Page 50 of Return to Me Always

An arm holding a steaming mug reached into the tent's opening. "Here," Tyler's voice said. "This'll help."

"Thanks," I managed to say.

How on earth could I face him today? Sipping on my hot chocolate, I realized the only option was to play the drunk card. Whether he would believe me or not, I didn't know. But it was worth a try to save face.

Next, some food appeared in the tent courtesy of Tyler. "This ought to help too."

The way he was acting warmed my heart. Usually, we worked as a team to get everything ready in the morning—and at night—but today, he was almost catering to me, probably because he knew I'd be hungover.

Tyler was right. Hot chocolate and breakfast had definitely helped, and I felt a little more ready to tackle the day. Although there was that one awful thing I had to take care of—Tyler, I'm falling for you. Tyler, I'm falling for you.

I groaned again, still in disbelief that I had actually said that. Just because it was true didn't mean I had to freaking say it. Well, it wasn't exactly true. I wasn't falling for him. I hadalreadyfallen for him.

"Feeling any better?" Tyler called out against the sound of him zipping his bag.

"Yep. Much better. Thank you." That was it. Time to face him. As I emerged from the tent, I attempted to act all casual. "So, uh, you know, sorry for anything I said and did last night. I was really, really drunk."

He stopped mid-packing to look at me, really look at me, as that sexy damn smile hit me full force right in the chest, making my heart gallop. "Right. Drunk. Okay. No problem."

After a charged moment of staring at each other, Tyler returned to cleaning up. Oh, he was impossible. Of course, he wasn't going to make it easy for me, was he?

If I kept on talking about it, though, it was going to get even more awkward. So I decided to just shut up and try to move on. I needed to focus on keeping my hands—and lips—to myself and try not to say anything more about my stupid feelings.

Ben's tent was gone and his backpack leaned up against a nearby tree. "Hey, where's Ben?"

"He went back to the inn to return a few things and throw out all our rubbish."

Ah, so we were alone. At least for a few minutes. This time, I vowed not to kiss him like the last few times we'd been by ourselves. I also remembered my thoughts last night about the picture and figured why not ask him now.

Moving closer to Tyler, I helped him break down the tent. "So when we were in London, you know, in that apartment," I began, "I saw something that I've been meaning to ask you about."

"Okay," he said, drawing out the word like he was unsure what was going to come out of my mouth.

The food in my stomach turned heavy all the sudden, but I was determined to forge on. "So I saw some kind of drawing in that box."

He stopped for a second but then continued rolling up the tent.

"And well..." I suddenly wasn't sure exactly what to say. "Well, um, the drawing looked like me."

Silence. No reply. Not even a glance over at me.

"You're not going to say anything?" I said in disbelief.

Kneeling, he shoved a few final items into his pack. "What do you want me to say?"

"Anything! Just tell me what's going on," I begged.

Still silence.

My anger exploded as he stood up to face me. "Let me guess. You want me to just trust you. You're always asking me to trust you, but when areyougoing to start trustingme?"

"I do trust you."

"Okay. Then why won't you tell me anything? I'm supposed to trust you and go along with you wherever the hell you're taking us?" My hands clenched in fists at my sides while I attempted to keep control. "Well, I'm getting really sick of it."

He sighed and put down the backpack. "I get that. I really do. It's just..."

"It's just what, Tyler? What?"

---