Only Tyler Read Online Free PDF Page A

don’t care, so long as they’re healthy.”
    Healthy kids. Their healthy kids. Tyler swallowed hard on the squall that raged in his chest.
    “How’d ya feel about being a godfather?”
    He made himself answer. “Not as good as you’d feel about being a father, obviously.” Oh Jesus, he hadn’t meant to sound so bitter. It wasn’t Steve’s fault they were in this situation.
    “Yeah, mate.” Steve shot him a boyish grin, missing the acridity of his response. “I can’t wait.”
    Enough. He couldn’t discuss this anymore. Tyler took a deep breath and dug into the recesses of his semi-tortured mind. He pulled out his one seed of hope for all of them. “Steve?”
    “Yeah?”
    “What about Pen?”
    His friend’s smile faltered and disappeared. For a full minute he didn’t respond. The question hung in the air between them. Silence punctuated its brutality.
    Finally, Steve shrugged and said, “Pen who?”
    Crap! What kind of a response was that? It gave him no answers or direction.
    No idea how Steve now felt about the woman he’d once loved so completely.
    Tyler wanted to press him harder, force a proper answer out of him. He didn’t.
    Instead, he shook his head and put the seed back in its warm, dark hiding place. “Can I ask you a favor?”
    “Anything.”
    “You free tomorrow?”
    “Sure am. We’re closing the practice for the weekend.”
    “Good. I could use your help.”
    “With what?”
    “Something I need.”
    “I’ll do my best,” Steve assured him. “Whatever it is, you can rely on me to help you get it.”

THREE
    “Feeling a little distracted?”
    “Huh?” Katie put down the folder she held and focused on her receptionist, the woman who single-handedly managed her and Steve’s medical practice.
    “You just called me Tyler again.”
    “I did not,” Katie said, aghast.
    “It’s okay. It’s only the third time this afternoon.” The woman gave her a gentle smile.
    “Tina. I am so sorry.” She hadn’t been thinking straight the whole day. When Tyler had walked through customs, her world had moved out of kilter. Even now, she was going through her files making sure she hadn’t made any dumb mistakes. She’d had a devil of a time concentrating, and she owed it to her patients to make doubly sure she’d done right by them. She hadn’t worked her whole life to build this practice just to destroy it in one afternoon.
    “Is there anyone else waiting to see me?” She hoped not. She was anxious to get home and be with Tyler again. To laugh and chat with her old friend.
    After all, long before they were lovers, they’d been friends. They’d shared good times. They’d had picnics in parks and conversations over dinner. They’d watched videos on cold winter nights and taken midnight swims on hot summer ones. If she’d needed a shoulder, Ty always offered her one. “No date for a function?” Tyler stepped in.
    The first flicker of attraction might have flared the night they’d met, but so had a bond of friendship as strong as any she’d ever known.
    The only person she’d been as close to as Tyler was Steve. Steve and Ty. Her best mates. Of course she couldn’t wait to get home and spend some quality time with them.
    Damn. Who was she kidding? She was frigging petrified of going home.
    Petrified of spending time with the man who’d broken her heart so wholly.
    Tina shook her head. “Mrs. Burny was your last patient. You asked me not to book anyone after four p.m.” She checked her watch. It’s already five.
    “Steve’s patients and the few walkins put you off schedule.”
    “Let’s call it a day,” Kate suggested. “Go on home. I’ll lock up.”
    Tina nodded. “Okay. Oh, your mum phoned while you were with Mrs.
    Burny.”
    “Thanks, Tina. I’ll ring back now.”
    While Katie dialed, Tina collected her things and left.
    The minute she answered the phone, Brenda Rosewood launched into a detailed description of the navy designer suit she’d spotted earlier that