Page 25 of Tempting the Heart

He shook his head slowly. “Here’s the thing.” His thumb moved slowly along the bare skin of my shoulder. “I knew if I saw you and had to say goodbye, I wouldn’t leave. I wouldn’t get away from my parents.”

The words sounded so nice, but I couldn’t believe them. Why would I have made him stay? We weren’t even together.

I smiled and touched his cheek gently, rubbing my thumb along the whiskers from missing a day of shaving, and I shook my head. “Tyler, we weren’t together. We weren’t… anything.”

He cocked his head slightly and took a step back, dropping his hand to his side. “That’s what you think?”

Taking a deep breath, I nodded. “It’s what I know. We never…”

“You think we had to have had sex to make me fall for you?” He shook his head and sighed, looking across the beach. “Mae, your brother’s great, but it was you I wanted to be around. You were why I stayed for dinner all those nights. You were why I slept over in Brad’s room, just hoping I’d get a chance to talk with you in the morning. Or why I hitched a ride to the fair with your family and tagged along on weekend trips. You were why I suddenly loved going to the library.” His shoulders lifted in slow defeat. “But I…”

I grabbed his hand to silence him. There was so much I wanted to tell him about how much I dreamed about him as a teenager and then as a young adult. How I wondered what he was up to all these years but wasn’t brave enough to look him up just in case…

In case he found someone to start a family with, to forget about Marigold Island, to grow old with. I watched the tide slowly return to the sea, revealing the shiny pebbles and pieces of chunky sand.

Squeezing his hand, I looked at him and smiled. “I always had a crush on you, Tyler. But I recognized it for what it was. A crush, right? Because we don’t know each other.”

“That’s not true, Mae. You knew me better than I knew myself. You were the one who made me believe in my dreams as a rowdy teenager. You reminded me how easily I could put myself first and reach for the stars.”

My stomach knotted in uncertainty. Not because this wasn’t the exact moment I fantasized about, but because it was, and I’d never made it past this point in my mind.

I had nothing to say or do. The truth was that I’d allowed myself to become stunted and shied away from the idea of love because I was too terrified to try it out. I saw my siblings all give love a go over the years, and until recently, all had utterly failed and been hurt in the meantime. It’s one of the reasons I loved my house. The size was barely big enough for me.

“This is a lot to take in, Tyler.”

His gaze stayed on me as I stared at the beach. “I didn’t mean to come on so strong. It’s just seeing you here, and in your element… it just all came out. I shouldn’t have—”

I brought my eyes to him, wishing I had the exact right words. “I kind of dreamed about this moment, to be honest.”

A flicker of hope dashed through his gaze. “Seriously?”

Nodding, I crossed my arms over my chest, almost embracing myself from the warm breeze and keeping my distance from the reality I didn’t expect. “I knew it was silly to daydream about you, but it turned into my safety net.”

He took a step forward, and I straightened. “What do you mean?”

“I just never really put myself out there,” I confessed. “Dating wasn’t my thing.”

“I don’t think it’s anyone’s thing.” He laughed, shaking his head, but his smile dropped when he saw the seriousness behind my gaze. “Wait. Like, not at all?”

“Pretty much.” A tinge of embarrassment sparked in me, but I brushed it away. Why should I be embarrassed for not being experienced, for guarding my heart?

My hands dropped to my side, and I smoothed my palms over the skirt of my dress. I wanted to tell him I loved it when he was over at our house, and I planned ways to get him away from Brad to hang out, but I didn’t.

Instead, I smiled at Tyler and let the warm feelings coat over me as we stared at one another. There wasn’t any weird awkwardness, just uncertainty.

“Anyway, I came over in the hopes of taking you out, and you having a blast with me and then getting to know me, and then maybe I could impress you…” He laughed and smoothed his hands over his face and groaned a deep, guttural sound that made my insides happily warm. “Instead, I came off as a blubbering idiot confessing my puppy love for my friend’s sister.”

I chuckled as his hands dropped to his sides, and he grinned.

“At least you look sexy doing it.” My brows moved up and down.

Tyler laughed and shook his head. “Sexy?”

“Oh, yeah.” I reached over and squeezed his biceps. “And look at these hulks. I mean, who wouldn’t fall for a guy with bulging biceps?”

Tyler shook his head, grinning. “Is that all I am to you? A piece of meat?”

“A scrumptious one at that,” I teased, opening my arms.

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