by Susan Meier
When he was done, he turned and handed Amanda the truck that symbolized the equipment he had donated. Overcome with emotion, Amanda unexpectedly hugged him. Ty was too shocked to respond, but eventually he relaxed and returned her hug, genuinely glad that he could do something for his community.
The crowd in the front yard of Amanda’s Angels Day Care began to applaud. Slowly at first, but then a momentum grew and soon everyone was cheering.
And for the first time ever, Ty had felt the sense of community that had been missing from his life. He felt himself connect with the segment of town for whom he had spent his whole life working. He felt his mission in life being accomplished.
And he knew Madelyn was right. If he changed, if he let his real personality out, his employees wouldn’t fail him.
But in that moment, Ty also decided she was wrong about something else. He might not love her, but he did need her. She was the force behind all the changing he had done and he appreciated that. It wasn’t love, but it was more feeling than he’d had for a woman in almost a decade.
Madelyn wasn’t surprised when Ty grabbed her hand as they walked to the limo.
“We did it.”
Balancing Sabrina on her right arm, she smiled up at him. “Yes, we did. I told you that deep down these people really liked you. We simply had to give them an opportunity to show you.”
Sabrina yelped and patted Madelyn’s face as if trying to get a point across. As Madelyn caught the baby’s hand to stop her, she saw Ty’s expression become confused, then suddenly it brightened, as if he had drawn a conclusion.
“You know what she’s trying to tell us?”
Madelyn shook her head.
“That we shouldn’t get too cocky. She actually paved the way for this.” He took Sabrina from Madelyn and motioned for the chauffeur to come to the car. “If I hadn’t needed help with her, you wouldn’t have lived with me. If we hadn’t had that connection, you wouldn’t have gotten me to do half the things I’ve done. I might have even talked you out of this event.”
Madelyn laughed. “I guess, if you look at it that way, she is responsible.” She shook her head in wonder. “Fate has been working overtime for us.”
Ty’s expression shifted. The eyes that had been shining with joy suddenly burned with desire. “Yeah, fate has been doing a lot of things to us lately.”
Madelyn’s heart rate tripled. Somehow or another, they’d gone from discussing the success of the event to discussing their personal relationship. But she was ready. She’d been expecting a moment of truth after Ty made the presentation. She’d seen him fighting their attraction all week and she knew the approval of the townspeople would help him to accept more of the changes in his life. That was part of why she’d kissed him before she sent him off to make the presentation. She wanted him to be thinking of her when he realized the changes he was making were good.
She stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “I think this is a discussion better finished in private.”
His eyes smoldered. “You’re right.”
After Ty fastened Sabrina into her car seat, he sat across from Madelyn, but he didn’t say anything. They were quiet for the entire drive to his house, but electricity hummed between them. Though Madelyn was confident their upcoming conversation would go well, she forced herself to be pragmatic about what would actually happen.
Ty might be willing to make a concession or two, but he wasn’t the kind of guy to fall in love in a few weeks. All along they’d both admitted they had chemistry and this afternoon he would probably admit that he liked her, but she knew him too well to think he would suddenly be able to say he loved her.
Still, he had changed enough that she knew that someday he would love her. Even if he couldn’t say it, he would probably tell her he had real feelings for her, then their chemistry would take over and they would make love. Because they both wanted this, and she wasn’t foolish enough to pretend otherwise. And she also wasn’t going to be so foolish as to push him, because he’d been pushed enough already. In the past three weeks, he’d learned to care for Sabrina. He’d changed the way he interacted with his employees. He’d given to the community and shown them his real personality in a heartfelt speech. And now he was about to admit to her that he liked her. He couldn’t be expected to make the giant leap to love.
Particularly since they had only known each other exactly three weeks and a day.
When the driver stopped at Ty’s house, Madelyn got out, retrieved Sabrina and took her inside. Because the baby had fallen asleep in the limo, she carried her upstairs while Ty dismissed the driver.
When she returned to the kitchen, Ty stepped inside the back door. Without a word, she walked over to him. He grabbed her by the waist, hauled her up against him and kissed her so deeply she understood everything he felt for her. He might not be able to say the words, but he couldn’t resist her or their chemistry anymore. He was so hungry for her he was desperate. No. They were desperate. She was tired of fighting this attraction, too.
His right hand flicked the top button of her suit jacket. Her fingers went directly for the buttons of his shirt. She considered for a second that the kitchen was the most inappropriate place to do this, then realized that it wasn’t. They’d had their best battles here. They’d made concessions here. Worked together here. If she allowed herself to admit it, she would probably also say she’d fallen in love with him here. It could have been that first time he took charge of Sabrina. It could have been that first morning when he ate the burned toast. It could have been the first time he gave her that look. The one that melted her bones and caused her to realize he found her more than attractive—he desperately wanted her. Whenever it was, she had fallen deeply, passionately in love with him, and anywhere he wanted to make love was fine with her.
With every button that popped, their kiss grew more heated, until Madelyn felt the pads of his fingers brush the top of her breast at the same time that her fingers met the crisp mat of dark hair on his chest. Arousal flooded through her, a need so sharp and sweet it paralyzed her. His palm covered her breast and she nearly swooned.
Everything felt better, more intense, more powerful because this wasn’t just a sex act. At least not for her. She really was making love. And he…might be.
Damn it! In the car she had decided she wasn’t going to push him into saying that he loved her, but she knew in her heart that he did. Though it seemed insane to need to hear him say it, she wanted the words.
She pulled away. “Ty…” He stared at her with such heat in his eyes that she fell speechless.
“What?”
Knowing what she had to do, she drew a quick, fortifying breath and simply asked, “Do you love me?”
“Don’t even tell me that after teasing me with that kiss at the day care, you’ve changed your mind.”
“I haven’t changed my mind.” She paused, swallowed, then jumped in with both feet. “But I love you. I really love you. And I’m just about positive you love me, too.”
He closed his eyes, then opened them again. “We haven’t known each other long enough to be in love. But we do have lots of feelings for each other and there’s nothing wrong with expressing them physically. In fact, there are lots of times…like right now,” he hinted shamelessly, “that expressing feelings physically is very, very good.” He caught her arm, pulled her against him and rubbed his cheek against the soft spot in front of her ear. “I will make it very, very good.”
Desire rippled through her. She had no doubt that he would make it very, very good. But now that they were this close, she realized something else. Making love for him was the physical expression of what he felt, so if they crossed this barrier without him admitting that he loved her, he would never say it. He wouldn’t think he had to. And that wouldn’t hurt her as much as it would deprive him. He needed to know he could love and be loved. He needed to hear the words as much as he needed to say them. Everybody did.
She drew a shaky breath. “I reali
ze that if we sleep together, it will be great.” She caught his gaze. “But I also suspect that if you don’t admit you love me—” she took another drink of air “—you might never say it.”
He closed his eyes. “You’re killing me.”
“Actually, you’re killing me.” She stepped close to him again, hope welling inside her because he hadn’t disagreed. “You love me,” she boldly told him. “No matter how much you think you don’t, I think you do. All you have to do is say it.”
“You think that I love you in a little over three weeks?”
She rubbed her forehead against his chin. “Stranger things have happened.”
“Not to me.”
Though those three words deflated the hope of the moment, Madelyn didn’t feel defeated. “You need more time.”
He shook his head. “Madelyn, I’m really not the kind of man to fall head over heels in love.” He stepped away from the temptation of her. “And I’m almost getting tired of telling you that. I’ve laid all my cards on the table. I told you I don’t want you unless it’s on my terms.”
“And I think you’ve been in denial so long, you don’t see what’s right in front of you.”
“Then you’re wrong, and you should button your blouse.” With that he walked away. He punched the swinging door and burst through like a man who had no intention of ever coming back.
Madelyn stared after him. Regret and fear washed through her, and she cursed herself for wanting him to love her. She’d done the very thing she’d been telling herself not to do for the past few days when he wasn’t speaking to her. She’d lost patience and she’d interfered in his process, and from the tone of his voice she couldn’t believe he would even talk to her civilly again, let alone let his guard down enough to love her.
She’d pushed him too far and she’d lost.
Chapter Nine
Ty was so angry he couldn’t see straight. With the potent cocktail of fury and sexual heat ricocheting through him, he bounded up the foyer steps and to his bedroom.
He intended only to change into jeans and a T-shirt and retreat to his office for the rest of the afternoon where he would distract himself with work, but decided to take a cold shower. He needed to cool off and not just sexually. He didn’t believe anybody could fall in love in three weeks, but for Madelyn to say she had fallen in love with him—a grouch, a guy who had been making her life miserable most of the time they were together—well, that was just preposterous.
To make matters worse, he remembered that this was how Anita had gotten into his life. She’d claimed love at first sight and flattered and teased him until he’d believed her.
He didn’t think Madelyn was as devious as Anita was. But he also wasn’t stupid. Smart people learned from their mistakes. And Anita had definitely been a mistake. He’d be a fool to forget the lesson she taught him.
The shower didn’t help. Neither did the fact that Sabrina was apparently napping and there was no buffer for him and Madelyn. When Ty ran down the steps, on his way to his office, he saw her pacing in the living room. From the worried expression on her face, it was clear she was upset, but Ty decided she damned well should be. If she was tricking him, her only motive could be to assure she got the job as PR director. But she had to know he would eventually figure that out and when he did, he would deal with her. Most likely, he would fire her. So she damned well better not be teasing him to get the job!
Still, he couldn’t shake the notion that Madelyn wasn’t that devious. If anything, she was naive. Striding down the hall to his office, he couldn’t help drawing the conclusion that if she wasn’t making up feelings to manipulate him, then she genuinely believed she loved him.
Ty stopped short as a foreign emotion paralyzed him. What if she really did love him? How the hell would he handle that? He liked her. He lusted after her. He lusted after her so much that he couldn’t sleep. But he didn’t love her. He hadn’t known her long enough to love her, but more than that he wasn’t sure he could love her. He wasn’t really sure he could love anybody.
Walking into his office he acknowledged that his experiences with love were so distorted that he’d quit trying to see if he was capable of loving someone. Since Anita, if he courted a woman, it was in the city, and it was with a purpose. To have some fun. He’d never courted a woman to fall in love.
Worse, now that he’d spent so much time refusing to love, he could no longer blame Anita. If he couldn’t love, it was because of arrested development. He was a stagnating thirty-five-year-old man who had been hurt and never gotten past it.
Because he didn’t want to be hurt again. Because he didn’t want his company to suffer. Because he didn’t want his community to lose jobs. Because he wanted to keep Bryant Development—his only remaining connection to his parents—strong, vital, alive. For himself…and his brothers.
That was the real bottom line to why he didn’t fall in love. There were more reasons not to fall, not to risk, than to give love another shot.
And that’s what he had to remind himself every time Madelyn tempted him.
On Monday morning, Madelyn walked down the hall to her office, mentally running through her strategy for the arrival of the Wall Street Journal reporter.
Ty’s anger with her hadn’t changed the fact that he would be giving his interview that morning. Though he had refused to speak to her on Sunday afternoon, not even to let her prep him, she wasn’t worried about Ty going one-on-one with a reporter. If she had any concern, it was that their argument on Saturday had caused him to revert back to Tyrant Ty. The reporter wouldn’t notice it. He would be gathering facts about the company. But Ty’s employees would see the difference. After the heartfelt playground presentation they wouldn’t understand why he’d gone back to being gruff and impersonal. A few people would give him the benefit of the doubt and consider that something might have happened in his personal life that caused him to be preoccupied, but most wouldn’t. If the reporter talked to any of Ty’s employees to get background for the article, too many of them would say that Ty had given a nice speech and donated some equipment, but he was still the same old Ty. Distant. Removed. Bossy.
Because Madelyn’s first responsibility to Ty was as his public relations person, she couldn’t dwell on the fact that his refusal to try to love her hurt her. She couldn’t give in to the fear that by ignoring what they felt he was hurting himself. She couldn’t even let herself feel the guilt of remembering that all of this was her fault because she had foolishly pushed him. Those troubles would still be around tomorrow and she could try to sort through them then. Today she had to focus on finding a way to assure that the right employees spoke with the reporter.
“I’m paying you thousands of dollars to find my brother!”
Lost in thought, Madelyn almost didn’t hear Seth’s angry voice as she walked past his door. But it eventually penetrated her consciousness and she stopped.
Ty hadn’t mentioned to Madelyn that he had told Seth to look for their brother Cooper, but she knew Seth had looked for his missing sibling once before and she also knew Ty and Seth had lunch together at least twice a week. It was entirely possible Ty had given Seth instructions to begin looking for Cooper and had simply forgotten to tell her. Still, with the reporter expected in less than an hour, she didn’t want Seth giving Ty bad news.
“Don’t call me back with another excuse! You find Cooper and you find him now!”
When Madelyn heard the slam of the phone receiver into its cradle, she knocked on Seth’s doorframe, then stepped into his office. “Got a minute?”
He drew a quick breath. “I guess you heard that.”
“You were a little loud.”
“This private investigator is so lazy he infuriates me.”
“That’s why I came in,” Madelyn said, closing the door. “Today would not be a good day to tell Ty your investigator isn’t having any luck finding Cooper.”
Seth shook his head. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to tell Ty. He doe
sn’t even know I’m looking for Cooper.”
Madelyn gasped. “Seth!”
Seth sighed in exasperation. “I didn’t keep this to myself because I’m sneaky.”
“Then why?”
“I didn’t consult Ty about looking for Cooper because this search is fruitless and Ty has enough on his mind.” Frustration contorted Seth’s boyishly handsome features, and Madelyn realized again how different the two Bryant brothers were. Ty had dark hair, dark eyes and dark moods that he seemed to foster to protect himself. Seth was fair-haired with green eyes, and if he currently had dark moods, something had caused them. He was struggling to get beyond it, but couldn’t seem to.
Looking tired and worn down by life, Seth fell to his tall-backed leather chair. “What’s this world coming to, Madelyn?”
She shrugged and took the seat in front of his desk. “I don’t know. But I do know that since I’ve been here, it’s been obvious to me that you have some kind of problem. Something happened to you recently. Why don’t you talk to me?”
“Does my brother talk to you about his problems?”
She drew a quick breath. “No. But…”
“No was a good enough answer, Madelyn.” He raked his fingers through his hair. “And that’s actually the point. Ty gets a problem and he doesn’t talk about it. He handles it. I get a problem and I talk about it because I’m looking for help. And do you know why? Because I trust people. Ty never has. Because of that I’m the one who gets hurt. He’s the one who doesn’t.”
Madelyn took a silent breath. Seth had just outlined Ty’s entire life philosophy in three or four short sentences. He’d also made Madelyn understand why Ty wouldn’t take the last steps to loving her. He couldn’t trust. It didn’t matter that she’d pushed him Saturday afternoon. The real reason he couldn’t fall in love with her was that he couldn’t trust. And that’s what he had been trying to tell her all along.