“Well, then maybe you’ll just have to come out more often so you can ride with me more,” Tyler suggested.
“Maybe I will.” Her voice was soft, sensual and she suddenly wanted to continue where they’d left off in the woods.
Tyler pulled out the kitchen chair and took a seat, kicking the other chair out for Paige. As she made her way over to the table, he grabbed her arm and pulled her on top of his lap. She squealed in surprise but quickly settled onto him. Her legs dangled behind the chair as his grip on her waist tightened and she smiled as she saw the desire shining in his eyes. She didn’t just see it, she felt it surrounding them. Her need was just as strong as his and her body ached for him to have his way with her. “Boy, you sure are determined to have your way with me today,” she teased, but her voice was soft and seductive, practically begging him to take her.
“I’m not a procrastinator. If I want something, I do everything I can to get it,” he said hoarsely. He dipped his mouth to hers, taking in the feel of her soft lips. This time when he ran his hands up along her breasts, he knew she wouldn’t turn him down. The sexual need was pouring out of her and Tyler was eager to taste every inch of her. He knew he would as soon as he got her to his bed. With that thought burning in his mind, he stood up and carried her effortlessly to his bedroom, not wanting to waste another moment.
As he gently tossed her on the bed, Paige felt her stomach flip with fear, anxiety, and desire so strong it, itself, scared her. She had never thought she’d ever want someone as much as she wanted him. Not just sexually but in many more ways than that. Their feelings were escalating every time they were together. Each minute she spent with him, she found herself finding more things she loved about him. One thing kept building off the other and it scared her how high it was already getting. The fear that swept in was overwhelming. Could she actually have a happy, fulfilling relationship with someone she truly had feelings for? It almost sounded delusional to her. Things had been going so well between them that the fear of losing someone again threatened to steal her good mood. She shoved those thoughts away for a time when they would be more relevant. Right now was perfect and there was no sense in worrying over something that had yet to happen. She pulled him down between her legs as she let herself put her trust in him, hoping he was everything she felt he was.
Breathing hard, Tyler unbuttoned her pants, slid them down, and tossed them on the floor. Her chest heaved from anticipation, wanting to feel him inside her, needing to feel him against her. All she could think about was getting him close to her, feeling his skin against hers. She yanked his shirt up over his head and her fingers frantically fumbled at his zipper. Once they were undone he quickly stood and let them fall to the ground. Her eyes traveled over his body. The rise and fall of his chest. The way his muscles flexed as he removed his pants. The bit of dark hair leading down beneath his black briefs. The three tattoos that covered his chest and arms. The fullness showing in his briefs.
Her thighs began to quiver as her need became stronger. She wanted to yank him down to her and not let him go until she was drenched in sweat and shaking from her release.
Slowly he climbed back on the bed, hovering over her to where the tip of him was just barely teasing her. His hand combed through her long hair that cascaded across the white pillow under her, and then he gripped it firmly as his brown eyes held onto hers. His lips drifted down to her breast, his tongue slowly swirling around each nipple. Her hands gripped a fistful of his hair as his mouth gently caressed each one, making her back arch with pleasure and her hands gently tug on his hair. Her hands ventured to the back of his thighs, pulling him towards her. He paused briefly, teasingly. It was a deliberate motion to make her desire come to the breaking point. She didn’t know how much more she could take, she was already about to bubble over. She bit her lip as she looked at him. Her eyes were demanding, pleading for him to take her, all of her. Make this ache inside her dissipate.
With his gaze steady on hers, he planted his lips firmly against hers at the same time he pushed into her. A moan escaped her parted lips and her legs wrapped around his waist, wanting him deeper. His breathing sped up as he gradually quickened his pace. The euphoric feeling of him inside her made her grip on his broad shoulder blades tighten, lightly digging her nails into his skin.
He dipped his mouth into the crook of her neck, lightly fanning kisses on her shoulder and then down across each breast. As they moved together, each thrust building from the last, she was finally at her breaking point; her body couldn’t handle the intense pleasure any more.
“Tyler,” she moaned as she felt her body begin to fly.
“Darlin’, look up at me, the only thing I wanna see right now are your beautiful eyes staring back at me when you come.” His voice was a deep, low rumble, full of lust and desire and something else that made Paige’s body react even more. It was a command. And even though she was not one to take orders from anyone, coming from him, in this moment, made her body ignite.
She tilted her head up to meet his, letting her eyes hold his as she gripped the back of his neck while each wave of pleasure rolled through her body. With each wave, she felt her grip tightening, her nails digging in farther until her body finally subsided.
“Yeah, that’s what I wanted,” he breathed and within seconds, she felt his body stiffen as each thrust became harder, deeper, until he let out a final grunt.
She pulled him down to her, both their bodies dripping with sweat, and she wrapped her arms around him as his head rested on the pillow, his face nestled into her neck. She felt him trembling slightly, the only sound in the room was their heavy breathing as they held each other. Her legs were quivering beneath him and the coolness of the room was now hitting her sweat soaked body, causing goose bumps to form.
Turning her head, she was within inches from his face and the words that came out were filled with hope. “Please tell me this will never end. That what I’m feeling, you’re feeling too.”
His hand came up and cupped her cheek and his eyes danced wildly around her face before settling on her hopeful eyes. Finally, the silence was broken as he said, “Darlin’,” he said, his voice lazy with lust, “this is just beginning and I don’t see any end in sight.” He kissed her lips hard as he pulled her body on top of him, letting his hands explore her backside. Her hair was hanging down; concealing them in their own private moment and the sun began to set, causing the light in the room to fade.
Their kiss lasted several minutes, neither one of them wanting to part, but it was already getting late and she knew she needed to get home. They reluctantly got up and found their clothes strung all over the bedroom. As she pulled on her shirt, he reached out and pulled her to him, crashing his mouth urgently to hers.
“If you didn’t have to leave, I’d already be having you on that bed, again,” he said between her lips.
She smiled against his mouth, gently pulled his bottom lip into hers, and then said, “There you go being your arrogant self.” And then added, “But that’s one of the things about you that turns me on.”
His eyes sparked with curiosity. “Oh yeah? What else does it for you?”
She turned to leave the room and stopped, looked back over her shoulder, and said, “Wouldn’t you like to know.”
And with that, she left him standing alone in the room.
Chapter 21
Tyler ran down the hall after her and saw her leaning against the counter, sipping on her glass of tea from earlier. Her hair was slightly disheveled, thrown back into a half haphazard pony tail, her clothes were dirty and a little on the wrinkled side but to see her standing in his kitchen making herself at home, was incredibly sexy.
He stopped in the kitchen and said, “Do you have to leave right now? I kinda feel a little used, here.”
The laugh that came out of her was flirty and apologetic and she walked over to him, wrapping her arms around his waist as she looked up into his face. “Tyler, you know I have to pick up Kyra or else I�
�d stay longer.”
He rested his chin on her head and hugged her tighter, hating the fact that she had to leave so soon after they’d made love, but he knew that she had to. If he had a choice, he’d carry her back to his bed and never let her leave. The thought made him crazy with want. A want that he couldn’t have right now. And it made him feel like swooping her up and never letting her go. He leaned down and kissed her cheek then her lips before saying, “I know. I’m just not ready for you to walk out the door just yet.”
She sighed, “Me, either, but my daughter is waiting on me and I need to pick her up and get her home to bed.”
He pulled away and grabbed her hand, “All right, let’s go. I’ll walk you out. Next time though you’re staying the night so I can have my way with you all night long.”
“I might be able to arrange that,” she teased.
He opened the door and as they stepped out onto the front porch, hands wrapped around each other, he pulled her in for another kiss. Just as his lips met hers, he heard someone in the distance clear their throat. They both stopped abruptly and turned to see who was standing in the driveway. As his eyes focused in on the person, his heart plummeted into his gut.
“Sarah?” As soon as her name was out of his mouth, it was as if it were her cue to start talking.
She stood with her hands on her hips, one leg cocked out to the side and her eyes were narrowed into angry slits towards Paige. Tyler wanted to cuss her out and ask her why on earth she was even here, because he thought he’d made himself crystal clear with how he felt about her. He felt Paige’s grip on his hand loosen as she took in Sarah’s presence before them. He knew doubt was running rampant through her thoughts and he hoped she’d put some faith in him. If not in him, into what they’d just shared moments ago. Their feelings had been so strong in his bedroom that he didn’t think there was any second guessing with how he felt about her.
Sarah began strutting towards the porch, her heels crunching against the gravel, never letting her eyes leave Paige. Finally, she turned towards Tyler. “So, this is what you’ve been doing behind my back?” she seethed, throwing her hand up at Paige.
Tyler roughly dragged a hand through his hair, almost to the point of pulling it out. What was wrong with her? He thought. He felt Paige pull away as she stared up at him, her face full of unanswered questions. He looked between her and Sarah, anger beginning to boil over. The night had been unbelievable and he knew their relationship was heading in the right direction, felt it heading that way. And he wanted it to head that way more than anything, but now Sarah was showing up and threatening to ruin everything for him.
He clenched his hands into fists as he stared at Sarah. “Why are you here? I thought I’d made myself more than clear,” Tyler fumed.
Paige looked over at him, “Tyler what’s going on? Are you dating her?”
He could feel her uncertainty for what they had waver even more and it made his anger escalate. “No, I’m not seeing her. I don’t know why she’s here,” Tyler answered, his face becoming hard as he continued to look in Sarah’s direction.
Sarah’s eyes widened in shock at his remark and then she said, “Tyler, you know I come over all the time. I thought you’d be expecting me tonight.”
So she is going to play that game, he thought. He saw Paige take a step away from him and he looked at her questionably. “Paige, you don’t believe her, do you? After all that we’ve shared. She’s just a jealous woman who can’t seem to get the point.”
Paige took another step away from him, her eyes glistening with hurt and doubt. “Tyler, I don’t know what to believe. Why would she just show up here like this if you guys didn’t have something going on?” Her voice was low and unsure as her eyes tore into him, demanding answers. The thread that had been tying them together was slowly unraveling.
Tyler gritted his teeth together, “Dammit, Paige, you have to believe me, not her. She’s crazy.”
“I am not crazy, Tyler!” Sarah shouted in the background. “You know we’ve been seeing each other for months now.”
Paige’s face crumpled at that and Tyler glared at Sarah as her face gleamed with amusement and satisfaction. He couldn’t entirely read Paige’s thoughts but he knew she was on the verge of believing Sarah entirely, and leaving him. He knew he had to do something but he wasn’t sure what. He saw her eyes jerk back and forth between him and Sarah, contemplating who to believe as Sarah kept yelling things in the background. “Sarah will you just shut up and leave!?” Tyler yelled, causing Paige to wince.
With Sarah’s high pitched voice drowning out his, Tyler saw Paige begin to walk towards the steps. He couldn’t let her leave like this it would just kill him. He knew he’d lose her for good if he did. He walked after her, reached out, and grabbed her arm, pulling her around to face him. “Paige, don’t leave like this. Let me get her outta here and we can talk and I can explain everything.”
She jerked her arm from him, her voice was nothing but a faint whisper, but her eyes were sharp with accusation, “Tyler, I can’t deal with this. It’s obvious that there’s something going on here and I don’t want to be in the middle. I thought you were different, and I thought you were single.”
With that last comment, she stomped down the stairs and towards her car, giving Sarah a cutting look as she passed her.
By the time Tyler shook her words from his head and ran after her, she was already in her car. He pounded on the window, holding himself back from breaking the glass, and pleaded with her to roll it down and just talk to him. She gave him a hard look back as she shook her head and started the car. He reached out and grabbed the side mirror and banged on the window one last time as she slowly drove off. Aggravated, he kicked at the ground, causing pieces of gravel to ricochet off his house.
The last thing he saw in her eyes were tears full of regret spilling down her face.
♥♥♥
He stood there staring after her car as dust blew towards him. It hit him in the face, making his eyes sting, but that was the least of his pain. His heart hurt. His chest was heaving from all the anger and emotion that was brewing inside of him and he felt like his legs were stuck in the ground, hoping that if he stayed planted here that she would realize leaving was a mistake. The clanging of Sarah’s bracelets brought his attention behind him and he turned his anger on her.
“What the hell is wrong with you? Do you have more than a few screws loose or what?” he yelled as he stormed up to her and stood inches from her face. The strong perfume she wore was burning his nose and all the makeup she had caked on was showing how fake she really was. He had to rein his anger in; he didn’t trust himself right now. He couldn’t remember the last time he was so angry. All he could think about was the look in Paige’s accusing eyes as she made that last statement. I thought you were different and I thought you were single.
She took a step back, the distance making him feel slightly better and said, “Tyler, I thought we had something here. I thought you just needed a break to clear your head but instead I find you already moving on? Have you been seeing her the whole time I’ve been coming over?” Her arms were crossed as she stood in front of him, waiting on his answer.
He hissed through clenched teeth, making the words come out in a flat tone. “No, Sarah, I haven’t. I just started seeing her after I told you I didn’t want to see you, anymore. Did you not hear that part of the conversation we had the night you came over and trashed my room?”
Not expecting this reaction, she lunged forward and hit him in the chest, catching him off guard and making him stumble backwards. He regained his footing and grabbed her arms, pushing her towards her car. She started flinging her arms, hitting him in the face. He felt her nails slice against his skin and cursed. “Dammit, Sarah, I told you I don’t want to see you, anymore. If you don’t leave I’m going to have to call the cops to get my point across completely.”
Without thinking, he opened the door and shoved her in, hearing her let out a yelp as
her legs hit the steering wheel. Once she was completely behind the wheel, he slammed the door shut, only briefly noticing her shocked reaction staring back at him from the window. He turned to leave, praying that she finally understood that he was serious. He didn’t want to call the cops on her for harassing him, but he would if she came back, again. She’d probably screwed up his relationship with Paige, and he wasn’t going to let her keep interfering, anymore.
As he stepped onto the first step of his porch he heard her car start up and then pull out. This time she didn’t sling gravel everywhere and he was glad to have one less mess to clean up.
He stood on the porch watching Sarah leave and pulled out his cell phone. He dialed Paige’s number and held his breath in anticipation. Leaning against the railing, he let his face fall into his hands when it went to voicemail. He rubbed his eyes not believing this had happened. He had a bad feeling that he was going to lose her. He called again, and this time he planned to leave a message. There were only four simple words to say but he had never put so much of his heart into a message before. He just hoped she would hear it. When the message beeped, the words that came out were nothing more than begging. “Paige, please call me.”
Chapter 22
With blurry vision from the tears streaming down her face, Paige drove furiously down the curvy country roads. She knew she needed to slow down, to pull over, and dry her eyes before she wrecked, but the only thing she wanted to do was get home.
She had so many emotions rushing through her. Anger. Hurt. Pain. Just to name a few. She couldn’t believe what had just happened. And all after the intimate, wonderful time they’d just had. She had the music blaring, trying to drown out all her anguish but it wasn’t helping. Nothing could help. Tyler had shredded her heart and stomped on the broken pieces. Just when she was beginning to heal, to do something that made her happy, things sky rocketed even more downhill. Tyler had had a part in helping her mend, but after putting her back together he then tore her right back apart. Her gut had told her something was not right when he didn’t call her for so long and purposely ignored her texts. Now she knew the reason. He was too busy with that girl, Sarah, to call her back.
Where Forever Lies Page 17