Blayze smiled. “I’m after you, Uncle Ty.”
Glancing down, I winked at him. “You got it, buddy.”
As I made my way closer to them, I watched Kaylee. The way she smiled at Channing. The way she looked at him. Was it different from the way she looked at me? Hell, my head was beginning to hurt. No woman had ever had me this fucking turned upside down before.
I tapped on Channing’s shoulder. “Mind if I cut in?”
Channing’s smile faded instantly, and he looked back at Kaylee. For the briefest of moments, I thought she was going to say she did mind. But she gave Channing a soft smile and took a step out of his arms.
I stepped into his vacated spot and looked at her. My heart sped up, and a nervous flutter hit the pit of my stomach. She really was the most beautiful woman in the room.
She stepped into my arms, and I pulled her close. Maybe a little too close, but I didn’t give a shit. I missed the feel of her. The smell of her vanilla soap. The way she held her breath when I was near her.
“I’ve been meaning to call you or stop by to . . .” My voice trailed off.
Her brows lifted. “To what?”
Clearing my throat, I replied, “Talk. To talk.”
“Oh, really? Seems to me you’ve been avoiding me, Ty.” She looked away for a moment, then back up at me. “What did you want to talk about?”
After glancing around the room, I let out an exasperated sigh. “Maybe now isn’t the time.”
“Considering you’re going out of your way to avoid me outside of this room, now seems like the perfect time.”
“I’m not going out of my way.”
Kaylee rolled her eyes and then looked away from me.
“It was irresponsible of me to have sex without a condom, and I wanted you to know if anything should come out of that . . .”
I cleared my throat again as she looked up at me. Her eyes were filled with something I couldn’t read. For the first time since I’d met this woman, I had no clue what was going on in her head. “If you end up being—”
“I’m not. I’ve had my period since that night, so you’re off the hook.”
The instant pain in my chest shouldn’t have been there. It should have been relief, I knew that, but that didn’t mean anything. A sense of loss washed over me. “I wasn’t going to ask to be let off of any hook, Kaylee.”
Her mouth opened to say something, but then she closed it. We danced a few minutes in silence, and as the song was ending, she pulled back and looked up at me. “Dirk said he told you about the job offer with CBS.”
I was positive I wore a shocked expression. “He told you about it?”
She nodded. “Yes. I think you should take it.”
The pain in my chest grew tenfold. “You . . . you do?”
“Yes, it might be a good thing for you. Besides, you have nothing here holding you back.”
My eyes searched her face, but it was completely void of any emotion. Nothing. “But I do. My family, and Blayze and Morgan. And who’s going to make sure you don’t set anything on fire?” I smiled, hoping it would also make her smile.
“I’m sure Channing could handle that just fine.”
I took a step back. The feel of a knife being pushed into the middle of my heart nearly took my breath away. Kaylee stood there, not an ounce of regret on her face for the words she had just said.
So that was it. I had successfully pushed her away for good. The only thing I could do was nod, force another smile, then say, “Thanks for the dance, Kaylee. Enjoy the rest of your evening.”
Before she could say anything else, I’d turned and headed off the dance floor. I pulled the paper Dirk had given me out of my pocket and dialed the number as I made my way toward the exit.
A male voice came on the line. “This is Sam James.”
“Sam, it’s Ty Shaw.”
“Ty! Man, it’s great to hear from you. I take it Dirk’s spoken to you.”
I didn’t bother to look back into the ballroom. I wasn’t sure if I could stand the sight of Kaylee in Channing’s arms again. “He did.”
“And?”
“I’m interested in talking.”
“This is amazing news. How soon can you come to New York?”
“How soon can you have a private plane here?”
Sam laughed. “Pack a bag. You’ll leave in the morning.”
Chapter Eighteen
KAYLEE
The moment the words were out of my mouth, I wanted to tell him I was sorry. Instant regret pulsed through my body. The look of devastation on his face would haunt me the rest of my life, I was sure of it.
I couldn’t move, though. The urge to tell him I hadn’t meant it was so strong, but I was also so angry he had avoided me for weeks, then tried to tell me he would have been there if I had ended up being pregnant. All the emotions seemed to hit me at once, and I had no idea how to react or what to say. So I had purposely hurt him and then saw the pain in his eyes, and I hated myself for it. Then he simply walked away.