Always Enough (Meet Me in Montana #2) - Kelly Elliott Page 0,5
the natural-deodorant phase I was going through. Maybe I smelled bad? But it wasn’t that. Ty had simply pushed me away.
I got over it quickly, or at least I told myself that every time I saw him and he took my breath away. It was painfully obvious, though, that Ty didn’t share those feelings. Sure, every now and then he would do something that made me think he might want something more than friendship, but then he would distance himself all over again. It drove me mad. So instead I focused on the chaos in front of me right now.
The fire trucks came to a stop, and I prepared for the worst. Channing Harrell was the first out of the truck. He looked my way and smiled, a knowing smile that spoke volumes. Like a what-the-hell-did-I-get-myself-into-again kind of smile. I couldn’t help but grin back at him. He was handsome. Dark-blond hair with stunning hazel eyes. I’d run into him a few times since the grease-fire incident.
“Kaylee, if you want to see us, just invite us over for a cookout or something. After all, it’s not necessary to call out the big guns to see us whenever you want,” Channing said.
I laughed. Ty, on the other hand, folded his arms over his chest and looked at me as he would a two-year-old who just got caught doing something naughty.
“She threw a tractor tire into the fire,” he said, as if I’d committed a crime. Well, I guess in a way I had.
Channing simply tsked my way and moved closer to me. “That is a punishable crime.”
The way he was staring at me, with a heated look in his eyes, left me feeling slightly lightheaded. It was nice to have a man give me attention like that. I hadn’t really realized how lonely I’d truly been until I saw the fire in Channing’s eyes, and it wasn’t a reflection of the blaze burning behind me.
Lifting my brow, I replied, “Is that so? What is the punishment for such an offense?”
“Are we really doing this right now?” Ty snapped.
Channing and I both ignored him. Channing, because he was too busy letting his gaze look my body over from top to bottom—thanks to the slightly warmer weather, I had on a pair of yoga pants that showcased my ass nicely and a sweater that accented my curves in all the right ways—and me, because I knew it annoyed Ty when I ignored him completely.
“Dinner. Tonight.” Channing was so confident in his request that I seriously thought about it.
I dug my teeth into my bottom lip and quickly looked at Ty. He huffed and headed over to the other firemen, who were busy getting their hoses and making their way to my toxic burn pile.
Jerking my eyes back to Channing, I sighed. “I wish I could, but I promised Lincoln some girl time tonight. She’s been knee deep in diapers and breastfeeding for two weeks.”
With a laugh that I found myself really liking, Channing nodded. “I get it. My sister had a baby a few months ago, and getting that little bit of time away every now and then is a lifesaver.”
I looked over toward the fire. “So, am I really going to get into trouble for this?”
He winked and shook his head. “I’ll take care of it. How about a rain check on that dinner date, though?”
“Yes! For sure.”
I was saying yes mainly because the guy was letting me off the hook with yet another task I’d taken on gone bad. I needed to really be more careful with fire in the future. Maybe I needed to avoid it altogether.
“Friday night? I’m off.”
A part of me panicked. Why was I so scared to go out on a date? It wasn’t like I didn’t want to meet someone. I was tired of being alone. Tired of endless nights of crawling into bed by myself.
I took another glance in Ty’s direction. A rush of sadness washed over me, and I tried to ignore it. Why wasn’t it Ty who was looking at me the way Channing was? Why wasn’t it Ty asking me out? It wasn’t like I didn’t like Channing. I did. It was that my body and my mind liked Ty more. A whole lot more.
“Can I get back to you? I have a book I’m trying to finish up for a client, and honestly, this fire has put me behind. I thought it would be a quick burn; apparently I was wrong.”