“But what about your mother?” Tyler shouted, catching up to me.
“What?” I hissed, spinning around to face him. “Don’t you dare bring her up! She has nothing to do with this, not anymore!”
“Don’t you want the person responsible for her death behind bars?”
“Who? Charlie?! Last I checked, you seemed to be hell-bent on blaming him for all this!”
“Don’t you think your mother would want you to finally be able to let her go?!”
“Why don’t you think–”
Tyler reached into his pocket and pulled out a long velvet box, holding it out to me.
“What is that?”
“It’s something that belongs to you,” he said softly.
Taking the box from him, I opened it, my eyes settling on my mother’s ornate rosary. I had felt so empty and alone without it over the past few months. It was the only thing of my mother’s I had left, and when I left it in Boston, I felt as if I had left a piece of my soul there.
“You’ll never be able to let her go until you have closure,” he said as I ran my fingers over the soft beads. “I can give you that closure, Mackenzie, but I think the only way I can get on the right path is if I talk to your father.”
“He may not be able to help,” I insisted. “If he knew what happened all those years ago, don’t you think this would have been over already?”
“Not if there’s a reason he’s keeping quiet.” His eyes were urgent as he tried with everything in him to persuade me to agree.
Studying him, I pulled my lower lip between my teeth, an old nervous tick. “My relationship with my father is built on mutual trust. I can’t blindside him like that.”
“I get it,” Tyler said, rubbing his hand up and down my arms. “Can you just talk to him about it? About why it’s necessary? See if he’s willing to meet with me?”
“I can’t make any promises about what he’ll say…”
“Just talk to him. Please.”
Reluctant to agree, I knew he had a point. Perhaps my father knew more than he was letting on and Tyler could find out what. Nodding, I relented. “Okay. I’ll talk to him, but I can’t make any promises.”
Letting out a long breath, Tyler smiled as his tense stature relaxed. “Let me see that.” He grabbed the velvet box back from me, taking out the cross. Opening the clasp, he hung it around my neck, his fingers brushing my skin, sending a chill through me.
“There. That’s better,” he crooned, pulling me into the crook of his arm as we stared at the soft ocean waves. “Everything’s back where it belongs.”
Tyler
“WANT TO COME IN?” Mackenzie turned to me, giving me a demure look as we stood outside her condo. I had been uneasy about this precise moment all night long, even more so than asking about her father. I wanted to spend every minute with this woman, but I didn’t want to move so fast that our lust clouded our minds.
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea, Mackenzie,” I replied.
Her face dropped, her expression turning to stone. She spun around and unlocked her door. The silence between us could be cut with a knife. I didn’t know what I wanted her to say, but I wanted her to say something…how she understood why it was important that we take things slow. Hell, just a few days ago, she was turning down my advances for the same reason.
Angrily turning the knob, she threw her front door open and stomped toward the panel, disarming the system. As I was about to step into the foyer, she slammed the door in my face.
“Mackenzie!” I bellowed. “Don’t be like this.” Refusing to have a screaming match through the door, I gingerly turned the knob and entered her condo.
“Like what?” she hissed, whirling around. “You keep saying you want to take things slow, and I get it, Tyler. But you have no problem making out with me, feeling me up, making me straddle you as you push your cock against me! Then when I invite you in, you suddenly want nothing to do with me!”
I stared at her in shock as tears streamed down her face.
“It’s because you don’t find me attractive anymore, isn’t it?” she whimpered, avoiding my eyes. “I don’t know what I was thinking. Of course you don’t. I mean, you disappear from my life and come back to see me like this.” She gestured to her stomach. “You don’t have to pretend you like me just to get information about my father. We’ve already played that game, Tyler. It’s tired and old. So just get out and leave me alone.”
“Mackenzie…” I had no idea what I could say to her that would assuage her fears. Maybe that I thought she was the most beautiful woman on the planet? And even more so when I found out she was carrying our child? But they were just words, insufficient to properly convey how I felt about her. I needed her to see, to feel, how much I needed her in my life. She needed to know it was her, that it was always her. Everything that had happened in my life, from my triumphs to my failures, all led me to her.
“Don’t, Tyler. Just don’t.” With heavy footsteps, she stormed down the hallway.
Running after her, I grabbed her arm and pinned her against the wall. Her mouth fell open as she gave me an incredulous look. Before she could say anything, I crushed my lips to hers and thrust against her. Finding her hands, I raised her arms over her head, trapping her in place. “Is this what you want?” I growled, my eyes hooded as I looked down at her.
“No,” she hissed, shaking her head. “I don’t want a pity fuck.” Her chest heaved as she glared at me, her eyes on fire in the darkened hallway. I ran my tongue down her neckline, tracing circles as I inhaled her alluring scent. A barely audible whimper escaped as she craned her neck, giving me easier access to her perfect skin.
“But you do want to fuck?” I murmured. Releasing my hold on her arms, I ran my fingers across her collarbone, tracing the line of her halter top dress.
“You know the answer to that, but it’s obvious you’re not attracted to me. Not like you used to be…” She pushed against me and I stumbled back, keeping my distance from her. We stood in the hallway and stared at each other, both of our chests heaving.
“Mackenzie, I don’t know what you want me to say. I can tell you I thought you were the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen from the first moment I saw you, but I’d be lying.”
She frowned.
“When I saw you at my mother’s house and saw this…” I stepped toward her and placed my hand on her stomach. “Well, I had never been so stunned before, so speechless that any woman could capture my heart with her beauty and radiance. I’m just worried if we move too fast, we won’t make it.”
“Tyler…” She wrapped her arms around my neck and stood on her toes, placing a soft kiss on my lips. “I want us to make it, too, but did you ever think that maybe I need this. I need to feel you, feel the connection I’ve missed. I need to know you again…”
“You do know me.”
“We’ve agreed to get to know each other again, but I’m not just interested in your favorite color and your most memorable childhood vacation, Tyler. I want to know you intimately. I want nothing more than to open up my heart to you again, but I can’t do that unless I know you…all of you.”
Tracing circles on my neck, she ran her hand down my chest, a renewed hunger washing over me. Passion flooding my veins, I drew her body close and covered her mouth with mine, my kiss ravenous and unyielding as I pushed her down the hall toward her bedroom. It had been ages since I had walked these steps, but it was so familiar, so natural, as if I had walked this path every day of my life.