Where Forever Lies (15 page)

She looked
around at the old interior of the truck and tried to think of what
would make Tyler love this truck so much. It was definitely old,
probably antique but there wasn’t much to it. It was pretty
plain. She wondered if it was because it used to be his grandpa’s
and he felt a sense of pride at restoring it. Maybe he just liked old
things. Maybe he liked the simplicity of it. She guessed everyone had
certain things that pulled their interest.

Paige
wondered what thing pulled her interest. She didn’t have any
hobbies, really. If she had to name something that she loved doing,
something that gave her a sense of pride, besides being a mother of
course, she would say it was being a nurse and being able to take
care of someone who needed help. Being a nurse was her greatest joy
and she couldn’t imagine working a different job, it just
wouldn’t do.

“So,
where are we going to eat?” she asked as she heard her stomach
growl.

“A
little diner not far from here. It’s a hole in the wall but
they have really great burgers and steaks. The best around.”
Tyler turned down a narrow country road and Paige realized that she
was completely lost. She didn’t know this area at all. He
quickly turned towards her, “You’re not one of those
vegetarians, are you?” he asked, sounding almost appalled by
the thought.

Paige
frowned and said, “No, why?”

He turned
down another side road and then added, “Well, a lot of times
city girls seem to be vegetarians, so just thought I’d ask
before I took you out for a steak dinner.”

“Well,
I eat meat, so, no worries,” she said laughing.

Before
long they pulled into a small restaurant parking lot, and Paige was
surprised to see that the place was really busy. She looked up at the
sign which read Brenda’s Diner and smiled. She was definitely
on the outskirts of the city.

They sat
down at a small table outside and ordered their food. Paige couldn’t
remember the last time she was so hungry. The sun had already set but
the moon was bright, lighting up the sky. There were small lanterns
all around the back patio and one on each table, giving just enough
light to see the food.

“So,
where do you work? I don’t think we’ve gone that far yet
in any of our conversations, it seems like something keeps coming up
to distract us,” Tyler said, he rested his elbows on the table
with his chin resting on his hands as he stared down at her.

Paige took
a sip of her water and said, “I’m a nurse at Anderson
Hospital. I work on the psychiatric floor for the elderly patients.”
She wasn’t sure what he’d think about that. People were
always shocked when she told them where she worked and then always
wanted to know what it was like and how someone as petite as she
could handle a patient when they got out of control. The truth was
she’d only had one instance where she wasn’t able to
handle someone and needed more help.

“Interesting.
Do you enjoy it?” he asked as he looked carefully at her.

“Of
course, why else would I be a nurse?”

“Well,
some people do it for a job, some for the money and some actually
care about the patients and want to make a difference in someone’s
life.” Tyler took a bite of his cheeseburger as he waited for
her answer.

“I
happen to be the person who loves their job. I don’t think I’d
be happy working anywhere else. It just wouldn’t feel right.
Some of these patients don’t have any family and what little I
can do for them while they’re there, sometimes makes all the
difference in their lives.” Paige looked out at the small lake
that sat behind the diner. It was beautiful out here, too. Everywhere
she looked, she was reminded of the beauty the country held. She
wondered why she had never noticed before. Maybe it was because she
never had someone show her how beautiful it all could be.

“Good.
You seem like the caring type. It’s good that you’ve
found your calling at such a young age. A lot of people don’t
know what they want to do with their life,” Tyler said, his
voice dropping a little as he turned his gaze down to his food. Paige
felt like he was holding something back and wondered what he had
wanted to do with his life that he never did.

“What
about you? What’s your story?” she asked, hoping she
wasn’t pushing him to talk about something that hit a chord
with his emotions.

Tyler
laughed, “What about me? Um, there’s not much to me,
really. I’m divorced, see my son on weekends and run a fencing
business that I took over from my dad.”

Paige knew
he was going to be a tough one to get to open up, but she knew most
men were, she just usually didn’t have the interest to try.
“Well,” she started, “what is your goal in life?
What do you want?” she questioned, hoping to spur some deeply
rooted thoughts from him so she could get to know him more and find
out what made him tick.

Tyler put
his fork down as he seemed to contemplate his answer. Finally, he
said in a quiet voice, almost as if he was telling her a secret that
he didn’t want anyone else to hear, “To be honest, it’s
not my dream job of owning a fencing company. But it was my dad’s
and when he died, I felt like I needed to continue with his dream and
keep it going, for him.”

Paige was
a little shocked that he had opened up so easily, even if it was just
a little bit. “So, what is your dream job then?” she
asked.

Tyler
hesitated for a moment, let out a breath and said, “Don’t
laugh, because it’s definitely out there by your standards, and
will make me look even more like the epitome of a country boy,”
he paused raising his eyebrows at her sarcastically before he
continued, “but I’d like to train and break horses one
day and make my living from that.”

Paige
narrowed her eyes as she looked at him, wondering why he pegged her
as some stuck up, prissy, city girl. She knew she was prissy and a
city girl, but she wasn’t, by any means, stuck up. “Tyler,
I don’t have standards. I’m not some uppity city girl or
anything. It’s just that your lifestyle is all new to me,”
Paige said. “I didn’t know you could make a living from
that but if that’s what you want to do in life, I say go for
it. A lot of people sit and think about what they’d like to be
doing but never get up and actually try and make it happen. I
wouldn’t want to see you regret not giving it a chance.”

He gave
her a cocky grin and said, “I know, Paige, calm down. I just
like giving you a hard time. But yeah, I’ve been giving it a
lot more thought lately, but it’ll take some time to get going,
so we’ll see what happens. I’ve been training a few
horses in the last couple of months, but not enough to make any money
from it just yet,” he said as he wiped his mouth off and pushed
his plate away. He looked at her for a moment, his eyes lingering on
hers for a long time, seeming to try to understand what she was
about, and Paige wondered what his thoughts about her were. Did he
think she was too much of a city girl to blend into his rugged life?
Did he think they were too opposite to have anything in common? She
didn’t know, but she knew she was thinking how much more she
wanted to learn about him. For some reason, she felt pulled toward
him, toward his life and toward the area of town she always thought
she hated.

They sat
there talking for a while longer, and after several hours they got up
to leave. The night was getting cooler and as they walked across the
parking lot, Tyler reached out and grabbed her hand. It felt so
natural that Paige almost gave it no thought, but when she felt him
squeeze it gently, she found his eyes and saw him smiling down at
her. His hand was warm, just like the soft brown eyes that met hers,
and Paige felt her insides melting at the sight of his crooked,
endearing smile. She bit her lip and looked away, out into the never
ending landscape and the bright moon that seemed to hover directly
above the hills, hoping she wasn’t setting herself up for
disappointment later. She was nervous, but she knew she wanted to
give this a try with him.

Thirty
minutes later they pulled up to her apartment and she wondered how
Kyra had behaved for Kyleigh. She hoped she didn’t give her any
trouble. Paige looked down at her watch and knew Kyra would already
be in bed, it being after ten. “I’ll walk you up to your
door,” Tyler stated as he got out of the truck. Paige followed
him up the steps, trying to keep her heels from making too much noise
in the stairwell; she didn’t want to wake everyone up.

She
stopped at her door and turned to face him as she whispered, “Thank
you for a very interesting first date, Tyler. It was definitely
unique.”

Tyler
grinned and said, “I’m glad it sticks out, maybe you
won’t be able to forget it.”

“Oh,
I’ll definitely remember, don’t worry,” she said as
she pulled out her keys.

She felt
him step closer and paused, bringing her eyes up to meet his. He had
an eagerness shinning in them that made her feel crazy. It made her
feel like pushing all her insecurities down, all her anxiety away and
just letting herself go in his arms. She didn’t know where all
this was coming from, she had never felt any inclination that she
could let all that go, especially for a guy she hadn’t known
very long. But here she was, willing to let loose of her demons, just
to be a better, more carefree woman for him. But he made her feel
safe, like nothing could hurt her, like everything she thought she
needed to worry about didn’t matter anymore because he could
mend all her broken pieces.

Tyler
reached out and placed his hand against her cheek, gently rubbing
small circles with his thumb. Paige swallowed down the lump that was
forming in her throat from the intense look he was giving her. Every
want and need was showing on his face and she felt all the desires
that she had kept bottled up for months finally show themselves. She
felt his warm breath drift across her face, felt his breathing
quicken as he inched even closer to her. He placed his other hand on
her hip as he dipped his face closer to hers. He paused for just a
brief second, to make sure it was okay, and when she didn’t
stop him, he let his lips gently brush against her cheek as he
gradually made his way down to her lips. When their lips finally met,
she felt all the fear of feeling slowly fade away. Something clicked
inside her, telling her this moment was real, that this time it was
different.

His tongue
found hers in a slow effortless way, making her body flush with a
slow burn and her heart begin to race. Their tongues mingled, their
hands slowly found each other’s bodies, searching and exploring
unknown territory, and their breathing began to speed up.

Paige ran
her hand through his soft, dark hair and shivered as his mouth
ventured to her neck. She could smell the hint of aftershave
lingering from his shave. It was intoxicating, smelling woodsy with a
hint of sweetness. It reminded her of his beautiful land that she
found herself beginning to love.

She felt
herself getting lost in his touch, felt him quickening his pace, his
tongue feverishly finding hers. Just when she felt herself wanting to
give in, to drag him quietly inside her apartment, she heard the door
to the entryway swing open, revealing an older guy heading to his
apartment above hers. They both abruptly stopped, quickly pulling
away as if caught doing something they weren’t supposed to be
doing, and watched the older guy shuffle up the stairs.

Once he
was gone, they both looked breathlessly at each other. Her mouth
twitched, as if she wasn’t sure whether to laugh or not and
uncertainty began to come over her. But when she saw one corner of
his mouth tilt slightly, she couldn’t help but smile back.

Tyler
pulled her in for another kiss, this time he wasn’t hesitant
about it, he kissed her as if it was something he was meant to do. It
was raw, hard and passionate. She wanted to pull him closer, to feel
every inch of his body against hers, but like she always did, she
kept a slight hold on herself, afraid of letting herself get too
caught up in the moment. Their kiss gradually became even more
fierce, making her pant harder against his mouth. She knew she should
stop, that she was letting her grip on her control slowly fade, but
the feeling of his tongue gliding against her own kept pulling her
farther into his embrace.

He finally
ended the kiss and said, “I had a really great time tonight,
Paige. I want to see you again, soon.” His voice was stern as
if he didn’t want her to say no, as if it wasn’t an
option for her, but his eyes were begging her not to turn him down.

“I
would love to see you, again,” she whispered against his mouth.
She felt him smile against her lips and then he pulled away, letting
her leave. She watched him walk out the door and then quietly
unlocked the door to her apartment, her lips still wet from his kiss.

Tyler woke
up bright and early the next morning, hoping to get started on fixing
his fence so he wouldn’t have to try to squeeze it in come
Monday when he’d be working all day fixing everyone else’s
fences. He dreaded it but knew it had to be done, there wasn’t
any way around it. He put some coffee on and took a seat at the
kitchen table and started skimming through the Sunday paper.

He looked
down at his phone, contemplating on sending Paige a good morning
text. It definitely wasn’t something he normally would do, but
with her, he felt like a different guy. He took another sip of his
coffee and looked down at his phone,
Oh,
what the hell,
he
thought as picked up his phone and typed in the text, pushing send
with a sigh. There was something about her that made him not able to
stop thinking about her. Ever since he saw her slip on those old
cowboy boots, he knew he was done for. Then, to top it off, that
long, intense good bye kiss at her door had his thoughts going
rampant ever since.