by Helen Lacey
Tyler saw her cheeks flush and he thought that she’d never looked more beautiful. “You’re one of those sappy romantics, right?”
“I guess. But not you?”
“I’ve never really thought about it. I suppose I can be romantic if I need to be.”
“You mean in order to get laid?” she asked bluntly.
Tyler fidgeted in his seat. He wasn’t sure talking with Brooke about this subject was the best idea. “That’s a somewhat cynical way of looking at it.”
“Not if it’s the truth. You know that old saying about how men use romance to get sex, and women use sex to get romance? Well, it’s been true for a long time.”
“You’re probably right,” he said agreeably. “I don’t think it’s rocket science to conclude that in general terms men and women think about sex differently.”
“My point exactly. I mean, if we were both thinking about sex right now, I’m sure we’d be thinking very different things.”
Tyler swallowed hard, trying to ignore his stirring libido. He wasn’t so sure they would be thinking different things. For one, he was capable of seeing when a woman was attracted to him. She could deny it, but the eyes didn’t lie. Which made him wonder what she would do if he got up and walked across the room and took her into his arms.
Of course, he didn’t. And wouldn’t. But still, he wondered if she knew how sexy, how alluring, she really was. In that moment he couldn’t remember being around a more beautiful or desirable woman in his life. She wasn’t coy or indecisive. She didn’t seem like the kind of person who played games or manipulated situations to suit her own agenda. She possessed a kind of straightforwardness that appealed to him. That, combined with her indigo eyes, lovely curves and healthy complexion had him on the ropes. He wanted her. More than he could remember wanting anyone before.
In his arms.
In his bed.
Which meant one thing...he had to get away from her...and fast.
Chapter Seven
Brooke spent the remainder of the day either in the stables, in the kitchen or entertaining Cara. And well away from Tyler and his seductive green-eyed gaze. After their interaction in the living room, her blabbing every detail of her life and then their conversation about sex, he’d pleaded he had work to do and bailed to her small office with his laptop so he could use her internet connection and get some work done. But she wasn’t fooled—he was as keen to be away from her as she was to be away from him.
She tapped on the office door at midday and said there was lunch in the kitchen but didn’t hang around to share the food or his company. But she thoroughly enjoyed the time she had with her niece. Cara was such a delightfully happy child and the more time Brooke spent with her, the harder she fell. She called Matt and left a curt message. She couldn’t say why he had to come home—that would be too much for him to take in. But she insisted he had to contact her. And finally, at four o’clock, she got a reply.
Hey, what’s up?
Brooke stared at the text for a few minutes. Oh, Matthew...everything is up. She steeled her resolve and wrote a reply.
We need to talk. Please call me.
A few more minutes passed and then her cell beeped.
Sure. I’ll give you a ring next week.
Brooke knew it was his way of avoiding contact. Five years without a conversation was a long time. He wouldn’t call. He’d send an apology text and say he’d been out of service range or was busy with work or simply forgot. And usually she would forgive him. But not this time. Enough was enough. He had to make things right. For Cara’s sake.
That’s not good enough. If you don’t call soon, don’t bother to contact me ever again.
It felt harsh as she pressed the send key. But it had to be done. It was Sunday. She had days, not weeks. Friday was Christmas day. Cara’s birthday. And Matthew needed to come home to claim his daughter. But she feared that if she told him there was a baby waiting for him upon his arrival, he might never come home. He’d run from trouble once before and he might do it again. She wasn’t about to risk Cara’s future by saying too much, too soon.
Tyler stayed out of her way for most of the day, almost as though he was giving her time alone with her niece. Or maybe he simply didn’t want to spend any more time in her company. Whatever his reasons, she was grateful for the opportunity to create memories with Cara. Especially since, if Tyler did take the baby back to New York, those memories would be all she had left.
At four thirty she placed the baby in the playpen in the living room with a bottle of juice and her favorite blanket and then stopped by the office to let Tyler know she was heading outside to bed down the animals for the night. She lingered in the doorway, thinking how elementally masculine and attractive he looked in those well-fitted jeans, and how way off base her first impression had been a couple of days earlier.
“Everything okay?” he inquired, clicking his laptop to a screen saver and then settling back on the office chair.
Brooke nodded. “Fine. I’ll be back once the animals are fed. And I thought I’d chop some firewood. The central heating can be a little unreliable in this place, compliments of old pipes I haven’t been able to afford to replace. I like to have some firewood on standby, just in case.”
“Sure. But I’ll chop the firewood when you get back.”
She was about to debate the point, but stopped herself. She hated chopping wood and only did it out of necessity. Having it done for her was a luxury she would enjoy while it lasted. “Okay.”
“What?” he queried, his mouth twisted wryly. “No argument?”
“It’s my least favorite chore,” she explained. “So knock yourself out. I mean, don’t literally knock yourself out...but the wood and the ax are behind the stables, near the chicken run. Just be careful because the ax is sharp.”
He chuckled. “Kind of has to be, to chop wood. But rest assured I’ll do my best to not spill any of my city-boy blood.”
“Oh,” she said and rested a hand on the door frame. “I suspect there’s more country in you than I first thought.”
“Nebraska born and bred, remember,” he said and smiled.
Brooke’s insides contracted. “I guess that explains why you look so good in jeans and a cowboy hat.”
He smiled. “Do you think?”
She ignored the way her skin heated. “You know, Nebraska’s state line isn’t too far away from here,” she said, mouth curling. “You could almost drive down and see your parents for Christmas in a day if you wanted to.”
His jaw tightened. “Yes, I suppose I could.”
“Or you could invite them here,” she suggested and wondered what kind of craziness had her offering such a thing. But she wasn’t a mean-spirited person and suspected that Tyler had some lingering family issues that needed attention.
Like I do.
She ignored the stab of guilt. Considering that she’d just given her absent brother an ultimatum, she didn’t really want to think about her own troubles for the moment. “There’s plenty of room and it would be a chance for you to connect with your folks.”
He laughed humorlessly. “You’re good, you know that. Keep my mind off your brother’s lack of response to your calls by inviting my parents here. I almost admire your tactics. But I have no intention of allowing my mom anywhere near here... She’d take one look at you, this small town, the baby and start sending out wedding invitations.”
Brooke colored to the roots of her hair. The notion shouldn’t have made her heart beat faster. But it did. His words evoked a startling picture in her head. An image she liked more than she could dare admit. “She wants to see you, um...settled, does she?”
“Don’t all mothers?” he said. “Although, I think it’s more about her eagerness to become a grandmother. Any way she can, I should add. I’m pretty sure she
’d be delighted if I married a single mom with half a dozen kids already.”
Brooke’s rolling insides did a somersault. Marriage. Babies. Everything she wanted. Everything she would never have. “You want children?”
He nodded. “Of course. One day.”
Her heart sank foolishly. “Surely your mom knows you’d never settle down in a small town?”
His brows came together briefly. “My mother is a romantic,” he said and half smiled. “Like you. I think she believes once I meet the right woman I’ll go where the heart takes me.”
Her quivering insides rattled so hard she was sure he could hear. “And would you?”
“Time will tell, I suppose.”
Brooke shook off the silly fantasy rolling around in her head and quickly excused herself to get her chores done.
By the time she returned to the house she’d worked off some of her stress, and headed straight for Cara, calling out to Tyler that she was bathing her niece. She heard the back door slam and assumed he’d gone outside to chop and collect the firewood. Clearly, they were intent on avoiding each other. And maybe that was for the best.
Just as the sun was setting over half an hour later, with Cara bathed, fed and put down in her crib for the night, Brooke grabbed the baby monitor and headed for the kitchen.
She was about to walk around the counter when the back door opened and Tyler swiftly framed the doorway, breathing hard, wearing the sheepskin jacket and with snowflakes in his hair. He looked so gorgeous her breath was knocked from her lungs. He didn’t move. He simply stared, starting at her feet and sliding upward, up past her legs and hips, lingering on her chest for a moment, until he finally met her eyes. Brooke glanced down, realizing the T-shirt she wore left little to the imagination thanks to Cara’s splashing at bath time. The damp fabric clung to her, outlining her heaving breasts and hardened nipples, making it evident she was wholly and excruciatingly aware of him in that moment. The air between them thickened and there was suddenly enough heat generated to start a bonfire.
“Brooke...”
His words trailed off, as though in that moment, he had as little control over the situation as she did. The attraction between them was undeniable. And hotter than Hades. She’d never experienced such intense desire for anyone before. It was physical and chemical rolled together. And it was out of her control.
“I should go back to the hotel,” he said flatly.
Brooke’s heart pounded behind her ribs. “No... I mean...why...”
“You know why,” he said, not moving. “Because I’m...conflicted.”
So was she, but she figured it was for a different reason than him. Brooke had only had two physical relationships in her thirty-two years. One with Doyle and the other with her high school boyfriend. After high school and before she’d met Doyle, she was too invested in her career to waste time looking for love or sex. And she had never, ever, felt the burning attraction for either of them that she did for Tyler Madden—a man she had known only two days. Two days! It was impossible. Her libido had gone haywire. It was madness. The kind of thing that happened to other women. Not to her. She was too grounded. Too sensible. She was the one her friends confided in about boyfriends and lovers. She wasn’t that girl. She didn’t get swoony. She didn’t fall for guys she hardly knew.
Fall...
No. That would be crazy. Plain. Old. Stupid. Crazy.
And she could never let him know it.
“You don’t have to leave.”
“I do,” he said coolly and stepped into the room. “Because if I don’t, at some point, you and I are going to end up in bed together. And I think we both know that’s out of the question, considering the circumstances.”
The circumstances. Cara. Matt. The whole complicated mess. And he was right...sex would muddle an already muddled situation. And she wasn’t a one-night stand kind of girl.
“We won’t,” she said hotly. “I’m not... I’m not a casual sex kind of person. If you are and think I’ll—”
“I’m not,” he assured her. “Not that I live like a monk...but I don’t jump from bed to bed.”
She was foolishly pleased to hear it, even though it couldn’t matter to her. All that mattered was that if he left, he’d take Cara with him...and that was unthinkable.
“Please,” she said on a whisper, feeling emotion grip her throat like a vise. “I don’t want you to go. I need this time with Cara,” she admitted on a rush of breath. “If my brother doesn’t come back, it might be the only time I have.”
He stared at her. Deeply and intensely. He had a way of doing that like no one else ever had. And without understanding why, in that moment, Brooke let him in, right down, to the core of her soul. There were no barriers in that moment. No barricades. No defense. Just pure, raw vulnerability. And she knew he saw it all...her loneliness, her fear, her sadness. She watched as he swallowed hard, saw him nod imperceptibly, and then he spoke.
“Alright. I’ll stay.”
And then he walked past her, grabbed the baby monitor and left the room without another word.
* * *
Cold showers had their purpose. Even in the middle of a South Dakota winter. And this one was as cold as Tyler could stand. He stayed under the shower, absorbing the painful sting of the icy-cold needles of water on his skin, for as long as it took to get Brooke’s tantalizing image out of his mind.
And failed.
Furious with himself, he switched off the faucet and grabbed a towel, quickly dried off and changed into fresh jeans and a navy Aran sweater. He stared at his opened suitcase and figured the sensible thing to do was pack his bag, collect Cara and go back to O’Sullivans while he still had the mental strength to do so. But be damned if he could get the image of Brooke’s eyes out of his head. Her gaze haunted him and now made him do something that was unfamiliar territory—which was go against his own better judgment. He always trusted his instincts. He’d had to since he’d run away from home at sixteen. The streets of New York were no place for a naive teen lacking good sense and he’d grown up quickly. He’d gotten a lawyer, a job and, once he was emancipated, went back to school and then college. Over the years he’d faced his fair share of adversaries and rarely made an error in the courtroom. And he never allowed anyone to sway his sense of logic and reason.
Until today.
Until Brooke had bared herself to him in a way no one else had before. Looking into her indigo eyes had done something to him. Seeing her vulnerability had made him feel vulnerable, too.
And then he’d caved, ignoring the good sense he possessed in abundance.
He left the room to check on Cara and after he assured himself she was settled for the night, returned to the kitchen. Brooke was sitting at the table, her cell phone in her hands.
“Hey.”
She looked up and sighed. “I heard from Matt.”
Tyler stepped farther into the room. Her flat voice didn’t sound very encouraging. “And?”
“I told him to call me.”
Tyler could see the unhappiness etched in her expression. “Then I’m sure he will.”
“I hope so. If he calls...if he comes back, will you stay longer? I mean, so that he can get to know her, learn to love her.”
“Once I know he wants to be a father to Cara? Yes, of course I will.”
She nodded a little unsteadily. “Thank you.”
“Brooke, we should probably—”
“Can we not?” she asked and stood, scraping back the chair. “I already feel like the biggest fool of all time. And frankly, I don’t want a postmortem about our last conversation. You made your point...and you’re right. The truth is, I’m not in the market for a one-night stand and I just want to get through this week concentrating on Cara and trying to get my brother to come home. I don’t do casual. I don’t do
crazy. And I don’t think you do, either. So, whatever is going on here, I think we should both just get over it and focus on what’s important...and that’s the adorable little girl down the hall.”
“I agree,” he said quietly.
“Good,” she said and pointed to the kitchen counter. “You said you could cook, right? I’ve left out the fixings for burritos. I’m going to hit the shower.”
Tyler watched her leave the room and then he heaved a sigh of relief once she, and the scent of her shampoo, were gone. He spent the next half hour making burritos, and when she returned to the kitchen the mood between them seemed lighter than it had all day. They ate, made small talk and avoided discussing anything remotely personal. By nine o’clock the kitchen was cleaned up and Tyler was about to excuse himself when he heard Cara through the baby monitor. He checked her, changed her diaper and gave her a small bottle to send her back to sleep.
“She’s such a sweet girl,” Brooke said softly, standing in the doorway.
Tyler dimmed the light on the bedside table and stepped away from the crib. “Yes, she is. And incredibly resilient. Although, she misses her mom.”
“She has you,” Brooke said as he met her by the doorway. “You’re remarkable with her. It’s as if she...as if she could be yours.”
“But she’s not,” Tyler reminded her, looking down, realizing they were close enough to touch. “I’m a temporary fixture in her life. And she needs something permanent.”
Brooke nodded a little. “I know. But still, you’ll make a good father one day.”
A strange sensation uncurled in his belly, but he quickly dismissed it. “I hope so. If I’m lucky.”
“Well...good night.”
Tyler remained where he was. Because if he moved, he knew the only thing he would do was take Brooke in his arms and kiss her beautiful mouth. “Good night.”
He watched as she turned and swayed down the hall. She stopped outside her bedroom, lingering for a few seconds as their gazes met. It wasn’t an invitation...it was the furthest thing from it. And yet, it felt inviting. It felt beckoning. It felt like the most natural thing in the world to take a few steps down the hallway and join her in her bedroom.