Tyler pulled her in for another kiss, this time he wasn’t hesitant about it, he kissed her as if it was something he was meant to do. It was raw, hard and passionate. She wanted to pull him closer, to feel every inch of his body against hers, but like she always did, she kept a slight hold on herself, afraid of letting herself get too caught up in the moment. Their kiss gradually became even more fierce, making her pant harder against his mouth. She knew she should stop, that she was letting her grip on her control slowly fade, but the feeling of his tongue gliding against her own kept pulling her farther into his embrace.
He finally ended the kiss and said, “I had a really great time tonight, Paige. I want to see you again, soon.” His voice was stern as if he didn’t want her to say no, as if it wasn’t an option for her, but his eyes were begging her not to turn him down.
“I would love to see you, again,” she whispered against his mouth. She felt him smile against her lips and then he pulled away, letting her leave. She watched him walk out the door and then quietly unlocked the door to her apartment, her lips still wet from his kiss.
Chapter 14
Tyler woke up bright and early the next morning, hoping to get started on fixing his fence so he wouldn’t have to try to squeeze it in come Monday when he’d be working all day fixing everyone else’s fences. He dreaded it but knew it had to be done, there wasn’t any way around it. He put some coffee on and took a seat at the kitchen table and started skimming through the Sunday paper.
He looked down at his phone, contemplating on sending Paige a good morning text. It definitely wasn’t something he normally would do, but with her, he felt like a different guy. He took another sip of his coffee and looked down at his phone, Oh, what the hell, he thought as picked up his phone and typed in the text, pushing send with a sigh. There was something about her that made him not able to stop thinking about her. Ever since he saw her slip on those old cowboy boots, he knew he was done for. Then, to top it off, that long, intense good bye kiss at her door had his thoughts going rampant ever since.
A few minutes later, he received her text, telling him good morning as well and he started grinning as he sat alone at his table. He shook his head, telling himself to take it slow. He didn’t want to let his guards down so fast. He’d been down this road before, except now he had to think about his son.
He pushed his chair back and got up, ready to get the fence done so he could relax the rest of the day. As he opened the front door and headed outside, the sun seemed to slap him in the face with its heat.
“Damn, it’s going to be a hot day,” he muttered to himself as he began his walk around the fence line to find the broken spot.
It took longer than he was hoping to find the spot where the fence was broken, but once he finally did, he realized it shouldn’t take long to fix. Luckily there were just two boards down. He got to work, bustling to get it knocked out quickly so he could get out of the heat, and thirty minutes later he was done and ready for a cold beer.
As he was on his way to the barn to put the horses back in the field he decided to make a pit stop at the house for a beer. He pulled a beer out of the fridge, sucking half of it down in one gulp and as he leaned back against the counter, his phone went off. He looked down at the name and groaned. “Dammit.” His voice was loud in the silence of the empty house. After spending some time with Paige, he’d forgotten all about Sarah. Seeing her name didn’t ignite any feelings and he decided to ignore her call for now. He knew it wouldn’t make her stop calling, the girl was relentless, but it would at least give him time to decide how he was going to turn her down. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt her feelings, but he also didn’t want to ruin anything with Paige. He liked Paige, a lot, and he wanted to see if they could possibly hit it off.
He scratched his chin, thinking about how different they both were. He seemed to always find the girly girls, but Paige was definitely more finicky than most of the ones he’d dated. She seemed to have some inner turmoil hidden somewhere deep inside her. He had wanted to ask her what had happened this past year that had made her anxiety worsen, but he could tell she wasn’t ready to open up about it just yet. He wanted to know. He had this urge to help her overcome whatever had happened to her. But he could tell it was very personal to her. Even though she had things she was keeping hidden for now, things that seemed to make her keep part of her guard up, she was still easy to be around. He didn’t feel like he needed to watch what he said around her for fear of upsetting her. Most girls he dated were getting mad at him all the time for stupid shit he’d said. He never understood it and it never worked out in the long run anyway. But with Paige, his bluntness didn’t seem to bother her.
His phone started ringing again. Sighing, he decided to answer it and get it over with. The sooner the better, so he could get back to getting some things done around the farm.
“Hello,” he said as he pulled out another beer.
“Tyler, I’ve been trying to get hold of you,” Sarah said in a light tone. He could tell she was trying to hide her irritation.
“Yeah, I’ve been busy working. What’s up?” he asked casually.
“I haven’t seen you for a while, I miss you.”
Tyler rubbed his hand over his face, wanting to slap himself for letting this thing go on for so long with her, knowing it was never right to begin with. “I can’t tonight, Sarah. I’ve got a lot of stuff going on right now.”
Shit, why can’t I just tell her the truth? He wondered.
“Why not? Don’t you miss me Tyler?” she questioned, her voice turning more sultry with each word, more convincing.
Tyler paused for a second trying to find the right words. This was something he wasn’t good at but knew it had to be done. “Look, Sarah,” he began, feeling the tension already forming through the phone. “I just can’t do this anymore. It’s not working out. You know I’ve told you before that I’m just not interested and it’s not right to keep leading you on. I don’t want to see you anymore.” Tyler waited for the blow up, for the high pitched screeching to begin but there was only silence. He began to wonder if she’d just hung up but as he pulled his phone away, he saw he was still connected.
“Oh, Tyler you don’t mean that. We’re having fun. I know you enjoy my company,” Sarah said in a tone that he thought was too confident for what he’d just told her.
“Sarah, I’m serious. I’m done. Please, I don’t want to fight with you, I want this to be civil,” Tyler said as he took another sip of his beer. He had a feeling he’d need something to calm his nerves.
“Tyler, you can’t possibly mean that. We’ve been seeing each other for three months now,” she whined.
“I’m really sorry, Sarah. You’re a great girl, but I just don’t have the time right now for a relationship.” Tyler knew that was partly true and partly a lie. He had time if he made the time, but it was also the safest excuse he could give her.
“You could make time, if you’d try, Tyler, don’t give me that bullshit.”
Tyler tightly squeezed his eyes shut, feeling the stress coming on. “Yeah, maybe, Sarah. Look, I gotta get going, I’ve got some work to do.”
“You always have work to do, Tyler. You’re missing out on something that could be good if you’d give it a try,” she said, her voice softening.
“Take care, Sarah,” he said as he pushed end on his phone. He hated dealing with these kinds of things, it was so emotionally draining. He just hoped she would actually let it go and not keep trying to change his mind. He had the feeling she could be a pain in the ass if she didn’t get what she wanted.
Feeling better about getting that off his chest, he decided to go outside and get some other things done that he’d also been putting off for a while. There were a lot of trees that needed trimming and he had some things to fix on his truck too. He had enough to keep him busy until dark.
♥♥♥
He spent the rest of the day trimming the trees around the house, letting his mind rel
ax and think of nothing in particular. It always made him feel good to work around his property. It gave him a sense of pride to make his place look nice. He briefly thought of Paige and it crossed his mind what it would feel like to share all this with her and her daughter. Of course that was crazy because Paige would never be happy out here in the middle of nowhere. She loved the city and had some paranoia about going outside and getting dirty. Feeling his hopes drop, he realized they probably weren’t really that great of a match, either. For some reason, he kept going after women he had nothing in common with. He should be looking for a woman who could see and enjoy the real beauty out here. Someone he could share all this with and who wanted to be out here. Not chasing women who would rather be somewhere else.
Hours later, after the sun was beginning to disappear behind the tree line, he finally decided to call it a day and head inside to shower and relax for the evening. His muscles were sore from working nonstop all day and he was ready to unwind.
He opened the screen door that led inside his old kitchen, and cringed when it grated against the door frame; he knew that’d be on his agenda next weekend. The door was old and needed to be replaced. He had been replacing and restoring the house one small thing at a time, when it fit into his schedule and budget.
After showering all the dirt from a hard day’s work, he got out, made a sandwich, and turned the TV on. He was just settling in and was on the verge of dozing off when he heard a knock at his door. He looked at the clock, seeing that it was a little after nine, and wondered who’d be stopping by. His heart dropped when he’d remembered the conversation with Sarah earlier, and he was praying it wasn’t her. He was looking to relax and knew she’d be up for drama.
He opened the door and stiffened when he saw her and felt his grip on the door handle tighten. She had a bashful look about her and he knew this night was not going to go as planned.
“Sarah what are you doing here? I thought I’d made myself clear earlier.”
She inched forward, a sly smile forming on her full lips, “I thought I could get you to change your mind if I persuaded you a little.” She reached out to him, her hands finding his waist as she tried to pull him closer.
Tyler gritted his teeth together, trying to keep his cool, but he had a feeling it wasn’t going to happen. He knew most guys would love to have a woman standing at their door trying their hardest to prove how much they wanted you. But he’d been down this road a hundred times and it was a dead end. “Sarah, I was serious about what I’d said earlier. Nothing can change my mind. Please, just go.” He pushed her away and crossed his arms.
Tyler watched her expression go from confident to defiant in a matter of seconds. She placed her hands on her hips and pushed past him into his house. Not believing what was going on, he went after her, trying to figure out what on earth she was doing as she went from room to room. “Sarah, what the hell are you doing?” he demanded, his temper beginning to rise.
“You’re seeing someone, aren’t you? That’s where all this is coming from. Who is she?” she yelled, her voice cracking with unshed emotion.
“I don’t have anyone here. I told you, it’s just not working out. Now, I want you to leave. I don’t want to argue with you.” Tyler clenched his fists, trying to calm himself down. This was one of the reasons why he’d gotten a divorce and sworn off getting involved again. He hated arguing, hated dealing with all the drama and hated losing his cool.
Sarah took off searching his house again, yelling curse words at him along the way. Tyler stood in the kitchen, waiting for her escapade to end so he could get her out of here. It was ridiculous.
He heard a loud crash and lunged forward, down the hall and towards his bedroom. He couldn’t believe how crazy she was acting. He never thought she’d be like this, they weren’t even that serious. He rounded the corner and came to a halt. She was in his bedroom, slinging everything off his dresser and off his desk as she seethed with anger. At first he was stunned, but then he snapped out of it and went towards her, ready to get her out of here. Now, on top of dealing with her, he was going to have to clean this mess up.
He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her kicking body out of his room and down the hall towards the front door. Enough was enough. He wasn’t going to have some crazy woman trashing his place. As he carried her to the door, he heard her sobbing as her body went limp. He set her down at the door, feeling at a loss for words as he looked at her stricken, tear stained face. He didn’t want it to end this way, but he couldn’t keep going on with it, either. He clenched his fists together a few times as he stared at her. “Look, Sarah, I’m really sorry, okay? It’s really nothing you did, it’s just not what I need right now.” He was hoping she was done going crazy and could maybe talk rationally before she left.
She sucked in a sob, wiped her eyes and said, “I’d better go before I do something else stupid.”
Tyler watched her jog to her car and slam on the gas, spinning gravel out onto his yard. He grimaced at the sight, but was relieved that she was finally leaving. Shutting the door he went inside, grabbed another beer, and leaned against the counter thinking about the whole incident. Being in a relationship was difficult. For some reason he always picked the psychotic women who could flip a switch and turn on the crazy in a matter of seconds, usually over less of an ordeal than tonight. He understood that she was upset, but did she really have to trash his room?
He chugged the beer and thought about the consequences of getting involved with another woman. Maybe he should stay single for a while longer, until Brandon was a little older and he knew more of what he wanted in a relationship, because right now, he wasn’t picking any winners. He thought about Paige and he wondered if he should even waste his time. What if it was another dead end and they couldn’t get along, either? They both had children who would be involved in all this mess if things went south. At least with Sarah, she didn’t have kids and he only had her come over when Brandon was at his mom’s. Plus, Paige and he were complete opposites, so there was a big chance they weren’t going to be that compatible. He sighed as he realized he needed to give dating some serious thought. He didn’t want to get wrapped up in another woman only to find out they weren’t right for each other. Did he really have the time and patience for all this?
He headed down the hall to the mess that awaited him, feeling exhausted and torn as to what to do about Paige. His heart was telling him to not let her slip away but his mind was telling him to run.
Chapter 15
Paige leaned down and softly kissed Kyra goodnight on the forehead, pulled her animal printed cover up to her chin, and then quietly shut her door. She walked down the hall to the kitchen to pour herself a glass of wine. It had been a long, stressful week and she needed something to help calm her nerves down.
As she leaned back against the counter and sipped on her wine, Tyler crossed her mind. She was surprised the date had gone so well and that she had enjoyed herself. Usually, there was something that turned her off about the guy, or the date itself, but with Tyler, everything had ended up turning into complete chaos, while at the same time it couldn’t have been more perfect. That thought struck her as odd. She never would have thought she’d look back and see that unorganized, dirty date as perfect.
She shook her head and took another long sip, trying to unwind from the stressful day. She wanted to push all her thoughts aside but they just wouldn’t go. Her mind wanted to stress about things she had no control over. Mary, the newest patient on her floor came to her mind. She was an older lady who was the sweetest woman Paige had ever met, but she was also dying. Paige knew she wouldn’t be there long because she would be going to the Hospice center soon, but the look in her eyes was haunting and heartbreaking. For some reason Paige couldn’t get Mary’s tired face out of her mind. This job of hers broke her heart at times, but these were the cases where she knew she had to step it up and pour her heart into her job to make sure the patients knew someone cared and would be there
for them. She knew that’s what she had to do this time, even though it was hard. Mary needed someone to make her feel comfortable during her last days and Paige was determined to find her strength and help her.
She pushed away from the counter, aggravated that she couldn’t get her mind to quiet when she needed it to the most. Holding an empty glass, she grabbed the wine bottle, poured a little more wine and then headed towards her balcony. The night was clear and as she stepped onto her balcony, the cool concrete felt good against her bare feet. She leaned against the railing, looking down at the city below and slowly sipped on her glass of wine. Sweet Haven wasn’t a huge city, but it was big enough, with plenty to do and see, and it always felt like where she belonged. She thought about Tyler’s place out in the country, how peaceful it was out there, and then the blast of a horn sounded down the street, tearing her out of her thoughts. She cringed as another horn blared and couldn’t believe she’d never noticed all the noise before.
What has he done to me? she thought to herself.
She’d been content and relaxed with her life before she’d met him, now she was finding herself second guessing things. Second guessing her life. She wondered what he was doing. He had never responded to the text she sent last week. It was now Thursday night and the past week and a half had just flown by. She’d been so busy with looking for, and finally buying, a new car, working long hours, and taking care of Kyra that time had just slipped by. That was one of the reasons she had pushed off dating. She was always so busy. She thought their date had gone well, but doubt was beginning to poison her thoughts. Maybe he’d decided they were too different to have a chance. Or maybe her prissiness was too much of a turn off for him. She hoped none of those were the case. She wanted to kick herself for expecting anything from that one date anyway.
Where Forever Lies Page 12