“Just so you know, a guy doesn’t expect laughter when he drops his drawers.” He let his fall to the floor and stepped out of them. “It’s hard on our pride.”
Well, something was certainly hard, but Katy didn’t think pride had much to do with it. “You talking, or performing?” She leaned back on her arms throwing her breasts into prominence. Two could play that game.
“Oh, I’m performing, lady. Just you wait and see.” He threw a string of those glow-in-the-dark condoms he’d pulled out of his pocket onto the bed and then followed them down, pretending to crush her under his body, and Katy shrieked in mock fright. In reality his hands stopped his fall, but it was enough to sober them up in a hurry when soft sleek skin met hard firm muscle in an explosion of sensation.
The hair on Ty’s chest rubbed the nipples on Katy’s breasts and her eyes slid closed in reaction to the touch. His legs, one on the outside, and the other between hers, were warm and strong leaving her feeling safe and secure within his hold. Her tongue slipped out to wet suddenly dry lips. He dipped his head and caught up the moisture before dropping to her breast and laving the nipple. The catlike feel of his tongue sent ripples of shock like a current straight to her core. Katy’s back arched in helpless reflex, sighing when Ty settled more fully into the apex of her thighs. The relief was only temporary. An aching emptiness had her shifting under him as she tried to find a way to ease the throbbing.
“Shh, baby, I’ve got you.” Ty rumbled. His hand moved down her side and over her tummy until he rubbed against her center. Katy’s mouth opened in a soundless cry of ecstasy. Her whole body straightened out like a board for endless seconds before falling back to earth and the softness of the mattress.
It took her a few moments to open her eyes to Ty’s satisfied smile.
“Wow,” she murmured, a little embarrassed at how fast she’d climaxed.
“That was amazing,” Ty said, his gaze warming her cheeks.
“I’m sorry,” she said, uncomfortably aware of his arousal nestled against her belly.
“Why? I’m not.” He grasped her hand and brought it to his lips before handing her a condom. Then he lowered her fingers to his swollen cock, which jumped and lengthened even more at the contact. “Feel that? That’s what you do to me. Every. Single. Time.”
Fascinated with the strangled nuance of his voice, Katy tested her power by stroking the silken club beneath her fingertips as she rolled the latex from top to bottom. The engorged head wept in response. Ty groaned and the next thing she knew he moved and encased himself deep within her body.
Time stopped.
Staring into his beloved face, it was almost like they’d never been apart. Katy reached up and brushed his damp hair off his brow and then turned her head and kissed the arm holding his weight above her.
“I need you,” she whispered, meeting his tender gaze. Then he began to move, and the world faded away.
~~~*~~~
Ty lay on his side watching the woman he adored more than his life. Her lashes were half moon crescents upon her creamy cheeks. Her hands, folded together as though in prayer, rested under her sleeping face like an angel and her body lay sideways, taking up most of the bed. He didn’t care, it was a miracle that she was here at all. One he’d prayed often for.
He wondered if she remembered how they used to cruise the neighborhoods dreaming of the perfect home to raise their family. When they came across this house in Cedar Grove, Katy had fallen in love with it at first sight. They’d spent hours down the lane watching the family that lived here at the time. Compared to her house, this was nothing more than a bungalow, but she didn’t care. She told him love made a house a home and the rest didn’t matter.
He’d begun saving right then and there. If the house ever came up for sale he wanted to be ready. It wasn’t easy, his job as an errand boy at a mechanics shop hadn’t paid much. Ty was just grateful his boss let him work on his old beater after hours to keep it running. The car might not have looked like much, but it gave him and Katy a place to be together and that was the important thing. That Ford had witnessed his transition from a boy to a man. It was also the place he gave his heart to the woman beside him now.
As though she could feel his gaze, Katy’s sleepy lids opened with a warm glow of contentment. Then, just as he moved forward to kiss her, a shadow fell over her face.
“Ty, there’s something you need to know.” The words seemed to stick in her throat and his stomach tumbled.
“Ookay, as long as you’re not going to say you’re dying or something,” he warned, only half joking.
The words when they came, fell with all the subtleness of a bomb.
“I was pregnant when I left Tidal Falls. The baby was yours.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Kyle sat in the passenger seat of the sheriff’s sporty Ford Mustang GT and grinned when Jack grabbed second and burned a little rubber leaving the station. Kyle appreciated the rumble of power coming from the Ford’s dual exhaust pipes as those eight cylinders did their job and set him back in his seat.
Kids and their toys, guess you are never too old to enjoy the need for speed.
That was his excuse every time he went up in the belly of a Hurricane ’copter and felt his heart soar with the thrill of the ride. Then there were the endless moments of pure adrenaline while plummeting toward earth with only a mushroom cloud of nylon stopping him from becoming an ink splat on God’s canvas.
Kyle was a little surprised that this was Jack’s choice of vehicle though. He’d always pictured him as a four door sedan type of guy. Mind you, becoming a father at the age of seventeen couldn’t have been an easy thing to do. Put a quick end to Jack’s football scholarship. Put an end to a lot of things. Suddenly Ty’s superhero brother became as human as the rest of them.
“So how’s army life treating ya?” Jack glanced over as he shifted down for one of the two traffic lights Tidal Falls sported. “You stuck with it a lot longer than I figured you would.”
He wasn’t the only one.
“It’s good. I enjoy the camaraderie, and the babes aren’t bad either.” That was a side benefit of wearing those badges, women love a man in uniform. And if that seemed a bit jaded, Kyle figured after ten years in the forces he’d earned the right. Every relationship he’d ever had went south the moment he deployed. In his experience, with the exception of his mother and sister, women couldn’t be trusted.
The light turned green and Jack coasted through to the other side, pulling into the only spot open in front of the stucco and brick façade of Grits and Grace. The rapidly darkening evening provided a backdrop for the action going on behind the plate glass windows. Customers filled the booths, some eating and some looking at menus, while the servers raced up and down the aisles with food and drink piled high on trays that looked too large for their arms to handle.
Jack shut off the engine and pulled his keys. “You ready to eat?” he asked as he pushed open the door and climbed out.
Kyle nodded, but hoped they didn’t have to wait long for a table. The need to see Katy was growing by the moment. He opened his door and started to step out when he noticed the courtesy light provided the lit figure of a mustang running on the pavement at his feet. He turned and lifted his brow at Jack, impressed even though he wouldn’t openly admit it. “Special effects, much?”
Jack just grinned and closed his door. Then his gaze landed on some yellow tape running across the entry to the alley beside the café and his expression sobered. Curious, Kyle joined him on the walk and nodded toward the obvious crime scene.
“Trouble in paradise, Sheriff?”
“Yeah, something like that. C’mon, let’s get inside before there are no tables to be had.” He strode to the diner’s glass door and yanked it open.
Kyle hesitated as that uneasiness brushed up against his spine again, then shrugged and followed him inside.
~~~*~~~
Ty threw himself back on his pillow and stared at the ceiling, the w
ords reverberating in his head, “He was yours. He was yours. He was…” mine.
A baby.
He’d had a little boy and never even known.
Fuck.
He started to hyperventilate. His body vibrated with the need to move.
Now.
Ty jumped from the bed as though it was full of snakes and headed down the dark hallway, his bare ass flapping in the wind. He didn’t care. He just needed some air before he did something he might regret. Using more force than he’d intended, the patio door slammed open, and a few long strides later he gasped as his body hit the cool water in the pool. The liquid churned as he power-stroked through a few fast laps before the worst of the shock eased off and his stroke evened out.
He didn’t know how long he stayed there, but when he finally came to a stop, his arms resting on the flagstones surrounding the pool and his chest heaving, Katy was there. Waiting.
She crouched in front of him. Silent tears rolled unheeded down her cheeks. Lightning flickered across the sky behind her lowered head.
“I’m sorry, Ty. I should have told you.”
He ignored the underlying need to comfort her and ease her pain. Who was going to help the soul-stealing ache he was feeling? The one person in the world that he’d always trusted more than any other had managed to pull the wool over his eyes for the very last time.
He was done. They were done.
“Where is he? With your darling parents?” His laugh turned bitter. “They never did think I was good enough for their precious baby girl, did they.”
Katy sniffled and held out a shaking hand to touch him. He recoiled, not at all sure what might happen if she did.
“I’m not going to ask again.” Each word was a whip meant to flail her alive. To make her hurt even an eighth of what he was going through right now. “Where. Is. My. Son?”
Her fingers scrubbed at colorless cheeks before she rose and turned away from him.
“Katy?”
“I don’t know where he is,” she whispered. “I don’t even know if he’s alive.” Her back hunched as though to receive a blow. “I gave him up when he was a newborn.” Her shoulders trembled. “I gave our son away.”
Ty shook his head, and droplets of water flew in all directions. He was pretty sure she just said she gave their son away. Like a piece of furniture. But that couldn’t be true. Could it?
He heaved himself out of the pool, grabbed a towel from a nearby cupboard to wrap around his hips, and strode to her side to demand an answer. Ty paused when he saw how distraught she’d become. He sighed. It couldn’t be easy for her either, having to confront the past like this.
He turned her into his chest and wrapped his arms around her shivering body. They’d have to head inside soon or she’d catch her death of cold. His chin rested on top her head and they slowly rocked from side to side.
“Shh, it’s going to be okay.” Then after another moment when she showed no sign of easing up, “Quit crying now, you’re soaking me.”
That got a half-fast laugh out of her. A few more hiccupping sobs and she pulled herself together. She swiped her nose, then lifted her head and bravely met his eyes.
“I’m sorry, Ty. More sorry than you can ever imagine. I wanted to tell you as soon as I knew I was pregnant, but my mom was a mess with my dad leaving her and everything. It just wasn’t the right time. And then afterward… afterward there wasn’t much left to say.”
She gave a little self-depreciating shrug. “It was easier to push it under the carpet and try to forget about it, you know?” Her eyes beseeched him to believe her. “It’s not an excuse, and I’m really, really sorry, but that’s what happened.”
Ty’s feelings were ping ponging around in his chest like this was a championship match. Anger, sorrow, sympathy, and disappointment fought for supremacy. In the end sympathy won the battle. Her slouched shoulders and dull eyes made it clear the decision had weighed heavy on her these past years. He wasn’t sure if they could get past her betrayal. It hurt too much right now to contemplate, so he kept to the basics.
“Why did you give him up?” He loosened his hold and stepped back a couple paces, needing some space between them right now. “I don’t understand. It couldn’t have been a money issue, your family is loaded. So, what then? How could you give up your own flesh and blood?”
He lifted his hand to rub tiredly at the base of his neck, absently noting a few random drops of rain hitting the flagstones. The wind was chilly and they needed to get inside, but all he could think about was his child in someone else’s arms. Jesus, he’d be almost ten by now. So many wasted years. The anger made a return trip.
Katy held out her hands, pleading, and he didn’t think he’d ever seen a sorrier sight. She’d slipped on his robe to come looking for him. It hung unevenly on her slight frame, one side dragging the ground while the other flipped around her ankles in the wind. Her hair could have happily accommodated an entire family of sparrows, and her face was blotchy from too many tears. None of it mattered; his heart still ached with love and tenderness, even though she’d hid something so vital it damn near crippled him to think about it.
“I don’t know if I can properly explain.” Her voice was small and her hands fell to worrying the ends of the belt.
“When my father betrayed my mother it changed our lives. I was whisked away without any choice to California. Dad and Kyle were gone. You were gone.” She gazed at him with a lost look. “Mom was a mess. She counted on me for everything and I couldn’t let her down. She needed me, Ty.”
He shook his head. “I needed you.”
“I had to make a choice. I couldn’t walk away from her like that, I just couldn’t.”
Katy’s words rang with the desperation she must have felt suddenly getting cast in the role of provider, at least emotionally, for her mom. Ty tried to understand, but at the same time he didn’t get how she could have turned her back on them with such ease.
So he cut off whatever excuse she would’ve made, “Look, it’s getting late, and I don’t know about you, but this has been the day from hell for me.” He turned away and strode for the French doors.
“Let’s shelve this discussion for the evening and get some sleep. We can talk again in the morning, agreed?” He moved aside to let her pass and tried not to think about how few clothes stood between them.
He shivered from the warmth inside the house and realized just how chilled he’d become from standing around in almost nothing. Ty glanced at Katy and cleared his throat. “I’m, ah… going to take a quick shower. Do you want to check what’s in the refrigerator while I’m gone?”
She gave a hesitant nod, obviously as reluctant as he was to enter that den of iniquity. He walked away before he decided to prove her right.
~~~*~~~
Katy stared after Ty as he took off down the hall like a scalded cat. This wasn’t easy for either of them, but at least she’d had the benefit of time to dull her pain. Not that it ever truly disappeared. Birthdays and holidays were the hardest. She’d find herself trolling the toy store sites to find the newest and coolest items, from superhero costumes to Transformer play sets. Sometimes going so far as to place them in the cart before she realized there was no need. Then the depression would hit and she’d have to dive back into her work at the hospital or drive herself crazy.
It was hard not to hate the doormat she’d been as a teenager. Whatever her parents asked of her, she’d done. Why couldn’t she have been more like Kyle and stood up for what she wanted? Her life would have been so different if only she had. She and Ty would have learned of their upcoming baby together and celebrated its birth as proud parents should. They could have built their life in this home—the home they’d chosen together so long ago—married, had more children and been happy as a family.
Instead, they were separated at the seams by conniving parents, much as a seamstress destroys a half-sown sweater one stitch at a time until everything unravels around their feet.
&n
bsp; She’d told Ty her mom was an emotional wreck after finding out about her father’s infidelity, and that was true. What Katy hadn’t mentioned was how her mother manipulated her into leaving Tidal Falls, and him, behind. How she cried about needing her daughter at her side after losing first her son to the army, and then her husband to a younger woman.
Looking back on those events, Katy could see how she’d been influenced by her mom’s very real grief into giving up her own dreams. The only freedom Katy had in those first few years was her schooling, and even that came at the direction of her mom. She would have been happy to become a family physician like Doc Johnson—tears surfaced again as she pictured him as she’d seen him last—but her mother determined her career would be as a surgeon. And Katy had let her.
That was the worst of it, she had no one to blame but herself for the mess her life had become. But that was the old Katy. Her shoulders straightened and she tightened the belt on her robe. This Katy knew what she wanted.
She just needed to figure out how to get him.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Ramsey decided to let the dust settle for a few days and took a trip down to California. He strolled along the busy boardwalk of the Santa Monica Pier in the afternoon air and kept an eye out for the boss, enjoying the rare treat of a foot long New York style hot dog, complete with fried onions and piled high with sauerkraut.
Shit was going to hit the fan when Ramsey confessed to the shooting. There’d been no real choice though. The old man had gotten a good look at him as he made his escape. Now he was going to need some protection, and the boss could arrange for that to happen.
Frustration at his near miss with that bitch ate at his insides. It was girls like her who had tormented him his entire life. Hoity-toity, snooty women who wouldn’t give him the time of day. After this job that would change. They say money can’t buy love, but it sure as hell could buy some sweet fucks, and that was good enough for him. He’d never be stupid enough to fall for the whole love spiel anyway.
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