Hammered

by Cathryn Fox

  “That doesn’t mean I’m going anywhere, Haven. I hope I’m right and whoever was sending the letters backed the fuck off and is no longer getting his kicks from it, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to let you out from under my thumb. Unless that’s what you want?”

  “No,” I say quickly, probably a little too quickly. I don’t want to give myself away here, showing that I’m beginning to really like him. He smiles at my enthusiasm, and it puts me at ease.

  “Good, now that settles it.” He brushes my hair back and places a tender kiss on my forehead. It melts the chill in my bones, and my God, I really wish my heart didn’t love that quite so much. “Do you still want to go fishing?”

  I smile, a new lightness inside me as he offers me up something fun to do tonight. “I don’t know if I’ll like it or not,” I say, being completely honest. “The thought of putting a worm on a hook.” I quiver and he laughs quietly.

  “We don’t use worms, we use flies.”

  My face drops. “Like a house fly? How on earth do you put a hook through a fly? And yuck, that is disgusting.”

  This time he laughs out loud. I sit there staring at him. What the hell did I say that was so amusing? He presses his forehead to mine, and says, “Babe, you’re killing me. Not real flies, fake flies. I can even show you how to make them if you want.”

  “Oh,” I say, feeling a little dense. “I can’t believe I’m twenty-seven years old and thought you used real flies. Good God.” I bury my face in my hands to hide my embarrassment.

  “Don’t,” he says, taking my hands in his. “You didn’t know. There is a lot I don’t know. I remember when I was a kid, and Dad said he was going fly fishing, I thought he was trying to catch flies.” I laugh hard at that. “Like I pictured him casting, trying to snatch a fly right out of midair.” He puts his hand on his forehead and shakes his head.

  I pull his hand away and his fingers tangle with mine. I try hard not to think about how much I love his touch, especially the tender ones like this. “Tyler, that is hilarious.”

  “Yeah, it is now.” He makes a face like he’s in agony. “Back then my brothers teased the shit out of me. Make one mistake, say one thing wrong, and you never live it down with my family.” His big smile lets me know how much he loves that. “The point is, you’ve never been fishing, so why should you know? Put me on a movie set and I wouldn’t know the first thing. You’re simply out of your comfort zone.”

  I smile at him, loving the way he always tries to make things a little easier for me. “Thank you, but if I’m supposed to be a part of your family while I’m here, maybe you should have made fun.” I smile as my insides tighten, a reminder that while he offered me himself and his family, I’m not and never will be a real part of the Owens clan. This is all for show. I’m fine with that. Or not. God, I am so pathetic.

  “Tell me something, Haven. What is it you like to do for fun?” I laugh to cover the sudden uncomfortableness inside me, but he’s dead serious when he says, “You really don’t know, do you?”

  I give up the pretense with him. What’s the point? I told him straight up I didn’t know who I was, and besides, he can see through me anyway. While I’m here with him, maybe I can discover a few things about myself. “This is all I know, Ty.” I shrug and glance around my trailer, one of many over the years. “I don’t know what I like.”

  “Maybe we need to fix that. Maybe while you’re here, we do a shit ton of stuff and see what you like. Just don’t ask me to put on a tux and hit a Broadway show in New York. I mean, I will if you want, but I can already tell you I won’t like it.”

  I cup his face, my heart swelling at his thoughtfulness. I work hard not to ask why, to consider his motives. It’s just so in my nature to consider someone’s motive, to look for their angle, figure out why they’re working with me. God, this business has messed me up, and left me broken. Tyler isn’t in the business, though. He told me he was trustworthy, and despite everything, I do trust him. What angle could he possibly have anyway? With this guy what you see is what you get.

  “I’ve been to numerous Broadway shows,” I tell him. “And while I’d like to see you in a tux—”

  “You would?”

  “Maybe just once. In the romantic fantasy world where I go to lose myself, all heroes where tuxes. You’d only be in it for a minute though if you know what I mean.”

  He laughs at that. “A minute I might be able to handle.”

  “But don’t worry, no Broadway and I will never ask you to put on a tux for me.” I might fantasize a lot, but happily-ever-after doesn’t exist in real life.

  Don’t start thinking it does.

  As that inner voice warns me, a shiver races down my spine.

  Tyler runs his hands up and down my arms to smooth out my goosebumps. “Are you cold?”

  “No, I’m excited to go fishing to see if I’ll like it.”

  He stands and pulls me up. “Do you have to go with the others to eat? Is that part of the process here on the set or something? Everyone seems to hang out together all the time.”

  “It’s not a written rule or anything, and usually I would—”

  “Because you always follow the rules, right?”

  “Yup, pretty much. I don’t rock the boat.”

  “It’s okay to rock the boat every now and then, Haven. Sometimes good things can happen when you do.”

  I laugh. “This coming from the guy with authority issues.”

  His chuckle curls around me. “And that, my friend, is how I know sometimes it’s a good thing. I’ll prove it to you later.”

  “Um, let’s just go fishing,” I say, and pull myself together. “Just let me grab a couple things from the back.” I gather a few toiletries from the suitcase and drop them into my purse. I don’t really need much at the cabin.

  “You feel better?” he asks when I come back down the hallway and I swear to God, my ovaries just did the macarena when I find him leaning against the door, boots crossed, jeans low on his hips. I will never tire of this image. In fact, I’m going to imprint it on my brain to call on later, when he’s no longer in my life. But I’m not going to think about that right now. I’m just going to bask in the moment and enjoy trying new things with this man who fills me with a sense of comfort and safety.

  I go up on my toes and kiss him. His big hand slides to the small of my back and he kisses me with heat and need. A car engine starts outside, and he breaks the kiss. “Before we go back to the cabin, there someone you have to meet,” he says.

  I arch a brow. What is he up to now? “Yeah?”

  “Kytee. She’s going to put my nuts in a vice if I don’t bring you by. Her words not mine.”

  “She sounds feisty,” I say, already liking her.

  “She’s a fan, let me just tell you that. She’s going to feed us too, so we don’t have to cook or go to Winchester’s.”

  I laugh. “I can buy us dinner at Winchester’s.” Heck, I have a good amount of cash socked away.

  “I can buy us dinner too, but I’m saving.”

  I nod, understanding he’s saving money for his gym. I love his enthusiasm when he talks about it, and all his big ideas. It sounds like the kind of gym my brother would love to train in, not that he’d step foot in Tyler’s facility.

  “Besides,” he says, bringing my thoughts back. “They like to feed me, so really, I’m doing this for them.”

  I shake my head. The man is too adorable for his own good, or for mine. “You’re selling, pal, but I’m not buying.”

  “Come on. you might as well meet her before you have to go to Sunday dinner. Gram is not going to let me off the hook again, and besides, I really do enjoy them.”

  My steps slow as we leave my trailer and head toward his truck. “I think it’s wonderful that you guys all get together around a big table once a week.” I glance at my shoes, my heart squeezing tight in my chest. Maybe I shouldn’t go, maybe it will simply show me what I’ve always wanted, but won’t ever have. “I don
’t know if I should go, Tyler. We don’t want—” His laugh cuts me off and my gaze jerks to his. “What?”

  “You think you have a say in the matter? No way in hell will Gram let you get out of that. Beside she’s an amazing cook, so you should come.”

  He opens the passenger side door to his truck and waves his hand for me to enter. Okay, it’s true I’m a people pleaser but… “Didn’t you just say I should rock the boat?”

  “Not that boat,” he says. “And the one we’re getting into tonight, I’m going to rock that one for you.” He braces his hands above my door, and his scent carries on a breeze. As I breathe him in, his gaze moves over my face, a small grin playing at the corners. Is it possible that he wants me there, wants me to be a part of his family, because…we take care of our own? Does Tyler think of me as his own? Wanting to be wanted for me, and to belong to a big family is rooted in my childhood, but it’s absolutely insane how much I want that to be true. Despite the fact that we have no future. Right?

  I take a shaky breath and he gives a quick shake of his head. “Look. I have to be there,” he begins, his voice lacking the warmth from a second ago. “Since I can’t let you out of my sight, you have to be there too.”

  Alrighty then. Guess he doesn’t think of me as his own, and I need to get my head out of the clouds. This is not a fairy tale for cripes sakes. Someone left threatening letters and he’s watching over me, protecting me and his family from danger, the way any of the Owens boys would.

  “Wait, does Kylee know we’re coming for dinner?”

  He glances at his watch. “She will in about five minutes.”

  I shake my head. “Things are done so differently in Blue Bay. If I ever showed up at my parents’ place…”

  “They wouldn’t welcome you?” He frowns like he can’t wrap his brain around that.

  “It’s not that, so much. It’s just we always call first, make appointments, that sort of thing.”

  “Well, that’s fucking sad.”

  I nod. I guess it kind of is. “If you think it’s okay if we just stop in, I’m okay, but can we stop at Benny’s and grab a pie or something?”

  “Yeah, sure,” he says with a shrug and drives the short distance to the center of town. The streets are filled with locals and vacationers, who all begin to point and chatter as I exit the car. Normally I wear glasses, a hat and scarf, but I don’t know, for some reason, with Tyler by my side, I don’t mind being recognized.

  “I bet they’d love some autographs,” Tyler says.

  “You think?” I ask, always feeling a bit awkward about that.

  “Yes, but it’s up to you, Haven. If you don’t want to, you don’t have to. You’re entitled to your privacy, and don’t always have to please others.”

  I make a face. “Are you sure? That doesn’t sound right.”

  He takes my hands in his. “Tell me, what it is you want to do?”

  “I would, but I believe you told me I couldn’t say dirty things to you in public.”

  His grin is wicked. “You’re going to pay for that.”

  “God, I hope so.” I take a breath, and for the first time in a long time, think about what it is I want to do. “I’d love to sign for everyone.”

  He holds his hands up to wave everyone over. “Come meet Haven, everyone. She’d love to sign an autograph for you if you’d like.” Soon enough people are surrounding us, and I catch Tyler’s eye, the way he’s standing back, arms crossed, scanning the crowd. My shoulders relax, everything about the way he’s in charge, cocoons me in a blanket of safety as I meet and greet the locals. Soon enough, the crowd dies down and Tyler captures my hand in his. “Come on. Let’s go say hello to Kylee and Jamie, and then you’re mine for the rest of the night.”

  13

  Tyler

  Two hours later, after visiting with Kylee and Jamie, we’re back at the cabin, and with the sun setting, we walk to the dock with all our fishing supplies in hand, and Haven glances at the lake. She takes a deep breath and her shoulders relax as she lets the air out. I take in her contentment, and love seeing her like this. Christ, when I first met her, her shoulders were hugging her ears, and every nerve in her body was firing. Over the last little while, the tension has slowly been draining from her body.

  She enjoyed meeting my family tonight, but she’s never quite herself around them—never really lets her guard down. I’m hoping that’s going to change soon, especially after our big Sunday dinner. After years spent acting and pretending to be someone else, it’s hard for her, and deep inside, she’s this innocent girl who just wants to be liked. When she’s with me, however, she’s exactly who she’s meant to be, and I’m glad I can bring that out in her.

  “It’s so beautiful here,” she says softly, her voice carrying in the quiet night.

  “Beautiful being the key word,” I say, and she turns my way and smiles.

  “I can’t believe you have this lake all to yourself.”

  It’s not a huge lake, but big enough that we could clear the land and put a few cottages around it. The truth is, we’ve all been busy getting Dad’s business in the black, and none of us guys have wanted to take the job on, or maybe it’s just that none of us have wanted to come back here. I don’t think any of us have had good memories, but it’s time to change all that, I think.

  I drop the fishing gear into the boat, and hold my hand out to her and she takes it. “Easy,” I say as she steps into the boat and sits. I untie the boat, and hop in. I stand and rock it teasingly, and she grips the sides.

  “Tyler, stop. I don’t want to land in the water.”

  I drop down next to her. “You’re safe with me, Haven. I promise.”

  She smiles at me and it fucks me over a bit. I turn my attention to the engine. I put gas in it earlier, and gave it a good going over and even though it hasn’t been used in a while, it’s still in working order. Haven picks up one of the fishing rods and looks it over, examining it like it’s a bug under a microscope. It amazes me how few experiences she’s had. Now that she’s under my care, that’s all going to change. I plan to give her all kinds of new experiences, inside the bedroom and out.

  I start the engine and take us to the middle of the lake. I power down, and silence surrounds us as I settle in next to her again. She lifts her head to the stars, and takes in the dark night. “You don’t see these kinds of stars in L.A.”

  I put my arm around her as I look upward. “See that right there,” I say and point. “That’s the big dipper. Right beside it is the little dipper.”

  “Really?” she says and wraps her arms around herself. “Are you just making that up?”

  “No, look.” I trace it out and her eyes light up.

  “I’ve never seen that before.” She casts me a glance, childlike enthusiasm on her face as I reach for the blanket I brought. The night air can get cold in Blue Bay, so I wrap it around her and she snuggles in to it.

  Once she’s comfortable, I say, “The big dipper is known as the Ursa Major, the big bear. The little dipper is known as the Ursa Minor, the little bear. They have seven stars each.” I smile at her and wait to see if she’s impressed with my knowledge.

  “Wow, pretty and smart,” she teases.

  I chuckle. “I remember all this from school because of the big bear that nearly mauled me, and my dog Bear who saved me. It’s not because I was a good student.” She shifts closer and I want to know everything about this woman. “I know you were schooled on the set, but did you enjoy school?”

  “I actually did. I was a good student.”

  “What was your favorite subject?”

  Her mouth twists. “Hmm, if I had to choose, I think I’d say history.”

  “No way.”

  She arches a brow. “You seem surprised.”

  “I hated history. All we ever did was study boring old men.”

  She laughs, and kisses my cheek playfully. “Maybe I like old men.”

  “Hey, I resemble that comment.”

&nb
sp; “You’re far from old, Tyler.” She glances at the stars again. “I guess I like learning about different civilizations, different times. I always thought if I could understand my past, I could figure out my future.”

  “How’s that working for you?” I ask, not to sound like an asshole, but I’m really curious.

  “Not so great. I’ve learned more about myself this last week than I have in the last twenty-seven years.”

  My heart tightens, knowing I’m a big part of the reason why. Goddammit, I want everything for this woman. She might have had a shitty past, but I want her to live her best life.

  Are you living your best life, Tyler?

  “I’m glad you’re enjoying your time here.” I pull her in close, needing her pressed against me.

  “You really didn’t like school?” she asks as I breathe in her sweet-smelling hair.

  “None of us Owens boys did, except for maybe Jacob. He was always good at math and great with numbers. My favorite class was detention.”

  She laughs at that. “Detention? Are you kidding me?”

  “Nope. I spent a lot of time in detention.” I poke my finger into my chest. “Authority issues, remember.”

  She gives me a look like I just sprouted a second head. “Why on earth would you like it?”

  “Well,” I begin. “First, there was hardly any supervision. Mr. Harding hated staying after school and spent more time outside smoking than watching us. That was to my advantage because there was this sweet girl with the curliest red hair. Her name was Carly Hopkins.”

  “Oh, I think I can see where this is going.”

  I tug on the blanket so I’m under it with her. “She was a good girl. Like you.”

  “You think I’m a good girl, do you?”

  Frogs croak nearby, and I nudge her chin. “Well, you used to be.”

  She whacks my chest, and I capture her hand and bring it to my mouth. “I still am. Mostly.” She laughs. “It’s been fun being bad with you, but go on. Tell me how you corrupted Carly.”