by Hadley Quinn
She replied with a dainty laugh and shook her head at his humor. “No, I didn’t change my mind. I didn’t tell any of them I had other plans until just now because they can get really overbearing with questions.”
“Ah, I see. Save the McCallan bomb for the end, huh?”
She glanced at him curiously. “Um, no, I didn’t even say your name. You arrived, so everyone was busy looking you over.”
Tyse paused to study her. Maybe she had other reasons for keeping his name a secret, but possibly the timing really had deterred the information from coming out.
“So did I measure up?” he asked.
She cast him a strange look. “Are you kidding?”
“Kidding about what?”
Sarah smiled and motioned toward the house. “I’m pretty sure you’ll be in a few old lady fantasies later tonight.”
Tyse slowly smiled. “Well that’s not a thought I really want to spend much time thinking about. Besides, I’m only interested in being one lady’s fantasy tonight.”
She looked away from him but lightly scoffed with a smile. Her smile was…all consuming. Big, small, shy, sarcastic… Sarah Douglas had a smile that stopped his heart.
Tyse nodded to his bike and asked, “Well? Ready to go?”
Sarah glanced from the motorcycle to Tyse, and then down to her legs. “Um, sure. I wasn’t planning on such a breeze tonight, though.”
It finally registered that she was wearing a dress that went just above her knees, and Tyse hung his head with a groan. “I’m such an ass. I didn’t even ask. I’ve never seen you wear a dress so I guess I just assumed—”
“No, it’s okay,” she lightly laughed. “Let me go throw some jeans on.”
Before he could answer, she was already headed for the side of the house and disappeared. She returned less than a minute later and pointed to the extra helmet on the back of the bike.
“For me, I assume?” she asked.
“Are you sure? Because I can run back and grab my car instead. It was just such a warm evening so I thought—”
“It’s a beautiful evening, and yes I’m sure. It looks fun, let’s go.”
Sarah had a light jacket draped over her arm but she put it on, and the small purse she had with her she slung over her shoulder. Then she grabbed the helmet and slid it on, only pausing briefly to figure out the strap that went under her chin.
Tyse was going to assist her but she got it on her own. She motioned for him to get on the bike, to move, to do something, and he realized he’d just been standing there staring at her the whole time. He secured his own helmet on his head and straddled the bike, watching for Sarah to join him. She was tentative at first, but then she slid a leg over the bike to sit behind him.
“Okay, I’m ready,” she told him.
So far she’d managed to get on the bike without even touching him. Tyse smiled to himself, knowing that that was going to change in a matter of five seconds. He started the ignition and pulled forward gently. He could feel her hands at his sides, hardly applying any pressure like they weren’t there to hold on the entire time, but only if she really needed to.
But as soon as he hit the road at a higher speed, Sarah’s body was pressed up against his back and her arms encircled his midsection. There were no words spoken, just physical contact without having to question it. At least in Tyse’s mind, he was completely satisfied with the outcome. He figured Sarah might be a little uncomfortable, but luckily there wasn’t the likelihood that she would let go of him as long as they were on the bike.
With that in mind, Tyse headed for the coastline. He took his time with the ride through Topanga Canyon to Pacific Coast Highway, and then headed north toward Malibu. It really was a beautiful evening, much warmer than the average temperature for November in California. It was still seventy-eight degrees outside.
When he pulled through a gated private residence and parked his bike, Tyse slid off his helmet and looked at Sarah behind him. She took off her helmet too and brushed her hair off her face. With a thirty-minute ride on a motorcycle, he thought maybe he should have stopped at some point to make sure she was okay. But even though he’d considered it a dozen times, he’d been afraid to. He hadn’t wanted anything to change if she were to tell him she wanted off the bike, and he selfishly kept riding just to have her close to him.
Sarah was peering at the house they were parked in front of when she asked, “Is this where we get off?”
Her choice of words made him smile, and she caught herself at the same time and shook her head.
“Good lord, that’s not what I meant.” She was smiling too, but swung her leg off the bike to stand. “Very lovely,” she commented, looking over the home.
Tyse stepped off the bike and nodded. “Belongs to a buddy of mine. Well, his family owns it but they aren’t here year round.” He hung his helmet on a handle bar and took Sarah’s to place on the back of the bike where it was before. “Come on, I’ll show you around.”
He took her hand in his. Might have been a dick move, being that she was literally hesitant to even be around him, but he hoped having her body pressed up against his earlier might have warmed her up to him just a little bit. He tried to make it seem casual or natural, and she didn’t yank her hand away, so maybe they were beyond the disdain stage and had moved on to just a little dislike.
Tyse led her around the side of the house along a little cobblestone pathway. The house wasn’t enormous like some of the homes in the neighborhood; it was just one level and very simple with clean landscaping around it. But the backside of the house…
“Oh, how lovely,” Sarah exhaled when they both saw the oceanfront view. “Wow.”
Tyse paused so they could both watch the waves for a minute. When she looked at him with a genuine smile, he knew in his heart he’d done a good thing. It was hard enough making plans for a date, but it was even harder when you really didn’t know much about the girl you wanted to take out. Sarah was sort of a closed book, but from what Tyse had gathered from little bits here and there, she just liked simple, pretty things.
“That is a beautiful clematis,” she observed, delicately touching the petals of a climbing vine that traveled all the way up to the deck.
“If you say so,” Tyse joked. He knew what a few flower names were, but he wouldn’t have been able to make that call.
Sarah smiled in return, but Tyse led her up the steps to the deck behind the house. It was large, and a section of it connected to a beautiful sunroom that was opened up for the nice weather. A small table with two chairs sat at the opening, and Tyse pulled out a seat for Sarah first.
He sat across from her and watched as she stared out toward the water.
“This is really nice,” she told him. “What a beautiful view.”
Tyse performed a tiny little fist pump in his mind just as Adele, the family’s housekeeper, approached their table with a tray of dessert. She set a plate of lemon cake in front of each of them, along with two bowls that contained vanilla ice cream, and then headed back to the kitchen.
Noticing Sarah’s confusion as she looked over the cake and then looked at him, Tyse said, “Dessert first.”
“Ah, I see,” she smiled. “I totally approve. So who is it that owns this house?”
“His name is Kenton. He’s actually Teague’s friend, but we’ve become buddies, too. He’s a cool guy. So is his family.”
“Do they, um… Well, are they also in your family’s type of business?”
Tyse studied her for a moment to decipher what exactly she was inquiring about. “Well, his dad is a producer in the movie industry, yes,” he answered honestly. “But Ken works with Teague on the stunt set. He’s a, uh… Well, whatever the guys are called that set the things up for the stunt,” Tyse smiled. “I’d have to ask Teague because I forget.”
“Oh, I know what you mean,” Sarah waved it off. “I was just wondering how you knew the family. It was nice of them to let you use their home.”
“I
just wanted something on the water like this, and I wanted it to be private. There are a lot of restaurants I could have taken you to, but I thought this would be better. Anyway, try the cake,” he nodded to her plate. “See if you like it.”
“Oh I’m sure I will because I love anything lemon,” she chuckled. “It looks amazing, but I doubt I’ll be able to finish all of it.”
“Just eat however much you want. We can go down on the beach and walk it off if you’d like.”
She smiled at him again but it was a little smug. “You saying I need to burn more calories?” she lifted an eyebrow.
“Nope,” he shook his head, amused by the humor. “I’m saying I probably do.”
“Uh huh,” she rolled her eyes playfully. She took a bite of the cake and Tyse observed her reaction. “Oh my gosh, that is…absolutely amazing.”
Tyse took a bite and had to agree. Lemon wouldn’t have been his first choice, that was Rayne’s suggestion, but it was definitely good.
“She uses pudding, I can tell,” Sarah said after taking another bite. “Wow, that is delicious.”
Success was all that was happening so far, and Tyse was pleased. He still dreaded whatever conversation they might have later, if Sarah even felt comfortable talking to him about it, but so far things were going well.
They finished dessert and Adele brought them each a chicken Caesar salad and a dish of pasta. They ended up discussing how they got to the careers they were in at that point in life. Sarah had asked, so Tyse explained how much he enjoyed his job in physical therapy, but it was music that he truly loved to be immersed in.
“How about you?” he asked. “What made you want to become a florist?”
She was quiet for several seconds as she took a drink of water. Finally she said, “My mom died in a car accident ten years ago. I just remember being at the funeral, and with all of the dreary faces there, and the attempts by people to say consoling words… I just felt numb to all of it. The only thing I remember thinking is how beautiful the flowers were that day, and how many beautiful arrangements were delivered to our house that week. Some might assume that flowers are just a reminder of my mom’s death, but I look at them as the only comforting side to any of it. Even through our sorrows there are still beautiful things around us, you just have to focus on them and choose to be grateful instead.”
Tyse silently pondered her words, afraid to respond in case she were to continue sharing. He liked hearing about her life and her thoughts, and he liked just hearing her voice. He had no idea what it was about her that was so mesmerizing, but there was something from the first time he saw her smile that smoothed over the cracks in his heart and soothed his soul.
“I’ve known Rayne most of my life,” Sarah continued. “It was her idea to open the flower shop. She was working for a grocery store florist at the time and I was a waitress at the diner next to our shop. I wasn’t close to my father at all, so I had no desire to work in his industry. When the little space went up for lease, Rayne and I decided to go for it.”
Sarah shrugged, as if to say that was all there was to it.
“Are you full?” he asked, motioning to her half eaten pasta. She’d already eaten the chocolate mint truffle that had been left for her, so he assumed she was done.
“Actually I am,” she lightly laughed. “That was the best primavera I’ve ever eaten. So delicious.”
“Are you ready to head down to the sand?” Tyse asked, motioning to the beach as he dropped a truffle into his mouth.
Sarah began stacking the dishes together and stood as she collected the silverware. “Sure, that sounds great.”
“No, don’t worry about cleaning up,” Tyse told her as he stood. “Adele will take care of that.”
Sarah stopped what she was doing but glanced toward the hall that the housekeeper had come in and out of. “Are you sure? I don’t want to leave a mess here. I’m capable of cleaning up—”
“Really, it’s okay,” Tyse told her, and he took her hand so she’d stop what she was doing. “Adele is actually one of my therapy patients, too. We’re just trading services.”
Sarah gave him a questioning look but shrugged. “Okay, if you think you’ve got it handled,” she smirked.
He liked that sassy side of her, and he smiled as they walked across the deck. “Trust me, I know what I’m doing.”
“Oh?” she smiled back. “Well, okay, if you say so.”
“I do say so. I even dressed myself today. See? I match. Totally know what I’m doing.”
“You’ve got life all figured out, huh?”
“Pssh, of course,” he laughed with feigned confidence. Then his shoulders dropped with mock shame and he said, “No, not at all.”
Sarah laughed out loud as they took the steps down to the beach. “Okay, at least you admit it. I was beginning to wonder.”
“Beginning to wonder what?” he asked sincerely.
With a shrug Sarah answered, “I don’t know, just…how overly confident you might be.”
“Overly confident?”
“Hey, I’m just being honest here,” she frowned at him.
“And that’s totally fine,” he smiled cautiously, unsure why she seemed suddenly insecure all over again. “I just wondered what you meant. Can you clarify?”
She sighed, and Tyse had no idea how the mood changed within a matter of seconds. They walked for a few seconds in silence before Sarah finally gave him an answer.
“I’m judging you again,” she admitted. “Based on your family, I’m judging you and I’m sorry. Look, this was a bad idea. I’d like for you to take me home, okay?”
She turned to head back to the house but Tyse stepped in front of her and she stopped.
“I’d rather you just tell me what just happened, Sarah. I’ll take you home if that’s what you want, but please tell me what I did wrong.”
For a few seconds, it seemed like she was going to answer him. But ultimately she didn’t and walked toward the house, this time twice as fast.
Chapter Seventeen
When Tyse got to his motorcycle, Sarah was already sitting on it with her helmet on and obviously ready to go right that second. He took his time to close the distance between them because he had no idea what he was going to say to her.
He grabbed his helmet, but only to have something in his hands to focus on. He didn’t put it on and just stood there, staring down at it. When he glanced up at Sarah, she was looking at him, but then her eyes quickly darted away.
He could also tell she’d been crying.
With a sigh, Tyse set the helmet down and said, “I’m sorry for saying the wrong things, Sarah. I understand how hard this is for you—”
“No, I don’t think you do,” she cut in softly.
“Then help me understand,” he pleaded. “I’m trying to understand, but help me to understand better by talking to me. Tell me what’s going on so I can help you.”
She didn’t reply but he could tell she very slightly shook her head. But it was because she was trying not to cry more, and that pretty much broke Tyse’s heart.
He stepped closer to her and slowly put his hands on her helmet to remove it. She didn’t resist, so he took it off all the way and hung it on a handle bar. Her eyes were closed, but Tyse touched her face softly to wipe away her tears.
It only made her release more and she covered her face with her hands to cry quietly.
“Sarah,” he said softly. He gently placed his hand on the back of her head and caressed her hair tenderly. “I don’t want to hurt you in any way. You’ve got to believe me when I say that. I want you to trust me, I want you to open up to me, I want you to just look at me without resentment…but most of all I just want you to be happy.”
He took a step closer so he was standing right up against her leg and he leaned down to place his cheek on the top of her head. She didn’t move an inch, even when his other hand reached down to take one of hers.
“When you smile, it turns my world upside down
,” he told her. “I’d much rather be a completely confused, enamored moron than not have you in my life. I wish you would give me that chance.”
He felt her take in a breath of air and slowly release it. She wasn’t pushing him away or telling him what a complete idiot he was, so he hoped that was a good thing.
“I’m really confused, too,” she admitted softly.
“And that’s okay,” Tyse told her. “Just tell me what you’re confused about so I can understand.”
She sighed and paused for a few seconds before she spoke. “Your family crushed my trust in people,” she finally replied so softly that Tyse barely heard.
He wanted to remain where he was because he loved being so close to her, but he took a step back to give her some space. She quickly wiped her face of tears and inhaled another breath of air before she continued. Sarah carefully pulled her far leg over the seat so she was facing him with both feet on the ground.
“Liv and I were never really that close. She’s a year younger than me but we’re almost complete opposites. She was very outgoing and loved all of the singing and acting my dad put her in. She grew up doing family sitcoms and then some of the teen dramas. She loved it. I was just happy to be there for her if she wanted a sister, but the more she got involved in the limelight, the less important I realized I was to her. I was okay with it. The fame wasn’t my thing and I stayed out of it. She was happy so I was happy, and we just had different lives, really.
“She got cast in that movie with Max and they started dating. It was a crazy whirlwind of publicity, too, because of who my father was and because Max was a McCallan. The movie was getting so much publicity that it was supposed to top the charts on opening day. I think it did, actually. Anyway, to make a long story shorter, after the movie hype died down, Max broke up with her. She was heartbroken and became depressed. She shut herself off and would barely talk to me anymore. And then she eventually broke down and admitted to me that it was all just a publicity stunt.”
Sarah shrugged her shoulders and looked at Tyse.
“What do you mean?” he asked. “What was a publicity stunt?”