Acceptance, The (5 page)

Her parents had been gracious, but her father didn’t trust him. Though, Tyler was sure, he didn’t trust anyone.

The family had already arrived graveside and were seated by the time he’d made it to them. He stood at the back of the crowd of mourners, but he watched her through his sunglasses.

The dress she wore was even brighter now in the sunshine. It gave her a glow he wasn’t sure he’d noticed before.

Her mother dipped her head to her and whispered in her ear. Courtney gave her a nod and then smiled.

What was it about her? Why had he captured her attention? He’d been told he had a good face, a nice voice, and he’d had a couple—only a couple—tell him he was nice to wake to. But Courtney couldn’t look at him and think he would be someone to show Mom and Dad. She had to know from her gut. And that was why she’d asked him to be there, right? In her gut she thought he was a good guy?

He on the other hand, had his sight. He could see how glorious the yellow dress made her look. How it made her shine. Her long dark hair was pulled back in a low ponytail and she wore a very dainty necklace around her delicate throat.

Tyler looked down at his clasped hands. It was a funeral. It was her brother’s funeral. Thoughts of how beautiful the sister of the deceased looked were not acceptable.

When he looked back up her face was aimed his way. When he smiled, she smiled. How could she know that beyond a grave and sixty other people in front of him, he was looking at her? But she seemed to know.

Was that a power? A spiritual gift?

The minister asked everyone to bow their heads and he prayed for Fitz Field the Marine that Tyler would never know, but he’d mourn him. And in his own time, he’d thank him for the moment his death brought clarity to Tyler’s own life. Perhaps he could do something with Fitz’s memory to make his own journey worthwhile for others. That would be a thought. He could talk to his grandmother about that. She was the philanthropist sort. Something good had to come from this family’s loss.

And as he raised his head he thought maybe it would be good for Courtney too. Then they could work together on it—get to know each other—feel this spark out.

As the service concluded the mourners again paid their respects, so he moved toward the family. Mr. Field had gone to the Marines who had been there. He spoke to them and they were stiff and attentive. Mrs. Field smiled as he moved to them and Courtney’s head lifted.

“Hi,” he said as if he couldn’t have thought of something better.

“Hi.” Courtney smiled at him. “Will you come to the house?”

“If that’s okay?” He looked to her mother who nodded.

“We’d be happy to have you,” Mary Field offered.

“I can just follow you there.”

“Oh, I’ll go with you,” Courtney said quickly. “I’ll show you how to get there.” She moved toward him and turned back to her mother. “Tell him I’m fine. I’ll be there when you get there.”

Instead of taking Tyler’s arm she reached for his hand and interlocked their fingers. Her mother moved in and kissed her on the cheek.

“I’ll let him know.” Then she looked up at Tyler. “Thank you for coming. We will see you at the house.”

Tyler gave her a smile as she turned and walked away.

“Okay, let’s hurry to your car,” Courtney was already walking at a quickened pace.

Tyler enjoyed the feel of her hand in his, perhaps too much. That spark he’d been thinking about was erupting into a brush fire.

“I parked a long way down the road.”

“Good. I haven’t had a decent run in a few weeks.”

“We’re not running are we?” He asked thinking of the very uncomfortable shoes he had on.

She laughed and gave their hands a swing. “No, just keep walking and don’t turn around.”

Tyler did what she said. “Your father, is he going to be upset with me taking you home?”

“Yes.” She let out a sigh. “Not because you’re a man. Or because I like you. But because he’s not in control and he thinks I need protection.”

He didn’t stop, that would be equivalent to turning around, but he did give her hand a squeeze. “I know you don’t know me, but I’d never hurt you or anyone else.”

“I know,” she said very matter-of-fact. “That’s why I’m going to get in your car and show you to my house. That’s why I’m holding your hand. Tyler, I might have only met you, but I have a keen sense of who you are.”

It was a good thing, he thought, because somewhere he’d lost sense of who he was.

Tyler had helped her into the SUV and shut the door. Usually she’d have wanted to do it herself, another one of those things to prove to people that she could do it. But she knew he did it as a gentleman and not some person hell bent on helping the handicapped.

When he got in next to her and shut the door she turned to him. “Are you growing a beard? You didn’t have one the other day.”

He started the engine and gave a little chuckle. “I didn’t mean to start one. I need a new razor and I was too busy moving in and getting settled to remember to get one.”

“You bought a new suit.”

She could feel his eyes on her and her skin warmed. He chuckled again. “How do you know that?”

“It’s stiff and smells new.”

“My sister picked it out for me.”

“It’s a nice suit. She did a good job.”

“How do you know it’s nice? How do you know all these things?”

She smiled and faced forward. “It’s almost scary, huh?”

“A little, but I’ll admit, exciting.”

Now she laughed. “Exciting?”

“Sure. To know someone can peg almost everything about you without seeing you is crazy. Okay, I know you guessed on the eye color, but you even got that right.”

“Let’s call it my superpower. Blind Girl.”

The car went silent, but then she heard what she thought was a slight laugh. Okay, he was warming up to her humor.

“I suppose I should tell you which way to drive.”

“It would help, but I have a feeling I could drive for hours before I thought to ask because I enjoy your company.”

His words rattled in her. “I wouldn’t have thought I was good company on the two times you’ve been with me.”

“Well then I’ll assume that means that next time you’ll be even better company.”

“Next time?” Her voice actually cracked.

“Sure. How about dinner?”

“I’d love it.” She wanted to answer quickly so he knew she really did want to be with him. “I’m allergic to shell fish. Other than that I’m open to anything.”

“Bar-b-que?”

“I like that a lot.”

“Steve’s Bar-B-Que Pit and Beer.”

She turned to him. “I love that place. Really? You’ll take me there?”

“That’s where my parents ate out for the first time. Minus the hot dog cart behind my dad’s office.”

Was it possible to adore a man so much she wanted to reach over and squeeze him? She wouldn’t. She might not be able to see the traffic before them, but she knew better.

“I’d love to eat there with you under one condition.”

“Okay, what’s that?”

“Is that hot dog cart still there?”

He laughed. “Yes. Frank is gone but, well…” He stopped. “I’ve been gone long enough I don’t know if it’s there. Frank sold it to another guy, but it was still called Frank’s.”

She could hear the drop in his voice. It was a drop of regret. He’d been gone too long to know if something constant was still around. She knew what he was feeling.

“Well, if it is there will you take me there too?”

Courtney felt him move and then he grabbed her hand and locked their fingers together. She didn’t want to gasp her surprise, but she wasn’t sure she hadn’t.

“I’ll take you there. I promise. If not that one, another one.”

Now butterflies filled her stomach. It was too good to be true that she’d dropped her scarf in front of a man so crazy wonderful. Something was wrong with him. There had to be something she didn’t notice yet. Perhaps her father would tell her. He was good at pointing out the bad in everyone. He was skeptical about everyone he’d met.

She let out a breath. She wasn’t going to think like that. That was the way her father worked. Maybe, just maybe, Tyler Benson was as wonderful as he seemed.

“You need to tell me which way to go now,” he said and she realized she’d gone quiet.

“I’d say just drive around until we run out of gas, but I suppose that would be frowned upon.”

“If it was what you wanted.”

Now the butterflies had begun to swarm in her chest.

“You’d do that?”

“I would.”

She told him where she lived, he let go of her hand, and she felt the car turn sharply.

“Could have missed the highway,” he said on a laugh.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be, but it’s funny. That’s out by where my grandmother lives.”

“The one with the boulder in the stream?”

“Yeah, that one.”

“We moved out there about ten years ago, I guess. Mom wanted a forever home, as she’d put it. She was done traveling with the Marines.”

“So you’ve lived a lot of places.”

“More than I can count,” she said on a sigh. “But this is home.”

“It’s a nice area.”

“Uh-huh.” There was no reason for her to say more.

Chapter Six

Tyler followed Courtney’s directions toward the house and they were very precise.

“Yep, you’re about two miles north of my grandmother’s place. I can’t believe you lived so close,” he said as he came to the road she’d directed him to turn on.

“Where did you grow up?”

“Not too far actually. About ten miles from here.”

Courtney reached for his arm and traveled her hand down it until she found his hand. He let it relax as she took it in hers.

“I believe in fate. Do you?”

He swallowed hard. “I do.”

“You and I were on that plane together. We both are going through
things
. We grew up in the same place.”

“Fate.”

“Fate.”

Tyler pulled into the very generous drive of a beautiful house encircled by trees.

“This is beautiful,” he said.

“It doesn’t have a boulder and a stream.” She was smiling.

“I’m guessing it has other charms.”

“Pull up and park just on the south side of the garage. There is some space.”

He drove up the drive. “Will I be in anyone’s way?”

“No. But this way you can get out when you’re ready to leave.”

He gave her hand a squeeze. “I’ll stay as long as you’d like me to.”

“You might as well park in the garage then.” She chuckled, but the heat in his body spiked.

Tyler parked where she’d suggested and turned off the engine. The world around them went silent for a moment.

Courtney’s hand was still in his and it trembled. He watched as she moistened her lips and took a breath—as if hers wasn’t coming easy either.

“Tyler,” she said breathy as she turned her head toward him. “I want to ask you something. When I’m done you’re free to go if you want to.”

She swallowed hard and turned in her seat to fully face him.

“Did you only come to the funeral because I asked you to? Because you felt sorry for me?”

“No,” he answered his voice unsteady.

She shifted their hands so that their fingers interlaced. She’d raised the bar to be more intimate.

“Are you put off by my looks or the fact that I’m blind?”

“No.” That answer was much quicker and sharp.

A smile began to form on her lips. “You do believe in fate?”

“I think I do.”

“Would you be interested in kissing me?”

Every part of him wanted that, but he forced himself to control any part of him that would make him rush what he was feeling.

“Courtney, I’d be very interested.”

She let out a long airy sigh and moved closer to him. “Will you kiss me then? Kiss me as if you’ve been dreaming about it for as long as you can remember.”

Tyler lifted his free hand to her cheek. “That won’t be so hard.”

He moved to her slowly as she closed her eyes. Her lips parted in anticipation of his. As his mouth pressed to hers, he felt the sigh resonate from her.

The warmth of her mouth against his sent that brush fire into a full forest fire dwelling in his belly. Her lips parted further and their tongues met, exploding feelings in him he didn’t realize he could even feel.

Thick air swirled around them as the kiss became more than just a friendly kiss. There was electricity in lips on lips, tongues searching, fingers clenching.

Courtney pulled back breathlessly. “They’re coming,” she said before he could hear the faint sounds of cars turning on the dirt road which would lead to the drive.

“I’ll open your door.” He moved to open his door.

“Tyler, that was very nice.”

“Yeah it was.”

She laughed at his near moan. “Can we do it again soon?”

“You can guarantee it.” He gave her hand a pat and climbed out of the SUV.

Courtney took the moment before he opened her door to collect herself. Boys had been nice to her in the past and then ran like hell. Oh, she was no prude. She’d kissed plenty of boys—men. No one in the world kissed like Tyler Benson. The thought crossed her mind. He must have had a lot of women to know how to kiss like that. She didn’t want to think she’d just be another—but honestly she didn’t care at that moment. But she would in time.

She had to remember that she was in mourning and he was helping her though that. She’d asked him to kiss her and he had. But, he’d wanted to, right?

The door opened to her side and Tyler touched her hand. Courtney turned in her seat, placed her hand on the door, and stepped out of the vehicle.

“I assume that’s my parents coming up the drive.”

Tyler chuckled as he shut the door behind her. “You’re hearing is better than my sight. I can’t see the car through the trees. But there are a lot of cars headed this way.”

Instead of taking his elbow, she laced her arm through his. “Let’s go in through the back. I don’t feel like being right here when they get out of the car.”

“Lead the way.”

Courtney closed her eyes blocking the brightness of the sun and swallowed the feelings she was having. There was one thing she knew about Tyler Benson. He’d run away when things got too hard for him to deal with. Sure, he’d come home to mend that—but he’d run.