Acceptance, The (8 page)

Reaching toward her nightstand again she picked up her phone and held it in her hands. There were friends not too far away, they’d come over if she asked, right? But at that moment she couldn’t think of one that she’d want to be with. Cousins? No. She didn't even have any of those.

There was only one choice.

Tyler processed the noise. That was his phone ringing on his dresser. What the hell time was it?

He kicked off the sheet and got to his feet. Shuffling through the room with his eyes closed he found his phone on what he knew would be the last ring.

“Yeah?” His voice cracked as he’d said it.

“Oh, I woke you. Tyler, I’m so sorry. I’ll talk to you…”

“Courtney?” His eyes were fully open now.

“Yes. I’m sorry.”

He scrubbed his hand over his face. “No. Don’t be sorry. What time is it?”

“It’s eleven.”

“Eleven? Geeze, I’m becoming an old man. I’ve been asleep for hours. I guess today wore me out.” He walked to the bed and sat down on the end of it. “Is everything okay?”

She didn’t answer right away and that worried him.

“Everything is fine. I really shouldn’t have called.”

“I think I told you on the plane to call anytime.”

She let out a weak laugh. “You did.” He heard her suck in a breath. “Okay, the reason I’m calling is that I want to go through my brother’s things.”

Tyler wanted to laugh but he forced it back. This wasn’t the time. “Didn’t you say you thought your mother would want to do that?”

“Yes. And she’ll be here at nine in the morning.”

“You did say she’d do that.”

“But there are things I want to keep. Parts of him she will box up and I’ll never find them. But, Tyler, I need a set of seeing eyes. I can’t find the items I want.”

“You need help before she gets there?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll be over in a half hour.”

The doorbell rang exactly a half hour after Courtney had called. He’d come. He’d said he would and he had.

Courtney walked to the door. “Tyler?”

“Yes, it’s me,” he said from the other side of the door.

She pulled it open. “Thank you for coming.”

“My pleasure.”

“Come in.” She stepped back and felt him brush by her as he walked through the door. “I’ll try to not keep you long. I just need to do this for my own peace of mind.”

“I understand.” She felt his fingers take her hand and give it a squeeze. “Do you mind if I turn a few lights on?”

She laughed. “Of course. Fitz used to say the same thing. He was forever bumping into things. Nothing in this house ever moved, but he could run into it.”

She heard the click of the lamp on the end table and could see the adjustment in light.

“Thanks. Okay, what do we need to do?” he asked.

“Right. Let’s get started. You’ll need to be getting back to bed. I shouldn’t have awakened you. It was selfish of me and…”

He’d moved to her and his hands were on her hips. She could feel his breath on her cheek and then his lips pressed against hers.

Tyler’s lips were soft and his mouth tasted of mint. He’d brushed his teeth before he’d come and she found it endearing. Perhaps he’d wanted to come. Perhaps he’d had plans to kiss her, too.

What was she doing letting him kiss her? Her brother had died and she’d buried him. He was here to help her. And—as her parents would see it—he was a stranger.

But as she lifted her arms around his neck and he deepened the kiss she found she didn’t care.

She’d met him only days ago on a flight that was a mere few hours. But she’d spent nearly the whole day with him today and he’d kissed her over and over. What did it mean when in such a short time she was so comfortable around him?

This had never happened to her before. And though she enjoyed the game of trying to get the attention of men by dropping her scarf, she’d never caught one.

Tyler pulled back. “I shouldn’t do that to you,” he said as he pressed his forehead to hers.

“Why?”

“I only met you. You have a lot going on in your life and I’m trying to put mine back together.”

“All the more reason I think we should kiss and enjoy each other. We both need someone.”

“But when the need is gone…”

“It’ll never be gone. There’s an acceptance going on here. You’re trying to accept what you didn’t know and I’m trying to accept what I’ll never get back—my brother.”

Tyler pulled back. His hands came to hers and he linked their fingers. “I didn’t expect this when I met you on the plane.”

“How could you have?”

“Did you?”

Courtney shook her head. “No, you just smelled good.”

That made him chuckle. “Thank you for calling me.”

“I couldn’t think of anyone else I wanted to have over to help me with this.”

Tyler released her hand and stroked his down her hair. “I know this is all new. You don’t know me from Adam, but you saying that means a great deal. I’m never going to let you down on purpose, Courtney. I can’t guarantee I won’t fail you at some point. But it won’t be on purpose.”

She tucked her lips in between her teeth and let his words resonate. “So, if you disappear from me it won’t be on purpose?”

There was no way to keep her words controlled. They shook on her voice like a wave of panic for the ears to hear.

“I’m saying I’m not perfect.”

“I’d despise you if you were.”

“I’ve broken the heart of everyone I love. I walked away when they all needed me.”

“But you came back.”

“I never should have gone.”

For a moment she had to remind herself that they were both momentarily broken. As much of a pillar of strength as he’d been all day, his involvement with her was stirring up feelings in him he hadn’t yet dealt with. Fair enough. She’d called him in the middle of the night to help her deal with her feelings. She could certainly allow him a moment of pity.

“Three years in the life of a man is not that long, Tyler. In a few months the pain you think you caused will not be relevant. In a year it’ll be a slight sting. In three more years—nearly forgotten.”

“You don’t understand. I come from this perfect family and I’m not perfect.”

“Again, I’d despise you if you were. I cannot imagine your family is perfect. No family is perfect.”

“Mine is,” he said very matter-of-fact.

“What a compliment to them that you think so. But I can guarantee you they aren’t.”

He cupped her face in his hands. “Sunday. Dinner. Are you up for a crazy night?”

She raised her hands to his wrists. “What does that have to do with your family?”

“Everything. I want you to meet perfection.”

Courtney swallowed back the tears—the excitement—the fear. “You want me to meet your family?”

“A woman who drops her scarf for a good smelling man to pick up and spends the worst day of her life kissing that man shouldn’t be afraid of one dinner with his family.”

“Right. I’m not afraid. I’ll meet your family.”

He stepped in and brushed a kiss on her lips. “I should warn you that…”

Courtney lifted her fingers to his lips. “Don’t warn me. You’ll just get me worked up if I think there is something that is going to happen. I’ll be fine. You met my family and survived.”

He chuckled as she pulled her fingers back. “I’m thinking I’ll need to meet them again. Our introduction wasn’t one of great timing and when they realize you spent the day with me and not at their house, they’ll probably change their mind about me.”

“No they won’t,” she quickly answered. She wasn’t about to let her parents turn on Tyler. He’d been nothing but gracious. And they weren’t the only ones who lost Fitz. She’d lost him and she would mourn and hurt much longer than either of them she was sure. If she needed Tyler in her life then she’d have him.

Courtney stepped back. “C’mon, let’s go upstairs and find those items I wanted.”

She held out her hand for the handrail that should be within a few feet of her. When her hand came to the newel post, she began her way up the stairs.

“Just turn on whatever lights you need to. I’m a tad bit oblivious to its need,” she said and he chuckled from behind her.

At the sixteenth step, which she’d counted a million times, she turned left down the hallway to Fitz’s room. With her hand on the wall she felt for the door, turned the knob, and pushed it open.

Courtney stepped in and heard the switch of the light as Tyler stepped in behind her.

“Baseball player, huh?”

“Yes. A good one too.”

“I can see that. There has to be fifteen trophies in here alone.”

She nodded and stepped in further feeling her brother surrounding her as she did.

“He held the record for home runs during high school.”

“Impressive. My cousin was a semi-professional ball player. His room didn’t look much different.”

“Which cousin?”

“Christian, Christian Keller.”

She turned her head toward him. “Pitcher.”

Now he laughed hard. “You know who Christian Keller is?”

“Because of Fitz. We used to go to the games.” She couldn’t believe the connection. “You have quite an impressive family tree. A baseball player, a country music artist, an oil heiress, and you…heir to Benson, Benson, and Hart.”

The air in the room grew thick and she knew she’d crossed the line. But she waited for him to make a comment. The pain of the passing moments before he spoke was agonizing.

“I guess you’ve done some research, huh?”

Courtney let her shoulders drop. “I’m sorry. I hope you understand my unique position. I needed to know who it was that comforted me so much that day.”

“I understand it, heir to the Fitzpatrick Financial Corporation.”

Courtney bit the inside of her cheek. “You did your research too.”

“Easily done.”

She nodded in agreement. “My father is afraid you might be a gold digger.”

“Couldn’t care less about someone’s money. I don’t care about what is in someone’s bank account. I’ve met men who are billionaires and they don’t have a bit of emotional worth to them. Thanks to my
oil heiress
aunt,” he emphasized and she felt the words squeeze at her, “I’ve met women who lived on the streets with their children begging for food. They asked for help and they now help others. They have jobs—careers. They’re wealthier than any man with a million dollars.”

She wondered if it was possible to feel love at first sight—even when the physical sight was impaired. If it was possible—and again she wasn’t sure it was—she was sure she’d just stumbled into it. Tyler Benson was nearly too good to be true.

Chapter Ten

Admittedly, going through someone’s personal belongings, especially when you didn’t know them, was a little nerve wracking for Tyler. But for Courtney, he was pretty sure he’d do damn near anything.

He couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was about this woman, as he opened her brother’s dresser drawers in search of a box, that would make him drive over in the middle of the night just because she’d asked.

Really he’d never done so much for any other woman before and he’d just met Courtney.

“I found a box. Black with a Marine sticker on it.”

“Yes!” she shouted and stood from her seat on the bed.

He placed the box in her hands and she ran her fingers over the edge of the sticker. When she opened it there was a gold Rolex watch inside. She pulled it out and handed it to him.

“Read the inscription please.”

Tyler took the watch and turned it over. “To Fitz. It’s your time. Love Court.”

He watched her body relax as she smiled. “That’s the one. I want that in my possession.”

Tyler handed her the watch and she placed it back in the box.

“He called you Court?”

“Yes. He was the only one allowed to. I hate it, but not when he said it.”

“It’s a beautiful watch,” Tyler added as he pushed the drawer, in which he’d found the box, back into place.

“I bought it for him when he joined the Marines. I’d been very mad at him over that. His enlisting was my father’s idea, not his. He didn’t seem to mind, but I was pissed. We argued from the time he graduated until he was ready to go to boot camp. I gave it to him before he left because by then I’d realized it was his time to leave me and go into the world. He’d been protecting me and sheltering me for his entire life. It was time for him to go change the world.”

She ran her hand over the top of the box. “I guess the world changed him.”

Tyler watched her for a moment. “What else can I help you find?”

Courtney turned and set the watch on the bed.

They spent an hour in the room finding small items that Courtney didn’t want boxed up and stored for the rest of eternity. The watch, a jacket, a baseball, and a notebook were all they took out of the room. When they were done Courtney closed the bedroom door.

“I’m going to put these away in my room. I’ll meet you downstairs in a few minutes,” she said as she passed him and walked into the room down the hall.

Tyler walked downstairs and waited. Just as promised, she returned a few minutes later.

“I suppose I should go now. If you need anything else, just call.”

Courtney reached for him and he took her hand. “Would you stay? I mean, just for a little bit. I know it’s past midnight, but…”

“I’ll stay.”

“I could use the company. I don’t mean we’d do anything but sit on the couch and watch TV, but…”

He gave her hand a squeeze. “I said I’ll stay.”

Courtney walked to the TV, turned it on, and handed Tyler the remote. “I’m going to make some tea to relax. Would you like some?”

“That would be nice.”

“You find something to watch. I’ll be right back.”

He sat down and watched her from the couch. Everything in the small kitchen was in an appointed place and she moved with ease through the room as she filled the water, set it on the stove to boil, and pulled down two mugs.

There was a gracefulness to her—a peace. He needed that kind of peace in his life too. Tomorrow—or in a few hours—he’d meet his father in his office downtown and they’d discuss Tyler’s future at Benson, Benson, and Hart.