Unforgettable (Cloverleigh Farms #5)(63)

“I want to share a bed with you every night. And wake up to you every morning. I want to make breakfast for you, see you in the stands at Central High baseball games, reach all the stuff in the high cupboards in the kitchen. I want to be the one you come home to.”

I smiled. “Don’t be scared. I want all those things too.”

“But what if I fuck it up?” He kissed his way up the center of my chest and braced himself above me. “What if I’m not good at it? What if I don’t deserve it?”

“Tyler.” I took his face in my hands. “You deserve it. Do you hear me? You deserve to be loved the way I’m going to love you.”

Then his mouth was crushing mine and we were pressed chest to chest, rolling sideways with our arms and legs tangled as we tried to get under each other’s skin. I reached low between us, sheathing his cock with my hand, desperate to feel him deep inside me, to let him take control, to show him I trusted him—and that he was safe with me.

He left my side only for the twenty seconds it took to put a condom on, and then he was back, easing into my body. When he was buried deep, he stopped and looked down at me. “I don’t know what the second act of my life is going to look like, but I know you’re the best part of it.”

My heart, already beating hard, threatened to burst right out of my chest. “Really?”

“Yes.”

Tell me again, I wanted to say, even as his mouth possessed mine once more and he began rocking into me with deep, steady strokes. Let me hear those words again, because they meant I didn’t have to be alone anymore. They meant the risk was worth it.

They meant that finally I could say to myself . . . This is what it feels like to fall in love.





The following morning, Tyler got up early. Like, it-was-still-dark-outside early.

“You okay?” I asked as he pulled on sweats. I’d fallen asleep right after our round two in the middle of the night, so I had no idea if he’d been up all night or managed to get some rest.

“Yeah. I’m just gonna go down and get a workout in.”

I bit my lip. “Did you sleep?”

“I slept some.”

“Okay. I think I’ll sleep in a little more. I have to be at work late tonight for a wedding.”

He came over and kissed my forehead. “Sleep as long as you want. I like you in my bed.”

Wiggling my toes, I snuggled down deeper into the covers, and I didn’t wake up until I heard the door open and shut again. “Hey,” I said, stretching. “How was your workout?”

“It was okay. A little sluggish.”

“I bet.” I patted the spot next to me. “Why don’t you come back to bed?”

He peeled off his shirt. “Because I am a sweaty fucking mess. I need a shower before I even get near you.”

The sight of his bare chest and arms made my heart beat faster and my core muscles clench. “Okay, but hurry. Your muscles are doing things to my insides.”

I caught a glimpse of his old grin as he walked naked to the bathroom, and I had to stop myself from following him in there. My phone was dead, so to distract myself, I grabbed the remote and turned on the television, flipping through channels and listening to the shower run. I watched about five minutes of one morning show and ten minutes of another, and I’d just switched to a local news channel when I heard Tyler’s name.

And there we were onscreen.

The clip of us hurrying out of the restaurant last night.

Baseball’s Hottest Headcase Behaving Badly, read the chyron.

“I asked Shaw several times if he wanted to comment for this story, but I can’t repeat his answer,” Bethany Bloomstar was saying in a voiceover. The camera cut to her, and I was shocked to see that she was standing on the grounds at Cloverleigh Farms, the inn clearly visible in the background behind her.

“Now, do I have this right?” the news desk correspondent said, glancing at something in front of her. “Sources are saying he got belligerent when you approached him?”

She nodded. “That’s right, Heather.”

“And who’s the woman with him? Do we know anything about her?”

“We do. Her name is April Sawyer.” She gestured toward the inn. “I’m here at Cloverleigh Farms, which is run by the Sawyer family. April Sawyer is the event planner here. Last week I interviewed April off the record, and she confirmed that she and Tyler Shaw are old friends, but I have to tell you, it definitely looks like more than that to me.”

The bathroom door opened, and Tyler walked out with a towel around his waist. Quickly I snapped the television off.

But not quickly enough.

“What the fuck was that?” Tyler demanded.

“It was nothing.” I hid the remote behind my back, under a pillow.

He gave me the glare.

“Okay, fine. It was that stupid Bethany Bloomstar,” I said.

“Talking about you?”

“Well, about both of us.” And because he looked like he might be thinking about going down to the TV station and taking someone’s head off with a fastball, I added, “It wasn’t anything bad. Just that we looked like more than friends.”

He frowned. “That’s it?”

“Um, there might have been something about you getting belligerent with her at the restaurant.”