Tyler's Transformation - The Men of the Crazy Angle Ranch 1 http://www.bookstrand.com/tylers-transformation
Graham Conner watched the guy wrapped in
bandages sitting on the bench in front of the small, man-made pond. He had made
sure he was at the park every day for the last two weeks, just to see the man
come out here in the late afternoon and sit on that bench, enjoying the
shenanigans of the ducks. From his own bench further back under a tree, he had
a clear view of the pretty man.
Graham knew who the guy was. His face
had been plastered all over those tabloid newspapers that were next to the
checkout stations in grocery stores. Graham himself had read an article in one
while he was waiting for his sister to get out of surgery a little over two
weeks ago. It was an exclusive interview with some model that claimed she
dumped Tyler Hayward because he was gay. According to her story, Tyler
sustained career ending-injuries when, in his sorrow over their breakup, he had
jumped into a cab, which was T-boned by a car that had run a red light.
In the article, she claimed to have
waited the three months since the accident before telling her story, not
wanting to impair Tyler’s recovery. She went on to describe how Tyler begged
her to stay with him, that he would change just for her. She told the reporter,
that with a heavy heart, she had to let him go. She made sure that the article
included how she was now so very busy with the love of her life, MVP Craig
Clausen.
Money-hungry people were nothing new to
Graham and he saw all the signs in the model. He thought if it were true that
Tyler had somehow been involved with her, it was a good thing he wasn’t
anymore. Graham himself had been drawn to the handsome ballplayer from the
first moment he had seen him coming out of the rehabilitation pool area at the
hospital. Later that afternoon, Graham had been walking back to the hotel he
was staying at and had caught a glimpse of Tyler in the park by the pond. Graham
couldn’t stop himself from watching the attractive man with the sad aura.
Now Graham had decided it was time to
approach the pretty man. His sister was almost ready to return to training full
time for the Olympics and he was ready to head back home to Texas.
Graham walked over to the bench and sat
down. “Do you mind if I sit?”
Big blue eyes looked up at him from
under shaggy, light-brown hair. Graham wondered if his hair had even been cut
since the accident that encased Tyler’s arm in a sling, with a belt strap that
held his shoulder close to his body. Up close, Graham could see a deep, angry
scar slashed across Tyler’s cheek under his right eye. To Graham, that didn’t
take away how pretty Tyler was. Graham had heard the phrase pretty in a
masculine way before, but never knew what that meant until just now, looking at
Tyler Hayward.
A deep, gravelly voice ripped Tyler’s
attention away from his favorite white duck with huge black splotches on it. Next
to him sat a real cowboy, with worn cowboy boots, blue jeans, and a plaid, long-sleeve
shirt. The sleeves were rolled up to reveal tan forearms with ropey muscles,
covered in a pelt of dark hair that looked so soft, Tyler wanted to run his
hands over them.
Tyler dragged his eyes away from those
arms only to be caught up in how wide the man’s shoulders were. Knowing he was
making a fool out of himself, Tyler couldn’t stop himself from enjoying the
thick, muscled neck, with a tuft of brown hair sticking out the top opening of
his shirt. Lifting his eyes higher, he took in the chiseled, square jaw, full
lips, and straight nose. Then he was completely caught in the warm gaze of
startling green eyes with brown flecks in them.
Tyler had always been pretty good at
reading people and in those eyes, he saw pleasure and possession, and then they
started sparkling with humor. The humor brought Tyler back to the present.
“What did you say?” he asked.
“I wondered if it was all right to sit
here next to you,” answered Mr. Green Eyes.
“Oh sure, no problem.” Tyler was completely
flustered. That of course didn’t stop him from admiring the shiny, short, dark brown
hair that framed the handsome, tanned face. Tyler had never been drawn to
another person this strongly before, not even Tony.
It wasn’t until he felt a muscled leg
pressed against his knee, that Tyler realized that he had been gravitating
toward the handsome man. Embarrassed, he slid back quickly, trying to put some
space between them. Of course, with his arm incased in elastic wrap and
strapped to his body, he lost his balance and started tipping toward the
ground. Long, muscled arms wrapped around Tyler and pulled him close. Tyler
found his face pressed tightly into the crook of the stranger’s strong neck.
Tyler was in heaven, enveloped in those
warm, secure arms and surrounded by a fresh masculine smell. For one moment,
Tyler didn’t feel so alone anymore. But, he grimly reminded himself, this was a
stranger. Lifting his head, he used his free hand against the man’s rock-hard
chest to push himself away.
“I’m sorry. Thank you.” Tyler shook his
head, trying to clear it. He was starting to wish the ground would open up and
swallow him. He couldn’t believe what a dork he was being.
“Hey, it’s okay. Anyone would be a
little unbalanced if their arm was all wrapped up like yours is.” A strong,
tanned hand engulfed Tyler’s face, tipping it so their eyes met. Tyler had
never seen such pretty eyes before and he found himself again becoming lost in
them.
Blinking rapidly, Tyler jerked upright
after catching himself leaning toward the handsome cowboy. Just a few more
inches and they would have been kissing. Tyler wanted that kiss so much, but he
wasn’t risking getting his ass kicked if the man wasn’t on the same page.
“Maybe I should introduce myself. My
name is Graham Conner and I’m from Texas. I’m here in Los Angeles, because my
little sister was injured while training for the Olympics and needed surgery.”
Graham Conner still had his large hand on Tyler’s face and his arm around Tyler’s
good shoulder. Tyler didn’t want to move away and could feel himself becoming
lost again, just gazing at the man.
“I think I might have seen you at the
hospital when I was there for physical therapy. Does your sister wear her hair
in a long braid down her back?” Tyler thought he sounded pretty good asking
about Graham’s sister. Of course, he was lying through his teeth. He had first
seen Graham at the hospital two weeks ago and had been drooling over the way
the man’s jeans hugged his tight ass every chance he could get. He just hadn’t
known how to approach the larger handsome man without getting broken in half or
something.
“Yep, that would be Cindy. She had
surgery on her elbow after falling during a gymnastic program.” Graham took his
hand away from his face, much to Tyler’s disappointment.
“I’m Tyler Hayward.”
“I know, I recognized you,” Graham
admitted. When Tyler stiffened, Graham put his hand back, cupping Tyler’s
cheek. Gently, he ran his thumb over the angry red slash.
Tyler brought his hand up and tried to
push Graham’s arm away. Unfortunately for Tyler, it wasn’t moving anywhere
Graham didn’t want it to move.
“Don’t worry, you’re still pretty,”
Graham tried to reassure him.
“You’re making it hard for me to think
when you do that,” Tyler confessed. “What do you want from me?”
“How about having dinner? I’m staying at
a hotel just a couple blocks from here and they have a pretty nice restaurant.
Maybe we could get to know each other better.”
Tyler had heard Graham ask something
about dinner with him and “each other better,” and then he started drowning in
those gorgeous green eyes again and lost track of the whole conversation. He
kept wondering what it would be like to lick all over that strong, muscled
neck.
“Tyler, did you hear me?” Graham asked.
“Yeah, sure that would be fine.” Tyler
sure hoped that was the right answer. Then when Graham smiled, revealing
straight white teeth, Tyler was lost again.
Graham leaned forward and gave Tyler a
quick kiss and then stood up, leaving Tyler feeling empty and cold. He wanted
back in that man’s arms with every cell in his body. Graham looked down at
Tyler and chuckled, making little lines bracket his full lips and crinkles form
around his eyes, and Tyler couldn’t help but feel good again.
“Come on, Tyler. Let’s go get something
to eat.” Graham helped Tyler stand and as they walked out of the park and down
the sidewalk, Tyler was delighted when the cowboy kept his arm around him.
No comments:
Post a Comment