Free Bad In Boots 02 - Ty's Temptation by Patrice Michelle

familiar jasmine scent invaded his senses. At least one thing about her hadn’t changed.
    “Soon to be divorced.” A smirk curved her lips as she moved closer while pulling on a pair of rubber gloves.
    Now that comment surprised him. He started to raise his eyebrow but winced at the pain his action caused.
    “Hold still.” Lily dabbed at his wound above his eyebrow with a cotton ball. Ty closed his eyes, blocking his view of her breasts, exposed by her v-neck cotton shirt under her open jacket. Once she’d cleaned the wound thoroughly, he felt her fingers manipulating his skin. “You have a nasty cut. Evan’s right. You need stitches. Do you want a painkiller?”
    Ty met her gaze and shook his head. He wanted to remember the pain this woman caused him. Having her inflict him with more would be a perfect physical reminder.
    “How’d this happen?” she asked before returning to the cabinet.
    “Got hit with a flying bridle.” Ty watched her prepare the needle and thread.
    Lily raised a perfectly arched eyebrow and cast an amused gaze his way. “That’s not something one hears every day.” She turned away from the counter and approached him holding a scissors-type instrument. The end of the instrument was pinched closed, holding the needle and thread.
    “I expected you to leave Boone. To seek that ‘better life’ you wanted.” The comment came out before he could stop it. Why did he torture himself? he wondered.
    She met his gaze with her steady chocolate brown one before she grasped his jaw and turned his head to the side so she could see better. “I got married. To a surgeon, no less.”
    “Not surprised,” he grated out at the same time the needle pierced his skin above his eyebrow. Son of a bitch! That hurt. Ty forced himself to ignore the stinging pain.
    She pursed her lips at his sarcastic jibe and continued to suture his wound. “Life doesn’t always turn out as one plans. So what do you do now?”
    Her tone might be conversational, but he felt the slight tug on the thread. No fucking way was he telling her he was a very successful architect. “A little of this and a little of that.”
    She chuckled at his vague response. “When I read Harm’s wedding announcement in the paper and saw he was marrying your sister, I hoped you’d come back to Boone.” Lily tied a knot and snipped the thread.
    “Oh?” he asked, surprised by her statement.
    Even though she’d finished her task, Lily hadn’t moved out of his personal space.
    “I never forgot about you.”
    Was that interest he heard in her voice? Ty’s gut clenched.
    He heard his own pulse rushing in his ears while Lily’s words, spoken over two decades ago, came rushing back.
    “Marry you? I don’t want to be hemmed in by marriage. I want to make something of myself, Ty. To be someone important.” He heard her voice as if it were yesterday. Each word had stabbed at his heart, shattering his image of true love. He’d loved her, damn it.
    “You didn’t want me back then,” he reminded her in a cold tone.
    Lily placed her hands on his cheeks. “We were seventeen, Ty. Too young to know what we wanted out of life.”
    “And did you find it?” he challenged, angrier then he’d ever been in his life.
    Her gaze searched his as she moved her mouth closer to his. “Yeah, I think I just did.”
    Before her lips could connect, Ty grabbed her wrists and set her away from him. He released her and stood up from the stool. “Thank you for closing my wound.” He was very aware of the irony of his words. While she’d just mended one wound, she ripped open another—one that took a helluva lot more than stitches to close.
    Seeing Lily again made him relive the devastating hurt she’d caused him all those years ago. Churning emotions he’d long buried, surfaced anew, tearing at his gut, making his stomach burn.
    “Congratulations on the professional life you’ve created for yourself, Lily. I’m happy for you,” he said before he opened the