But the truth was, he’d have chosen to stay anyway. He’d wanted to wake up with her like this. It was an indulgence they’d never had in high school, one he’d always craved. He had no business craving it now. No business indulging in anything when it came to Paisley Parish. But he couldn’t find it in him to regret last night.
The dog scratched at the door, whining.
Paisley stretched and snuggled in closer, her breasts pressing against his chest and giving fresh inspiration to the morning wood that had been at half-mast. He trailed a hand down her back to curve around her lush ass. She wiggled against him, skating her own hand down his chest to curl around his dick. Ty groaned and thrust into her touch.
“Okay, so maybe there’s a reason to be awake,” she rasped.
Duke scratched again, whining.
“Maybe if we ignore him, he’ll go away,” Ty suggested. He could roll her over, be inside her in seconds.
Paisley moaned. “Whattimesit?”
He glanced at the clock, startled to realize it was far later than he’d thought. “Nearly eleven.”
He’d actually slept. Dreamlessly. For the first time in longer than he could remember. No nightmares. No rocketing out of sleep, ready to fight. Before he could process the implications of that, Duke began to paw at the door in earnest.
“If this is what it’s like to be a parent, I’m glad I skipped it,” Paisley muttered.
Duke yipped.
She removed her hand and shoved up. “He’s lucky he’s cute. And we’re lucky he doesn’t have opposable thumbs. I don’t think either of us wants seventy-five pounds of enthusiastic canine bouncing on the bed.” Brushing a kiss to the underside of his jaw, she rolled away. “I’m going to go let him out, do the breakfast thing. I’ll be right back to pick up where we left off.”
She shrugged into a silk robe in some peachy pink color that diverted his brain to more interesting ways to begin the day than breakfast. Scrubbing both hands over his face, he watched her leave and settled back against the pillow, plotting exactly how he wanted to seduce her again. They could follow that up with a shower—together, of course. Then pancakes. Surely she had the makings for those. And maybe there was a river walk somewhere in Nashville. They could take Duke and—
Ty froze.
Pancakes? Long walks with the dog? What the actual hell? He wasn’t this domestic guy. This wasn’t a relationship. They weren’t just picking back up where they’d left off eighteen years ago. That was insanity. Half a fucking lifetime had passed since then. This was just nostalgia and natural chemistry combining into something explosive.
Really fucking explosive.
She’d rocked his world last night. And it had been…well, it had been more than he’d expected. More than either of them had been prepared for.
Then again, he’d never been prepared for Paisley. She’d always been the greatest surprise. Once upon a time, he’d been open to that. He’d believed she’d be his greatest adventure. For a long time, she had been. Loving her had been easy. Being with her had been a joy and a privilege. But that was before, when he’d had something to give her.
He wasn’t that guy anymore. She deserved the world, not some broken-down soldier who’d left half of himself in a hellhole on the other side of the globe. He could and had faked it for a little while, but he couldn’t do that long term. And he didn’t want to see her face when she realized that he wasn’t who she remembered. Didn’t want to look into those big, brown eyes and see pity for the shell he’d become. Or worse, disappointment.
She hadn’t asked him for more than the night. But if he was thinking like this, what was Paisley, with all her inherent romanticism, thinking in the light of day? She was a romance author. She’d always loved love. That absolutely hadn’t changed in the last two decades. Sure, going into last night, she’d made the parameters clear, but what if she’d changed her mind? Could the girl he’d known, who’d wanted romance and marriage and forever, really have grown into a woman who didn’t want those things, deep down?
He couldn’t do more than this. Not even for her.
It was the temptation to try that pushed him out of bed. He knew his limitations. He understood better than anyone else what he was and wasn’t capable of. The limits he’d set were for the protection of others as much as himself. He didn’t want to hurt anybody, least of all a woman who’d once held his heart. There was no future here. No new start borne of a chance reconnection. He wasn’t going to suddenly turn into a hero from one of her novels.
So he needed to do what he hadn’t been strong enough to do last night.
He had to walk away before he added her to his list of failures.
* * *
The moment the back door opened, Duke rocketed out, making a lap around the perimeter of the yard before sniffing out the perfect spot to do his business. Paisley hugged herself against the chill. Her whole body felt deliciously loose and used. So very well used.
Ty had stayed.
In truth, she hadn’t quite expected that he would, which was why she’d embraced her inner sex goddess and kept him busy as long as physically possible. He’d been as insatiable as she, but Paisley couldn’t quite shake the idea that he’d been running from something in her bed last night. He’d lost himself in her. Not that she was complaining. He’d learned a thing or three since he was eighteen. This growly, dominant version of him was totally working for her. She’d need to soak for a week if she expected to walk properly, but that would be after another orgasm or three. If she was being greedy, who could blame her? He’d grown up hot AF and knew what to do
