Made For Loving You (Rescue My Heart Book 3) Page 3

  Despite the circuitous route and multiple stops to let Duke stretch his legs, she still hit Eden’s Ridge a couple of hours before Ty was due to get off work. She drove slowly through downtown. It was cute, comprised of a few streets of businesses, with cross streets leading to residential areas. She spotted a diner, a two-screen movie theater, and an adorable selection of shops with whimsical names like Moonbeams and Sweet Dreams. For a moment, she considered stopping to take a walking tour with Duke, but something made her keep driving on out of town. Ty had told her his place was a little hard to find. Better to drive on out and find it while there was still daylight, then come back to Eden’s Ridge to take in whatever there was to see.

  The world and most signs of civilization seemed to fall away as she followed the winding roads, navigating switchbacks and making her way up the mountain. Yeah, definitely a good plan to find this place in the daylight. In the backseat, Duke pressed his nose to the glass, panting with excitement as the trees rolled by.

  When she spotted the right number on a mailbox at the top of a drive, she exhaled with relief. She’d turn around and find her way back to town. But as she pulled in, she saw Ty’s truck and a sheriff’s cruiser parked in front of the tidy little cabin. Was he home?

  As if she’d summoned him with a thought, he stepped out onto the porch in well-worn jeans and an untucked, plaid flannel shirt. His thick brown hair was rumpled, as if he’d been running his fingers through it. Her heart gave a simultaneous lift and lurch at the sight of him. Not because he looked good enough to eat, and not because of the impending orgasms. It wasn’t even because the big bad Ranger turned cop could protect her from the nebulous threat of her stalker. No, her traitorous heart had only ever done this for this man. The first love who’d miraculously fallen back into her life.

  That wasn’t who they were to each other anymore. Hadn’t been for half a lifetime. That kind of relationship was well outside the bounds of the fun, casual thing they’d agreed to. The parameters she’d set rather than see him walk away again. She’d take whatever he’d give her and be thankful. But as she slid out of the car, she was grateful for needing to deal with Duke because she didn’t know the proper way to greet him. A smile and a wave? A hug? A kiss? She wasn’t used to the uncertainty and didn’t much care for it.

  “I’m early. I didn’t expect you to be home.”

  “Took the afternoon off.”

  To clean up his bachelor pad? Because he was excited to see her? Pitter patter went her foolish heart.

  Don’t be an idiot.

  Ty strode down the steps as she sprung Duke from his travel harness. With an ecstatic bark, the dog raced over to say hi before bounding away to pee and sniff.

  “Will he stick close?”

  Eyes on the dog instead of the man, Paisley scooped a hand through her hair. “Yeah.” Great. Had she forgotten how to even talk to him?

  “Good.”

  She barely had a chance to gasp as Ty slid both hands into her hair, tipping her face up and kissing her senseless. After one hard jolt, she melted against him, hands curling around those muscular forearms as he laid siege to her mouth. Every cell of her body pulled toward his and every thought emptied out of her head but the taste and feel of him and the answering clarion call of her own heart as every good intention to hold herself emotionally distant crumbled to absolute dust.

  Paisley dimly registered a cheerful Don’t forget about me! bark before Duke barreled into their legs.

  Ty grunted, pulling her close to stabilize them both, even as he used one hand to push down the dog. “Hi.”

  “Hi,” she murmured.

  He looked just as shell shocked by the intensity of his greeting as she felt. At least it wasn’t just her.

  He cleared his throat. “We should bring in your stuff.”

  “Okay.” She popped the trunk and grabbed her suitcase and laptop bag. “Everything else is Duke’s.”

  Ty went brows up. “Aren’t your kind supposed to travel like you won’t see home for a month?”

  Rolling her eyes at the patently sexist statement, she shouldered the computer case. “Not all women pack for the apocalypse. I don’t need much. Duke, on the other hand, has a short attention span and does better when he’s got lots of toys. I packed to keep him entertained while we entertain each other.”

  Those hazel eyes went dark. “Noted.”

  Paisley followed him into the cabin. She wasn’t sure what she’d expected, but this wasn’t it. It was small. Far smaller than she’d anticipated. A set of steep, narrow stairs that were more like a ladder led up to an open loft, where she could just make out a bed beyond the half-wall. The whole thing was one, big open room, except for what was probably a bathroom beneath the loft. A vaulted ceiling saved the place from feeling cramped, as did the windows everywhere that let in the light and the trees.

  Ty tossed Duke’s dog bed onto a spare swatch of floor near the wood stove and carried the bags of other stuff toward the kitchen occupying one corner. “Bathroom’s through that door. Bedroom’s up there. I’ll haul up your suitcase when you’re ready.” Divesting himself of all Duke’s accoutrements, he shoved his hands into his back pockets, an old tell that said he was more nervous than he wanted to let on. Somehow that made her relax a little.

  “It’s cozy.” And it was, even if it was rather Spartan. She didn’t see a lot of Ty here. The place was ruthlessly neat. Probably a holdover from his years in the Army. Was the lack of stuff a sign he hadn’t gotten over the expectation that he had to be prepared to roll out for a mission at any moment? That had been his life as a Ranger for years. It was why he’d left her after high school, breaking her heart in one fell swoop rather than by degrees by trying to make it work.

  They eyed each other from opposite sides of the couch. Maybe she should just lay one on him like she had at the wedding. If they got on to the naked portion of the weekend, they’d probably both be more comfortable. And she could relegate him back to the status of sexy boy toy. Maybe.

  “Will Duke be okay on his own here for a couple hours?”

  Paisley blinked away her visions of stripping Ty out of that shirt. “As long as I feed him first and hook him up with his toys. Why?”

  “I thought we’d head into town for dinner. It’s early enough yet you can get a little tour of the place before we hit up the tavern. You still like pizza?”

  “Is the sky blue?”

  He cracked a smile that left her feeling flustered and out of sorts. That smile had always made her a little stupid.

  She hadn’t expected to go out. In all honesty, she’d expected them to hole up and exhaust each other for the weekend. Dinner in town was…date-like. It felt like the kind of thing you did in a relationship. They’d both been very clear that wasn’t what they were doing. But she was more than a little curious about what his normal life was like here, and she wasn’t about to turn down the chance to spend more time with him—in or out of bed.

  “We can get dinner to go.”

  Ty pulled his attention back to Paisley, holding in a wince. He was being a lousy date. “What? No, it’s fine.”

  One dark brow winged up. “Are you sure? Because you seem about as jumpy as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.”

  He hoped like hell that impression was more because she could read him than that he’d lost all ability to compartmentalize as a civilian. But she wasn’t wrong. His instincts had been jangling since they got to town.

  “Sorry I’m so distracted. It’s just, we’re being followed.”

  The blood drained out of her face and the fingers on her Yuengling bottle went bone white. “What?”

  Alarmed at her reaction, Ty reached across the table to gently extract the beer and tangle his fingers with hers. “Hey, no. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. It’s not like some kind of enemy operative. It’s just a boatload of the town busybodies. Like Betsy Schoemaker back home.”

  Old Betsy Schoemaker had been a notorious snoop,
who delighted in calling the cops on any couples who were fool enough to use the dirt road cutting through her heavily forested back forty as a lover’s lane. He and Paisley had only made that mistake once, and they’d gotten away before the officer had arrived. But that hadn’t stopped Lieutenant Petrie from stopping by to put the fear of God into Ty about the seriousness of trespassing and safe sex. To this day, Ty didn’t know whether Betsy had some kind of wildlife camera on the road that had caught pictures of his truck or if she just camped out with field glasses and watched.

  Paisley’s breath gusted out and color returned to her cheeks. “Oh.” Not bothering to pull her hand away, she reached for her beer with the other and tipped it back for a long swallow.

  “What, exactly, were you imagining?”

  “Don’t mind me. Writer brain goes zero to ninety with little provocation.”

  Was it really her writer’s brain on overdrive or did it have something to do with why she’d seemed just a little off since he talked to her last night?

  She made a visible effort to relax, focusing those whiskey-gold eyes on him. “So, why exactly are the town gossips of Eden’s Ridge following you?”

  “Us. They’re following us.” He’d spotted the first tail as he’d helped Paisley out of his truck a couple blocks down from Crystal’s Diner. Jolene Lowrey, famed for her blue-ribbon-winning red velvet cake, had been coming out of Moonbeams and Sweet Dreams. She’d snapped a none-too-subtle photo of them with her phone and, shock of shocks, there’d been multiple faces pressed to the diner window as they’d strolled past. Reverend Hodgson’s wife, Patty, was next, hanging back as he’d given Paisley the fifty-cent tour of downtown. She’d turned off abruptly into the hardware store when he caught her looking. Estelle Murchison hadn’t even bothered trying for subtle. She’d just about gotten whiplash from watching them walk into the tavern.

  “Us?” Paisley paused, considering. “I take it Eden’s Ridge is cut from the same cloth as Coopers Bend.”

  “Bingo.” She’d always been quick to pick up on precisely what he meant.

  “So, tongues are wagging already, wondering who I am and whether I’ve taken one of the town’s most eligible bachelors off the market.”

  “It’s a distinct possibility.”

  “That explains the death glare our waitress shot me when she thought I wasn’t looking.”

  He’d missed that but wasn’t surprised. Trish Morgan hadn’t been subtle in her interest this past year. “I don’t know why they keep trying to matchmake me.”

  She snorted. “You’re single, gorgeous, and new in town.”

  He’d also been more than a little bit of a train wreck when he’d moved here. Not that he’d advertised that fact. With a lot of work, he’d moved past the worst of it, but he still wasn’t what he’d consider good relationship material.

  With a wry quirk of his lips, he picked up his own beer. “They’re overlooking the rather salient point that I’m not interested.”

  “Psh. Since when does that stop a bunch of wannabe grandmas from trying to snare you for their daughters?”

  “Grandmas?” Ty felt the blood drain from his own cheeks. Taking a firmer grip on Paisley’s hand, he leaned forward and stared into her eyes. “Help me, Paisley Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope.”

  Her dimples flashed. “Does the big, bad Ranger need protection from a bunch of gossipy old biddies?”

  “Damned straight. They’re terrifying.” He was man enough to admit it.

  Her big, bawdy laughter rolled out, loosening something in his chest. God, he hadn’t realized how much he’d missed the sound of it all these years.

  “Is that why we came out tonight? To try to put a stop to the matchmaking attempts?”

  That hadn’t been on his mind at all. He’d been busy trying to figure out how to act and wondering how the hell could they do this causal thing when they’d once been so much more. The idea of it didn’t sit well with him, no matter what he’d agreed to when they’d reconnected in Nashville. Paisley deserved respect and decency and just…more. Even if he couldn’t give her promises, he could do better than treating her like the insignificant wedding fling he’d led Sebastian to believe she was. Guilt over his prevarication had driven him to suggest dinner out.

  And even though he’d just spotted Marilyn Kincaid, his boss’s mom, and Essie Vaughn, the Sheriff’s Department dispatcher, ensconced in a booth across the bar, he couldn’t regret it. Whatever hell got dished up over the water cooler come Monday would be worth it. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been around someone who’d known him before he was broken, and he wasn’t above admitting that the feeling was its own special drug.

  “We came out because I wanted to spend time with you.” It was the truth, but it skated well beyond the boundaries of the casual thing she’d asked for. Because he didn’t want to make her balk, he lightened his tone. “And because you were always a fun date. You did promise to add more of that to my life.”

  “So I did.” She leaned forward, eyes sultry, smile devilish. “In that case, let’s give them something to talk about.”

  Before he could close the distance between them, someone clapped him on the shoulder.

  Damn it.

  “Well, if it isn’t Miss Brunette from the wedding.” Sebastian stuck his hand into the space between the kiss he’d interrupted. The jackass. “I’m Sebastian Donnelly, one of this one’s Army buddies. And you are?”

  After a moment’s hesitation, she sat back in her seat, releasing Ty’s hand. “Paisley Parish. You were one of the other groomsmen.”

  “I was, indeed.” Sebastian seemed pleased she’d remembered him.

  Not fighting the scowl, Ty glared at him. “What are you doing here?”

  “Picking up takeout for dinner. Laurel had meetings in Knoxville today.”

  “Then I’m sure she’d appreciate you hurrying up with it.”

  “Oh, the kitchen’s not quite done with our order. I’ve got a few minutes.” Sebastian turned his attention back to Paisley, flashing the friendly smile that his fiancée seemed to find charming. “And where has our Ty been hiding you?”

  Ty bristled. He wasn’t hiding her. They were here, weren’t they? But as Sebastian waited for her answer as if he had all the time in the world, Ty wished they’d stayed in.

  “I live in Nashville.” She flicked a questioning gaze to Ty, then back to Sebastian. “I’m a friend of Ivy’s.”

  God love the woman for knowing he didn’t want to get into their past. If Sebastian got a whiff of that, there’d be no getting rid of him.

  “Ah. Since she’s still on her honeymoon, I’m guessing you must be in town to check out the spa.”

  Smiling sweetly, she lifted her beer. “You must have failed interrogation tactics.”

  Ty managed to hold in the bark of laughter—barely. “Sebastian is recently engaged and falls into that category we were discussing earlier.”

  “Ah.” Paisley offered a sage nod.

  Already looking vaguely insulted, Sebastian narrowed his eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Subtle you are not. Whatever’s going on between me and Ty is between me and Ty, and you’ll just have to wait until he’s ready to tell you himself.”

  His mouth opened and closed a couple of times. “Well. That’ll teach me.”

  “Hope springs eternal,” Ty muttered.

  A waitress swooped in with a to-go bag. “Here’s your order, Sebastian.”

  The bastard actually looked disappointed. “Thanks, Staci.” He reluctantly accepted the bag and turned back to their table. “Well, seems I’ve got food to deliver to my lady. Paisley, so nice to meet you. I hope to see you again sometime.”

  She nodded. “Nice to meet you, Sebastian.”

  With a significant look at Ty, he gave a nod and headed for the door.

  Paisley sipped at her beer. “I get the feeling that was a problem.”

  “Not a problem.” He didn’t want her to think he
was trying to keep her from his friends. “It just means I’m the one who’ll be interrogated later. It’s payback for what I dished out when he met Laurel. Besides, he saw us at the wedding, so it was only a matter of time. I trust Sebastian with my life. He’s saved it often enough. But with the details of my love life…hell no. He gossips like an old woman.”

  She pursed her lips. “So, what I’m hearing is that it’s to your benefit if I keep you occupied and unavailable for comment?”

  The sparkle in her eye had his blood beginning to simmer. “I mean, I’m perfectly capable of telling him to fuck off, but I like your way better.”

  Paisley grinned up at Trish as she arrived with a tray on one shoulder. “Can we get our order boxed up to go?”

  Damn, he was in serious danger of remembering all the reasons he’d been ass over teakettle in love with this woman all those years ago.

  He lifted his own hand. “Check please.”

  Chapter 4

  Paisley felt the eyes on them as they left Elvira’s Tavern. Curiosity. Jealousy. Nothing she hadn’t faced before, but in light of recent events, they made her paranoid. She’d come to Eden’s Ridge—to Ty—to escape all that for a little while. There was no reason to believe her stalker had followed her here. This was just typical small-town nosiness. But for those few moments when he’d said they were being followed, she’d been legitimately terrified that this was the escalation she’d been expecting. That was how much this person had upset her equilibrium. Something had to be done about it, but, for now, she was going to take a page out of Scarlett O’Hara’s book and think about it tomorrow. She had a sexy man to bed.

  In defiance—and just because she wanted to—she slid her hand into Ty’s back pocket, cupping his ass. It had always been superb. She caught the quirk of his mouth as his arm came around her shoulders, tucking her against his side. Easy. Comfortable. And so familiar, her throat wanted to ache. It was yet another flashback to high school and the uncomplicated adoration they’d shared. A dangerous proposition. Things weren’t easy or uncomplicated with either of them now, and she couldn’t afford to forget it.