“You’ve got to be kidding me.” She looked at Tyler, soaking wet and almost naked. He glanced back and burst out laughing.
“And history repeats itself,” Kit said, shivering and laughing at the same time.
A deputy stepped out of the car. “Folks, you know the county park is closed, right?”
Tyler took a step forward, but Kit put a hand on his arm to stop him.
“Let me handle this. It’s my turn.” She took a couple steps toward the deputy, trying not to think about the fact that she was only wearing her wet bra and underwear. “It was my fault. I really wanted to go for a swim and I talked this man into going with me.”
“There’s a fine for being in the county park off hours, you know.”
“I figured.” Kit kept her voice as sweet as she could make it while her teeth chattered. “Would you mind if we got dressed while you write us the ticket?”
“We’d really appreciate it.” Tyler was beside her, evidently not content to let her deal with this alone.
The deputy squinted at Tyler and in the light Kit saw that he was a rookie, probably not much above legal drinking age. “Are you... Hey, you’re Tyler Ellis! I heard you were back in town.” He came toward them with eager steps, holding out his hand to shake Tyler’s enthusiastically. “I’m a huge fan, Mr. Ellis. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Welcome back to Benson. The whole town is real proud of you.”
“Why, thank you, deputy. I appreciate the warm welcome.” Tyler’s voice was as charming as ever, despite the situation. “Would you mind giving my friend and me a chance to get dressed? Then I’ll come to your car to take care of that ticket.”
“Tyler—”
“Hey, this was my idea,” he lied, just like he had so many years ago. “Let me deal with it.”
“Sounds good, Mr. Ellis,” said the deputy.
“Call me Tyler, please.”
“Okay, Tyler. You all get dressed now. I’ll wait by my car.”
They gathered their clothes from the beach and ran to Tyler’s truck. “Oh my gosh, put the heat on, please?” Kit begged as her skin made contact with the cool leather of the seats.
“Will do.” Tyler turned the engine on and hit a few buttons. “Did I tell you how glad I am that I paid extra for the seat warmers?”
“I’m glad, too.”
“Hang on.” Tyler reached behind the seat and pulled out an old towel. “Use this.” Kit grabbed it and dried off, while Tyler used his T-shirt to do the same. Warmth started to seep from the seats, slowing her chattering teeth.
Reaching for his jeans, Tyler glanced at her. “I’ve got to say, a night out with you, Kit Hayes, is never boring.”
“I’m going to take that as a compliment.”
His glance skimmed her body for a split second. “It is. It most definitely is.”
She tried to ignore how much she liked it, when he looked at her that way. And how his muscles bunched in his arms and thighs as he pulled his jeans up. The sculpted contours of his shoulders, his back, his abs were all beautiful. She’d been wrong to think of him as pretty. Pretty implied feminine, and there was nothing girlish about his raw strength—great enough to take on a furious bull.
Somehow she focused on getting her clothes on.
“I’m going to talk to that deputy,” he said.
“You should let me handle it. I owe you one from way back when.”
“You can pay me back in more bartending lessons. I’ve got this.” He reached across her lap to the glove compartment and pulled out a pen and a few bumper stickers with a bucking bull and the letters PBR across them. “These might come in handy.” He tugged his jacket on over his shirtless chest, then was out the door.
Kit yanked her shirt over her head, then tugged on her socks and boots. Flipping down the visor, she glanced at her makeup, relieved that the promise of waterproof liner and mascara was genuine. She met her own eyes, almost black in the dim light. And smiled.
She’d done it. She’d jumped in a frozen lake at three in the morning, just because. Just to be awake. Just to make sure life wasn’t passing her by. And she’d kissed Tyler. And it had felt amazing.
The door opened and Tyler was back, sliding into the driver’s seat with an easy grace. “All right then, have you had enough excitement for tonight?”
“I think so. Thanks for taking the blame. Again.”
“No problem. You’re my...” He paused for a tiny second. “...my friend. I’m happy to do it. Plus, I got lucky that he’s a fan.”
“At least let me pay the ticket.”
“There’s no ticket.” The tilt of his eyebrow, the confident smile, told her how much he was loving this.
“What do you mean, no ticket?”
“I signed those bumper stickers, and he didn’t mention the ticket.”
Kit tried to take it in as Tyler pulled out of the parking lot. She kept forgetting who he was. To her, he was Tyler, her old friend. Her new, somewhat bumbling boss at the bar. The guy she couldn’t stop thinking about. But to most of this town, and a lot of the world, he was a superstar. “Wow. You really are famous.”
“To certain people, yeah.” He glanced at her. “I take it you’re not a big fan of bull riders.”
“Maybe I am now,” she teased.
“I kind of like that you don’t see me the way the deputy does. You and Lila and everyone at the bar make me feel like a normal guy. I haven’t felt that way in a long time. It’s kind of a relief.”
“So you don’t like it when your adoring fangirls show up at the bar every weekend?”
“I’m not sure there’s a guy in the world who’d complain about a bunch of pretty girls paying him a visit. I’m retired, not dead.”
She couldn’t help but laugh, despite the tiny edge of jealousy. Which reminded her of all the other jealousy she’d felt lately. “Can I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
“Are you seeing someone?”
He glanced at her. “No. What makes you say that?”
“Bella said some woman was coming to your house. With dark hair?”
“That’s Sheila, my reading tutor.” He laughed. “Good to know that the Benson gossip machine is alive and well.”
“Oh.” Her cheeks went hot and she looked out the window, wishing she hadn’t asked.
Tyler slowed, then pulled over at a wide gravel turnout alongside the road. “Can I ask you something?”
“Of course,” she said, her heart pounding, as he unbuckled his seat belt and reached over to play with a lock of her hair.
“Why do you care if I have a girlfriend?”
It was the question she’d been afraid of. “I don’t know,” she whispered.
“I do.” His hand slid to her shoulder, gently massaging her tight muscles. “Do you want me to tell you?”
“I’m not sure.” She was being a coward. This thing she’d dreamed of was right in front of her now, but she couldn’t find the courage or the craziness to reach for it.
“It’s because you and me, we have this thing between us. This chemistry. It’s there when we’re working, and when we’re at the barn or out riding. And the more time we spend together, the more it grows. Haven’t you noticed?”
“Yes,” she breathed, closing her eyes against the intensity in his, so the only thing she felt was his hand, soothing all her sore spots, and his voice, wrapping her in sweet words.
“I’ve been trying so hard not to act on it, because I know you are focused on healing. And because you’re leaving. But it’s getting harder and harder not to touch you. Not to pull you close and kiss you.”
His words permeated every pore of her skin, driving out the cold, making her feel every second of her breath and of his. Because he was closer now, his hands in her hair. She opened her eyes and freed h
erself from the seat belt so she could turn toward him.
“I don’t want you to not touch me anymore.” It was garbled enough to give him pause, but she saw when comprehension clicked. The way his eyes widened for an instant, then narrowed in on her mouth. Then his hands were in her hair and his mouth was on hers in a kiss so scalding she could feel the heat travel down her spine, over her chest. The fire of it had her grabbing on, to his shoulders, to his upper arms, to anything that would ground her. Because kissing him was like trying to hold on to something electric.
His hands slid to her back, pulling her as close to him as he could in the awkward confines of the cab. His kisses rained heat on her mouth, her neck, her shoulders. He pulled away, brought his hands to her hair and fixed her with an intent gaze. “I want to start seeing you. I want us to be together. Can we do that?”
The reality of what he asked seeped through the heat like glacial melt. “I don’t know.” She slid away from him. “I don’t know what to do. I’m leaving.”
He dropped his head for a moment, as if her words had physical impact. “Yes, you are.”
She didn’t want to say no. Didn’t want this incredible night to be her only chance to feel this way with him. “Can we think? About what to do?”
He let go, then moved toward his side of the cab. “We can. Though lately I feel like there’s been too much thinking between you and me. Maybe we need to stop thinking and see this thing through. And take whatever consequences come with it.”
“Like eight seconds on the bull?”
“Yeah,” he said, putting the truck into Drive and pulling out onto the road. “Kind of like that.” He reached over in the dark and found her hand, wrapping it in his. “Come on. I’ll take you home. And you can do all the thinking you want.”
* * *
TYLER HAD NO idea he could get so hooked on one person. His experience with women was limited to short-term relationships. And he’d never been too bummed when they ended. But something had changed when he moved to Benson. Maybe it was because he’d come home ready to put down roots. Or maybe it was something about Kit that made him want so much more than she was able to give.
All morning, he’d kept it businesslike between them, while memories of last night haunted him. Images of her body, dripping wet and shivery by the lake, warm and wanting in his truck, were branded on his mind. And the memory of how it had felt to finally kiss her was something he’d hang on to forever. He wished the kisses they’d shared had sated him somehow. Instead they’d made him want so much more.
But she wanted to think. Though how thinking would help them, he had no idea. Unless he could think of a way to make her stay, there was no solution for them. If only he could get her to stop thinking, convince her to just feel, she’d see what he saw so clearly. That they were meant to be together. That she should stay here with him.
Meanwhile, they had a bar to pack up. They’d officially closed today for the final stage of the renovation.
Most of the staff was here, boxing up the alcohol behind the bar and loading it in his truck, packing glassware, utensils and memorabilia into the storage unit he’d had delivered.
It seemed like Kit might be avoiding him, and he understood. Because for him, even being in the same building as her today was like walking on recently cooled lava. He knew he seemed calm on the surface. But under the thin, cool crust of his friendly facade were all of his molten feelings. All of his desire. Simmering away, keeping him on edge.
One positive was that the discomfort kept him working hard. The progress was gratifying. He’d single-handedly packed the office and moved all those boxes to the barn. They’d use the office there for the next few weeks.
He’d packed almost the entire storeroom liquor supply himself. It was amazing what you could do with a whole bunch of pent-up frustration. He grabbed a box from the stash in the main room and returned to the storeroom for another load.
He was wrapping bottles of dark rum when the door opened and Kit walked in with a bottle of liquor under each arm and one in each hand. “I found these behind the bar,” she said. “Unopened.”
Tyler was in front of her in an instant, reaching for the bottles in her hands.
“Not those. The ones under my arms, please.” Her words came out breathy, reminding him of her voice when he’d kissed her last night.
He reached for the bottles, sliding them out and setting them on the nearby shelf. She set her bottles down as well. She faced him, her eyes were huge in the dim light, searching his like she was looking for something, and damn if he knew what the hell he was supposed to give her. Because he’d laid it all out for her. How he wanted her. And all she’d said was that she needed to think.
“I want...” He couldn’t find the words for all that he wanted from her.
“I know,” she said quietly, her gaze not leaving his. “I know.” She stood on tiptoe and kissed him, lightly, a breathy brush of lips to his, as if she were testing out how it might feel.
It felt incredible, but he forced himself to stay still and let her try it again. Maybe this was her method of thinking. Maybe she was curious to see if she still liked kissing him.
She seemed to come to some sort of decision, because her hands went to his neck and she tugged, so he leaned down, his mouth inches from hers. “Kiss me again,” she murmured. “Like you did last night. If you want to.”
His blood felt chaotic in his veins, there was so much want humming through him, around them, bringing the dead air of the storeroom to life.
“Of course I want to.” His hands found her hair, his fingers wove through the silken lengths.
She didn’t answer, not in words. Just parted her sweet lips in an invitation he couldn’t possibly refuse.
She was so damn tiny and he remembered, in a hot instant, how her body had felt against his at the lake last night. How she’d felt so chilled, yet still fiery beneath his mouth. Then the memory of it blended into now as his lips touched hers again, as his hands held her, as the heat and softness of her registered in his brain. So familiar, so exotic, the taste and scent of her searing away everything except the feel of her under his mouth.
The door slammed into his back. “Where the hell is the—” Lila gasped. “Oh damn—” She dissolved into laughter. “I’m so sorry, you guys.” Then she was gone, the door swinging on its abused hinges.
Kit moved away from him, her hand over her mouth.
“Come back.” He reached for her, not caring about Lila or anything except feeling Kit in his arms again.
She shook her head, then went to the small mirror on the wall and ran a fingertip over her mouth to fix her lipstick. “This isn’t the right time. Or place. We need to get back out there.”
“When is the right time? Tonight?”
“I—I don’t know.”
He caught her hand before she could walk out. “Don’t play games with me. Please?”
“I’m not trying to play games. I’m just... I just don’t want to hurt you.”
Frustration boiled over. “I’m fine. I don’t need you to worry about me. It’s you who asked for space to think. And I would have kept giving you that space. Except you came in here and kissed me.”
She went pale at his words. “I’m sorry.”
“You say you don’t want to hurt me, but I think we need to call this what it is. You don’t want to be hurt again. When you fell for Arch, it turned into this thing that messed with your head for the next decade. So you’re scared to fall for me now. But don’t let that fear rule you, Kit. If you do, then you’re letting Arch ruin this thing between us, on top of all the other damage he already did in your life.”
“It’s not about Arch,” she protested. “I’m over him.”
“Yeah, I think you are,” said Tyler. “But I don’t think you’re over the way he hurt you. And you can�
��t have love risk-free, Kit. There’s no such thing. So you have to decide if you’re willing to take a risk with me or if you’re going to keep hiding.”
He turned away from her, breathing in gulps, trying to get his frustration under control. He stayed that way, his back to her, until he heard the whump of the door swinging shut behind her, when she walked out of the room.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
IT HAD BEEN a few days since their encounter in the storeroom, and time wasn’t on Tyler’s side. It was the end of August and Kit was leaving later in September—unless he could convince her otherwise.
And maybe he wouldn’t convince her. But his heart felt like it was caught in a vise every time he thought of her flying away from him. Which was why he stood on her porch on this Wednesday morning, with a big bunch of daisies in his hand.
If he’d learned one thing from life, it was that when you fell off the bull, you got back on. You kept trying for your dreams. That belief had won him a world championship. Maybe it would win Kit’s heart as well. If not, at least he’d know he’d given it his best shot.
She looked sleepy and surprised when she answered the door. “Tyler, what’s up?” Then she spotted the flowers and looked even more confused. “What? For me?”
“Yes. I was hoping you’d go out with me today. On a date.”
Her brows drew together. “Us dating makes no sense. I’m leaving soon.”
“All the more reason to spend time together while you’re here. Come on, Kit. I like you. A lot. I think that’s pretty clear. And I think you like me. We’re a hell of a lot more than friends already. So go out with me. Spend some time with me.”
She laughed softly and covered her face with her hands. “I don’t know.”
“It’s a perfect date. You won’t be able to resist. We’re going fish-bothering.”
She dropped her hands and her smile widened. “Oh my gosh, I’d forgotten about fish-bothering. Are you serious? You have stuff for it?”
“In my truck. With a picnic. Get dressed?”
She glanced down at her faded pink flannel pajamas.
His Last Rodeo Page 18
