Free One Wicked Night by Kelly Jamieson

to mention Cop Boy.
    Her chin lifted. “You’re welcome.”
    He searched around in his brain for something else to say. He remembered their text messages during the dinner, his astonishment that she’d told him he was acting like an asshole. Only Nick ever told him stuff like that and got away with it. “You really do look hot tonight.”
    She turned and leveled him with a scorching look, then resumed her eyes-forward driving.
    Damn, she was pretty. Her small nose created a sweet profile, her little chin lifted, her long eyelashes fluttering as she watched the road. She parked in the lot of the hotel, and between the three of them, they managed to drag Scott and Hardeep out of the car and get them awake enough to walk through the lobby. At this late hour, few people were around other than the staff at the front desk. They rode the elevator to the third floor where Hardeep’s and Scott’s rooms were. They got Hardeep safely inside and face-down on his bed next to a sleeping Maddie, then Scott to his room, which was the honeymoon suite where he and Avery would stay the next night after the wedding.
    “Are you going to be okay?” Kaelin asked Scott, worry creasing her forehead.
    “Yeah, yeah,” he said. He aimed a kiss at her forehead and ended up bumping her temple, then started taking off his clothes. Tyler frowned and set his hands on Kaelin’s small shoulders, turning her away from Scott and toward the door.
    “I’m in room 405,” he told Scott. “Call if you need anything.”
    “Sure, man, thanks. Sorry about tonight.”
    “Don’t apologize to me. Save that for Avery tomorrow.” He was going to need to suck up big time. Hoo boy.
    They left Scott in his room, and Nick and Tyler rode down the elevator with Kaelin and strolled across the empty lobby with her. Tyler stopped in front of one of the couches arranged around the fireplace, still burning with a warm glow, and pulled Kaelin down to sit beside him.
    Nick paused, looked at him, then sat down too, on the other side of her.
    Tyler blew out a long breath. “Wow. That turned out to be a crazy night.” He leaned back into the couch.
    “No kidding,” Kaelin said. “I can’t believe that happened.”
    “Thank you again, Kaelin.” Tyler took her hand.
    After a short pause, she said, “It wasn’t your fault, was it?”
    “I am fully willing to take the blame if it will save Scott’s ass,” Tyler said carefully. He shot her a wary glance. She smiled. Such a sweet smile, the curve of her mouth so appealing.
    “Trouble just seems to follow you around.”
    Nick laughed and she turned to look at him. Tyler watched them, the wordless connection between them, watched as Nick took her other hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.
    Something shifted inside Tyler. It wasn’t jealousy. He liked it that they liked each other. He always had. In some ways, Nick and Kaelin were so much alike—steady, dependable. So unlike him. Probably Cop Boy was like that too—he was an officer of the law. He had to be serious and responsible too. Irritation rubbed inside Tyler.
    Okay, that was jealousy.
    Thinking about Kaelin with that guy bugged the hell out of him.
    “How’s your eye, bud?” Nick asked him.
    He focused his attention back on Kaelin and Nick, now both looking at him.
    “I’m okay.”
    “What happened?” Kaelin waited for his response, eyes clear, not judgmental or critical.
    He rolled his eyes. “I tried to stop Scott from getting in the fire truck. He got a little carried away and accidentally knocked his elbow into my eye.”
    Kaelin licked her lips, her little tongue dragging over the bottom lip in a gesture so sexy Tyler’s body heated.
    “Oh, Tyler. Were you really trying to stop him?”
    One corner of his mouth kicked up. “Yeah. I really was.”
    “He really was,” Nick added.
    She slowly shook her head from side to side.
    Thick heat built around them, and his heart started thudding in his chest. He felt like his lungs were burning when he