Promise Me (17 page)

Making a conscious effort to wipe away any memory of Ava the sex kitten from his mind, I start to run my hands up his arms then down his chest until I reach the hem of his black t-shirt. All the while, he looks on as if his curiosity has definitely been piqued by my roaming hands. I lean forward and start to kiss his neck at the same time my hands reach underneath his shirt to touch his bare skin.

Tyler's hands grip my hips and pull me towards him so hard that my upper body is flush against his. My legs wrap easily around his waist the moment my mouth finally reaches his. He groans into my mouth and his hand fists in my hair when he starts to grind into me. And I swear on everything that is holy, I think I could easily climax right here on his kitchen counter if this keeps up.

Spurred on by this turn of events, I go to take his shirt off but he yanks my hair roughly to stop the kiss that has been spiraling out of control. We're both out of breath and our chests heaving while he looks at me with such a craving in his eyes.

"We need to stop," he says finally.

Is he seriously putting the brakes on this again? I'm so turned on that I can barely see straight and he wants to stop? Perhaps I'm not that good at this seducing thing.

"Fine. Okay, we'll stop." The fake confidence in my voice betrays me and I know he can tell I'm hurt by his rejection.

I extrapolate my legs from the death grip they have around his waist and drop my hands from his chest while trying to scoot back an inch on the counter. Tyler doesn't let me move backwards though. He lets go of my hair and puts both his hands on my hips to keep me right in place.

"Sabrina," he says quietly causing a shiver to run down my spine.

I can't look at him. My eyes are now focused on his shoulder for fear that if I look into those chocolate eyes of his I'll officially lose it.

"It's fine, Tyler. I get it."

With that, he palms my cheek and forces me to look straight into his eyes.

"No you don't," he says gruffly. "Do you have any idea how much I want you right now? My self-control is hanging on by a fucking thread here?"

"I thought…."

His voice goes flat when he cuts me off. "I know exactly what you thought and it has nothing to do with anyone else."

I go to tug the hair behind my ear but he does it for me instead, just like he did last night at the reunion. I manage a tiny smile before I ask, "Why not then?"

Grinning while his thumb makes lazy circles on my cheek, he kisses my forehead softly then moves his mouth to my ear.

"Do you really want me to fuck you right now on this counter," he whispers.

My insides clench and that climax I thought I might have a minute ago could still happen simply by the sound of his silky voice.

"When I finally am inside you, I want to be able to take my time and savor every single second. Because you deserve so much more than a hard, fast fuck on a kitchen counter."

He kisses the spot below my ear and then runs his nose along my jaw line before reaching my lips, lingering there when he asks, "Now, do you understand?"

I breathe my answer into his mouth. "Yes."

"Yes, you understand? Or yes, you want me to fuck you on this counter right now?"

My eyes fly open. He's still within an inch of my lips when he chuckles lightly against my mouth. "I'll take that as a yes, you understand."

I nod. I have to hand it to him, the man has the skills to throw me for a loop and rob me of the ability to speak or string a coherent thought in only a few seconds.

"Good, now that we've come to an understanding, how about we get moving on this date that's only taken us ten years to get around to."

My legs still feel a little numb as they dangle from the counter and his proximity isn't helping to alleviate the ache I still have for him. I feel a small sense of accomplishment at the visible effect I have on him. It's enough for me to temporarily set aside my earlier reservations about Ava's little visit and concentrate on spending more time with him. Although, if this torture keeps up I'm liable to explode before the date even begins.

His face is still a breath away. My eyes trace the rigid lines of his jaw, his full lush lips, until finally settling upon his warm chocolate eyes that I'm sure will kill me sooner than later.
I'm going to drown in those eyes
, I think to myself while I stare dreamily into them.

He chuckles again, "Thank you, I think."

"Did I say that out loud?" I ask completely embarrassed that my inner monologue has a mind of its own.

"Yup."

I put my hands to my face to cover my faux pas. "Ugh, I can't believe I just said that out loud." I pause, dropping my hands from my face to find him still grinning at me. "I mean, you do have beautiful eyes, but I didn't mean to say that to you. Now you think I'm crazy or something, right? I wouldn't blame you in the slightest if..."

His lips are on mine before I can finish that last sentence. It's a quick one but effective nonetheless. When he pulls back he says, "You're so adorable when you're nervous."

He gives me a quick kiss on the tip of my nose while still grinning before he backs away from me and leans against the opposite side of the counter and asks, "Are you ready to go or do you need to freshen up?"

"Well, it depends, since I don't know where we're going. Do I look okay? Am I dressed accordingly?" I ask him while looking down at my casual outfit of fitted jeans, peasant blouse, and wedged sandals.

"You could wear a potato sack and look perfect to me." He winks and puts his hand out to help me jump down from the counter.

I grab my purse and then he leads me towards the door to leave. As we're walking towards his car I ask, "Aren't they going to miss you at the restaurant today?"

He shakes his head and says happily, "Nope, the restaurant is closed on Sundays. You're stuck with me all day."

He opens the passenger door of his car and closes it as soon as I sit down. I watch him confidently stride around the hood of his car and put his aviator sunglasses on. He sinks into his seat with ease, starts the engine, and then we're off. To where exactly, I have no idea, but my heart is anxious.

The Kings of Leon are pumping through the speakers while he makes several turns down cobblestone streets until we reach Benjamin Franklin Parkway and it dawns on me where we're going finally.

"You're taking me to the museum," I say barely able to keep the exuberance in my voice.

He smiles, a heart-stopping, kill me now kind of smile, as he turns his head slightly to look at me and says nothing. Of all the places he could have picked for our first date, he picks the one place that means so much to me. I knew that he could be sweet but this just bumps him up to a whole other stratosphere. He proceeds to drive a short while more until he eventually parks the car a short distance from the museum.

"Thank you for this," I say excitedly and I lean over the console to place a kiss on his cheek.

"You're welcome," and he takes off his sunglasses then clips them onto the collar of his black t-shirt. Still smiling at me, he tells me stay put as he gets out of the car and turns the hood so that he can open my door for me and help me out.

We spend the next few hours walking through the museum, talking about anything and everything under the sun. There is a great exhibition going on called, "
Paris through the window of Marc Chagall and his circle
", that I ask if we can save for last. The whole time together he's holding my hand, and watching my every movement and expression as I look over pieces and explain some of them to him when he asks. He's so attentive to everything I do and say that I can't help but think back to when I would come here with Chris and how he was so bored that he eventually stopped coming altogether.

"Is something wrong," he prods carefully while I pull myself from a Chagall painting called "
In the Night."

"Nothing's wrong. Actually, everything is perfect," I say and turn to face him.

He takes his hand and caresses my cheek tenderly. "Something is going on in that pretty little head of yours. Tell me, please."

I take a little gulp of air because the memory is still unpleasant. "Growing up, I use to come here a lot. I mean, it was kind of like my home away from home," I confess with a small laugh. "Anyway, when Chris and I started dating, I use to drag him here with me on the weekends… that is, until he made it known that he hated it, so he stopped coming."

I turn my head back to look at the Chagall painting I had been admiring a few moments ago. "I guess I should have known then that he wasn't the right guy for me."

His jaw flexes and tightens when he takes a step closer to me, taking my attention away from the painting again. "He didn't deserve you."

I feel a bit exposed that we're having this conversation, here, of all places, but I push him further after he says exactly what he said to me that night so many years ago.

"Why did you wait so long to say those things to me," and I drop my eyes for a second to his jaw that is still clenched before I go on. "You know, sometimes I wish that I could go back and be with you then. I know that sounds crazy after just one night, but, I don't know, it just felt right between us."

He gives me a small smile that borders on sad and cradles my face in hands. "Sabrina, I wanted to… I was a mess back then," he says quietly, "I needed to get my shit together and get out of that town."

"I wish I would have known more about you, Tyler. Maybe we could have at least been friends."

"We couldn't have been just friends and you know it."

"You don't know that. We totally could have been friends."

The corner of his mouth twitches like he's trying to stifle a grin. "No, we most definitely could not have ever been
just friends.
I wanted you too much."

"Really?"

"Yes, really," he says with conviction.

And it clicks. I mean it all really clicks into place. Finding out all the things he's revealed up until now has been amazing, but for some reason I've been able to rationalize it all. Now, with him saying he wanted me too much… well, it just made everything real for me.

"I see that it's finally sinking in."

I know I sound a little more than pleased when I say yes to him. The grin he was trying to keep under wraps unfurls itself and he looks like a cat that ate the whole canary. We stand there for a few seconds, grinning like a couple of fools taking each other in until a nagging thought crosses my mind. What was it that made him stay away? After his confirmation that we both felt something strong between us that night, there has to be more behind his decision to purposely stay away then.

"Please tell me… I need to know why you stayed away from me."

"I want to tell you, but it's not the easiest thing for me to talk about," he says and places a brisk kiss against my lips. "How about we go someplace else and we'll talk."

I say okay and he drops his hands from my face then moves aside so that we can walk back towards the parking garage. The drive is quiet for the most part and I start to feel even worse over having pushed the issue to begin with but I need to know more about him. I've built him up in my head for so long that the prospect of shattering the illusion is a bit terrifying, but I want to know everything.

We pull up a few minutes later on a busy, well lit street with lots of store fronts and people walking around enjoying the unusually cool late summer weather. He parks the car and I look around to get an idea as to our exact whereabouts until he catches my confused expression. Before I can ask, he steps out of the car and comes around to open my door for me.

"Where are we?" I ask warily taking in his mischievous grin.

He doesn't answer me. Instead he places his hand on the small of my back and has me walk up the block until we approach a large distressed red brick building, which from all accounts, is a restaurant that is closed for the night. The outside has a black cloth awning that covers a gated patio area with a few intimate tables. Looking up at the sign that says "
Deep Blue
", I hear Tyler fumbling with the locks on the door and realize we're at his restaurant.

"This is your restaurant," I say more than ask.