Acting Happy (Texas Desires #2) (15 page)

Slowly Kenzie’s eyes fluttered open. With a foggy brain, she decided she needed more sleep and fought fully waking, clearing her mind of everything until a heavy arm, then leg wrapped tighter around her body. A bucket of cold water wouldn’t have been more effective, and Kenzie jerked her head to the side to see a sleeping Ty burrowing deeper in the pillow they shared, his brute strength drawing her tightly against his chest.

Oh hell, she was still in his house.

In a quick replay of the night before, she could feel the blush staining her cheeks. The couch…the shower…the bed… Oh God, the shower again. She almost cringed as she thought about the wanton way she’d taken him under that hot spray the second time. She’d been a little ho last night, and the embarrassment of her actions had her immediately rolling away but Ty’s hands automatically reached out to stop her.

“Come back. Where’re you going?” he asked in a husky, deep sleep kind of voice.

“I’ve gotta go the bathroom,” she whispered, and his eyes opened more fully with a small smile coming to his lips.

“Want me to join you?” How could he possibly know the exact worst thing he could say?

“No,” she muttered, and why in the world did her heart want her to say yes?

“Don’t be gone long,” he said, dropping his head back on the pillow, finally letting her go. With the thumping of her heart escalating to a roar in her chest, she tried to control her breathing. Her breaths came in short little gasps as she turned away, sliding out of bed, reaching for the sheet they’d pushed to the floor at some point last night. She quickly raised it to cover her naked body.

At this point being embarrassed was dumb, but since she was both of those things, she covered herself and went for bathroom door. At the entrance, she ventured a gaze over her shoulder, hoping Ty had fallen back asleep. Instead, he lifted his head, those tired eyes still open, watching her walk away.

“You have a great ass,” he mumbled and dropped his head back on the pillow. Mortified, she turned away, wrapping the sheet around her bottom, and closed the door behind her. What she planned to do there, she had no idea, but fleeing was the only viable option she could come up with.

Kenzie went straight for the sink and turned on the faucet. She had to let go of the bed sheet in order to splash cold water on her hot cheeks. As she reached for the hand towel hanging on the ring, she got a good look at herself in the mirror. Her hair was wild, a jumbled, tangled mess from going to bed with it wet. Her eyes were swollen red, probably from a lack of sleep, but other than that, her skin glowed. She looked fundamentally different, perhaps forever changed, and she just stood there staring. There was no question that their sex had been amazing. For her, an earth-shattering sexual awakening—one she didn’t have time for at this stage in her life. The bigger problem, and one she hadn’t considered before right this moment, was that it had been life-altering exchange.

The red mark below her right nipple drew her attention from the unwanted thoughts. She reached up to cup her breast, running a fingertip over the small mark, remembering the tender care he’d used to lave each nipple before giving this unexpected little nip. The memory had her shuddering even as she looked around, searching her well-used body for more of these little love bites. She counted seven little hickeys, the biggest on her left inner thigh.

Shaking her head, she had to get out from under these thoughts and away from here. This was a big mistake. One-night stands did not spend the night, at least she didn’t think they did, and a relationship lasting for a couple of weeks most definitely fell in that category. Kenzie opened drawers until she found a brush. She quickly raked it through her hair as she looked around for anything to wear. Her clothes were in the living room, and there was nothing in this bathroom. Not even a robe.

Of course there wasn’t. She sighed.

Quietly placing the brush back inside the drawer, she decided the sheet might make a rustling noise and opted for the bath towel hanging over the shower door. She’d never told Ty how she’d helped her mother prepare this house for the occupants to arrive and she also knew they’d hired her mom to clean the house during Ty’s stay. The idea of her mother laundering these sheets and towels after everything they’d done was almost too much embarrassment for her to take. It made waking up in that bed out there the lesser of those two evils. Her mom would die at her behavior last night.

The scalding of her cheeks stopped her dead in her tracks and she scolded herself. She’d worry about her mother cleaning all this up later. Kenzie was currently living all the embarrassment she could handle at the moment.

Wrapping the towel around her body, Kenzie prayed she’d been here long enough for Ty to have fallen back asleep. She put an ear to the door, listened, and heard nothing from the other side. Reaching for the light switch, she plunged the bathroom into darkness before cracking the door. Quietly, she stuck her head out. She could see nothing until she gave her eyes time to adjust. She waited a second, just listening. All she heard was the even breathing coming from the bed.

Carefully, she walked barefooted through the bedroom, keeping an eye on Ty’s sleeping form. The soft even snores became her motivation. She took a few steps every time he breathed in, watching his face intently the whole time she made her escape.

By the time she made it to the living room, her heart was racing in her chest. Her clothes were scattered all over the room. No idea how that happened. As quietly as she could, she dressed, grabbing her panties and bra as she went in search of her purse. Luckily, it was close to the front door. The clock above the television read four thirty in the morning. If she didn’t hurry, her parents would be awake before she got home.

She went for the front door and stopped in her tracks while reaching for the door knob, debating whether the front or garage door would be the best option to keep the house quiet. The garage door might actually be the best, but then shutting the overhead door… What if he’d set the alarm? She didn’t remember him ever setting the alarm…

Time and desperation drove reason away and she turned the knob in her hand to slowly open the door. Hearing a faint creak, she stopped what she was doing and shimmied through the opening. Once she closed the door behind her, she took off down the porch steps in an almost run, digging in her purse for the truck keys. Thank God they were in the country and didn’t need to worry about locked car doors, she was able to get inside and get the key in the ignition in less than a minute of exiting the house.

Leaving him sleeping in bed was one of the most over-played plot twists in every one-night stand movie she’d seen, but now that she was in this position, she got why they all did this. Facing Ty would have been unbearable. His very experienced yet nonchalant attitude compared to her country girl naivety… She cringed at the thought. He’d probably think it was sweet that she actually stayed the whole night.

With a twist of the wrist, she started the truck, unable to hide the loud noise of the muffler. The truck was in drive and down the driveway before the puff of smoke from the engine had time to form. She drove like a bat escaping hell. This might have been the fastest drive home she’d ever made. Running from the past was all she seemed to understand and clearly she was good at it.

Kenzie pulled into her driveway within ten minutes of leaving Ty’s house. She left the truck parked at the end of the driveway, not wanting the loud engine to wake her parents. The house was still dark and she sprinted across the yard to sneak inside. She bypassed the bathroom and went straight to her bedroom where the anxiety of the last thirty minutes had her climbing on her bed fully clothed, pulling the covers over her head.

The smile curled at Ty’s lips even before coherent thought formed, all because Kenzie’s scent was the first thing he registered when he woke. Last night had been a game-changer. Hell, that wasn’t even correct. It had been a life-changer, easily catapulting their budding attraction into relationship status, and he couldn’t have been happier. Ty Bateman finally had a girlfriend and she fit him perfectly.

He’d known the moment he decided to take this vacation that he’d go back to his fucked-up life as a changed man. He figured it was because he’d finally decide to retire, but that wasn’t it at all. Instead, he’d done the impossible. Ty had met the woman he wanted to date…no that wasn’t quite right. He wanted to ask her to be his forever, but while he’d never been more sure of any decision in his life, he needed to let enough time pass for her to get used to the idea. His mother always said he was the kind of guy who would know instinctively when he found the right woman. She’d lectured him to be very careful, because when it happened, he’d fall hard and fast. Funny how he’d scoffed at her, saying she read too many romance novels, yet in the end, his mom had nailed it.

When his hard-on caused his hips to involuntarily roll in search of Kenzie, Ty was confronted with a new problem. He’d promised himself he’d give her a break today. He’d overdone it last night—not necessarily his fault because she was just so freaking hot, but he’d still taken too much. She’d confessed early on of her lack of sex over the last couple of years, but that hadn’t stopped him from taking her hard and fast, and then slow and gentle, only to do it all again. He couldn’t get enough and apparently that still held true this morning. She had completely rocked his world and relieved every bit of tension he’d had raging inside for months now.

McKenzie Stanton—the woman who managed to set everything right in his world in just a few short days.

Ty reached out his arm, hitting empty space before dropping it back to the bed. He immediately opened his eyes to find an empty bed. Ty lifted his head and looked around the entire room. She was nowhere in sight. His eyes landed on the alarm clock. Ten fifteen. He’d slept the morning away, and the last thing he remembered was something about the restroom. When was that? For all he knew, that could have been just minutes ago.

Flipping back the blankets, Ty scooted to the side of his bed. His thighs were sore from all the thrusting he’d done last night. He couldn’t hold back the smile that broke free. Actually that ache applied to most of the muscles in his body, and he stood, stretching out his limbs. When had he ever had great sex right out of the starting gate? Awkwardness didn’t exist between them, and Kenzie had been feeling it just as much as him. Who would have known she kept a little hellcat hidden inside all that reserved female?

He looked over at the closed door to the bathroom. A gentleman would probably just let her have her privacy. He shrugged. Then again, since he planned on her being with him for the rest of his life, she’d need to get used to his intrusion in her routine from the very beginning.

Ty went to the bathroom door and gave a quick rap of the knuckles before opening the door to a pitch dark room. Ty flipped on the lights and looked around, seeing only a discarded sheet on the floor. Tension formed in his shoulders. He went immediately in search of Kenzie. When he didn’t find her in the kitchen or on the deck, he headed toward the front of the house.

“She couldn’t’ve just fucking left.” Ty yelled the words, ripping the front door open, praying the truck was still parked in the driveway. Totally nude, he went out on the front porch and looked around. His skin bristled under the chilly breeze from the cold front that had finally come through. Ty barely registered the change in temperatures he was so upset, angry on a level he’d never before experienced. The fucking truck was gone. He stalked back inside, slamming the door in his wake. He scanned the living room; her clothes were gone.

“Surely to God she left a note,” he growled and went for the kitchen. When he didn’t find one there, he went back to the bedroom, searching that room, whipping the covers off the bed and found nothing there either.

His heart plummeted. She’d just left.

Ty spun on his heels and stalked back to the living room to grab his blue jeans off the floor. He dug inside the pocket for his phone. With a few swipes of his finger, he started to call her only to stop. If she was someone that would just leave after that amazing night, she would absolutely dodge his call. Fuck that, he was going into town. Fisting his jeans, he took a second to shove his feet in each leg, then hurried straight to his closet to finish dressing.

~~~

With her hands full of mail, Kenzie came through the back door of the store. Somewhere between the time she’d gotten home and just a few minutes ago, the much anticipated cold front had blown through dropping the temperatures outside by at least twenty degrees. The hoodie she wore zipped up to her neck wasn’t enough to ward off that crisp wind roaring through the mountains. “It’s freezing out there, Mama.”

“I know, honey. We should probably close the store up early today. I already sent William home.”

“I can stay. I don’t have anything else going on,” she offered, dumping the mail on the counter in front of her register. There was a lot there. Her parents hated the mail. She had no idea who actually did this when she was gone, but it had always been her job while growing up, one she had resumed upon returning. Kenzie leaned against the counter while she separated the letters from the junk mail, which always got tossed right away.

“Are you ignoring me or did you not hear me? I can’t tell,” her mom asked from right beside her.

“I’m sorry, what did you say?” she replied, thinking back, trying to remember what she’d missed.

“Honey, whatever’s got you down today can’t be that bad.” Like normal, Kenzie put the fake smile on her face, but her mother stood across from her, shaking her head, placing a hand on hers. “That’s not gonna work this time, Kenzie.”

“I don’t wanna talk about it, Mama,” she whispered. The fragile hold she had on her emotions took every bit of her concentrated effort to maintain.

“But you need too. Does it have to do with Ty?” her mom asked, ignoring everything she’d just said.

“Mom…” Kenzie started and dropped all the mail in her hands back down on the counter.

“No, ma’am, start talking. We aren’t doing this again. You keep everything all bottled up. Get to talking before whatever it is blows up,” she said, going around the counter to the back where her barstool sat in front of her register.

“Mom…” Honestly, she’d rather tell her mother that she’d been arrested than talk to her about Ty.

“So you had sex with him last night, and it’s the first time you’ve slept with anyone since Jason. Is that it?” her mother asked point blank. All she could do was blink. She didn’t talk sex with her mother. Besides that awkward facts-of-life discussion, they’d never been like that.

“I’m not comfortable…” she started.

“Kenzie, you’re a grown woman. It’s perfectly normal to do what you did last night. There shouldn’t be any guilt. Sex is a natural behavior between two people.”

“Mom…” Kenzie started again, but stopped herself, dropping her head on top of the stack of mail in defeat. “You’re right. When it happened, it felt right.” After a few seconds pause, Kenzie stiffened her spine and rose, looking at her mother straight in the eye. “I like him, Mom. I do. I like him a lot, but then when I woke up this morning, I just felt wrong. He’s him for God’s sake. He can have any woman he wants and I clearly have a history of picking guys very badly. I guess I felt cheap because there’s zero chance of any kind of future between us,” she explained more for herself than for her mother’s benefit.

“McKenzie, I know you better than anyone. You didn’t feel cheap, because, honey, you’re not a rash person. You made a decision to do what you did. You just got scared. Did you two have a fight?” she asked. Kenzie needed time to process that little bomb of insight. Oh God, her mother was right. She did get scared and that caused her to drop her head on top of the stack of mail again.

“No, Mom, I did much worse than that. I left him sleeping. He didn’t know I bailed,” she said into the counter.

“You left him sleeping? Did you leave a note?’ her mom asked, sounding appalled, which technically did make everything worse.

“Mom, he’s Ty Bateman. He’s not interested in me,” she tried to reason, lifting her head.

“Honey, a man who’s a carnivore doesn’t spend the whole afternoon in a health food store if he’s not interested. I don’t care who he is,” her mother said, maybe a little condescendingly.

“Mom, you’re making it worse!” Kenzie crossed her arms over her chest to help hold herself together. Had she been short-sighted? Could she have hurt his feelings by leaving like she had? Oh God, that was too much to consider. He’d been so nice to her.

“Baby, it’s time to move on with your life. I’ll give you that Jason did a real number on you, but he’s in prison, he can’t hurt you anymore, and I know in my heart those charges against you are gonna be dropped. You need to start living again, baby. You need to see what we all see. You’re beautiful, smart, caring—”

Kenzie stopped her in midsentence with a raised hand. Self-loathing had burrowed in too deep to hear all that again right now.

“I pick really bad men.”

“You picked
one
bad man. I don’t think Ty’s bad, and I’m not sure you picked him as much as he picked you. I could tell that first day in the store he was worth the time. It’s why I pushed you to go over there.”

“Mom, that’s the thing! He’s not bad, but no matter what happens, this is nothing more than a fling. So maybe he didn’t plan to push me out this morning with an ‘I’ll call you sometime,’ but it’s gonna happen at some point. He’s here for a few weeks to rejuvenate and then he’s gone,” she said defensively.

“You don’t know that. Have you had this conversation with him?”

When had her mother become the voice of reason? Kenzie contemplated her mom’s question and, after a second’s pause, realized she’d only been focused on herself. Over and over she’d talked about her desire to be commitment-free. She truly didn’t know what was on Ty’s mind.

“No, I haven’t, but, Mama, he doesn’t know anything about me. So even if he wanted more, he wouldn’t once he knew the truth. If word got out that he was dating someone up on federal charges… Mama, do you really think someone like Ty Bateman would overlook charges as big as possession, conspiracy, and aiding and abetting a known criminal?”

“Shh, Kenzie. All that’s gonna be dismissed, baby. Have faith in your lawyer. And if it’s such a big problem, then tell him about it. Let him make up his own mind. You owe it to yourself to see what this might be. I haven’t ever seen you so excited to spend time with anyone as you are when you’re getting ready to see that young man.” Her mom pushed off the stool and came to stand right in front of her again. “Baby, you need to listen to me. Follow your heart along with your head this time. And if for no other reason, do this for me. I’ve been worried. You’re going through the motions, pretending everything’s okay, acting happy all the time and I know that’s not the case.”

“I’m gonna mess this up, Mama,” Kenzie said. She leaned forward, laying her forehead on her mother’s shoulder. “I’m not very smart.”

Her mom’s arms wrapped around her and Kenzie felt more than heard her mom’s small chuckle. “That’s one thing you are, honey. This is all our fault. We didn’t really prepare you for the real world. You learned that the hard way, but you’re stronger for it now,” her mom said, patting her back as the front door busted opened, the bells rattling like crazy.

“I knew he’d come,” her mother said so quietly that she had to really think about those words to understand their meaning. Once they processed, Kenzie jerked her head up, flipping around to see Ty coming toward them. His normal casual gait and smile were gone. He looked angry and his eyes focused just on her.

“Hello, Ty,” her mom said, stepping away. Kenzie cut panicked eyes to her mother, shocked to see her already headed toward the back of the store. Out of all the times in her life she needed her mom to stay right there with her, she’d just left? Really?

“Mrs. Stanton,” he said in greeting and came within about a foot of Kenzie. He looked so intense she wasn’t sure she could hold his gaze. In all honesty, she truly hadn’t believed she’d ever see Ty again and hadn’t prepared at all for this moment. “Can we talk?”

“Honey, the workroom’s free,” her mother called out from over in the far corner, as far away from them as she could get and yet still be inside the store.

The only problem, the parental rule books were very clear: her mother was supposed to be on her side. Did she not just see how mad Ty was? Frustrated with this whole thing, Kenzie took off for the back door. If she was going to have this conversation, it wasn’t going to be surrounded by a stinky drain where anyone could hear. Never looking back, she headed toward the barn. The only place she could think to give them some privacy.

More than just the wind had her taking long, fast strides, but he was right on her tail. His hard tone asked, “Are we going to the forest?”

“The barn,” she said, equally as clipped as she turned behind the house. Her father’s old shop came into view. It held all his mechanical equipment as well as everything she used in making her furniture. She opened the door and didn’t hold it for Ty. Instead, she moved as far across the room as she could get, putting the biggest table between them before she turned to face off.