Page 15 of For Always
“Fine,” he replied with a quick nod. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
And then she was gone.
Tyler stood there watching her walk toward the resort. He stared until he could vaguely see her silhouette going through the glass doors of the facility. And then he sighed. He was messing up everything.
It was dark and starting to rain.
Gloved hands shook as they hovered over the door knob. It would be locked. It didn’t matter. It wasn’t time anyway. When it was time everything would fall into place. When it was time there would be pain. That was inevitable. Lessons that needed to be learned were hard and thus pain was a given. Stopping everything else to see this through was also inevitable.
It was destiny.
Gabriella stepped out of the shower and froze.
She’d left the bathroom door open because she was in the room alone and she’d started leaving doors open before she left Connecticut. She didn’t like closed doors or tight spaces, or being alone. But she was an adult and she’d refused to be beat by another person’s nonsense. Still, with her bravado firmly in place, she grabbed a towel and wrapped it around herself before heading out to the bedroom area.
And she heard it again. That same sound from just a moment ago.
Was someone at the door?
She stood there waiting for them to knock or maybe call out to here. She didn’t know. She was being foolish. And so she moved, walking across the room to the bed where she’d set her nightgown and a bottle of lotion.
Dropping the towel, Gabriella sat on the bed and picked up the bottle. She poured jasmine scented lotion into her hands and began to rub it over her legs and thighs. The moment she touched her sensitive skin, thoughts of Tyler and the kiss they’d shared came rushing to her mind.
What had she been thinking?
It hadn’t been of kissing him, she was sure. She didn’t think like that, not anymore. Not in the last six months. Any type of sexual or intimate contact with a man had been the last thing on her mind as she’d gone through the most difficult time in her life. Yet tonight, she’d willingly kissed Tyler back.
Again, what had she been thinking? He was her client. A very big client whose project could take her career to the next level. Gabriella had so much riding on this job and already the brother and his fiancé didn’t care for her. The last thing she needed was to let some physical attraction interfere with her last lifeline to this job. Because even though Dessie had been responsible for bringing her here, Tyler was clearly the one calling the shots at this point. Which was an even better reason she had for regretting that kiss.
No matter how good it had felt.
She rubbed the lotion up her bare arms, remembering the times during the dinner that he’d touched her. Three times total, she recalled. At the small of her back when he’d directed her to take a seat at the table, on her arm as he interrupted Jagger’s questions and then when they’d been alone under the dark of night and his strong hand had clasped the back of her neck. There’d been a bit of force in that motion and while she should have detested that, should have hated that he would make the assumption that she wanted him to touch her without asking permission, Gabriella had liked it. She’d liked how instantly sexy it had made her feel. How just that touch had aroused her in the seconds before his mouth took over.
A loud thump from the direction of the balcony had Gabriella jumping on the bed. She hurriedly closed the top over the lotion and set it on the nightstand before standing and pulling the nightgown over her head. As the material fell down to her thighs she walked barefoot across the wood floor toward the patio doors. When she’d come in tonight she’d pulled the blinds closed. Now, she stood to the side of the window and tilted one blind so that she could peek through.
Nothing, but drops of rain on the glass and beyond that, darkness.
Sighing and only half believing this was her imagination this time, Gabriella double-checked that the patio door was locked. She went to the front entrance of the room and checked the locks on those doors as well. Then she moved back to the bed and removed her cell phone from the charger on the nightstand. Climbing into bed she tucked the phone beneath the pillow and turned out the light. She might not get any sleep tonight and she might also be overreacting, either way, the next noise she heard she was calling the police.
She wasn’t taking any chances. Not again.
Chapter 5
Tyler finished the sixty ounce tumbler of water he’d been drinking since waking at dawn. With his morning workout complete, the plan now, was to go for a run and check to be sure there were no more intrusions on the property. He wasn’t sure when he would be returning to L.A., so he’d purchased a few pieces of exercise equipment and set them up in the room that used to be reserved for their boxes of off-season clothes. Tyler was staying in his childhood bedroom, sleeping in the full-size bed and reliving too many memories to count. The master suite was large and could have easily fit the exercise equipment along with the four post California King Bed and all the matching heavy oak furniture. But that was his parents’ room. It always had been.
He’d just snapped the cap onto the tumbler and walked into the kitchen when he remembered that he was no longer alone in the house. Jagger sat at the glossed mahogany wood table across from the island in the spacious kitchen. Dessie was at the sink on the other side of the island washing apples and setting them into a bowl.
“She’s silly acting and rude,” Dessie was saying to Jagger as Tyler walked in. “Tell him Tyler. Somebody needs to teach his friend some manners. Verna would have never tolerated her sitting at a table acting that way.”
“Mom’s not here and Brooke is an adult,” Jagger stated as he stared down at the newspaper on the table in front of him. “If you have something to say to her, say it to her face. She was up late touring the property, but she’ll be down soon.”
“Oh, don’t think I won’t,” Dessie countered and then slapped the handle to turn off the water. “And don’t you forget who used to help change your diapers and chase your little fast tail around the ranch either.”
Jagger looked up as Tyler pulled out a chair and sat across from him. His brother shook his head and Tyler thought this scene was all too familiar.
“Maybe she was just saying what Jagger was thinking, Dessie,” Tyler commented and then grinned as Jagger groaned.
“Probably. Or more like, what he put into her head about this family and this situation.” Dessie shook her head and pulled out one of the side drawers.
