Ty brought up the rear and met her eyes with a look of nervous expectation. Jill came around the desk and clasped her shaking hands in front of her. “Hello. You must be Ty’s family?”
A chorus of nods and yeses greeted her question. Ty scooted around the group and wrapped his arm around Jill’s shoulders. “Everyone, this is Jill Jennings. She’s going to join us for dinner tonight.”
One of the girls, a sweet, dark haired beauty, yanked on Ty’s jeans. “Is she your girlfriend, Ty?” she asked with an adorable lisp.
“Yes,” Ty said and looked Jill in the eye. “Jill’s my girlfriend.”
“She’s pretty,” the little girl said. Jill couldn’t remember ever receiving a nicer compliment.
Ty mussed the girl’s curls. “She sure is, Gabby.”
Ty turned to Jill. “Do we have a table in the back?”
“Yes, right this way. I wasn’t sure if we’d need any high chairs or boosters?”
“One booster,” Lita said with a hand on the littlest girl’s head. “Brooke can’t quite reach the table yet.”
“Ty, will you show them to the table and I’ll get the booster?”
He nodded and the group prodded along behind. Oh, God. There were so many of them. She scooped up a booster seat and took a deep breath. She needed to get over her nerves. This was Ty’s family. They were important to him. He’d entered the lion’s den of her parents’ house and her dad had been less than friendly. She owed it to him to prove he hadn’t wasted his time out here with a dimwitted bubble brain.
She helped Brooke into the seat after placing the booster on her chair and took the empty seat next to Ty in the middle. Her stomach fluttered with pride when he draped his arm around the back of her chair.
“Everything’s good,” he announced. He turned his attention to the boys. With matching brown hair and blue eyes, Jill couldn’t tell them apart. “The burgers here are great, guys.”
“I’m getting a burger,” one of them said. The other complied. “Me, too.”
Jill assured Ella she could get buttered noodles instead of macaroni and cheese like her sisters and she rewarded her with a shy smile. They placed their order and Jill didn’t worry about the service since she’d threatened Brad and the wait staff earlier to make sure everything ran smoothly.
She wanted to impress his family. While she didn’t own this restaurant like Ty’s mom owned hers, she was responsible for its management. She didn’t want to seem incompetent in front of his parents.
The evening went off without a hitch. The food arrived quickly, the drinks were always filled, and to Jill’s surprise, the children were well behaved. The conversation flowed seamlessly. Jill envied the easy way Ty interacted with his family, especially since things with hers had become so tense. There was a bond amongst the group. They were a family, the whole lot of them, and they’d missed Ty desperately. He belonged with them. She’d never seen him so at ease, and that was saying a lot since he always seemed very at home in his skin. Being around his family, being a part of their lives was not something he could live without.
As much as she enjoyed getting to know his parents, she felt the divide in their relationship become even wider.
Chapter 30
“I love her,” Lita squealed in the lobby of the Mountain Laurel Lodge. “She’s so natural and sweet. I just adore the way she looks at you, Ty.”
“She’s kind of quiet,” Ty’s mom offered.
Bryce knocked her with his hip. “Who could get a word in edgewise with this group?”
“I think she’s great,” Jesse announced. “If we haven’t managed to totally scare her off, I think she’ll fit right in with this clan.”
Ty’s head spun as the people he loved most in the world offered their unfettered opinions of the woman he knew he couldn’t live without. Tonight, sitting in the restaurant with her by his side, he knew his feelings were real and permanent. He loved Jill and wanted her with him forever.
“She was nervous,” Ty said. “It takes her a while to loosen up and relax. I know by the end of the week, you’ll see why I love her.”
His mother gasped. “You love her? I’ve never heard you use that word about a woman before. Are you saying you’re in love with her?”
“Yes. I’ve never felt this sure about anyone. I know it seems fast,” he explained in the face of his mother’s stricken expression. “But I’m sure she’s the one.”
“Oh, Tyler!” Lita pulled him into a hug. “I’m so happy for you. She’s such a lucky girl to have you.”
“Does she love you back?” his sensible mother asked.
He shoved his hands into his pockets. “I haven’t exactly told her about my feelings yet.”
“Why the hell not?” his dad asked. “When it’s right, it’s right. What are you waiting for?”
“She’s had a lot of changes in her life. I’m not sure she’s ready to hear it yet.”
“Don’t wait forever.” Bryce reached for his arm. “You know how long I waited to tell your mama about my feelings. I wasted a lot of years being miserable thinking the timing wasn’t right.”
“I know. I’m not going to wait years, believe me. I just need to ease her into it a little longer.”
“You don’t think she loves you?” his mother asked.
“I think so. I hope so. I know she has feelings for me and I know they scare her. I can’t push too hard, too fast, or she’ll shut down.”
“I’m sure Ty knows what he’s doing,” Lita threw him a lifeline. “He knows her better than we do and he loves her. He’ll know when the time is right.”
Would he? he wondered on the drive back to the Lower Fork. He didn’t know if Jill loved him. He hoped she did. Sometimes when they were together, he’d catch her looking at him with a deer in the headlights expression on her face, like she didn’t know whether to hit the brake or the gas. And other times, when they made love and after, she would stare at him so intently he felt sure the words were on the tip of her tongue.
He drove to her apartment. He hadn’t packed a bag and would have to return home early in the morning to change, but he needed to see her. He needed to be with her and see how she was feeling after the interrogation.
She answered the door wearing plaid pajama pants and a gray tank top. Her hair was piled high on her head in a messy pony. “What are you doing here? I thought you’d be with your family.”
“They’ve had a long day.” She shut the door behind him and stood with her back against the wood. “I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
She sent him a sidelong glance. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“My family can be…overwhelming.”
She moved past him and plopped on the couch. Some sitcom played at low volume on the television. “They’re lovely. Your parents are so striking. I can’t even picture them together.”
“I can’t really remember them as a couple,” he admitted. “They’re with who they’re meant to be with now. They’re happy.”
“It’s such an interesting group. The girls are adorable and your stepmom is a hoot.”
“Lita’s been a godsend. My grandfather had a crush on her when she first came to town.”
“Really?” she asked.
Ty pulled Jill’s bare feet in his lap and rubbed her arches. She scooched lower onto the couch and groaned in appreciation. “Oh, yeah. It was pretty funny.”
“Your dad loves her so openly. The way he looked at her.” She shook her head. “Ummmm, you’re really good at that.”
He brought her foot to his mouth and nipped at the tender skin on the top of her foot. “Even your feet turn me on.”
“Is that so?”
“That is most assuredly so.”
“Your mom doesn’t like me.”
Ty stopped pushing her pants up her calf and stared at her. “That’s not true.”
“It is. She seemed very unsure.”
“She’s more cautious. She’s…we have a different kind of relationship. She
was so young when she had me and then my dad took off for a couple of years. We’ve always been really close.”
“I can tell. She’s so proud of you, Ty. They all are.”
“They’re my family. Families tend to see only the best.”
“Maybe yours does.” She sat up and gripped a pillow to her chest, her mouth set into a deep frown. “My mom called a little while ago. My dad’s found another runner to train.”
“You knew he was looking.”
“Yes. I’m happy he found someone else. I just wish they didn’t feel the need to gloat.”
“Are you sure that’s not just your take on things?”
“She told me not to worry about Daddy being angry any more. Angry! As if I’m a petulant child who did this just to spite him.”
“He seemed like a very proud man. I imagine you quitting hurt his pride.”
“He’s fine as long as you do what he wants you to do.” She tossed the pillow aside and got up to pace around the room. She was more upset than she was willing to admit. At least to herself. “I was thinking of calling him and suggesting I do the race.”
“What race?” he asked.
“The qualifier in Denver. He signed me up and I didn’t think I’d be ready. My times have improved in the last few weeks. I think the mountain training has helped.”
“From my place?”
“Yes. Between the steepness and the altitude, I’m able to really lengthen my stride down here on the flat road.” She stopped in front of the TV and started picking at her nails. “I was thinking of having him take me and now I can’t.”
“I’ll take you.”
“What?”
“I’ll take you to Denver. When’s the race?”
“In two weeks. It’s an Olympic qualifier. If I can run the course in less than an hour, fifteen, I’ll make the trials. My times have been close to that cutoff. Closer than I thought I could get.”
“You have to try, Jill. I can see it in your face. You want this.”
“I don’t know. I quit training because I didn’t want it.”
“I think you quit training with your dad because he was driving you crazy. You never really quit training.”
She sat next to him on the couch and sandwiched her hands between her legs. “I do want it, Ty. I’m afraid I’ll feel like a quitter if I don’t even try.”
“Then let’s do it.”
“You’ll come with me?”
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world. I love watching you run. I love watching you do just about anything, but when you run, you set the world on fire. I’ve never seen anything as beautiful and graceful as you in motion.”
She crawled into his lap and took his face in her palms. “How did I ever get lucky enough to find you?”
“I’m the lucky one,” he said and took her lips like it was the first time and the last time and every time in between. She melted against him. He snaked his hands under her tank and brought them around to run his thumbs over her nipples. She was so sensitive there, so responsive wherever he touched her. All of her hesitations disappeared when they came together. He reveled in her trust. “Where’s Olivia?”
She ran her tongue up his neck and bit his ear lobe. “She’s on a date.”
“Is she coming home?” he managed to say as she unbuttoned his shirt.
“Probably.”
Ty grabbed her hips and hoisted her up as he stood. She wrapped her legs around him as he walked them to her room and dumped her on the bed. He stared down at her. “I want to make you scream. I want to make you forget about everything and anything but you and me.”
“You always do,” she said and reached for him.
He was helpless not to come. He couldn’t say the words out loud, not yet. But here, in the dimly lit room, he could show her how he felt. He playfully yanked the pants from her legs and tossed them over his shoulder. She lay sprawled before him, naked from the waist down. Here she wasn’t shy or unsure, but wild and powerful. She knew just how to move to tease him, to make him weak, to make him beg.
“Touch me, Ty.”
She didn’t have to ask twice. He shed his clothes quickly and then panicked. “Oh, crap.”
“What?”
“The condoms are in the truck. Do you have any?”
“No.” He reached for his pants. “Ty, wait. I’m on the pill.”
He sat down on the bed, holding his jeans. “You are?”
Jill nodded. “It keeps my very irregular periods regular. I’m clean. There’s only been one other and I’ve been tested.”
“I’m clean, too, but I’ve never been with anyone without a condom.”
“Really?” she asked.
“Yeah, it’s kind of a tradition.”
She sat up and slowly peeled the tank from her skin. “Don’t leave me, Ty. Make love to me, skin to skin. Come inside of me.”
Common sense warred with his emotions. He knew if he ever had sex without a condom, he’d never want to wear one again, not to mention that his parents would probably receive some kind of warning signal the moment he tried. But when he looked at Jill, naked, open, waiting, there was no choice. He’d die if he didn’t touch her now.
He started at her feet, nibbling, lathing, working his way up over her calves. He suckled the skin behind her knee, drew his tongue up the inside of her thigh, and stopped to dabble where she liked it best. She bucked and moaned, gliding her hands through his hair. When she was close, just on the edge of release, he moved up to her breasts and let his hands take over. When he positioned himself at her entry, she was hot and wet and begging. Mission accomplished.
She cried out his name as he drove into her. The feel of her around him—him—made something inside of him go a little bit mad. He pushed her and himself to the brink and over the edge of sanity. When she propped herself on top of his chest and looked at him with a smug and satisfied smile, the words ‘I love you’ were bubbling up from his lungs over his voice box.
“Oh, Tyler,” she said before he could speak. “Even during dinner with your parents, all I could think about was being with you. Having you inside me. That’s not normal.”
“Yes, it is. I think about making love to you all the time. All day long.”
“Does this fade? This need? This desire?”
“I’ve never felt this kind of need or desire before.”
“I know I’m not your first.”
“You’re not as far away from my first as you think. But you’re the first in other ways.”
She sat up and stared down at him. “What ways?”
He wanted to say it; he wanted to confess with everything he had. “In all the ways that count.”
Chapter 31
After her morning run, Jill joined Ty and his family for the rodeo parade. She helped Kerri Ann corral the twins while they raced after the candy thrown from the passing floats. They finally calmed down when assorted farm equipment and classic cars begain inching down the crowded street.
She enjoyed sitting on the curb of Hailey’s main street with the chill of the morning still nipping at the day. When Ella hopped off Jill’s lap to retrieve an American flag from a man on horseback, Ty pulled Jill to her feet and linked their fingers. “This is fun,” he said. “I didn’t bother to come last year.”
“It is. I haven’t been to one of these parades in years. I forgot how entertaining they are.”
He pulled her in front of him and began rubbing her shoulders. “I wish you didn’t have to work tonight.”
“I know, but I’m the manager. Everyone wanted off. I was glad Stevie agreed to work the night shift so Brad could take his family to the rodeo.” She moaned when he dug into the knot on her neck. “The kids will love it. Make sure they get to see the mutton busting.”
“What’s mutton busting?” Ty asked.
“Just trust me, Ty. Make sure you don’t miss it.”
He turned her around. “The only thing I’m going to miss tonight is you.” He lowered his head and
brushed his lips against hers in a quick, but intimate kiss. She should have been embarrassed, surrounded by people—his family—but she wanted nothing more than to sink in and let the kiss linger.
Instead, she buried her face into his chest and breathed deeply. His arms came around her and they stood linked together until Ella came back after showing everyone her prize, waving her flag in the air as if it were the most precious gift she’d ever received.
“Look, Jill. The cowboy gave me a flag.”
Jill reached down and ran her hand over Ella’s silky brown curls. “I know that cowboy. He’ll be at the rodeo tonight.”
Ella gasped. “You know him?”
Jill kneeled down so she was eye-to-eye with Ella. “He comes into the restaurant for lunch sometimes. He has a girl of his own, a little older than you. She has pretty curls in her hair like you.”
“He’s a cowboy and a daddy.” She beamed and melted Jill’s heart. Jill never thought about having kids, but the more she got to know Ty’s brothers and sisters, the more she could see herself with children of her own. She reached out and pulled Ella into a hug when the thought of never seeing her again tugged at her heartstrings.
When she stood up, Ty wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “You okay?” he asked.
“Yeah.” She closed her eyes and let him hold her before glancing at her watch. “I’ve got to go.”
“So soon?”
“Unfortunately, yes. Have a great time today.”
“I’ll try to stop by either before the rodeo or after.”
“No. Today is for you to spend with your family. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“But—”
“No buts.”
“I’ll come by tonight on my way home.”
“After working two shifts? I’ll be exhausted. I’m serious, Ty. Spend the day with your family. I’m sure they’re tired of sharing you with me.”
“Jill…”
“I’ll see you tomorrow. And I’m locking my door tonight.”
“Ouch.” His smile faded and was replaced by a grimace. “I didn’t realize you wanted some space.”
Mending the Line Page 18
