Ducking her head, she could feel the heat forming on her cheeks and her heart melted with those sweetly said words. There was no question she knew on every level that she felt the same way. For Ty, every word and deed since rising from that bed seemed to utterly embrace that belief. For her, it scared her to death.
“I’m not ready to say that back to you,” Kenzie said honestly, and half-heartedly tried to rise until Ty’s strong arm became a vise around her waist. More than anything, self-preservation had her clinging to the idea that this wasn’t real, hanging on to the notion that they were smack in the middle of a vacation affair. Nothing had really changed. Ty was the mega movie star, slumming it for a few weeks in the mountains. But now her traitorous heart had a much louder voice, effortlessly breaking through those barriers, while internally mocking her for even trying to think she had a choice in this matter.
“That’s okay. Whether you want to or not, you show me how you feel. I know I’m not alone in this, and I do want you to come back with me when I go. I know this is all fast, but that’s just how my life works. I wish I had the months here I needed to give you the time to trust what you’re feeling, but I don’t. If you aren’t happy, I’ll send you back here or to wherever you want to go, no problem. I swear. And my house is big enough that you can have your own space.” As he spoke, he tightened his hold on her waist. The hand on her thigh stopped the gentle caress, instead gripping to hold her leg. She knew he was bracing for a fight.
“Ty, you know I can’t leave until all this gets settled,” she said, her own hold around his neck stiffening, pulling him a little closer.
“It’ll be settled. I promise. I talked to Bray last night. They looked into things and have a plan of attack. If that doesn’t work, remember, I have plan B, babe,” he explained carefully.
“So he believes me?” Kenzie asked, focusing more on the shock of that thought. There were plenty of people in this town, where she’d grown up, who gave her questioning looks as though she’d been convicted. To have a group of people she’d spent one evening with trust her… She couldn’t imagine it.
“When they met you, they knew something wasn’t right. Bray took an instant liking to you. He’s a good friend to have,” Ty said, and her relief was strong. The hope she’d tried to keep tight reins on broke free, overwhelming her a little.
“That’s been the hardest part for me. No one believes me. From the night they raided my house, I’ve been treated as a liar. It feels good to be believed,” she said, filling with happiness. She leaned in and kissed his lips, then kissed his hairy cheek before kissing his lips again. “Thank you, Ty. I know nothing’s finalized, but thank you for trying.”
“I’m gonna do everything in my power to give you a better life,” he declared, drawing her lips back to his for another quick kiss.
“You’ve already done so much,” she declared and wrapped both arms around his neck, giving him a tight hug.
“Then you’re easy to please which is even better for me,” he laughed against her hair. In one fluid move, she was hoisted from his lap and placed back on her feet. Ty followed, reaching for the plate and both their coffee mugs. “I think we need to get some relationship formalities out of the way.”
“Okay,” she replied, taken off guard with the abrupt change in conversation, eyeing him close as he walked toward the sink.
“What’s your favorite ice cream?” he asked.
“I think Cherry Garcia when I can find it,” she said, leaning back against the counter. Did he really plan to wash those dishes on his own? “What’s yours?”
“Banana split when I can find it. Reminds me of my youth back in Texas. Blue Bell makes it perfectly,” Ty answered, turning on the faucet. Looking over his shoulder, he asked his next question. “Favorite color?”
“I like shades of red,” she said.
“I like jewel-toned reds.” He rinsed out both cups then dumped the food down the disposal to clear that plate.
All three were left in the sink as he turned off the water and reached for the hand towel to dry his hands. So not washed, but cleaned. At least it was a start.
“My favorite color’s a warm melon. I think that’s what it’s called. Darker than peach but not orange or brown.”
“What’s your favorite food?” she asked, playing along.
“Unfortunately, it’s a big thick T-bone,” he said, wincing as he tossed the towel on the counter and leaned back, taking her same stance.
“Yeah, no. I love spaghetti squash. It just goes with so much.”
“We have that in the refrigerator, right? We can make that tonight,” he offered.
“That sounds good. Am I supposed to say you should make a steak?”
“Oh, what a great idea! I think I will,” he said overly excited, giving her a wink. “What about children. You see a large family or small?”
“Most definitely large,” she answered honestly as if there was no other way to answer that question. Besides, he needed to know that so he had time to reassess his desire to have her follow him to California when he left.
“What’s large to you?” he asked, his eyes narrowing which made her laugh.
“Four, five, six kids. I always wanted to adopt as well as have some of my own,” she explained reasonably. Of course all that changed when she married Jason and things got so bad.
“Yeah, I agree with that. It was just me and my mom. She was an only child and her parents died when I was still a kid. My dad’s family kind of abandoned us. I just always wanted to grow up and have a house full of kids so they wouldn’t have to grow up and be alone.”
“That’s how I felt too. Life can be lonely,” she agreed.
“Republican or democrat?” he asked.
“Both. Social issues, I lean liberal. Everything else I tend to be conservative.”
“Yep, me too,” he agreed.
“What else?” she asked, trying to think of another question.
“I don’t know. We seem pretty in sync,” he said, uncrossing his arms and moving to lean back against the counter directly across from her. He reached out, grabbed her by the hips, and drew her between his legs. “I really like making love to you.”
“I like that too. Better than I probably should.”
Ty placed his palms on either side of her face, pulling her up for a soft, prolonged press of the lips.
“Then I know exactly how to kill a few hours,” he said against her mouth.
She let out a squeal when he suddenly moved, scooping her up in his arms. She loved when he did things like that. She wasn’t a small woman, but he was strong and easily carried her back to the bedroom.
Chapter 26
Walking past the wall-mounted thermostat in search of nourishment, Ty nudged the lever up. Warmer temperatures would keep the clothing minimal. And by minimal, he meant none at all. The roar of the heater sounded seconds before he heard two feet running along the hardwood floor toward him. The comfort of having Kenzie in this house for another day made him unrealistically happy. With as much chasing as he’d had to do to get to this point, he needed these small moments of her wanting to be wherever he went to help calm his soul.
“It’s cold, Ty,” she said, catching up to him. She’d wrapped a throw around her body.
“We agreed on clothes-free,” he said, looking down, giving her a mock critical eye.
“That was before this freezing weather descended.” She had reached his side, ducking her head under his arm, forcing him to wrap it around her. She looked up at him, lifting on her tiptoes for a kiss. Something major had shifted inside Kenzie. Imagine his surprise to find he liked her even more—who would have ever known that was even possible? She was truly a lovely, remarkable woman.
“You need to eat. You don’t eat very much,” he said, hugging her against his body.
“I’m fine. I eat when I’m hungry,” she said. As they turned the corner into the kitchen, Ty’s attention went to the vibrating phone on the table. He reluctantly
released her, going for the cell while Kenzie went for the refrigerator. The phone went dead as he got close enough to see the screen. When he palmed the device, he saw five missed calls. With another slide of the finger, he saw all but one of the calls was from Reed.
“I probably need to go home,” she said, opening the refrigerator door.
“Why? I thought you could just stay here,” he said, looking up at her as he began to dial.
“I don’t have any clothes. Do you have lunchmeat? I don’t think we got anything like that in Gatlinburg, but if you have some, I could make you a sandwich,” she offered as she continued to dig through all the drawers.
“We could go get your things and bring them over here,” he suggested, bringing the phone to his ear while lifting a finger to silence her when she looked over at him. “You there?”
“I have a whole damn day that didn’t include calling you four fucking times,” Reed barked.
“Sorry, man. We were…well, busy.” Ty didn’t think Reed might appreciate him getting so lucky while he had to spend the day working.
“Yeah.” The silence lasted several long seconds. “The case will be dismissed, paperwork filed by tomorrow. If McKenzie—she goes by Kenzie, right? If she hasn’t heard from her attorney by end of day tomorrow, let me know. Now, on a different note—” Reed started, but Ty stopped him in mid-sentence.
“What’d you do?” he asked.
“Pulled strings. Isn’t that what you wanted me to do?” Reed asked condescendingly.
“Thanks, Prescott. That was fast even for you.” Ty said, grinning so big he stopped Kenzie in her tracks. She stood, just staring at him. Then left the refrigerator door open, coming several steps toward him.
“Listen to me. I’ve got calls waiting. I was looking over her background. Lara’s gonna need some help in the foundation. I showed her Kenzie’s background and we’d like to talk to her.”
Ty went over each of those words again in his head making sure they meant what he thought they did. Okay, that was completely unexpected.
“I’ll tell her,” Ty said, watching Kenzie wrap the blanket tighter around her body. He now knew that was more of a holding herself together kind of move than anything else. All the expression drained from her face along with the color. She was turning pale right in front of his eyes.
“I took the liberty to ready my plane to fly to Gatlinburg. If I need to stop that flight, you need to tell me in the next few minutes. If you’d waited any longer to return this call and denied that plane, I’d have been one pissed off guy,” Reed said, dryly.
“You good with flying to Dallas tonight?” he asked Kenzie.
“I can’t…” She started shaking her head no.
“They dismissed the charges. Reed wants to talk to you.” The array of reactions crossing her face would have been hilarious if this were any other time. After a second more of no words coming out of her mouth no matter how many times she opened it to speak, Ty answered for her. “I’m gonna say she’s in.”
“I’ll have Margaret send you the flight itinerary. We’ll talk more later. Plan on staying with me tonight. The spare rooms are under remodel for the nursery, but they still have a bed.” The line disconnected. Ty was slower to lower the phone as he went for Kenzie who began to cry.
“Say something, baby.”
“I… How…” Ty took her in his arms and the tears fell in earnest, each one making him more helpless and unsure.
“He said the charges would be dismissed by tomorrow morning. If you haven’t heard from your attorney by tomorrow night, we’re to let him know,” he said, explaining everything Reed had said, holding her closely against his chest while reaching over for the paper towels on the cabinet to give her something to dry her eyes with.
“Oh my God. Oh my God.” She began to cry so hard that she buckled on him.
“Beautiful, are these happy tears?” Ty asked as he caught her and tightened his hold while running a palm over her hair. Besides a couple times with his mother, he’d never really dealt with a crying woman before. He was at a complete loss on how to give her comfort or what all this actually meant. Seconds, maybe up to a minute later, he could feel the paper towel moving against his chest over her face and a little moan of the sob sounded seconds later. “Come sit down, Kenzie. Tell me what you’re thinking.”
“I’m scared to believe. It’s been so long without any hope.” Her face lifted to his. Her eyes were red and her nose running. The turmoil in her gaze touched his heart.
“Then let’s take it in steps. Get in touch with your attorney. We’ll go to Dallas, and once we get the formal written dismissal, we can cry then,” he urged.
“How did he do it so quickly?” she asked and scrubbed the towel over her eyes.
“It’s how Prescott lives his life. When I’m dealing with the business side of things, I channel him. He’s just unlike anyone you’ll ever meet,” Ty said, and he smiled when she blew her nose loudly into the paper towel.
“And he needs us in Dallas?” she asked, moving from his hold to go for the trash can first, then the refrigerator, shutting the door.
“He has a potential job opportunity for you. Before Reed ever made a phone call, he checked your story. He must have liked what he saw.” Enough time passed that Kenzie seemed to be trying to pull herself together. She went for the sink, struggling to keep the blanket wrapped around her. Having no choice but to let it drop, she leaned forward to splash water on her face. He reached for a clean hand towel. Her hands were shaking as she dried her eyes.
“I wish I would have been wearing clothes for this,” she said, placing the towel on the counter before reaching for the throw again. Under all the turmoil, there was a calmness settling in on his love, and she looked up at him. “So we’re going to Dallas?”
“A plane’s being sent now. I think I heard a text come through on my phone, which should be the itinerary. He sounded like he expected us tonight, but I can call him and get more time,” Ty offered, dreading the idea of making that call.
“No, if I can really go without being in trouble, I need to thank him. I need to thank you,” she said, coming to stand about a foot in front of him.
“You don’t owe us anything. What happened to you was wrong. I promise things wouldn’t have gone so easy had that not been the truth. Let’s get dressed.”
Ty sighed internally, worried about a bigger issue. He didn’t want the fine line between love and appreciation blurred for even a single second. “We’ll need to stop by your house; tell your parents.”
“They’re not gonna believe any of this. I need to pack. Most of my clothes are in a storage unit in Gatlinburg, but I need to take what I have with me. Eventually I’ll have to buy some new things, everything I have is pretty outdated…” She stopped talking and looked over at him a little apologetic. “I’m rambling.”
“It’s fine. I get it,” he said, going toward her. “We need to get dressed. We’ll eat on the road. Don’t worry about your clothes. Dallas is known for shopping. We’ll get you covered for now.”
“Ty, thank you,” she said, wrapping both her arms around his waist, hugging him tightly against her chest.
“Stop saying that. I’d do anything for you. I meant what I said last night.” Ty dislodged from the hold and smacked her on the rump. It was hard to tell exactly where that might be underneath the throw, but he made the effort and left her to trail after him toward the bedroom.
Chapter 27
From flying in a luxurious private jet to being chauffeured in a Bentley by a personal driver, Kenzie was so far outside the realm of normal behavior she was having a hard time processing everything. Her unbelievable knight in shining armor stood beside her in his scruffy beard, flannel shirt, and blue jeans. Even looking like a mountain man, he still seemed to fit better in this world than the one she grew up in. But as her lifeline, Kenzie gripped Ty’s hand a little tighter and stared up at the lighted floor indicator as the elevator doors shut.
; “The traffic was terrible,” she said quietly.
“It’s Dallas,” he responded, casually.
“It’s my first time here,” she explained, looking over at him.
“It’s Dallas,” he said again. This time there was no doubt at his confusion of her statement. Apparently, he wasn’t experiencing any of the same wow factor. For her, all the years of television had her envisioning Dallas as a place of big business, beautiful women, and lots and lots of money.
“Small town girl,” she finally said, trying to explain.
“Then wait until you see LA,” he teased, caressing a thumb over her hand. It didn’t help. The elevator ride was long and the doors opened to an office suite. It was after hours, the space dark, and now they followed their escort around a corner and down another long hall with a single door at the end. He knocked, and a few seconds later, Reed pulled the door open with a telephone stuck to his ear. He barked at whoever was on the other end. Dressed in slacks, a dress shirt, and tie, his hair was styled in about the same front swoosh thing that she’d seen Ty wear. There was only a vague resemblance to the man she’d recently met.
In contrast to his tone, he grinned at Ty, lifting a finger to his lips and then extended that same hand into the foyer, inviting them inside.
There was a quietly muttered goodnight as the escort turned away.
“I’ve told you what I’m willing to pay. It’s not open for negotiations. Stop trying to talk me out of more money,” Reed said into the phone before lowering his hand and ending the call.
“I thought you were always open to negotiations?” Ty asked, beaming at Reed, all his focus on his friend as he absently moved Kenzie forward with a hand at the small of her back. Even though he didn’t seem to be paying her any attention, she stayed right there beside him.
Much like the first day she’d met Ty and all his buddies, there was an innate comfortableness between Ty and Reed, but this time, it didn’t seem to ease her. Ty’s genuine smile touched his lips as he looked past Reed into the apartment and guided her farther inside the highly decorated condo.
Acting Happy (Texas Desires #2) Page 24
