Page 19 of This Is Why

I understand his need to be a good guy and do the right thing, and I respect the hell out of him for it, but that doesn’t stop a nasty surge of possessiveness and indignation from burning its way up from someplace ugly inside me. My first thought is that Gabe is mine and I’m fully capable of taking care of him on my own. It’s a knee-jerk reaction and I recognize that it’s flawed because the reality is that Gabe is ours and Ty really should be allowed into his life. I’m going to have to disrupt Gabe’s life and that scares the hell out ofme.

Oblivious to the firestorm of activity going off in my head, Ty continues. “And I thought, you know, once we tell him who I am, maybe we could figure out some sort of visitation. Maybe just Skype sessions at first because Hawaii is a long way fromhere—”

“Hawaii?”

“Yeah. I’m stationed at Kaneohe Bay onOahu.”

I try to do a quick calculation and figure out how far away that is, but all I come up with is way the fuck out there. “You have every right to want these things but can we not do this tonight? I need some time to process everything.”

It looks like he’s about to argue, but he stops himself. “That’s fine.” He balls up his napkin and drops it on his plate. “We can put a pin in it for a fewdays.”

He pays the bill and walks me out of the restaurant. Night fell while we were inside Don Juan’s and the warm air feels great after the almost too cold air conditioning inside. He takes my hand and leads me towards my car. I shiver at the contact.

“Cold?” heasks.

I shake my head but he wraps an arm around me anyway. I drive us back to Carmichael Farms and the conversation between us stays light. We pull into Michelle’s driveway way before I’m ready. When we get out of the car, I turn to thank him for the evening, to apologize for my reaction about the child support, to tell him I hope we can get together again before he leaves, to say or do something, anything, to extend the time we have together before I collect Gabe and Ty and I go our separateways.

Before I have time to speak, Ty pulls me close, threads his hands into my hair, and kisses me. His touch is heated, desperate, and I grip his arms, my fingers digging into his biceps. I part my lips and his tongue brushes mine. Time slows and the world stops spinning and a million stars gleam in the sky just for us. I lose myself in him. If I doubted our connection before, this kiss erases that doubt. It sets fire to any reason I thought I had to say no to Ty and solidifies my need forhim.

He pulls back, presses his forehead to mine, and then kisses me on the tip of my nose. “Thank you for tonight,” he says and then steps back as Gabe barrels out the front door and dashes towards us. Ty promises to see me soon and then helps me into the car and closes the door between us, thumping his hand once on the hood and raising his hand in a silent goodbye.

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