“Your decision?” I asked, confused.
Kaylee stood and was trying to walk off when I reached for her arm, which caused her to look back at me.
“What decision?”
Lifting her chin, Kaylee forced a smile. “Channing actually did ask me out, and I honestly wasn’t sure what to do. I had these feelings . . .” She let out another laugh and shook her head.
“Feelings?” I asked, wishing I could take back every second of the last five minutes.
“Yeah, for you, but I see now that I was just being fucking stupid.”
The ache in my chest burned. “Kaylee.”
She held up her hand. “It’s okay, Ty. I’m a big girl, and believe it or not, I was actually prepared for the rejection from you. I just didn’t think it would hurt as much as it did.”
I closed my eyes and cursed. “Fuck. Kaylee.”
Opening my eyes, I saw the brunette standing a few feet away. For the life of me, I couldn’t remember what in the hell her name was.
“Hey, Ty, you ready to get out of here?”
Lord, give me strength. I was seriously fucked now. This woman was clearly trying to give Kaylee the wrong impression.
The look on Kaylee’s face nearly destroyed me. She looked from the girl to me. Then that blank face appeared. The one I had seen a time or two after she’d allowed herself to get too vulnerable.
Pulling her arm from my grip, Kaylee glared at me. “Enjoy your evening, Ty.”
“Kaylee. Kaylee, wait!” I called out as I started to go after her.
The brunette stepped in front of me, her hands on my chest. “Ty, I’m horny, and you’ve been staring at me the last thirty minutes, not her. Let her go.”
My eyes dropped down to meet hers. “What did you just say?”
“I said, I’m horny.”
Looking once more at the door Kaylee had just walked out of, I knew I had a decision to make. Let Kaylee go and move on, or go after her.
Light shone through the window and caused me to groan when I attempted to pry open my eyes. I scrubbed my hands down my face and slowly dared to give it a try. Instant panic set in.
This isn’t my bedroom.
A feeling of dread and regret quickly rolled through me. What in the hell had I done?
Shit.
I looked to my left to see the brunette from last night, sound asleep next to me.
Fuck.
Another look back toward the window and I winced. My head was pounding.
How many shots did I have after Kaylee left?
“Son of a bitch,” I mumbled as I tossed the sheet off of me and climbed out of the bed. It was then I noticed I still had my jeans on. I looked back at the brunette and saw she was dressed in yoga pants and a T-shirt.
I closed my eyes and whispered, “Please don’t let anything have happened.”
Quickly, I set off to find my shirt and boots. I needed to get the hell out of here.
The nameless woman stirred in the bed, and I picked up the pace. I couldn’t find my socks, and in that moment I couldn’t have cared less. I slipped on my boots, sans socks, grabbed my wallet, and then looked at the unused condom on the side table.
Rubbing the back of my neck, I let my gaze move back to the woman.
She was awake and looking at me.
“You may not know this, or maybe you don’t want to admit it, but you’re in love with her.”
I frowned and tried to cover up her truth by laughing as I asked, “What are you talking about?”
She sat up and looked directly at me as she rested her chin on her knees. “Ty, the blonde from last night. The one talking to you at the bar. You’re in love with her.”
I scoffed. “You’re crazy, and I need to leave.”
“Why do you think I’m dressed, and so were you? You couldn’t sleep with me last night. You said you couldn’t do that to her. So either you’re with her and you were about to cheat, or you’re in love with her and won’t admit it to yourself, or to her, for whatever reason.”
“Remind me again, who in the hell are you?” I asked as I took a quick look around her bedroom before focusing back on her.
Her head tilted, and she flashed me a cute smile. “Lisa Waters.”
Lisa Waters. Why does that name sound so familiar?
Then it hit me. Lord Almighty . . . it hit me like a freight truck. “Oh, holy fuck. You’re Maria Waters’s kid. I knew you looked familiar.”
She laughed and crawled out of bed. “In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m far from being a kid. I’m thinking the next time you meet with Mom for a therapy session, you need to tell her about these little hidden feelings you got going on.”
“You don’t know anything about it,” I said. I picked up my phone and saw I had three missed calls. One from Brock, one from my mother, and one from an unknown number. I also had two voice mails.
“Maybe not, but I do know that you had a warm and willing body last night that was ready to do all sorts of naughty things with you, and you weren’t the least bit interested in me.” She gave me a wink. “I couldn’t get your cock to harden no matter what dirty thing I whispered into your ear.”
“I was drunk, and please tell me you’re over twenty-one.”
She flashed me a smile. “I’m twenty-two. How old are you?”
“Twenty-nine.”
“I always did love an older man. Listen, I’ve got to go get ready—I’m having lunch with my parents. Show yourself out, will you?”
Groaning internally, I couldn’t believe I had almost slept with my therapist’s daughter. Thank God my wits, and not my dick, had showed up last night. “Yeah, sure thing.”
As I walked past her, she reached for my arm, pulling me to a stop. “I won’t mention this to my mother, but honestly, Ty, you need to talk to someone. You talk in your sleep—and believe me when I say I know what it’s like to hold in the demons. You can only do it for so long before they start coming out any way they can. Your nightmares . . . they were intense.”
I stared at her for the longest time. In all the times I’d hooked up with women, I’d never stayed with them all night. Not once. So knowing she had seen that side of me bothered the hell out of me, more than I cared to admit.
“I appreciate it, but you don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m not in love with anyone, let alone Kaylee Holden. And as far as any nightmares go, I was drunk and probably just dreaming weird shit.”
She shrugged, then gave me another wink. “Good luck with all that, dude. I just know I wouldn’t want to fight the battles your mind is waging with you.”
The entire drive back to the ranch, I tried to figure out what in the hell I had been thinking last night, leaving with Lisa. And fuck me . . . she was Maria’s kid. Just my damn luck.
After parking my truck, I decided to head to the barn and get a bit of work in before going back to my place. I lived in the foreman’s house, which was about a mile or so from my folks’ place and on the opposite side of the ranch from Brock. Once I was forced out of bull riding and worked the ranch full time, I spent a year adding on to the cabin that my granddaddy had built for the foreman and making it into a three-bedroom ranch-style house. It wasn’t anything fancy, but it was home. And it was renovated by my own two hands, so that counted for something. Especially since I hated shit like that. But it had been good therapy at the time.
The moment I walked into the barn, I came to a stop. Brock and Tanner were in a stall, and both turned to look at me.
Tanner grinned, and Brock shot me a suspicious glare as he looked me up and down.
“Didn’t even go home last night?” he asked.
“You keeping up with what I wear now, Brock?” I spat back.
He folded his arms over his chest and stared at me as I walked by. I looked into the stall to see that our horse Star was about to foal.
“She’s ready? I figured it would be a few more days,” I said.
Blayze popped up and gave me a wide toothless gri
n. “Hey, Uncle Ty! Star’s gonna have her a baby, and Daddy said I can help deliver it and name him or her.”
I reached over and rustled the brown hair on my nephew’s head. “I like the sound of that plan, buddy.”
“Who did you shack up with last night?” Tanner asked.
“Nice,” I said, jerking my head in the direction of Blayze. “Remember, little ears.”
Brock leaned over and smacked our younger brother. “Think before you speak, Tanner.”
I shot my youngest brother a smirk as I replied, “And I didn’t shack up with anyone.”
“That’s not what I saw. Dude, you were trashed and left with some hot chick who looked to be my age, if not younger,” Tanner said.
I rolled my eyes. “She was twenty-two, and nothing happened.”
“You left with her and stayed at her place, and you mean to say nothing happened?” Tanner asked as Brock shot me a look that said I was full of shit.
“That’s exactly what I’m saying. Nothing happened.” I looked at Brock. “Why are you shooting me death rays, Brock?”
“I hope you know what you’re doing, Ty,” Brock answered.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
He cast a quick glance to Tanner, then motioned down to Blayze. “You got this for a minute?”
Tanner nodded. “Yeah, go ahead.”
“Where you going, Daddy?” Blayze asked, gazing up at his father with the same blue eyes Brock and I got from our own daddy.
“I’m going to talk to Uncle Ty . . . in private.”
“You gonna talk about Aunt Kaylee and how she was mad at Uncle Ty last night?”
That caught my attention. “What?”
Brock rubbed the top of his son’s head. “You sneak out of bed again, Blayze?”
He smiled and nodded his head. “Yes, sir. I already confessed to Mama.”
I couldn’t help but give the kid a knowing grin. Oh, how many times had my brothers and I sneaked down the steps to listen in on the grown-ups? Too many to count.
“Let’s go,” Brock said to me as he headed out of the barn.
“Listen, if you’re going to give me a lecture, I’m not in the mood. I have a pounding headache, and I woke up in the bed of the daughter of my freaking therapist.”
Brock turned and faced me with a stunned look on his face. “You’re shitting me.”
“I wish,” I said, rubbing the ache in the back of my neck. “So what’s this about Kaylee?”
He stared at me for a minute or two before finally speaking. “Kaylee stopped by last night. I guess she and Lincoln had a talk a few days ago about Kaylee speaking to you about a few things. She wanted to find out why you didn’t like her.”
I groaned. “I never said I didn’t like her.”
“Never said you did. Anyway, you got your point across to her, and she’s going out with Channing this weekend.”
Trying not to let it show how much that bothered me, I shrugged. “Good for her. It’s about time she got out and socialized with folks. She’s always holed up in that house, catching shit on fire.”
He regarded me, trying to see if he could read me.
Not a chance, little brother. This place is locked up tight.
“Ty, are you really going to let her go like that?”
I swallowed hard. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Brock.”
He sighed and dropped his head, giving it a slow shake. “Okay, well, I thought you might want to know she’s going out with him.”
“Like I said, good for her, but it don’t concern me any. Besides, she already told me Channing asked her out.”
Brock’s gaze caught mine. The corner of his mouth rose slightly into a smug expression. “It must be in our blood to be so damn blind. I get you’re scared, Ty. I get this isn’t what you thought your life would be like, but are you sure you want to push away the one thing that made you feel something?”
Anger pulsed through my veins. How in the hell did he know how I felt? Or who made me feel something? “Just because you’re settled with a wife and kids now doesn’t mean I want that, Brock. I’ve got enough shit in my life, and to add in a headstrong, stubborn-ass woman who would just drive me insane? Yeah, hard pass. Who wants to be tied down to one woman anyway?”
He nodded, a look of disappointment etched onto his face. “Right. Well, as long as you know what you’re doing.”
“I know exactly what I’m doing.” The way the lie rolled off my tongue surprised even me. I had no damn clue about anything anymore.
“How’s therapy going?”
That was not a subject I was wanting to talk about. “Fine. Now if that’s all, I’d like to get some chores done and then get back to my place.”
“Sure. Have at it, Ty.”
I turned and walked away from Brock. It pissed me off that he was doing this to me. Pressuring me to do something I wasn’t ready for. Sure, he had the wife and the new baby. He got to make his decisions. He went out on top as the best bull rider in the world. Retired after winning the PBR World Championship again. Hell, he still had people calling him to do sponsorships.
I’d also gotten calls after the accident to keep doing sponsorships, but I’d turned them all down. I wasn’t interested. Not when I was trying to deal with the reality that I’d never climb onto the back of a bull ever again. It had been too difficult to even think of entering that world again right after the accident. Then, once the addiction started, I was so lost I didn’t know what in the hell I wanted to do. I hadn’t realized I’d never really found that lost part of me.
As I went about the morning, taking care of things around the ranch, one question kept popping up over and over in my head.
Who was I?
I had nothing to offer a woman like Kaylee. She deserved someone who wasn’t broken. And I was as broken as they came.
Chapter Five
KAYLEE
The moment I opened the door and saw him, I knew I had made the right decision. Standing before me was a man who looked at me like I was his world. Of course, he had a bit of desire in those eyes; nothing wrong with that. For once I wasn’t being given a scowl, and it made me feel really damn good.
“Channing, you look nice this evening.”
The hot firefighter chief stood in front of me dressed in jeans, a nice button-down dress shirt with a dress jacket over it, and cowboy boots. He wasn’t wearing a cowboy hat, and I had to admit, that made me feel sad. Ty always had his black cowboy hat on. Always.
Channing’s eyes roamed slowly over my body. He had told me to dress casual, so I did my version of it. Jeans. A sweater that hugged my body, and high-heel dress boots.
“You look as beautiful as always,” Channing said once his gaze met mine.
“Are the heels too much?”
“Not at all—we’re going to Taste of Paris for dinner.”
“I love it there!” I replied, grabbing my coat, only to have Channing reach for it and slip it over my shoulders. I wrapped the wool scarf around my neck and smiled.
Manners and good looking. The evening was starting off on a positive note.
“I’ve only been once, with Lincoln when we first moved here. The beef bourguignon was out of this world.”
“It is a great place. I know the owners.”
“Sounds perfect. Plus, I’m starving.”
Channing placed his hand on my lower back and guided me out of the house. I turned and locked the door and took his arm while I navigated down the porch steps and to his . . . sports car?
I had to look twice. Channing drove a sports car?
Why did that disappoint me?
A vision of John in his BMW 5 flashed through my mind, causing me to slow my pace.
“Kaylee, is everything okay?”
I wasn’t sure how long I stared at the Mazda Miata. Too long, apparently, because Channing looked worried.
“So, I take it you don’t like sports cars?”
That pulled me from my moment
of haze. “What? Oh, no. I mean, yes. Sports cars are fine. Sorry, I just had a memory take me by surprise, that’s all. It’s all good.”
He nodded and opened the passenger door for me. “Good, let’s get you fed, shall we?”
Before I got into the car, I looked out over the pasture—and saw Ty and Tanner.
Shit. Of all the times he’d have to be here. They were on horseback, riding the fence line that separated the Shaw ranch from the small parcel of land I lived on. He wasn’t looking my way, so I quickly slipped into the car. My heart hammered in my chest, and I closed my eyes and took a few deep, deep breaths until I heard Channing open the driver’s door.
“It’s freezing outside. Do you have any gloves?”
I tried not to look at Ty as I answered. “I figured it would be okay, since we’re walking from the car into the restaurant and that’s it.”
He smiled. “What if I made other plans for us?”
That made me turn and look directly at him. I smiled and said in a teasing tone, “What other plans? I only agreed to dinner.”
“I thought maybe we could grab a drink after dinner at the Blue Moose.”
Why was I not wanting to do that? What in the world was wrong with me?
Forcing myself to answer him, I replied, “That sounds like a good plan.”
Channing was an easy person to talk to. Once we got to the restaurant, he ordered our meals, and we fell right into a conversation where he asked me about me. It was nice to have a man actually interested in me.
“So what made you decide to leave Georgia behind? I mean, I get that Lincoln had moved here and all, but that’s a pretty big decision.”
I shrugged. “Not really. I didn’t have anything in Georgia holding me there. My family is there, but my parents travel a lot, so I didn’t see them very often. My work is freelance, and I can do it from anywhere, anytime I want. I needed the change for a few reasons.”
Always Enough Page 4
