“See ya,” Sebastian said, hurrying off to join a group of kids his age.
“You’re very sweet,” Whitney said, finally letting herself reach out to put her hand on Tyce’s arm.
He was so warm. So
real.
And so beautiful that she didn’t know how much longer she was going to be able to stay away from him.
Or even why she was anymore.
“Not just for offering to take Sebastian out to celebrate, but for helping him in the first place.” She paused for a moment before adding, “If you’ve got a big celebration planned, it seems like a shame to waste it. Maybe you and I could—” The words got stuck her throat, all the things she wanted mixing with all the things she didn’t think she could have.
Tyce’s eyes held hers. “What could we do, Whitney? Tell me.”
She took a breath, or tried to, anyway. Being this close to Tyce made things like breathing hard.
“Maybe we could spend some time together tonight.”
He grinned at her, obviously thrilled with her suggestion. “The place I had in mind is close enough to walk.”
Whitney loved walking beside him in the darkness. Just the way they once had.
“How are things going over at the chalet? I hope Rose isn’t too upset that I cancelled.”
“Honestly, she just wants people to be happy.” His grin turned lopsided as he teased, “Even if it means losing the steady stream of Banning income.”
“Maybe someday,” Whitney said.
Tyce's smile fell away as he gave her another of those burning looks that melted her insides. “Maybe someday,” he echoed in a low voice.
They ended up at a small Italian restaurant, where he had a reservation. The place was nice without being too formal, plus it had great vegetarian food. Trust Tyce to know all the best vegetarian places to eat in the city.
It wasn’t a hugely romantic setting. In fact, Tyce waved away the candle the waiter tried to bring to the table, obviously not wanting to make things uncomfortable for her.
He really was sweet, Whitney thought as she found herself laughing when he started to give her the details of a few strange weddings he’d helped put on at the Rose Chalet over the years.
“They really wanted a
horse
up there on the stage with you?”
Tyce nodded. “Unfortunately, it reared every time I played a loud chord. It ended up putting a hoof through one of my amps, and I had to finish the set on an acoustic guitar.”
Whitney laughed again, and told him a couple of stories about the chaos of trying to run a business with half her family under foot. Before Whitney knew it, they’d licked the plate of tiramisu clean, the check was paid, and he was pulling back her chair to go.
As they walked back to their cars, it was so natural for Whitney to slip her hand into his. She stared up at the stars, admiring the beauty of the night sky, and when she looked back, Tyce was staring down at her.
She’d missed him so much this past week. Just as she’d missed him for five years.
“I’m glad you came to Sebastian’s show tonight.”
Tyce lifted their linked hands to her face and gently ran his knuckles across her cheek. “I am too.”
She thought he was going to kiss her for a moment, and would have let him this time, when a bird squawked loudly from a tree branch right above them.
Whitney jumped back in surprise. “My cat Clementine would be beside herself trying to get up the tree to that bird.”
With that, she started to tell Tyce about her cat, about a fashion show her cousins had dragged her to, about anything really. He was so easy to talk to. So easy to be with. She could just be herself. Tyce was a great listener, and all night they talked and laughed as if the last five years hadn’t been lost. They talked so much, in fact, that they almost walked straight past the school parking lot where they’d left their cars.
“We could always just keep walking,” Tyce suggested, and his expression turned serious. “Doesn’t it feel like the night’s only just gotten started?”
Whitney could imagine spending the night walking hand-in-hand with Tyce all too easily. Of course, she didn’t have to imagine, because she could
remember
what it was like from five years ago. It would be fun, and magical, and it would end with a very sweet kiss before they went back home again. It was the kind of thing great memories were made of.
But sweet memories weren’t enough. Not anymore.
Not when Whitney wanted more.
“I don’t want to keep walking.”
“You don’t?” Tyce looked a little confused. “But I thought—”
Whitney pressed herself tightly against him, feeling the strength of his muscles as she finally kissed him the way she’d been longing to kiss him all night long.
“I’d rather go back to your place. We can still talk, but…”
“But you don’t just want to talk?” Tyce said it softly, almost cautiously, obviously giving her the chance to back out if she felt she needed to.
Right then, though, backing out was the last thing Whitney wanted.
“No,” she agreed softly, “I don’t just want to talk.”
And then she kissed him again to show him just how much she meant it.
Chapter Eleven
When Tyce woke, Whitney was curled into him, her skin warm, her dark hair spilled out over the pillow. He loved being able to feel every tiny movement she made in her sleep, to hear every breath she took.
He’d thought for so long about what this would be like, but last night with Whitney in his arms had been so much better than anything he could have ever imagined. They had been two halves of the same whole, and even when the pleasure had taken them both over, their connection had been so much more than physical. Amazingly, lying with her as early morning light streamed in through the bedroom window was almost better than making love to her.
The truth was that whenever he’d pictured himself and Whitney together, it had always been this moment, holding her, with the morning sun streaming in through the window, and nowhere either one of them had to go.
At the sound of barking from the next room, Tyce winced. Well,
almost
nowhere to go.
He gently slid his arms from around Whitney, careful not to wake her. She looked so peaceful sleeping in his bed, and so tempting. It was all Tyce could do not to climb back into bed with her and wake her with a kiss.
There would be time for that later, though. To laugh. To kiss. To dream. To talk. To share.
And to love.
Tyce got dressed as quietly as he could, then headed out into the living room where Milo was waiting for him to take him for his morning walk.
“You really know how to kill a great mood, don’t you?”
Milo’s ears twitched and Tyce scratched between them.
“I’m kidding. This morning is perfect. Let’s take you for your walk so that I can get back to the woman I’ve waited five years for.”
Milo followed along happily as Tyce took him for a walk around the block. When they returned, he planned to make Whitney breakfast in bed, then wake her with a kiss. Maybe they’d stay beneath the sheets for the rest of the day together, or maybe they’d get up and just talk for hours, her hand in his, her beautiful face right there for him to memorize every feature.
The best part of it all was that it genuinely didn’t matter to Tyce which they did. He’d been with women who had been exciting in the bedroom, but with whom he’d had nothing in common outside of it. With Whitney, he could happily spend the day simply being near to her. They could walk to her favorite coffee shop, then keep going after that, with no plans, just seeing where they ended up.
“Would you like that?” Tyce asked Milo. “Would you like to go for a long walk with Whitney?”
Milo wagged his tail. It was settled, then. Tyce would still wake Whitney up, but they’d go out for breakfast, and then…well, there were so many possibilities. So many ways they could spend the day together.
So many ways they could spend the rest of their lives together.
When Tyce looked down again, Milo seemed to be shaking his furry head in warning.
“I know,” Tyce said. “I need to take things easy and not plan too far ahead, but this is finally it, little guy. Me and Whitney, the way it should have been all along.”
Milo barked.
“Okay, so we probably shouldn’t push things too fast at first with her family, because Kenneth is fairly recent history. We can start off slow at first by dating, then deal with what comes next, one thing at a time. I mean, after last night…” Tyce shook his head. “Actually, you aren’t old enough to hear about that, except maybe in dog years.”
He started walking back towards his apartment with Milo following alongside. “She’s the one. I’m sure of it. I’ve always been sure of it.”
He’d known how he felt about Whitney from the moment he first met her.
Wanting to get back to her, he sped up until Milo had to trot along beside him. Knowing Whitney was probably still asleep, Tyce was extra quiet as he took out his keys and let himself in. Milo barked as Tyce started to open the door, and Tyce put a finger to his lips.
“Shh. You don’t want to wake Whitney—”
Tyce didn’t finish his sentence, because it turned out that they didn’t have to worry about waking Whitney, after all. She was standing in his living room, fully dressed, with her bag over her shoulder.
“Whitney?” Tyce stepped inside, the door still open behind him. “You’re leaving?”
Milo ran forward, and even as Whitney bent to pet him, Tyce could see the tension on her face. The beautiful features that had been so relaxed while she slept were tighter now.
“I have to, Tyce.”
“Last night—”
“Last night was wonderful,” Whitney said, cutting him off in a soft voice.
“But you’re still leaving,” Tyce said, unable to keep the bitterness from creeping in. “Again.”
He’d been so certain that things were finally going right, yet here Whitney was, obviously ready to run away without looking back.
Whitney reached up to touch his face, and just for a moment, Tyce dared to look at her with hope. But then he saw the faint shimmer of a tear at the corner of her eye and knew...
He was losing her.
“In the past few weeks, I’ve followed my heart on more things than in the whole of the rest of my life. Breaking up with Kenneth. Taking a chance on you.”
“This isn’t about Kenneth,” Tyce said with absolute certainty.
“You’re right,” she said. “But it isn’t entirely about you either, even though last night was wonderful and perfect and you helped me see just how good things can be when I go after what I want.”
He had to move a little bit closer. “So you do want me, at least.”
Whitney wrapped her arms around his neck. “Of course I want you,” she said, before kissing him, too briefly.
Like she was kissing him goodbye.
“But you’re still leaving, aren’t you?”
Whitney unwound her arms from his neck. “Every time I’ve taken a chance recently, it has worked out so
much better than I expected. I thought my family would be so upset with me when I broke up with Kenneth, but they were fine about it. I thought things couldn’t possibly be as good as I remembered with you, but...”
She didn’t finish that thought, but from the look in her eyes, she didn’t need to.
“We could be good together, Whitney. We
are
good together.” Tyce couldn’t stand the thought of not being with her. “I thought you could see it, too.”
Whitney nodded, and Tyce could see the pain in her eyes even as she agreed with him.
“I do see it,” she whispered. “Please, Tyce, don’t make this even harder for me.” Whitney took a breath. “I’m going to give veterinary school a try.”
Veterinary school?
For a moment, Tyce had thought that there was a real problem. But school wasn’t a problem. Not at all.
“UC Davis is one of the best vet schools in the country, isn’t it? That’s only an hour from here.” He spoke quickly as the picture became clearer and clearer to him. “We can find a place in the middle that will work for both of us. Or I’ll commute to the chalet so you can be closer to school.”
But she was shaking her head and he could feel his skin start to go cold in the warm room, even as the sun streamed in over them both.
“The school I’ve always dreamed of attending, and graduating from, is a combined ranch and veterinary college,” she suddenly blurted. “It’s the perfect place for what I want to do and when I called them, they told me they’ll accept me again based on my records from when I applied before.” She took a shaky breath before saying, “It’s in Colorado, Tyce.”
“Colorado.”
Tyce repeated it flatly, the one word crushing his renewed hopes. He’d thought everything was finally going to work out, even if they each had to make a few sacrifices along the way. He’d thought that they
meant
something.
Yet here Whitney was, planning to move a thousand miles away.
She stepped back, clenching her hands together. “If I don’t do this now, I’m afraid I never will.”
In that moment, Tyce knew how easy it would be for him to stop her.
A few words, and Whitney would give up on the whole crazy dream.
A single kiss, and she’d be his.
He could take her back to bed and make her forget that she’d ever thought about running off to another state to go back to school.
“You’re right,” he made himself say, each word tasting like dirt on his tongue. “You should go. I know how much you’ve wanted this. And how much you’ll love being a vet.”
“You aren’t angry?”
What could he say to that? Of course he was angry.
Angry that the world could keep giving him brief tastes of the woman he was in love with, only to snatch her away again.
Angry at the part of him that still insisted he should stop her, even though he’d never forgive himself if he did.
“You’re finally going to live your dream.” Tyce pulled her back into his arms and kissed her gently. “I’m happy for you, Whitney. And so proud of you for going after everything you want.”