Chapter Seven
Tyler
“You always think you’re going to beat me,” I yelled after her as we let the horses get up to a full run.
“I am beating you,” she yelled back.
I let her race off ahead of me, and I followed close behind her as we made our way down the trail and toward the hills at the back of the property. It felt good to be on the horse, and I missed it more than I thought I did.
The air was coming at me strongly as the horse galloped with confidence through the meadow; it reminded me so much of my younger days. It reminded me of a different time when life was still on the horizon, and I felt like I could take on the world. I knew so little about the world back then, and I certainly couldn’t have imagined where my life was going to lead, but it was nice not to know. As a teenager, it was nice to have the uncertainty ahead of me, and I firmly believe that the uncertainty was what I fought against all my adult life.
I liked to be in control, and as soon as I was done with college, that was exactly where I was at. In control. I made my own path. I forged into an industry as a young man with crazy ideas and soon found myself the head of a multimillion dollar agency. Life hadn’t turned out how I had planned, but that was because I never really had a plan. I knew I had more I wanted and continually pushed to see what was out there.
Riding had been our thing when we were younger. Kelsi and I got away from the world on our horses, and at that moment, I felt like it was us against the world again. No one else for miles and miles and it was just her and I together.
It was hard to be angry at Kelsi; it was even harder to get her out of my mind since seeing her at the reunion. The feel of her lips against mine and her smile as I walked away had kept me occupied for the last couple of days. She was nicer than I remembered her. That was likely because I had chosen to remember how angry she was with me as our relationship ended instead of all the good times we had had together, but it still surprised me.
Kelsi was beautiful, smart, and charismatic. She was funny and witty and pretty much an all-around awesome girl, and I couldn’t figure out how one of the local guys hadn’t swept in and married her yet. She was a good catch, an awesome catch, actually. She didn’t need some stupid dating site to find a decent guy; they were likely beating her door down trying to take her out.
“So, really, why are you on that dating site? You can’t possibly have a hard time finding dates,” Kelsi asked as we got to a steep part of the trail and let the horses rest.
“It’s just a marketing gimmick with the company, no big deal.”
“Ah, yeah, okay. Because I read your profile and that didn’t seem like you at all. I mean, I don’t know you anymore I guess, but it didn’t seem like you.”
“Why?”
“Why doesn’t it seem like you?”
“Yeah, I mean it’s obviously me. I talk about my work and the things I like to do. I have pictures of me on there. Why wouldn’t it seem like me?”
“Because the Tyler I knew liked horseback riding and the simple life on the farm. He liked to act in school plays and play his trumpet in the band. He wasn’t just the jock; he was an all-around cultured guy. That profile looked like just the jock, and it didn’t seem like you.”
“Maybe that’s who I am now?”
“Or maybe you were just trying to be cool,” Kelsi said with a shrug of her shoulders.
She was right; I was trying to be the type of guy who women thought was tough and cool. I hadn’t joined that site to find the love of my life; I joined to find some fun nights with girls who didn’t expect too much. If they saw me as the jerky masculine guy, there would be no harm in me actually acting like that when we met. The profile wasn’t meant for anything more than a funnel to bring hot girls to my bed, but I certainly wasn’t going to tell Kelsi that.
“I don’t really use it much; it’s silly. You should join, though; maybe we could go on a date,” I said as I tried to play it off a little.
“You know I only have a profile on there to see you. I don’t need a rich guy to take care of me. I’m pretty good at taking care of myself.”
“Oh, I can tell you are, and I didn’t mean you needed anyone to take care of you. It might be nice for the two of us to go on a real date, though. Like the old days, just this time I’ll take you to a real restaurant instead of fast food.”
I saw her face light up for a moment and really thought she was going to take me up on my offer, but something was holding her back. She started to respond, then stopped herself before refusing my offer.
“Nah, I don’t think it’s a good idea. But let’s finish this ride. I haven’t gone out this far in a really long time. I’m loving this.”
“Okay, but I really think you and I should go on a date before I leave.”
“And I think you should hold onto your horse before you lose him.” Kelsi laughed as my horse, Diego, started to wander away from where I had tied him up.
“What the heck? I tied him with a slip knot,” I said as I ran after the horse.
“I should have warned you, he’s good at escaping.” Kelsi laughed again as I picked up the pace running to catch up with Diego before he totally took off back down the hill. “Be nice when you catch him; sometimes he gets a little attitude around men.”
“Now you tell me!”
“I’m sorry, I should have told you sooner.” She giggled. “But it was fun watching you chase after him.”
Kelsi was smiling and laughing at me, and I couldn’t help but smile back at her. It was nice to see her enjoying our ride, even if it was at my expense. It had been a really long time since I’d felt like myself around a woman; it was fitting that I was so comfortable around Kelsi.
“Should we get going? Or would you like to keep laughing for a bit?” I teased.
“Oh, I’d like to keep laughing, but I do have somewhere I’d like to show you. Get back on Diego and let's go over to that trail,” she said.
“You know there aren’t too many people in the world who could boss me around and I actually listen to them.”
“I feel so special.”
“Where are we going exactly? I don’t think I remember what’s over here. I know my family’s ranch is way out this way, but what’s in between?”
“It’s a surprise, silly. Don’t you know what surprise means? It means that I’m not telling you.” She laughed.
I expected her to take off galloping ahead of me again, but the trail was wide enough for the two of us, and she stayed right by my side. Kelsi looked at home on the horse, like there was no place else in the world she wanted to be. I couldn’t say that I had a place like that in my life right now, other than my office. I felt pretty comfortable at my office, which was sort of sad if I took the time to think about it.
“Wait a minute,” I said as we came over a small hill and I saw the old barn ahead of us. Is this the abandoned ranch?”
Kelsi didn’t answer me and instead just smiled as she pulled in front of me and made her way down to the farm. I remembered the haunted farm very well and couldn’t believe it was still there after all these years. It seemed like such a waste that nobody had tried to buy it or build on the land; it was the perfect land for a ranch. Only problem was the history of weird and unusual activity at the abandoned house there.
“It’s not actually haunted, you know that right?” Kelsi teased as she tied up her horse and waited for me to get off of mine.
“No, I don’t know that.”
“It was overcome with raccoons back when we were kids, that’s what all those weird noises were that everyone heard when we would come out here. The Deckers still own it…well, their children do. They all live out on the coast, though, and just can’t be bothered to come clean up the place and get it sold.”
“You should buy it; it’s right next to your parents’ ranch, you could expand and be fancy like the Everett ranch.”
“Oh, I’d love to, but I don’t have that kind of money. Do you know what your mother is going to do with your ranch after your father passes away? This would work for you guys, too. I know there’s only about a mile that butts up with your property, but you could have an amazing trail for riding.”
“I don’t think they plan on keeping it. Mom and Maryanne are more interested in the canned goods store. Mom plans on selling and just keeping the main house and a little property around it.”
“I can see that. They are amazing at canning and all the crafts they do. Really is a great asset to have their store in town.”
“Are you sure this place isn’t haunted?” I asked as I finally tied Diego to the front porch and joined Kelsi as we looked out over the land.
“No, can you ever really be sure of something like that?” She laughed and playfully grabbed my arm in horror as she looked back at the window of the house.
Although I clearly knew she was joking, it still caught me off guard, and I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her into me to protect her from the imaginary item in the mirror. At that moment, I didn’t really care if the house was haunted or not, I had Kelsi wrapped up in my arms.
“You know what I am sure of?” I said as I held onto her.
“No, what?”
She uncomfortably pulled away from me and looked out over the land. I wasn’t going to win her over by pushing myself on her, that was becoming abundantly clear. I was going to need a different tactic.
“This land is amazing. I don’t remember it being so damn beautiful out here.”
“That’s probably because we came out here at night to make out and not to look at the scenery,” she teased.
“Yeah, that was a better use of my time anyway.” I laughed. “So, how are your parents doing? And your sister? I’d love to visit with them while I’m home,” I asked in an effort to change the subject a little.
“They are good. Life is sort of boring and normal for us. Nothing like yours, I’m sure.”
“My life is also boring and normal in its own way.”
“Right, like dating supermodels and having your face as the poster guy for a dating website? Just a regular boring life for you.”
“It really isn’t all that exciting,” I said, but I couldn’t really defend my boring life without giving away the meaningless sex and lack of close relationships I had. “We all have our issues.”
Seeing how happy Kelsi was with her life had suddenly made me envy a simpler life. For as long as I’d been working and growing my business, a high level of happiness still eluded me. Sure, I had a lot of fun and I got to spend a lot of money, but sooner or later we all wanted more. Only briefly had I ever thought about settling down because the buzz of having a new woman around all the time was fun, but watching my father die was putting a hell of a lot of new ideas in my head. Plus, Kelsi and a lot of my friends from Rainbow were happier than I was. I felt the joy emanating off of them.
Bryce liked to joke about his life and his family sometimes, but he was happy. When we took guys’ trips, it was a fun break for him, but he called his wife several times every day he was gone and talked to his kids, too; he was happy. Bryce had found his sweet spot in the world and Kelsi seemed to have also. I still didn’t feel like I had found exactly where I wanted to be in my life.
I guess that was why I had already started taking steps to pull back from my company and let everyone else handle the day-to-day tasks. I knew something was missing months before, but it wasn’t until I got back home that it all started to make sense. I was a country boy at heart; no matter how much I tried to pretend I wasn’t, this land made me happy and comfortable.
“So, girls just click on your profile and you go out with them?” Kelsi asked. “Like regular girls from your area?”
“Yeah, there are a lot of different features on the website though; you should check it out. They have private rooms, blind dates, super likes, and other fun things. I know you’re not looking for a man to take care of you, but what would it hurt to fall for a guy with money?”
“Now you’re starting to sound like my sister.”
“She’s a very smart girl. But before you go hooking up with all the rich oil millionaires around here, you should let me take you out.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Kelsi, look at this face,” I said as I boyishly smiled at her. “You’re really able to turn this face down?”
“Yes.”
“Take your time. You don’t have to answer right away. Think about it a little, maybe even ask Kendall,” I joked.
She smiled as she looked at me skeptically. I loved her smile. The way the left side of her face curled up just a little more than the right side. The way her teeth radiated as her lips pulled against them. Kelsi was such a beautiful woman, and not just on the outside; she was the ideal girl who was good on the inside too. If I could find a woman like her back in Alabama, I might just keep her around.
The problem was that there weren’t girls like Kelsi around Birmingham, or at least I hadn’t met them yet. The girls I met certainly didn’t seem content with their lives as most of them talked constantly about trying to make it big or building their social networking empire. I couldn’t remember one woman who had said she was really happy with where her life was.
Maybe I just wasn’t dating the right girls, though; that was entirely a possibility. If I took Kelsi as an example, she worked hard, and I doubted she was going out on the weekends to dance clubs or with random guys online. Meeting a girl like her would be nearly impossible since they are happy and content in their lives and not out prowling around for a man. That was the double-edged sword of dating; happy women aren’t out prowling for a man, and happy men can’t find the women if they are at home being content with their life.
“So, this property connects to both my family’s ranch and your family’s ranch? That’s pretty cool. I guess I never realized they were so close.”
“It doesn’t actually connect to my land, we rode through the neighbors’ property, but they don’t mind. And by close, do you mean 20 miles?” She laughed.
“Wow, that’s farther than I thought.”
“Yeah, from the back of my property to yours would be 20 miles. With about a half of a mile through the neighbors’ property, but the Andersons don’t mind if I ride back there. They haven’t been using their land for the last few years.”
“Can you imagine what an amazing ranch you could build if you connected all the way from your ranch to ours? Wow, you could do summer programs, long trail rides, maybe even training horses for people and other camping programs. It could be a top-notch horse ranch facility.”
“You mean like the Everett ranch?”
“Better than that beast. They are corporate owned. They don’t know about this town and these people, and they certainly don’t know about marketing. I could help you, and you could build an empire around here.”
“Wow, look at you getting all businessman on me.” Kelsi laughed as her hand gently touched my arm. “It’s a fun fantasy, though, isn’t it?”
“You’re a fun fantasy,” I said softly. “Let me take you out on a proper date. I don’t know how long I’m going to be in town; we should spend some time together.”
“Tyler, I’m glad we made up and there aren’t any hard feelings between us, but no good can come from the two of us getting together. I think we should call it even and move on with our respective lives.”
Ouch, she really didn’t even want to go on a date with me. This had turned into more than just the bet. I liked Kelsi, I trusted her, and I was going to be in town for a while. It made sense for us to see each other again, even if it wasn’t on a date.
“Okay, let’s take the date off the table, for the time being. I would still like to visit with you, and I know my family would really like to see you. Please say that you’ll consider that at least?”
She paused for a minute and then made her way to the horses as she checked their hooves and didn’t answer me. I waited for what seemed like forever as she walked around each of them and considered my proposal.
“I’m not sleeping with you,” she said.
My heart sank as if she knew about the bet. It was a stupid bet, and I shouldn’t have made it, but how on earth did she know about it.
“Um…I’m sorry, I…” I stumbled as I started to defend myself.
“I’m just making that clear. I don’t mind catching up, but this thing between us isn’t going to happen. All right?”
“Oh, yeah, sure,” I said in relief. “I get it. We live in different worlds.”
We rode back toward her ranch and continued our small talk. All I could think about was how I was going to win this girl over after just agreeing that I didn’t want to win her over. Even if our time together was limited to the weeks I was at home, that seemed useful enough to me. I certainly wasn’t going to spend two months at home without any female company. And if I was going to have a woman in my bed, it had to be Kelsi: there was no other woman I wanted at the moment.
“It was good seeing you; take care of your father,” Kelsi said as she gave me a hug goodbye.
“I will, and I’m going to call you so we can arrange for you to come visit. I know he’d like to see you.”
“All right, well have a nice day,” she said stiffly as she pulled away from me.
There was more in her eyes than she was giving in to, though. I could see she wanted more; I could see the desire as she looked up at me and then quickly back toward the ground. It was as if she didn’t feel like she could trust herself not to give into her desires. But I had a surprise for her: I was going to make sure she gave in to those desires for me.
As I drove back to my parents’ house, I tried to think of any way I could get more time with Kelsi. She obviously didn’t want to go on a date, and when she did come to my family’s house, it wasn’t going to be romantic as we talked about my sick father. No, I needed something else, something that she couldn’t say no to.
Then it dawned on me. Kelsi had a profile on Dating the Rich; no matter what she had intended the profile for, she still had it. I could go through the Blind Date option and request a date with her! Maybe, if she didn’t know it was me, she’d consider going on an actual date?
It was a long shot, and I knew it. Kelsi could very well just deny the invitation without a single word or explanation. I’d have to be extremely charming and probably put my location a little further away so she didn’t realize it was me, but there was a high possibility she would agree.
I smiled at the idea of getting her to agree to a date with me through the Blind Date section of the app. The owners had been trying to get me to use it for months, and I didn’t want to bother with it. It was unnecessary for me to hide who I was because that was exactly what got me all the dates. But it was now exciting to think of Kelsi’s face if she agreed to go on a date with this mystery billionaire and it ended up being me.
Before I even walked into my parents’ house, I clicked through the app and sent Kelsi an invite for a Blind Date. It was easier to send the invitation than I thought and the app showed me exactly how my profile would look to Kelsi when she saw it. I changed my location to Fort Worth, Texas, which was just a few miles down the road but a big enough city that Kelsi wouldn’t automatically think the invitation was from me.
The Blind Date feature hid my age and only listed an age range; it also hid my profession, but I noticed it still showed my profile, so I quickly rewrote some of the description. It was still describing me, but with a little more of the rounded qualities that I had, like enjoying the theater and volunteering with children. I even took the time to hide my profile from others so I wouldn’t have to navigate new inquiries while I was at home.
I jumped up onto the steps of my front door as excitement rushed through me. This was the most alive I’d felt in months. I was going to get Kelsi Sullivan in bed, and she was going to like it. The funny thing was, I probably wouldn’t have chased after her if Bryce and Mike hadn’t made the bet, but I was kind of happy that my friends were still immature children who made stupid bets because now I might get a chance with Kelsi again.
“That is one big smile,” my mom said as I walked in the door. “Only a girl could put a smile like that on your face.”
“He was at the Sullivan ranch visiting Kelsi,” Maryanne said as she busted into the house behind me.
“Really? You’re just going to put all my personal business out there like that? What are you, 12?”
“I’ve missed this so much,” my mom said as she grabbed the two of us and forced a family hug. “The house is so quiet without your sibling fighting.”
My mother had to be the only woman in the world who actually enjoyed hearing her children fighting. It was as if the noise brought her peace.