman’s mouth before. Just before she broke up with him. Just before she explained all the reasons it wouldn’t work between them. “What is that supposed to mean?”

Eric stood, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, buddy. We can hang out here for as long as necessary.”

“As long as necessary for what?” Belle’s lips firmed.

“Nothing, baby. Just as long as you want us here.” Eric seemed determined to keep everyone calm.

Tate couldn’t let it go. Dread churned an ache in his gut, and it wasn’t going to go away until he knew the truth. He’d thought everything had been settled the night before, but maybe history was just repeating itself. “I want you to explain yourself, Belle. I deserve the truth. I’ve never lied to you. Not once. I’ve always been straight with you. What are your plans?”

“I’ve said for days that I’m going to work on this house and set up a design business.” She squared her shoulders. “Don’t look so shocked. I told Eric in Dallas this is what I wanted. I quit, Tate. Just because you didn’t accept it doesn’t make it less true. I don’t want to be a secretary for the rest of my life.”

He tried to force down the panic invading his system. Keep cool. Don’t blow it. She deserved the career she wanted. Her desire and his didn’t have to be mutually exclusive.

“I understand. You’ve got a dream,” Tate acknowledged. “We’ll help you find a space in Chicago. Baby, you have to understand that everything we’ve built is there. We can’t drop our livelihoods to move here.”

“I didn’t ask you to.” She pressed her lips together in a grim line. “But I’m not going back to Chicago.”

“We don’t have to decide any of this right now,” Eric interjected.

Tate ignored him. “Seriously? What about last night?”

Making love to Belle had meant everything to him. His whole life had built up to the one moment he’d joined his body to hers and found what he truly wanted in life. All the hours sweating in the gym and enduring the users who’d wanted him just for sex had shaped him. Until last night, he thought he’d put up with it because that was the cost of getting some. Now he knew he’d unconsciously done those things to become the man for her. He’d found his calling. Practicing law was great, but he wanted to make Annabelle Wright happy. He wanted to be her husband and build an extraordinary life with her and his best friends.

How could she not want that, too?

She shrugged, her gaze sliding away from his. “I enjoyed it, Tate. But you can’t expect that I would give up all my hopes and dreams because I liked what you did in bed. Can’t you see that I have a chance to create my dream here?”

“And if I offered to move? If I gave up the practice?” He hated how pathetic he sounded, like that five-year-old he’d once been, praying that his mom would hug him, just once. Like the kid yearning for his dad to play catch with him.

Belle sighed, hesitated. “I don’t think it would work.”

Of course it wouldn’t work. She would need to socialize with clients. She would want a wide circle of friends, and he struggled in those situations. He was a liability. He was a nerd without a filter. No amount of muscle he packed on was going to change what he was. He couldn’t magically transform into Eric.

He was good for sex. That had been a shocker. He’d been a sexual savant, easily learning how to please a woman because he was willing to do just about anything. He loved to eat pussy, loved the little sounds a woman made, the way she squirmed on his tongue. He had a big cock and he’d learned how to use it. When he was in bed with a woman, there was no doubt he excelled.

They just didn’t want him out of bed.

Apparently, he’d been naïve to think Belle would be different.

Tate pushed his chair back and stood, his gut heavy and knotted and dragging somewhere near his feet. How the hell had he gone from believing he was getting married to breaking up in less than ten minutes?

She stepped forward, the sympathy on her face almost too much to take. “Tate, I don’t mean to hurt you. I just don’t think it would work in the long term.”

He suddenly realized he would do it. He would give up his practice and start over again here. He would sell his house and follow her if that’s what she needed. He could beg, but it wouldn’t change the outcome.

Belle just didn’t want him.

“Hey, it probably wouldn’t.” He wasn’t going to make a bigger fool of himself.

She reached out to touch him, but sighed again when he moved away. “Tate, if I asked you to move here, you would eventually resent me. I know it worked for Kinley, but I doubt Eric wants to give up his practice for a woman he spent one night with. I don’t see how it works, especially since Kellan isn’t interested at all.”

Ah, so it was Kellan she truly wanted. He’d known it must be one of his two friends. They were smooth. They wouldn’t embarrass her by doing anything painfully awkward. Now that he really thought about it, she would never have gone for their type of relationship. Almost no woman actually wanted to deal with more than one man. They were demanding, obnoxious at times. He might be the most demanding of all, following her around like a sad puppy or the horny mutt trying to hump her leg. Most women preferred men like Kellan.

He held a hand up. “Whatever. It’s cool. I’m going to take a shower. I’ll look into flights out of here this afternoon.”

She looked startled. “I thought you were going to stay for a few days.”

“That was when I thought you gave you a shit, Belle. Now, I think I’ll let you get on with your life.”

Eric tried to step between them. “Tate—”

“So we can’t be friends if you don’t get your way?” Belle cut in.

“My way? You want to make me sound like a kid who throws a temper tantrum because I had a toy taken from me? I wanted to marry you, build a life with you. I wanted to take care of you and make you the center of our world. But I guess you just wanted a man to pop your cherry and we were handy.”

Belle gaped at him. “That’s not true! I never said that.”

“You don’t have to. I know the drill, baby. So I’ll make it easy on you. I won’t tell you I love you again. Clearly, you don’t want to hear it.” Trying to hold himself together, he whirled away to leave.