Page 31 of Be With Me

And no matter what he might say, he had doubts, too. Why else would he have stopped kissing me the night of the shoot? He’d looked at me like he’d had no idea who I was, or what he was doing there.

Well, buddy, that made two of us.

With all of this shit bouncing around in my head and feeling so horny I was afraid I’d embarrass myself, I almost called and cancelled our date tonight, but in the end, I dried my hair in messy waves and got dressed. Nothing too fancy, just jeans, my favorite boots, and a soft, pale mauve, long-sleeved sweater. Some minimal makeup, my jacket with the big hood, and I was ready for the rain.

And whatever else might happen.

Fingers crossed.

I tried to think what Stef would do. She was always telling me I needed to get out more, have some fun. And maybe she was right. My life was all work and no play. What would it hurt to have a little casual fun with a guy who made me feel good? Someone who made me feel young, like a woman again. I should stop overthinking everything and just go with it for however long it lasted, which probably wouldn’t be very long at all given my history with men.

But as soon as I pushed open the door to my building and saw Tyler standing in the rain, waiting for me—for me—I knew I was only trying to fool myself. There was nothing casual at all about my feelings for this man.

He was dressed all in black again, but not in sweats. Oh no. This time, he wore jeans that hugged his powerful legs, black boots with thick soles, and a stylish black raincoat that came almost to mid-thigh. His hair was damp. His eyes burned through me. And I felt the surge of desire that rushed through him at my appearance on the stoop reverberate in me. This man was too much, a fantasy from my deepest, darkest desire come to life.

When I could only stand there and stare, one side of his mouth lifted in a cocky smile and his eyes darkened as they raked over me from head to toe.

Good God.

Taking a deep breath to steady myself, I joined him on the sidewalk. I had little choice, really. I was drawn to him, like a magnet. “Hey.” My voice was a little shaky, but I lifted my chin in defiance of my failing courage.

“Are you ready?”

Chills ran through me at those three simple words. Was I? “Yeah, I’m ready.” As ready as I’d ever be.

He made no move to leave as his eyes travelled over my face and hair, then dropped down to the front of my conservative sweater beneath my open jacket. That little, secretive smile appeared again, and it hit me that my unwitting attempt to hide a part of myself from him—even if it was just my cleavage—had backfired completely. When his gaze gradually drifted back to mine, the carnal heat burning within brought a rush of blood to my cheeks.

Despite the promises darkening his eyes, he shoved his hands into his front pockets, and I noticed he did that a lot around me. A nervous reaction? Or to keep from touching me? My ego preferred to think it was the latter.

“Look,” he told me, his voice a bit gruff. “I know this has all been a bit…intense. This thing between us. So, I thought it would be good to go somewhere fun and just, I don’t know, hang out.”

“Oh, okay,” I said.

But I don’t think I successfully hid my surprise, because he smiled again and reached out with one hand to tuck my hair back behind my ear. “We have lots of time, Ailee.”

He was lying. I felt it all the way to my bones.

But, why would that be a lie? We did have time. At least some. I wasn’t quite that old. I mean, I wasn’t one foot in the grave or anything, but I wasn’t a young girl, either. I smiled back at him to hide my growing disappointment. Which was weird, considering I’d been ready to call off this whole thing less than an hour ago. “What did you have in mind?”

Instead of answering me, he held out his hand. “Come on.”

I slid my cold fingers through his. He held on tight, covering our joined fingers with his other hand to warm them before we started walking. My mind went resolutely blank as we strolled down the street, and I kept my focus on putting one foot in front of the other without tripping over the cracks in the sidewalk. It took me a minute to realize we were headed to the bus stop. “We’re taking a bus?”

He glanced down at me, his expression unsure. “I hope that’s okay.”

He looked so frazzled by my question, I hurried to reassure him. “Yeah! Yeah, that’s fine. I take the bus all the time. I’m just surprised is all.”

“Yeah, um. I don’t drive. Never got my driver’s license. And living here, I don’t need to. Public transportation gets me anywhere I want to go. The only time it sucks is when it’s really raining. But I’m pretty used to it. This is Seattle, after all.”

We stepped under the shelter. There was only one other person there, an older man who was half-asleep on the bench. “So, Willow seems nice,” I said.

Tyler checked the time on his phone and then shoved it back into the pocket of his rain jacket. He seemed distracted when he answered me. “You met Willow?”

Those red flags, previously weighted down by the urgency of my sexual needs, gave a flap. “Uh, yeah. I saw you guys in the city, at Whole Foods. Remember?”

He looked confused for a moment, but then his expression cleared and a smile broke out. “Oh yeah! That’s right. I almost forgot.” But his eyes were guarded.

“Tyler? What’s going on?”

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