Page 51 of Raging Fires

“I’m pretty sure she still is that actress. She’s not dead.”

“She’s pretty old now, though.” Tyler shrugged. Apparently being old was equivalent to death. It didn’t bode well for their relationship when Kelli turned thirty in two years. Kelli had to smile at the idea of this thing lasting even as long as two hours.

“What’s so funny?” Tyler asked. Luckily she was saved from having to answer by their axe-throwing instructor stopping by their table.

“Did you use all your lane time already? You guys looked good out there. I think this one is on his way to becoming an Axe-pert himself pretty soon.” The bearded man patted Tyler on the shoulder.

“I’d love that, man. But I work for a non-profit, and between that and riding my bike, I’m not really sure if I’d have the time to devote to getting certified.”

“Well, if you’re interested, we offer sessions with World Axe Throwing League certified trainers once every six months.”

“Cool. I’ll keep that in mind. Maybe if I worked here, I could get your chef to expand the food-on-a-stick menu to include more vegan options.” Tyler held up his deep-fried pickle. “This was one of the only things I could find to eat. Even the corn has butter on it.”

“I’m not sure that batter is…”

Kelli shot the man a look before he could say ‘vegan.’ She did not want to deal with an hours long conversation between a manager and Tyler about batter ingredients.

“Is diet friendly…” Their instructor trailed off under Kelli’s hard stare.

“I’ve got a pretty good metabolism.” Tyler patted his wiry midsection.

The bearded guy nodded and looked back and forth at the two of them once more before he awkwardly wandered away. Kelli took a bite of her turkey leg. It might not have been Tyler-approved, but it was the best one she’d had since she’d gone to an actual Renaissance Faire with her dad when she was little. That had been right before he’d died. She set the turkey leg back down on her plate.

“So when did you first start riding your—” Kelli swallowed; it was hard to treat Tyler like a serious rider after he’d kept it under thirty miles per hour the entire way to Tempe. “Ummm, bike?”

“I volunteered for Habitat and built housing for the underprivileged in Italy. That was the first time I experienced the unadulterated thrill of being on a Vespa.”

“I didn't know Habitat for Humanity did much work in Italy.”

“Well, I just use Habitat as a sort of shorthand since everyone knows what it is. But I actually worked with Tiny Tethers—they build tiny home communities. My parents were worried about me going to one of the more dangerous Habitat regions so they pulled a few strings with Tiny Tethers. My parents donate a lot of their money to charity, and their company actually runs a couple of nonprofits too.”

Now that seemed like exactly the background she’d expect for Tyler. Socially conscious and totally loaded.

“So when you said you worked for a nonprofit…”

“Oh yeah. It’s one of my parents’ nonprofits. Not the Great Heights Foundation though. The teen girls were always getting crushes on me. It made for an uncomfortable work experience.”

And yet he'd been asking Kelli out at her job for the last year.

“What is the Great Heights mission?”

“To improve the self-esteem of girls and young women that are over six feet tall.”

“Isn't that kind of what modeling and American society in general does?” Kelli grabbed one of the small corn on the cob sticks from the appetizer plate between them.

“You’d think that, but adolescence can be so hard on anyone that is different. It doesn’t really matter what the difference is. Everyone wants you to conform.”

Kelli clamped her mouth shut. She knew kids could tease you for almost anything. But it still wouldn’t have been her first choice of a charity to donate to.

“We also arrange sleepovers so the girls can spend time together and feel accepted by others that are like them.” Tyler was still talking.

Kelli didn't add that when she was a teenager, she was scared to invite anyone over to her house for the afternoon—much less for a sleepover—because more likely than not her mom would either be drunk or passed out on the couch. Tyler was the kind of sweet, sensitive kid that would probably turn the rest of the date into a therapy session if she mentioned that.

That had been one of the nice things about Jake. He’d listen if Kelli ever wanted to talk about her mom, which was pretty rare, but he’d never pressured her to. God! Why was she still thinking about him? Maybe she should sleep with Tyler just to get Jake out of her system once and for all.

But even as she thought it, she knew she never would. Even without the piece of pickle currently lodged between his front teeth, Tyler just wasn’t her type. He was too earnest. She liked someone more sarcastic. Someone that teased her a little. Someone more like... she wasn’t even going to deign to think his name. But it didn’t stop her picturing Jake’s lopsided sexy grin instead of Tyler’s puppy dog one. This was going to be a long evening.

Chapter Twenty-Five