Free Where Forever Lies by Tara Neideffer Page A

door to get in but then she
heard someone yell. She turned around and saw Tyler staring at her.
He waved to her, and she quickly waved back, embarrassed that he’d
caught her staring.
    As she got
in her car, she found herself not able to get the image of Tyler’s
crooked smile out of her mind. It was sexy as hell and her own dirty
thoughts were making her blush. It was so out of character for her to
be infatuated with a guy she’d just met. This guy she didn’t
even know was loudly making his presence known in her thoughts. The
one who had totaled her car yesterday and then hit her with a
basketball today. She wondered if he was bad luck.
    She pushed
the thoughts of Tyler out of her mind. She never had good luck with
men, and right now was not a good time to be trying to get back into
dating. She had been dealing with a lot of grief lately and she knew
her mind would not be able to concentrate on being in a relationship.
She was lucky to be able to hold down a demanding, full time job and
be a single mom right now. Plus, she just didn’t have a lot of
time with work and taking care of Kyra. But, she couldn’t help
but be envious of seeing how good a dad Tyler seemed to be with
Brandon and wishing her daughter had that opportunity. It just wasn’t
fair, but their life could be worse, she supposed.
    A knock at
her window caused her to jump; she cocked her head to her left and
instantly felt her chest tighten. Tyler gave her a half smile and
made a roll the window down gesture at her. She quickly pushed the
button for the window and wished she had checked for a red mark on
her face but she never would have guessed he’d come over to her
car.
    He flashed
a confident smile, his forehead still slightly damp from playing
basketball, and she eyed him carefully as he bent down and rested his
arms on her window. “Yes?” she asked hesitantly.
    His
eyebrows rose slightly and he briefly looked over in the direction of
his truck before bringing his attention back to her. “Well, I
was wondering if you’d like to go do something some time? I
know we just met and if you’re dating someone just tell me. I
don’t want to step on anyone’s toes or anything but I
also didn’t see a wedding ring. I looked.” He grinned and
raked a hand through his damp hair as he waited for her answer.
    Paige felt
herself just staring at him, not knowing what to say, exactly. Of
course she wasn’t dating anyone. That had seemed like a
lifetime ago. But she wasn’t sure what she wanted to say.
    She
finally tore her gaze from him and said, “No, actually, I’m
not seeing anyone.”
    She
watched his reaction and thought she noticed his eyes light up and
then he shrugged as he said, “So? How about it, then?”
    Thinking
she was losing her mind by saying she’d go out with some
stranger, she suddenly felt like playing the wild card. “Sure,
I’d love to go out sometime.”
    A broad
smile formed on his face and he quickly pulled out his cell phone,
asking for her number. As she rambled off the numbers, she watched
him quickly punch it in, and then a small voice from the back seat
suddenly broke the silence.
    “Hi.”
    He looked
towards the back at Kyra who was staring at him with big blue eyes
and red curls that were pulled back into a high ponytail that sat on
top of her head. With a small hand, she waved vigorously at him, a
wide smile taking over her face.
    Paige
noticed a softness settling on his face as he smiled back at Kyra. He
leaned farther inside her window and she stiffened as he got
intimately close, bringing to life feelings that had seemed to have
vanished for some time now. His shoulder barely brushed hers as he
held up his hand towards Kyra and Paige could smell his cologne mixed
in with a touch of sweat. Her insides swam with feelings of want and
desire and she suddenly had the urge to run the backside of her hand
against the coarse stubble on his cheeks. She didn’t know where
on earth that thought came from and was