Be With Me (2 page)

Tyler pulled up in front
of his brothers two story log home and parked. He went to the door
and gave a hard couple of knocks before he heard someone coming to
the door.

Emily swung it open. “Hey
Ty, what’s going on?”

“Uh, I have an
uh…situation.”

“Oh?” She raised her
eyebrows.

“Yeah um.” He pointed to
his truck. “In there.”

“Okay, well let me go grab
Maisy, hold on okay.”

“Okay.” He ran his hands
over the short spikey hair on his head.

When Emily came back out,
she had Maisy, his niece perched on her hip. She was honestly the
most beautiful baby he’d ever seen. Her eyes were bright blue, and
her hair was golden just like her mommy. He didn’t see any
resemblance to his brother in her features, but knew she would
probably have his personality someday.

Tyler led her to his truck
and opened the passenger door. “See.”

“Oh my God! Is she dead?”
Emily let out a horrified gasp.

“No she’s not dead; she
tried to run me off the damn road and lodged her car in a
pasture.”

“Ty she’s
bleeding.”

“Yeah I thought you could
help…maybe?”

“Ty, I’m used to slapping
a band aid on a boo boo and kissing it, this looks a lot worse than
a minor scrape.”

“Maybe if I bring her
inside? We could take a closer look?”

Emily bounced Maisy higher
on her hip. “Okay, take her up to one of the spare
rooms.”

“Thanks Em.”

Tyler situated the beauty
on a plush bed in a spare room. She looked almost peaceful laying
there among the beige blanket and throw pillows.

“Hey.” He heard Emily
behind him. “Hold her and I’ll run to the garage to grab first aid
supplies.” She shoved his niece in his arms.

Tyler wasn’t used to
holding little ones, in fact having Maisy in his arms made him feel
like he might break her somehow. Looking into her blue irises
though made him feel better, this little girl trusted him, even
though she just met him a few days ago. He tickled her pudgy tummy
and she let out a giggle.

“Oh my God!” Emily
gasped.

“What? Shit. Did I do
something wrong?” He panicked.

“No. She’s usually so
quiet, I haven’t heard her giggle like that…ever.”

Tyler smiled. “She just
needed uncle Ty to loosen her up. She had a stick up her butt like
her daddy.”

Emily let out a cackle.
“If she grows up saying that I’m gonna tell Jake it was your
influence.”

“I’m a big boy, I can take
the heat.” He looked at the blonde angel in his arms. “Isn’t that
right? Daddy will just have to deal with it.” She grinned from ear
to ear.

“She really likes you,
ever think about having a family?”

“In order to do that, I
have to find someone to procreate with Em, and as far as I know my
hand can’t reproduce.” He snickered.

“Yuck! I don’t want to
hear it.” She put her hands over her ears.

“Anything you want me to
do?” He asked

Emily stood by the bed
with the stranger laying there. “Um, if you want to take Maisy
downstairs and keep her busy, I’ll tend to Miss car
accident.”

“Deal. Thanks, I owe you
one.”

“Free babysitting maybe?”
She laughed.

“Anytime.”

Tyler took his sweet niece
back downstairs and sat her on a blanket. She had a plethora of
toys waiting, and she didn’t hesitate to grab one and shove into
her tiny mouth.

This was nice, Tyler had
always thought about having a family, but like he told Emily, there
wasn’t any possibilities right off hand. But wouldn’t it be great
to have someone to come home to? Someone to give him a child as
sweet as his niece? Yeah it would be nice, but at the age of
thirty, he was running out of time. For now visiting his brother
and his family would have to do.

Three

Waking up in a strange bed
was not part of the plan when I traveled to Texas. It was my own
fault though for putting too much attention toward an electronic
device. I knew that damn phone would get me into trouble
someday.

I laid there searching the
foreign room for some sign of safety, and I could hear voices in
the distance. My brain felt like it could explode at any moment,
and I remembered hitting my head on the steering wheel of my rental
car. Dammit. How long had I been here? And where exactly was
here?

I rose from the bed and
crept around the room, hoping to find an escape route if possible.
All the horror movies I’d watched in the past flashed through my
mind and I was mortified. Maybe I was in the lair of some freak
that wanted to keep me as a trophy.

I looked out the window in
the room, and it seemed I was in a normal home. Weird. I then heard
a shrill cry from what I thought was downstairs, a baby. Relief
washed over me.

When I turned around from
the window, my heart jumped in my chest. There was a man standing
in the doorway, and his body literally filled the space. His hair
was cut into a short military style, and muscles bulged out from
under his tight black t-shirt. I should have been terrified but
this man made me hot in all the right places. His eyes were a
dreamy blue that I could have gotten lost in for days, and his face
was chiseled like it was cut from the perfect stone. He was
perfection.

“Hey, you’re awake.” He
spoke.

“Yeah, where am
I?”

“I brought you to my
brother’s house; you banged your head pretty hard.”

“Wouldn’t it have been
wise to take me to a hospital then?” I smirked.

“I suppose so, but it was
an hour drive. I figured you needed to sleep it off.” He
shrugged.

“And what if I had a
concussion? What if I would have died in my sleep?” I bit
out.

“Well then I would have
buried you somewhere in the middle of nowhere.” He
chuckled.

I watched him cross the
room toward me, and my heart rate skyrocketed. This man oozed sex,
and damn if my body wasn’t picking up on that fact. He stood mere
inches from me and I could smell him. Clean male, and hormones. He
reached his hand forward and I jumped back.

“I was just gonna check on
your head, calm down.” He warned.

“Sorry,
I’m…jumpy.”

“Obviously, now let me
look at it.”

He swept my hair from my
face and placed his hand on the side of my head. I felt a burn,
more like a damn lightning strike jolt through my entire body, and
land in the most sensual of areas. Oh God.

“Looks good, how do you
feel?” He said in a low voice.

“Good. Fine. I really need
to get going.”

“Not happening today
sweetheart.”

“And why not?”

“Because in case you do
have a concussion, you don’t need to be driving. You will stay here
for the night, and finish whatever you need to in the
morning.”

“Um excuse me but you do
not get to give me orders. I don’t know you.”

“Tyler Bradford and you
are?”

“Margaret Wells, my
friends call me Maggie.” I held out my hand to shake
his.

“Nice to meet you Maggie.
Now come downstairs, my sister in law has dinner ready.”

“Not hungry.”

“Let me guess, afraid
you’ll pack on a few pounds to that perfect body?” He
smiled.

“First of all its far from
perfect, and second of all…okay I don’t have a second of
all.”

“Good. Then to the dinner
table it is.”

I followed him down the
stairs and into the living room of the home. There were baby toys
and gadgets scattered everywhere, and the place felt lived in.
Unlike my condo, Haley often told me it looked like a museum, but
it was the order and organization that I needed in my life. I heard
a female voice from the kitchen area.

“Hey Ty, can you hold
Maisy for me, I need to get stuff from the oven.”

He went into the other
room and returned with a tiny little girl in his arms. She was so
beautiful, blonde hair, blue eyes; she looked like she belonged in
a Gerber commercial.

“This is my niece Maisy.”
He introduced me.

I felt so uncomfortable
around kids; they just weren’t my cup of tea. The spitting up, the
changing diapers…no thank you. Richard had decided we would forgo
that step in our marriage. I had thought about it a time or two,
but he convinced me it should just be the two of us. I agreed it
would make things simpler.

“Do you wanna hold her?”
Tyler asked.

“Uh no. Babies and I do
not mix.”

“Afraid you’ll get
something all over your designer clothes?”

“No it has nothing to do
with that. By the way, where is my phone? I need to check in with
some people.”

He pointed toward the
front door. “All your stuff is over there.”

I walked over to find my
heap of luggage, and my purse. I fished out my phone and saw I had
several missed calls. Richard was one of them.

“I’m just going to step
outside and make a call.” I called over my shoulder.

I dialed Richards’s number
and he answered on the second ring.

“Maggie, what the hell
happened? I’ve been trying to call you for the last few
hours!”

“I wrecked my rental
car.”

“
You what?”

“I’m fine, just a little
banged up.”

“Please tell me you had
insurance on the rental car…”

Really? I had just told my
fiancée I was banged up and he wanted to know about rental car
insurance? What the fuck?

“Of course I did, I’m not
a complete idiot.”

“Sometimes I
wonder.”

“Thanks, that makes me
feel so much better. How’s Bermuda?”

“It would be better if you
were here.”

“I’m sure.”

“Oh hey, my mom and dad
are waiting for me to order, we are at dinner.”

I didn’t have a chance to
reply, he hung up. “Ugh bastard!”

“Problems?”

I spun around to find
Tyler standing behind me. “Eavesdrop much?”

“Force of habit comes with
the job.”

“What are you some secret
spy or something? Double O Texan?”

“Nope,
Marines.”

“Oh. I’m sorry, I
didn’t…”

“Don’t worry about it,
wouldn’t have mattered if you knew in the beginning anyway.” He
turned toward the front door.

“Why would you say that?”
I snapped.

I watched him slowly turn
his body toward me, and step so close I could feel his hot breath
on my neck.

“Because, you are the type
of person that makes their judgment before they know the whole
story. I get it. But trust me, you may think you have it all
figured out, but you are dead wrong.”

His words sent shockwaves
through me, and I was speechless. What was I supposed to say to
that? This man was so intimidating, and scared the hell out of me
in more ways than one.

Four

Tyler realized that he had
brought a snobby city girl to his brother’s house and that just
wouldn’t fly. This woman was something else, she obviously thought
her shit didn’t stink and portrayed something of an evil witch. She
was stunned that he would speak to her like he did; you would have
thought she was royalty. He felt bad for Emily, after all this was
her home, and she shouldn’t have to be faced with someone like
Maggie.

After his blowup at her on
the front porch, Tyler went back inside the house to cool down. He
didn’t lose his temper often but when he did it was best to leave
him alone.

“Everything okay Ty?”
Emily asked.

“Yeah just peachy.” He
stated flatly.

“Maybe if you sounded more
convincing I might believe you.”

“Emily I’m sorry I brought
her here, I know you don’t need someone like that
around.”

“It’s okay she was hurt,
and needed help. She’s really pretty.”

“Yeah whatever.” Tyler
spat out.

“Where is she now?” Emily
questioned.

“I left her on the porch,
I needed to get away from her, she makes my blood boil and I sort
of want to rip her head off.”

“Oh calm down Ty, she’s
not that bad.”

“Excuse me.” Maggie
interrupted.

Tyler turned to see her in
the kitchen doorway. “What?”

Her eyes were filled with
what looked like tears. “Never mind.” She turned to walk out of the
room.

Tyler quickly stood from
the chair he occupied and followed her. She was heading out of the
house, and made it to the yard before he caught her. Tyler grabbed
her arm and swung her around until her chest collided with
his.