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Ty’s breath hitched. “I remember that day like it was yesterday.” He looked into his tea, his smile fading just a bit. “I’m surprised my mom talked about Beck. She normally doesn’t.”
“I asked her about him.”
Ty’s eyes snapped up to mine. “You did?”
Taking a sip of the tea, I let the warmth slide down my throat and heat my entire body. “Yes. I know what it’s like to hold something inside, to fear talking about it, because then it becomes too real again. It didn’t take me long to see that your mom never spoke about Beck. Your daddy does when it’s just him. He’s mentioned Beck a few times, and I see the hurt in his eyes. Tanner talks about him too. You, Brock, and your mama, y’all keep it all inside. You both take after her in that sense. Keeping your feelings inside, locked up nice and tight where they’re safe. Where the vulnerability can’t get to you.”
Ty stared at me for the longest moment. Then he chuckled.
“I think there’s just something about you, Kaylee, that makes people open up. You have something very special inside of you, and they see that.”
“What about you?”
He huffed. “What about me?”
“That day, in the kitchen . . . you wouldn’t have taken them. You know that, right?”
His entire body went stiff. His blue eyes turned sad, but he never broke the contact his gaze had with mine. “I’m not so sure you’re right. I almost did, but you did a helluva good job at distracting me.”
I smiled, feeling my cheeks heat as I glanced down at my tea and then back to him. My smile faded, and I could practically feel my heart beating out of my chest. “You wouldn’t have taken them, Ty.” My voice was barely a whisper.
In that moment, he looked so lost and confused. A million different emotions swept over his face before he finally swallowed hard and shrugged. “I know my desire to not take them was stronger than the urge I had to take them.”
The corners of my mouth rose slightly, and I nodded.
He took another drink of his tea and then stood. “I think I’m going to go stoke the fire and climb back under the covers. You need help going to the restroom again? I wouldn’t mind taking another peek at those cute little lacy panties of yours.” He waggled his brows before walking over to the sink.
“I think one peep show is plenty for you in a twenty-four-hour period. I’m fine. But if you want to sleep on the sofa with me, you can.”
He looked like I had just jabbed him with the hot poker he used on the firewood. “Um, I mean, if you’re cold I can. Otherwise, I’m fine.”
“It’s freezing in here, and I’ll be honest: I slept better with your body next to mine.”
Oh. My. God. What had I just done? I could practically feel my cheeks turning six shades of pink. I lied—okay, maybe it wasn’t all a lie. I had slept better in Ty’s arms.
I’m pathetic, I thought. I can’t seem to let this man go. It looked like I was ready to use any excuse to have him near me.
“Um. Okay, yeah.”
I slowly stood; the pain in my tailbone was easing up. “Maybe I’ll take a few more ibuprofen also.”
Ty quickly got a bottle of water from the refrigerator and handed it to me, then a couple of pills.
“Do you need me to put the ice pack between us?”
Oh, man, I really could’ve come back with a smart-ass answer about him needing to have it there to keep his dick down, but I let it go. I swallowed both pills and shook my head. “We didn’t put it back in the freezer, but I think I’m okay.”
He nodded and gave me a befuddled, possibly anxious look. Why did sleeping with me on the sofa make him so nervous? Maybe Ty really did have feelings for me, and he didn’t know how to deal with them? It wasn’t a secret he had been a player, but from what I’d seen the last few months, he’d hardly gone out with anyone.
There was the girl from the bar the other night, though. That memory caused my stomach to feel a little sick.
I followed him into the living room and watched as he messed with the logs and got the fire going again. He put two more on the fire and then looked back at the sofa. Was that hesitation?
“You get on first—that way you don’t have to crawl over me,” I said. I couldn’t help the small smile that was tugging at the corners of my mouth. I was rather enjoying this side of Ty Shaw. Unsure. Nervous. Scared, maybe? From what I’d heard from other women in town, the man knew his way around a woman’s body, but the thought of being near me seemed to make him want to run out into the snowstorm.
