Page 15 of Stand

“Come inside while you wait.”

He was just being polite. She couldn’t intrude on him when he had to concentrate on his kids right now. And she needed to get away from him. Away from this town. Back to the life she’d created for herself. “We’ll be fine here on the porch.”

“Well.” He hooked his hand behind his neck again. “If you’re sure.”

“I am very sure. Go.” And as though she hadn’t said any of that stuff inside her head, she put a hand out and pushed him gently.

Mistake. His chest was as solid as the rest of him. And he looked down at her hand as though he didn’t know what it was. Sam removed it, fast. Thank God she was never going to see him again. She hadn’t been this wrong-footed around a man in years.

“Bye, Ty,” she said, then to break the thick air between them, “Ooh, I’m a poet and I don’t even know it.”

He shook his head again; she caught a smile he tried to hide. “Bye, Sam. Bye, Cairo.”

He turned to the door and this time, he didn’t turn back.

Chapter 5

Ty slammed the door harder than necessary and leaned against it, letting out a loud breath.

Sam freaking Fielding.

Everything he’d worked for in the last fifteen years seemed to evaporate when he’d seen her on the other side of that door. Forget all the stability he had now. Forget the lessons he’d learned from jumping into a relationship with the first woman who’d paid attention to him in college. Forget the balance he’d struck between creativity and finances to find a career he loved. Sam had looked at him with those dark-brown eyes and that honey-kissed skin, and despite the fear racing around him that his children weremissing—how could he have forgotten that, even for a second?—he’d felt like his Adam’s apple was suddenly too big.

Sam Fielding had always been sexy as all get-out, and she knew it. Why shouldn’t she? She was a member of one of the richest families in town. Her three sisters and brother had been legendary in school. They’d had money and privilege and everything he hadn’t. She’d always looked right through him in the hallways. Until she hadn’t.

He’d seen the interest in that long, appraising look she’d given him tonight. Or had he? He hadn’t been around a woman in two years. He wasn’t even thinking of dating again, not ever. Not as long as his kids had to deal with Julia’s uncertainty.

Maybe he’d just wanted a distraction from Julia’s little adventure. Sam had always scrambled his brains but good. If anyone could distract him, Sam Fielding could.

But she didn’t live here, and he had two kids to safeguard. He could be grateful and at the same time not want to capture her long hair in his hands.

Ugh.

He had to remember that she’d just seen him at his most vulnerable. She’d probably been pitying him, not gazing at him. It was time to go back to real life.

He pulled out his phone. Unfortunately, his lawyer’s number was one of his most frequently called. “Lauren,” he said when she picked up. “I’m sorry to call you after work, but I’m gonna need you to take out a restraining order against Julia.”

He explained what had happened.

Lauren gave a furious growl. “Where is she now?”

“They arrested her. It’s a violation of the custody agreement. But she’ll be out by tomorrow, if I know her family.” Julia’s parents had a team of attorneys. Her desertion had made the divorce petition relatively easy, but those lawyers had argued the hell out of every step of the agreement. Ty had credit card debt he wouldn’t be able to pay off for ten years thanks to them.

Alyssa didn’t know Julia had been arrested tonight. Her fear of her own mother jumping out from behind a bush made Ty rub his hands over his face. He’d tried so hard to keep this unpleasantness from her. Even pretended to look around the house so Alyssa wouldn’t find out for a little while. Seriously, how would it help her to know that her mother would spend a night in jail for wanting to see her kids?

“I bet Julia loved that,” his attorney said.

“Mmm.”

He knew where she was going with this, and sure enough, “Did she hit you again?” she asked.

Ty touched the cut under his eye. “Only a little,” he said.

“Tyler,” Lauren admonished. “You see now? What happens when you don’t talk about it? You know a restraining order usually requiresthreeincidents of assault.”

He didn’t bother answering her. When he’d gotten to the security offices, the kids had been taken into a separate room. But by some stupid twist of miscommunication, he’d been taken to the room where they’d put Julia. He’d walked in, unsuspecting, and she’d socked him in the eye before the guard could pull her away.

Ty had been on edge enough that he managed to tilt his head, so she got him on the bone rather than in his eye, saving him a prize bruising, but her knuckles had still hurt. As they had a few times during his marriage. Lauren knew this. But he’d forced her not to bring it up in the divorce proceedings. Matt and Alyssa didn’t need to know that stuff, and Ty was going to be free of her. She’d never permanently scarred him or anything.

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