There. Heading for the front door with Alicia.
Dammit. She tried to ease through the crowd, but between the reporters and the onlookers, she didn’t have a chance. And this wasn’t the time anyway.
She saw him through the glass, helping Alicia into the limo, then climbing in after her. The driver shut the door, and then they were gone.
Tara turned and walked back into the gallery, feeling stupid and empty and hurt.
She hadn’t trusted him. And she’d said terrible things to him.
Why couldn’t she believe in Mick? Why couldn’t she believe in herself?
And why hadn’t he just told her what he was doing here tonight?
Because you didn’t give him a chance, moron. Quit trying to blame him. You know damn well who f**ked this up tonight.
She nodded to herself and kept on walking.
Somehow she was going to have to fix this.
MICK PACED HIS CONDO, DRAGGING HIS FINGERS through his hair and cursing himself and Liz in the process.
Stupid move. He should have known better when Liz called, begging him earlier tonight to bail out Alicia. But Liz had sounded sincere, and Alicia even phoned him asking for his help. This AIDS charity was important to her because her uncle was afflicted, and she wanted to put in an appearance, but her fiancé was sick and she was pregnant and they really had wanted to make the announcement about her pregnancy together. But Alicia had explained she was starting to show, and they couldn’t put it off much longer, so she wanted to do it tonight, and Liz had offered up Mick since he was local.
What was he supposed to say to her? No? He supposed he could have, but it was very last-minute, and it was an easy enough thing for him to do, so he’d said yes.
Alicia was a sweetheart, very much in love with her fiancé. They were planning to get married in a month or so, hopefully somewhere quick and private and out of the public eye, but she wanted to set the rumors to rest about her and Phil. The girl looked tired. She laughed and said the first trimester had been hell on her, that Phil had been her rock, but this flu had kicked his butt, and he refused to come anywhere near her while he was sick because he didn’t want to infect her or the baby. Mick laughed and held her hand and told her he’d fend off any annoying paparazzi, which meant he intended to stick to her side like glue the entire night.
He hadn’t made the connection that it was the same event Tara had been planning. It had just never entered his mind. He knew Tara had been worked up about some charity event, but hell, in this city there was always some charity event or other going on. And he hadn’t even had time to call Tara and tell her what he was going to be doing tonight. He’d grabbed a shower, thrown on his tux, and the limo had shown up. Plus, he knew she’d be busy, and this was such a nonissue to him that he didn’t think it was a big deal. He figured he’d tell her about it when he saw her tomorrow.
And then he ran into her tonight and realized he’d escorted Alicia to Tara’s event. But instead of her giving him time to explain, she’d already made up her mind what was going on and had played judge, jury, and executioner. It had pissed him off that she didn’t believe in him. In them.
Dammit.
Mick filled up a glass with ice, water, and a wedge of lime, then went into the living room and turned on the television, propped his feet up, and stared at the screen for a while, flipping through channels and not really seeing anything.
A knock at the door had him grabbing his cell phone to look at the time. It was one in the morning. Who the hell was at the door this late? He rolled his eyes and hoped one of the guys on the team hadn’t gotten kicked out by his wife.
He took a look through the peephole, surprised to see Tara standing outside. He opened the door and pulled her in.
“What the hell are you doing out this late?”
Her eyes widened. “I came to see you.”
Mick shut and locked the door. “You should have called me.”
“I’m sorry. It was a spur-of-the-moment thing. Bad time?”
“No, it’s not that. I just don’t want you out on the streets or wandering around in this parking lot late at night by yourself.”
She stepped in and slid her fingers into the pockets of her jeans, looking as uncomfortable as he felt. “Oh. Well, thanks for your concern.”
“You want something to drink?”
“Whatever you’re having.”
“Water with lime.”
“That’ll suit me just fine.”
He fixed her a drink and brought it out to her. She was still standing in the same spot as she was when she walked in. “You can sit down, Tara.”
“I don’t know if you want me to stay or not.”
He handed her the drink. “Sit down.”
She did, taking a seat in his oversized chair, not on the sofa with him. Okay, so it was going to be like that.
She stared at the television for a while and he let her, figuring she’d come here to say something. He sipped his water, watching her, knowing she was thinking, organizing her thoughts. She always went quiet when her brain was working, when she was thinking about what she wanted to say or working out a plan of action.
He finally gave up and found them a movie to watch.
“Mick, I’m sorry.”
He muted the TV and gave her his attention. “I’m sorry, too. This thing between Alicia and me tonight was very last-minute. Liz called—”
She held up her hand. “It doesn’t matter. You don’t owe me an explanation.”
He pushed off the sofa and came over to her, dropping to his knees in front of her chair. “Liz called and said this was very last-minute,” he continued, needing her to hear him, telling her the story of how Alicia’s fiancé had fallen sick and she didn’t want to tell the world about her fiancé and her pregnancy without some support. “I was nothing more than a glorified bodyguard to keep the press from knocking her over.”
Tara pulled her knees to her chest. “You were very nice to her. I saw how close you stayed to her. I’m sure she appreciated it.”
“She’s a nice kid. But she’s a kid, Tara. She’s twenty-two.”
Tara’s lips lifted. “Some of the women you’ve dated haven’t been much older than that.”
She was right about that. “I’ve reformed. I like more mature women now.”
She snorted. “Gee, thanks.”