Where Forever Lies (19 page)

Paige felt
heat rising in her cheeks and felt like hiding under the table when
she noticed Kyleigh gaping at her. “Oh, my God, Paige. You wore
cowboy boots? When? And why didn’t you tell me all about this?”

Paige
covered her face with her hands, not believing Tyler had just said
that out loud. “Um, it was on our first date.”

She looked
at Kyleigh who, for once, was speechless. Finally, she shook her head
and snapped out of it and said, “Tyler, I’m so
disappointed in you for not getting a picture of this. I would have
paid good money for a picture of her modeling her country gear.”

Tyler
started laughing. “I didn’t realize it was such a big
deal for her to wear them or else I would have taken a picture,”
he said still laughing.

“Yeah,
this is the girl who is adamantly against anything redneckish and
come to find out she’s secretly slipping on cowboy boots behind
my back. What have you done to her?”

“Well,
she really didn’t have a choice when she was helping me wrangle
up the loose horses,” Tyler stated.

Paige
didn’t think Kyleigh’s eyes could get any bigger but they
now looked as if they were about to pop out of their sockets. “You
were helping catch horses? You don’t even like animals,”
Kyleigh announced.

Despising
all the commotion centering on her lack of love for animals and her
choice of clothing, Paige figured she’d better defend herself.
“I do like animals; I’m just not an animal person. And
cowboy boots are fine, even sexy on some people,” she said,
meeting Tyler’s eyes, “but they’re just not my
style, thank you very much. Now, I think we all need to forget about
that adventure and listen to the band we all came here to see.”

She could
see them all smirking at her as she turned her attention back to the
band, doing her best to ignore them all. It worked and within minutes
Kyleigh had dropped the subject—for now—and continued
drinking her beer and talking to David.

A few
minutes later a slower, mellower song came on and as she went to take
a sip of her beer, she felt Tyler lean in closer to her. He began to
hum to the beat of the song, and every so often his lips would brush
against the edge of her ear, making waves of pleasure roll through
her body. Feeling him this close, teasing her with his lips was
putting her over the edge. She leaned into him, wanting to feel his
body close to hers. He carefully brushed her hair back away from her
cheek and slowly let his lips graze her skin. It was slow and
deliberate, making her feel the sensation down to her toes.

Tyler
licked his lips and whispered in her ear, “Are you ready to
leave?”

Paige
couldn’t stop the smile from appearing on her face, it was
something she couldn’t control for once. She wanted more than
anything to be alone with him right now. She barely got her answer
out. “Yes.”

She leaned
into Kyleigh and mumbled against her hair, “I’m leaving.
Have fun with David. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

Kyleigh
just smiled as she said teasingly, “I already know I will, but
make sure you do, too.” She gave Paige a subtle wink and shooed
her out of there.

♥♥♥

Tyler
reached out and grabbed Paige’s hand as they exited the club,
leading her out onto the sidewalk and down a couple of blocks to
where he’d parked his truck. He wasn’t sure what she
thought of his blatant affectionate gestures tonight but from what he
could tell, she didn’t seem to mind. He thought she seemed to
like it. He couldn’t believe the luck in running into her here.
She’d been on his mind a lot lately, and needing some alone
time, he’d come to Moirai to relax a little and get away from
his mundane life in the country, never thinking he’d see her
here. It seemed a little strange. With Brandon at a friend’s
house for the weekend again, he couldn’t imagine another night
sitting alone in his house. He hated the weekends when Brandon didn’t
come down, but he knew his son also had friends he wanted to see and
spend time with.

They
finally got to the side street where he’d parked and they
climbed into his old truck. Ol’ Betsy looked out of place
sitting in the middle of downtown Sweet Haven but her uniqueness was
what he loved about the old truck. He didn’t see too many of
them out anymore.

The night
was warm and breezy, making it a perfect night to roll the windows
down and let the air drift in. He started the truck and glanced over
at Paige. She looked beautiful tonight. Her hair was lightly curled,
she had just a touch of make up on and the cute white shirt showed
just enough cleavage to make his eyes wander too much. He tore his
gaze away and began to drive down the road.

“Where
do you want to go?” he questioned as he slowed down for a
stoplight.

She gave
it some thought and said, “Well, we could go back to my place
and have a glass of wine. I don’t live too far from here
anyway.” Tyler noticed that she’d said it quietly, almost
as if she was afraid of his answer. Or afraid of what he thought of
her inviting him over. He didn’t know why she would worry about
that. He didn’t think badly of her at all. From what he could
tell, she seemed to really have her life together and she seemed like
a great mom. Those were two positives in his opinion.

Tyler
tried to contain the smile that wanted to take over his face, knowing
it would probably make her feel uncomfortable to see how excited he
was to go to her place. She’d probably start to panic, thinking
he was some pervert or something. But, he couldn’t stop his
thoughts from venturing in that direction. He was a guy and this time
he couldn’t help it when a little bit of his smile slipped out.

They
pulled into her apartment building and got out. He followed behind as
she led him up the stairs to her apartment. She unlocked the door,
and once inside, he found
he
was a little nervous. He wanted to take things slowly with her, but
at the same time he had never wanted one woman so badly in his life.
Behaving while being alone in her place was going to be hard, but
he’d do it to show her that he wanted something more than just
sex from her.

“Would
you like something to drink?” she asked as she undid her shoes
and slipped them off. He watched as she slowly unfastened the latch
on the other shoe and slowly massage the top of her foot before he
remembered her question.

“Uh,
yeah. You wouldn’t happen to have a beer, would ya?”

With a
raised eyebrow, she opened up the fridge and revealed a case of beer
along with a bottle of wine. “Pick one.”

Tyler
grinned, thinking there wasn’t anything sexier than a girl with
a refrigerator stocked with alcohol. It shocked him a little because
he didn’t think she drank that much. Of course he noticed there
was plenty of actual food in there as well. Mostly healthy food from
what he could see.

As if
reading his thoughts she said with a smile, “I like to have a
drink occasionally after work and after Kyra goes to bed. It helps me
unwind from a long day, so don’t judge me.” She pulled
out the wine bottle and poured herself a glass, not quite meeting his
eyes. He could tell she was hesitant and unsure about having him here
and it made him want to pull her into his arms and kiss all her
insecurities away.

“No
judging here, I’m sure being a nurse is more than stressful,”
Tyler said as he popped the top on his beer.

Paige
leaned against the counter and studied him for a moment before
saying, “Yes, it is. I was really surprised to see you at
Moirai. It seems a little out of your element.” He watched as
she placed her lips to the glass of wine and then he reluctantly
pulled his eyes away. He was finding it hard to stay focused on their
conversation because every little thing she did had a sexual vibe to
him. It seemed to pour out of her.

“Yeah,
it is, but I really love listening to blues and I needed to get out
and do some thinking.” Tyler took a sip of his beer, meeting
Paige’s eyes over his bottle.

He watched
as she carefully swirled the wine around in her glass, looking as if
she was in deep thought about something. Finally she said, “I
love blues music too. Isn’t that strange? Who would’ve
thought two people with totally different backgrounds would both love
blues? Maybe we’re more alike than we think?” She locked
her eyes with his, her stare carving into him in a way he’d
never felt before. She made him feel like she noticed every little
thing about him and that thought terrified him but also made him feel
alive. He wanted her to know everything about him, he just hoped she
liked what she saw.

The
feeling in the room was shifting, turning a corner that made Tyler
want to drop his beer bottle on the floor and wrap his arms around
her. He couldn’t deny the attraction they had for each other.
He couldn’t pretend he didn’t think it was odd that he
kept constantly running into her. It was all too much of a
coincidence. They were like magnets that constantly pulled towards
each other, finding one another even in a busy, crowded world.

Was it
fate? He didn’t know. That word had never come into his
thoughts before, except when he was watching a movie or something.
Even then, he never really believed in it. But now, he was wondering
if fate was making its presence known in his life, giving him no
choice but to believe.

He set his
beer bottle on the counter, he couldn’t take it anymore. If he
didn’t get his lips on hers in the next few seconds, he’d
go mad. As he stood in front of her, he slipped her wine glass out of
her hand and placed it on the counter. She didn’t hesitate or
say a word and that turned him on even more.

He gently
cupped her cheek in his hand, feeling her soft skin beneath. “I
need to kiss you, Paige. I need to feel your lips on mine before you
drive me crazy.” He leaned down and kissed her, pulling her
bottom lip into his mouth and tasting the bitterness of the wine on
her lips. The feeling of her hands clinging to his neck in an urgent
way was almost more than he could handle. After several intense
moments, he pulled away before he couldn’t control himself any
longer. He didn’t want to be too aggressive, even though that
desire was dying to come out.

Rubbing
his thumb against her wet lips, he whispered, “You are too
much, Paige Griffin. I don’t know how you are able to turn
someone like me into a pile of mush, but you do.”

Her lips
curved into a smile as she stared up into his eyes. “I think
you are full of it,” she said, laughing.

“No,
you do crazy things to me. I can’t really explain it.”

“Uh
huh, sure, Tyler.” She pushed away from him, grabbed her wine
glass and headed towards the balcony, not saying a word, just giving
him a flirtatious look over her shoulder.

Tyler
grabbed his beer and hurriedly followed her, curious as to what she
had on her mind.

Leaning
her face down to the telescope, Paige peered out into the endless
black sky. It was a beautiful sight. She took her eyes away from it
and looked at Tyler. “Do you want to take a look?” she
asked, not sure what he’d think of it. She doubted it would
make him feel the way it made her feel.

“Sure.”
He leaned in close to her and peered into the telescope. She watched
him for a moment as he moved it around just a bit. He was quiet the
whole time as he studied the view. After several minutes, he finally
took his eyes away and said, “It’s breathtaking. Is this
where you come out to relax at night?”

Paige took
a sip of wine and then said, “Yeah. It’s my little slice
of peace out here. I love it. It’s one of the few places where
I feel that my mind will actually rest for a minute.”

He looked
at her for a minute and she could tell he was contemplating asking
questions. She drew in a breath and decided that opening up couldn’t
hurt. It might even be good for her soul and for some odd reason she
felt that she could trust him. “When I told you I’d had a
rough year, it was no joke. I’ve lost two people who were very
close to me in a short time and it’s been a tough road coping
with it all.” She broke her gaze away from him and looked out
into the night. She didn’t know how to put her loss into words
that could describe how she truly felt. How do you explain your grief
to someone and expect them to understand and to know what you’re
really feeling? Words couldn’t do her feelings any justice.
They were just a thin layer compared to how deep her hurt went.

Tyler was
quiet as he waited for her to continue, and she exhaled a long
breath, hoping to gather her inner strength to let him into her
heart. At last she found the words that seemed to be buried deep
within her, and said, “A close friend of mine committed suicide
last year and then a short time after that Kyra’s dad died in a
motorcycle accident.”

She heard
him let out a deep breath and then felt the warmth of his body
leaning into her, his hands were on her back, gently rubbing as she
leaned over the black railing and stared into the nearly vacant
street below. Tears were threatening to show themselves and she
wanted to push them away but she knew they were inevitable. She hated
crying. It always made her feel weak, as if she couldn’t handle
the situation that was laid out before her. But she knew that wasn’t
true. Crying wasn’t a sign of weakness. It was a sign of
strength. You had to be a strong person to let someone see you at
your weakest.

He leaned
into her and murmured, “I am so, so, sorry, Paige. I can’t
imagine all you’ve had to go through, and I wish I could take
all that pain away for you.”

The tears
finally fell and she welcomed them. She wanted Tyler to know her and
see who she was inside and out. He pulled her into him and wrapped
his arms protectively around her. Her sobs echoed against the
building as she finally let her feelings go. The need for her to
control her emotions, the anxiety, it was all gone for the moment as
he held her against him. She was completely vulnerable to him but she
felt that was okay because he made her feel safe.