Page 48 of Be With Me

Chapter 16

Ailee

Ilooked around at the pile of clothes I’d thrown on the floor of my closet in the last hour. There had to be something there that was suitable for a “first time you’re seeing your boyfriend in two months” date.

Was it a date? I assumed it was a date. But maybe boyfriend was a strong word. Although, the last time I’d seen Tyler was our movie day, and that sure as hell had not felt like a date. Nothing at all like our night at the casino, which had been nothing but hours of foreplay.

I pressed the heels of my hands to my forehead. What if it wasn’t a date? What if this was a “Hey, I’m back but only to pack my stuff because I’m moving home and it was nice knowing ya” kind of thing?

Oh God, I had no idea what to wear for that.

Glancing out the door at the clock on my nightstand, I cursed. Tyler would be here in ten minutes. I took a deep breath. Well, if he was going to break up with me, I was damn well going to be comfortable while I drowned my sorrows in the half gallon of ice cream I’d picked up earlier. Just in case.

Black yoga pants and a long-sleeved, baby-blue thermal shirt it was. Fuzzy socks completed the outfit. I figured it was my best bet. Yoga pants were both comfy and sexy, so that could go either way. I brushed my hair and left it loose. It was getting long and hung well past my shoulders. I’d put on minimal makeup after my shower. Didn’t want mascara running down my cheeks. That was not a good look on me. I knew this from previous experience.

Oh, God. I wasn’t ready for him to break up with me. Dammit.

Dressed and ready, I wandered out to the kitchen to make some tea. The silence in my apartment was deafening, so I set my phone down by my little kitchen speaker and turned on some music. Trouble by Halsey was playing on Spotify, and I almost laughed at how perfectly it suited this exact moment. With a tap to my phone screen, I put it on repeat.

My stomach growled in protest of my spontaneous fasting, but I didn’t think I’d be able to eat. I’d been in knots since Tyler had called the night before asking if he could come over and see me. I hadn’t even known he was back in town, and he’d just texted me the day before that.

I resisted the urge to rub my tired eyes as I tried to recall if he’d said anything about it, but I was positive he hadn’t. While he was gone, he’d called me about once a week, and texted almost every day, but mostly we’d chatted about a whole lot of nothing. Other than saying he was helping his foster dad out with his business, a business I still knew nothing about, we spent most of our conversations talking about me and what I was doing and who I was shooting that week. I told him about an opportunity that had come up to have my photos in a local magazine, and how my daughter had called to invite me to come see her over the holidays.

For the most part, it had all been very civil and friendly and not at all like the fiery man I’d come to know. Yet, on occasion, he would tell me that he missed me, his voice raw and full of need. And in those moments, I caught glimpses of the Tyler I knew and the connection between us was still there. Rare, but real.

Three soft knocks on my door had my heart pounding. I stared at it for a moment, frozen, afraid. It took a few seconds before I convinced my feet to move. I slid the deadbolt, turned the knob, and opened the door wide.

Tyler stood there looking like sin in a gray skull cap, a fitted black jacket, black jeans and boots. His hands were in his pockets and his eyes were black in the dim lighting of the hallway, yet they burned me alive as they swept over my face and down my body.

Blood rushed to my nether regions so fast I got lightheaded.

Oh, God.

“Can I come in?” he asked. “I need to come in, Ailee. Please.”

I realized I was blocking the doorway and quickly stepped back. “Of course. Come in.”

With one powerful step he was inside with the door closed and sweeping me up into his arms. “I missed you so much.”

My arms went around his neck. Oh God. I’d missed him, too. More than I’d realized until just this very moment. “I missed you, too.” He smelled like soap and something woodsy and masculine. I wanted to crawl inside his clothes with him. Emotions welled up inside of me. Emotions I hadn’t felt for a man in…well, never. They were real and obsessive and raw, and too much. It was all too much.

“I’m so sorry I took off like that.” Taking my face between his large palms, his eyes bored into mine. “I never meant to be gone so long.”

I tried to play it cool. “That’s okay. Things come up. You did what you had to do.”

One side of his mouth turned up in response. His eyes travelled over my face. “I almost forgot how pretty you are.”

Tears filled my eyes, but before he could notice, he was kissing me.

My hands gripped the front of his coat and I hung on for all I was worth, praying my knees wouldn’t give out. How was this happening? How had I ended up here? Clinging to a man like he was my lifeline. This wasn’t what I wanted.

Before I could go any farther down that trail of thought, I was spun around and my back was up against the door.

Tyler broke off the kiss and stepped back just far enough to rip his coat from his body, revealing a gray T-shirt pulled tight across his muscular chest. His eyes never left my face, my mouth, dipped down to my breasts. And then he was against me, one hand in my hair and his mouth slamming down on mine. I moaned at the warmth of his body. The taste of him. The delicious scent of him. The strength of his arms around me. The hard press of his body.

God, I wanted him. I couldn’t deny it. The entire time he’d been gone, I’d walked around in a fog, going through the motions of my life, and yet never really feeling alive.

Tyler made me feel alive. And I craved this feeling like a drug.

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