Tanner scoffed. “Kaylee isn’t going to sleep with him. Not on her first date.”
“I’m pretty sure she would have slept with me if I had asked her.” I pushed back and stood, stretching my stiff leg.
“Bothering you?”
“Nah, just gets stiff sometimes when I keep my knee bent too long.”
Tanner stood and reached for the two bottles as I walked back into the loft. We walked down in silence and out to my truck, which was parked outside the barn.
“Let me give you a ride up to the house,” I said. “And stop fucking walking on the ankle, dude. You want to get back out on the circuit, don’t you?”
“Yeah, I sure as shit do.” Tanner got into my truck and shut the door. I could tell by the expression on his face, something was heavy on his mind.
“Spill it, Tanner. I know you want to say something.”
“Don’t give up on her or your feelings for her, Ty. Maybe if you just talked to her.”
I laughed. “Hell, we can’t be in the same room for longer than five minutes before we’re going at each other.”
“And why do you think that is? Y’all just need to have sex and get all that pent-up tension out of the way and over with.”
With another humorless laugh, I replied, “I wish it were that easy. Believe me.”
We drove down the dirt road and to our folks’ house in silence, everything Tanner had said to me replaying in my mind. I couldn’t get my head to wrap around the idea of something with Kaylee. The woman drove me insane. Yet, at the same time, I ached to be near her. Ached so badly sometimes it hurt. And that was what scared me. If she broke my heart, I really didn’t think I’d be able to handle it . . . and if I broke hers, I’d never forgive myself.
I pulled up and put the truck in park. “Thanks, Tanner. Who would have thought you had that in ya?”
He shot me a serious look. “I can be deep, bro. I can be deep.”
With a roll of my eyes, I looked away. “Good night, Tanner.”
“Night, Ty. See ya in the morning.”
As I drove down the road that led to my house, I smiled. Snow started to drop from the sky. Maybe it would come down heavy and I’d be stuck at the house tomorrow. Then I wouldn’t have to see Channing Harrell’s little pussy sports car still parked outside Kaylee’s house.
Chapter Seven
KAYLEE
I stood at my window and watched the snow falling. “What do you mean this is normal? Aren’t the snowstorms supposed to start slowing down? It’s almost April.”
“We live in Montana now, Kaylee,” Lincoln said. I could hear baby Morgan in the background, and a strange zip of jealousy raced through my body. I’d always known I wanted kids, but I’d never had the urge to have kids until recently.
I sighed and pushed those crazy thoughts away. “I know, but it looks like it’s a blizzard.”
“Brock wants to know if you have enough firewood. The wind is supposed to pick up, and he’s worried the power might go out. There’s a strong Canadian front moving down.”
“What? Ugh! Let me get changed, and I’ll go out and get some before Mother Nature decides to piss more snow out and block me in.”
Lincoln laughed. “It happened once before and you thought it was fun, Kaylee.”
“That was different. I was prepared for that snowstorm; this one I’m not. I can’t be stuck in my house. I don’t have any chocolate! A girl needs chocolate at times like that.”
“Just go get some firewood, and then call me back so I know you didn’t slip and fall.”
“Gee, thanks for your vote of confidence. I’ll have you know I put a new toilet seat on in the master bathroom.” I heard a door shut, and the sweet sounds of Morgan were gone. “Where did the baby go?”
“Brock took her to put her down for her nap. Why did you change the toilet seat? There was nothing wrong with the one on there.”
“Well, I’m still trying to connect it and everything.”
The line went silent. Chewing nervously on my lip, I quickly kicked off my sneakers and slipped on my snow boots as I waited for Lincoln to press me for more information.
“Oh. My. God. Kaylee! You did not order that bidet toilet seat, did you?”
“It looks really cool! I miss having a bidet! You can take the money out of the girl, but you can’t take away her desire for luxury and a warm seat to sit on when she has to pee in Montana!”
“You are ridiculous!” Lincoln said with a laugh.
“You say that now, but trust me, you’re going to want one during a blizzard especially.”
“The seat heats up, huh?”
I smiled. “So does the water.”
She moaned a little. I knew that would get her. When we first moved here, we both fell in love with Montana. This was our first winter, and we were at what I hoped like hell was the tail end of it. I knew she was wanting it to end as much as I was.
“I need to come over and see how that works.”
“Well, I have to hook up the water—that’s the only thing throwing me.”
“Good God, don’t mess with the water. You’ll flood the house!”
I reached for my winter jacket and put it on, zipped myself up, then grabbed my hat, scarf, and gloves.
“Hey, speaking of this house. I was thinking, since you’re married to Brock now and I’m renting it, what if I buy it from you?”
“Are you serious? You want to buy the house?” I could hear the excitement in her voice. “Yes, you can buy it from me! Oh, Kaylee, this means you really are staying!”
Frowning, I put my hat on. “Did you think I wasn’t?”
“Well, I mean, I didn’t know.”
“I like it here, Lincoln. Plus, now that I’ve got Blayze and Morgan in my life, I wouldn’t want to leave them.”
“Kaylee, I would love for you to buy the house. We can talk more about it later. Just go get some wood, then let me know when you get back inside.”
“Will do,” I said, opening the front door and stepping outside. “Give me a few minutes to call you back.”
“Okay, talk soon! Love ya!”
“Love ya too.”
I hit end and put the phone in my coat pocket, then quickly slipped on my gloves. I was about to turn and pull the door closed when Ty said hello from behind me, scaring the living daylights out of me. I jumped and slipped on ice on the front porch.
“Oh, no . . . no . . . no . . . no!” I screamed as I slipped and slid across the porch toward the steps. “Shit!”
But luckily, I came to a stop when his strong hands kept me from tumbling down the steps. I quickly turned and saw Ty standing there with a smile on his face.
“It was tempting as hell to let you fall, ya know.”
I snarled my lip at him before giving him a good push. He didn’t budge, of course, but I got an A for effort, even if it made me slip again, and he had to reach out and steady me. I ignored the zip of excitement that raced through my body. How in the hell did he do that—make me feel our connection—when I had layers of clothes on?
“Why are you here? There’s a blizzard outside.”