Damn man.
“My, my phone . . . pocket.”
Once Ty found which pocket, he took the phone out and handed it to me.
“Let me go get you some ice. Do you have any ibuprofen?”
I nodded. “There’s some in the master bathroom.”
“Let’s get you to lie down. Sitting on your tailbone is going to be painful. Do you like lying on your side or your back?”
Normally, I would have made a smartass comment about him trying to get me on my back, but I was in too much pain to joke or make inappropriate innuendoes.
“Side, but I feel sick to my stomach.”
“Okay, lean forward a little bit until I come back down.” He looked around and reached for the little trash can by the front door. “If you get sick, use this.”
And just like that, he raced up the steps. I closed my eyes and tried to take in a few deep breaths, but even that made my tailbone hurt.
“Please, please don’t have cracked or broken anything. Please . . . ,” I mumbled.
After about two minutes, Ty was coming back down the steps with a pillow and ibuprofen. He turned and went into the kitchen. I heard the ice machine and a few drawers open and close.
“Dish towels?” he called out. Before I could answer, he added, “Never mind, you have a gel ice pack. This is perfect!”
I couldn’t help but smile. This was a side of Ty Shaw I had never seen. He probably felt guilty since it was his fault I fell. Of course, had he not been there to catch me the first time, I might have broken an arm or even a leg.
Then he was in front of me again, and my heartbeat picked up ever so slightly simply because I could smell his cologne. Or his soap, or whatever that delicious manly scent was that he had. I was going to guess it was soap. Ty didn’t seem like the kind of guy to put on cologne. It was a mix of leather and a clean, fresh scent, as if he bathed with Irish Spring. Or maybe that was just Ty’s own unique smell. Regardless, I loved it . . . a lot.
And why is my mind fixating on how Ty smells when I’m in so much pain? Good Lord, if I don’t have sex soon, I’m going to combust.
“How about we get you to lie on your back.”
I nodded, not wanting to talk because I could feel the tears simmering just under the surface, and I was feeling overwhelmed with pain and Ty’s stupid smell.
He handed me the ibuprofen and a glass of water and then placed the gel pad on the sofa. The pillow he had brought down was on the coffee table.
“Let’s stand you up really quickly, and then I’ll help you lie down.”
I shook my head.
“Kaylee, I need to get the ice pack under you.”
My chin trembled, and I felt a warm tear slip down my cheek.
Ty dropped down and sat on the coffee table, his face white as a ghost. He removed his cowboy hat and set it to the side. When he cupped my face in his hands, I felt an instant rush of butterflies in my stomach, but then the pain in my lower back took care of that feeling and replaced it with nothing but throbbing.
“Fuck, does it hurt that bad?”
The only thing I could do was nod.
“Okay. Okay. Do you think you can lean back, and I’ll do my best to get the pad under you?”
“I’ll try,” I said, my voice sounding so weak, I wanted to punch myself, but, considering I was already in pain, I didn’t want to deal with any more.
Ty helped me to lean back as he gently tucked the gel pad under me.
“Let me put the pillow under your knees.”
Once he’d finally gotten me settled, Ty hit his watch. “I’ll set a timer for twenty minutes.”
“How . . . do you . . . know . . . all this?” I asked.
He smiled, and my heart felt like it skipped a beat. For one brief moment, I didn’t feel pain. I only saw that smile. That dimple. Those eyes that sparkled when he allowed himself to just be . . . Ty. Happy, not on guard, and willing to let me see him without the walls. I’d seen that side of him before. When we found out Lincoln was pregnant with Brock’s baby. When it was just the two of us, a secret only we knew. It had been fun, seeing him so carefree. Seeing that sparkle in his eyes. It was rare, so anytime I could see it felt like a gift.
“I’ve cracked my tailbone a few times and bruised it more times than I can remember. I’m pretty sure you just bruised yours, but it hurts like a son of a bitch no matter which one happens.”
“Bull riding?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Ty replied with a nod. “And once getting bucked off a stubborn mare.”
“What is it with you and women?”
He winked, and I was pretty sure I sighed, but that was okay in this instance because he would simply think it was from the pain.
“They either love me or hate me. It’s a curse I have to live with, I guess.”
I stared up at him as he looked down at me, that smile still on his face. His brown hair looked like he had run his fingers through it at least a dozen times today. It was messy, but in a clean-cut sort of way. Ty kept his hair short, but a little longer on the top. Countless nights, I’d come to visions of my hands running through his hair as he brought me to orgasm. God, he was sexy as hell.
Our eyes were still locked, and I couldn’t help but wonder if he could read my mind. Maybe he knew where my thoughts were going, because his gaze fell to my lips and stayed there a beat too long.
Ty cleared his throat. “Let me go get some firewood for you. Here’s your phone.”
He stood. For a moment I forgot all about the pain in my tailbone and focused on the pain in my chest instead.
“Thank you,” I whispered as I took the phone from him. The moment he shut the front door, I called Lincoln. The ice was already helping to dull the pain.
“Wow, that was fast. You really are getting good at doing things on your own,” Lincoln said.
“Well, apparently your husband doesn’t think so,” I said, trying to sound like I wasn’t dying, or Lincoln would be sending Brock over here next.
“What do you mean?”
I sighed and tried to adjust some, and gasped.
“Kaylee, what’s wrong?” Concern laced Lincoln’s voice.
“Hold on, give me a second.” I let the moment of jarring pain slip away before I spoke again. “Brock sent Ty over here to check and make sure I had enough firewood. Ty scared me, I nearly fell, then I pushed him, and then I really did fall on the steps. He thinks I bruised my tailbone.”
“Oh, no! Do you need me to come over?”
“No, I’m on the sofa, and Ty gave me some medicine and put ice on it. Apparently he’s bruised his tailbone a time or two.”
“Oh, Kaylee, I’m so sorry.”
I felt the tears burn against the back of my eyes, but I refused to let them spill. Keeping it together, I said, “It’s okay.”
“You’re hurt.”
“I’m fine. I just need to rest here for a bit, and then I’ll be back to normal.”
“Brock is asking what’s wrong . . . give me a second and let me fill him in.”
Lincoln relayed everything to Brock as I hit mute on my phone, closed my eyes, and focused on a happy place. A warm beach with a good book, a hot guy rubbing suntan oil on my back. Yes . . . yes, that’s where I wanted to be.
“Mmm, yes, that feels good,” I softly said.
“Did you dial 1-800-We’ve-Got-Porn?”
My eyes snapped open to see Ty standing there with an armful of wood. How had he done that so fast?
“No, asshole, I was trying to picture myself on a warm beach. A happy place, by myself . . . where you’re not there.”
He winked again, and I paused what I was about to say. As a matter of fact, I think I forgot how to breathe.
“Kaylee? Hey, are you there?”
I unmuted the phone and said, “I’m here.”
“Um, Brock just said he didn’t tell Ty to go over there.”
“What? Are you sure about that?”
“Yes. He said he hasn’t even
talked to Ty since earlier this morning.”
I raised a brow and looked at Ty, who was currently putting the wood on the little iron wood rack I had bought in one of the cute little stores in downtown Hamilton. Ty had bitched and moaned the entire time he was in the store with me, because we had been sent there originally to find a cute birthday present for his mother. A task I had willingly agreed to help him with until I realized Ty was not a fun shopper. At all.
“Okay.”
“Okay? Is that all you’re going to say?”
“Yep.”
“He’s right there, isn’t he?”
“Yep.”
“Well, isn’t this interesting.”
“Yep.”
“Make sure he gets you all settled before he leaves. I’ll be over in the morning when the snow clears.”
“Will do. Thanks.”
I hit end and studied Ty as he piled up the wood. He had taken off his jacket and was in a long-sleeved black T-shirt that showed every muscle in his arms and back as he stacked the wood. Each time he leaned over, I got an ass shot. I bit my lip and looked away.
Why, dear God above, could Channing not make me feel this way? Why did you have to make my body desire this man? Why!
“Why, what?” Ty asked, making me glance his way.
“Huh?”
“You said, ‘Why?’”
“Oh . . . I, um . . . I mean, why did I have to fall? It’s a terrible time to get hurt. I was going to help Mrs. Kennedy plan her daughter’s baby shower.”
He grinned. “Ever since you planned Lincoln’s wedding, you’ve become sort of the hot party planner in Hamilton.”
I laughed, but I stopped when it made my tailbone ache. “Well, I don’t do it often, but when I do, it’s a lot of fun.”
“Have you ever thought about opening up your own event-planning business?”
I just stared at him. When I once mentioned the same thing to my parents, they both had the same negative reaction—that I wouldn’t be able to run my own business.
It never occurred to them that I actually did own a business, my editing business. I worked on some of today’s hottest-selling romance and historical writers’ manuscripts, yet, in their eyes, they had paid for me to go to college to read books all day. In my father’s voice, I heard, “What a waste of a college education with a degree in journalism. Why you couldn’t get a business degree is beyond me.”
Looking down at my phone, I shook my head. “I don’t know. It’s really just for fun.”
Ty went back to the wood, but this time he was building a fire in the fireplace. “You should really think about it, Kaylee. You’ve got the eye for it. I mean, look at Brock and Lincoln’s wedding: it was beautiful, and everything went smoothly.”
I felt my cheeks heat. “Are you actually giving me a compliment, Ty Shaw? I figured you would have some smartass remark about me being better suited to planning funerals and such.”
He chuckled as he lit the fire starters. “That would have been a good one—too bad I didn’t think of it first.”
I rolled my eyes and tried not to smile.
Soon a large fire was going, and I could feel the warmth. It balanced out the cold ice pack on my lower back and tailbone and helped take my mind off the pain I was still in.
Ty stood and dusted off his hands as he looked at me. “Do you want me to make you anything to eat? Some soup or something?”
“Soup?”
“Yeah, do you have any?”
I shook my head. “I don’t.”
“Okay, well, do you have any veggies? Some broth?”
The way he was behaving was throwing me for a loop. “Ty, why are you doing this?” I asked, looking at him and trying to read every emotion that passed over his face. The damn man was good at hiding his feelings. Very good. I was also very intrigued about why he’d said he was sent here instead of fessing up that he had come over on his own.
“Why am I doing what?”
“Being so nice to me?”
He laughed. “As much as you want to think I don’t like you, Kaylee, we are friends. I feel guilty that it was my fault you just got hurt.”
And there it was. He felt guilty because he thought I’d fallen because of him.
I sighed. “It’s not your fault, and you don’t have to stay. I think I can get up now.”
Trying to prove my point, I went to move—and froze when the pain hit me.
“Don’t move!” Ty said in a stern voice. “Damn it, why do you have to be so stubborn? I want to be here, Kaylee. Let me try to make you something to eat, will you?”
My stomach chose to growl right at that moment. Damn betraying body of mine.
I rolled my eyes and tried to seem put off. “Fine, but just so you know, I’m making you eat whatever you make for me too. I don’t trust you won’t put some hot sauce or something in it.”
The way he was looking at me was exactly how he had looked when we’d first kissed. That night at the Blue Moose. Something in his eyes said he did indeed want to be here. Be with me.
The other thing I saw in his eyes was at war with those feelings. My breath felt shallow, and I swallowed hard.
“It’s a deal. Now, please just lie back and rest for a bit. I’ll round up something to eat for dinner.”
I did what he said, and once I closed my eyes, it didn’t take long for me to drift off to sleep.
Chapter Eight
TY
When I opened Kaylee’s refrigerator, I couldn’t help but chuckle. The girl was a super-healthy eater. I could give her that. She had a ton of vegetables. One quick check in her pantry and I had everything I needed to make my mom’s vegetable soup.
I pushed up my sleeves and got to work cutting up the veggies while the stock heated up with the onions and a few cloves of garlic.
Once everything was in the pot, I looked around her kitchen and found a bottle of shiraz. I’d save that for dinner. Kaylee also had some sourdough bread and fresh rosemary, perfect for when the soup was finished.
Looking into the refrigerator again, I smiled when I saw the six-pack of beer. I opened one and took a drink.
“You want a beer?” I called out.
She didn’t answer me, so I walked into the living room . . . and came to a stop. Kaylee was sound asleep. I shook my head and set the beer on the coffee table as I gently removed the gel pack from underneath her, then laid a blanket over her.
“Ty?” she whispered, opening her eyes only long enough to see me before she shut them again.
“Yeah, baby. It’s just me. Get some sleep.”
Inwardly, I cursed myself for slipping and calling her an endearment. I’d never fucking called anyone baby. But this woman wasn’t anyone, and it was clear my heart was feeling more than I wanted to admit.
She nodded and went right back to sleep, a slight smile on her face.
My heart raced in my chest, and I took a few unsteady steps back until I hit the chair. Sitting, I stared at Kaylee as she slept. When she had fallen earlier, I’d seen the pain on her face, the tears in her eyes, and it felt like my whole world had tilted. I hated seeing her in pain. I hated seeing the way those blue eyes looked at me, as if she was wanting so desperately to tell me something, but couldn’t.
After about ten minutes of just watching her sleep, I got up and checked on the soup. Then I pulled out my phone and sent my father a text.
Me: I came over to Kaylee’s place to make sure she was set for this storm. She fell on the steps and I’m pretty sure she bruised her tailbone.
He replied almost instantly.
Dad: Poor thing. You didn’t leave her, did you?
Me: No. She’s asleep on the sofa and I made her some vegetable soup.
Dad: Have you checked the weather, Ty? It’s gotten worse, the snow is coming down even harder. I don’t know if you want to leave her tonight, especially if she’s hurt.
My eyes widened in shock as I read his text. “Stay the night?” I said with a laugh. “Is
he insane?”
Me: I’ll make sure she’s set up with everything, then head back to my place. I’m sure once the ibuprofen kicks in, she’ll be fine.
When my phone rang, I knew I was about to get a lecture.
“Hey,” I said, wincing as I prepared for his verbal reprimand.
“Ty Shaw, you cannot leave that girl there alone with a huge storm coming and a bruised tailbone. You can stay there one night . . . the girl doesn’t bite.”
“That we know of,” I shot back.
He let out a frustrated sigh. “What is it with you two?”
“Nothing. I’ll stay, don’t worry.”
“Thank you. Tell her that your mother will be over in the morning. She has a new knitting project she wants to start Kaylee working on.”
I rolled my eyes. Not only had Kaylee infiltrated all my thoughts but she’d also made my mother fall in love with her. She was actually teaching Kaylee how to knit, getting her prepped for her spring garden, and teaching her to make soap. How she had time to undertake all these projects on top of remodeling this house was beyond me.
“You still there, Junior?”
“Yeah, I’m here, Dad.” I rubbed the instant ache in my neck. “Maybe I’ll run back to my place and grab an overnight bag.”
“No, you can’t risk getting stuck and then leaving Kaylee alone.”
Laughing, I walked over to the back door just off the kitchen. “It can’t be snowing that hard. I just—”
I stopped midsentence as I saw the snow coming down in sheets.
“The power might—”
My father’s voice cut off.
“Dad? Dad?”
During heavy snowstorms, our cell coverage sucked. I sighed and dropped my head back as I gazed up at the ceiling.
A moment later, the power went out.
I closed my eyes and cursed. “Fucking great.”
No power meant no heat. That meant I’d have to keep the fire going and stay in the living room with Kaylee all night.
Glancing over to the stove, I let out a sigh of relief. At least the stove was gas, and that still worked without power.
I turned on the flashlight on my phone and got busy looking for candles. This was going to be one hell of a long night.
Always Enough Page 7
