She smiles the same smile she always does and stands from her chair. “It’s okay, Tucker, I think we had a good talk. Let’s call it an early day this time. But I want you to think about what I said, okay?”
Looking away, my lips pressed together in a tight line, I give a quick nod and walk to the door.
That evening, as soon as Kinley gets out of my truck and tosses me the keys, I slide behind the steering wheel and head to the pub. I don’t care what Nora thinks of me.Liar.I need to be away from those I love right now. I do care what they think of me.
Kinley tried to make small talk on the way home, but I kept my attention out the window on the trees moving past while she chattered about some stuff she read online about the pros and cons of breastfeeding versus formula before moving on to how eager her husband is to be a father.
I didn’t meet Rhys until their wedding day. He’s some kind of higher-up at the Tulsa branch of the FBI. He makes my sister happy, is protective of her, and takes her shit like a champ. It took a minute to get a good feel for him, but I like him.
The comforting smell of dinner combined with beer and old wood wraps around me as I walk through Stony’s front door. Drizzle from earlier today has turned into light rain, and I pull my ball cap off my head and slap it against my leg to get the excess water off.
The familiarity of the place I like to use as my home away from home helps to dull some of the rough edges that have been scraping under my skin since earlier today. Following my usual path across the front of the bar to the table in the back corner, I hear Stony behind the bar.
“You want your usual, Tuck?”
Giving him a wave as I nod, I glance around the room but don’t see the head of red hair anywhere. A small pinch ofdisappointment sparks in my chest, and I focus on the small table for two in the back corner that faces the door.
The physical therapist focused on resistance and weight training on my leg today, and every fucking muscle in my leg is screaming at me. I couldn’t stop the limp if my life depended on it.
As I sit down, I straighten my leg under the table and toss my cap onto the small square surface and scrub my hands over my face. What a fucking day. As I lean back in my chair, a small, pale hand with a silver band on the middle finger that looks like vines twining over one another sets a mug of beer in front of me.
My eyes travel up the arm to a pair of green eyes set in smooth, milky white skin. Her jaw is set like she’s expecting me to snap at her, but all I can manage is a small sigh of relief that only I can hear.
For the first time in a long time, the muscles across my shoulders relax a little.
11
NORA
THE CLINTEastwood glare is still on his face as he looks up at me, but when his eyes meet mine, his face softens ever so slightly and for such a short amount of time that I wonder if I really saw it. He’s so damn good-looking, if he just weren’t so cranky. All. The. Time.
His blue T-shirt is wet from the rain and sticking to his shoulders like a second skin, and I can see the definition of the muscles from his neck to the tops of his arms. The shaggy scruff on his sharp jaw looks like he hasn’t touched up in a few days and is shadowing his neck.
He has hat head from wearing his ball cap all day, but around his neck the hair is wet and curls against his skin. I’m not sure what it is about the sight that makes him look more innocent, almost like a kid caught in the rain, and I realize I’m staring at his neck.
Remembering what Kinley said this morning about how he used to be fun, and how sad she looked when she said she misses him, I see him in a slightly different light. Yesterday, he was just a cranky asshole with no manners. Today, he’s a man struggling with the effects of a life he didn’t ask for.
His large hand grasps the mug I just set in front of him, and he gives a small nod. “Thank you.”
Before I even think about it, I smile when I say, “You’re welcome.”
He doesn’t smile back, but as his eyes hold mine, I notice they are the same color as Kinley’s, and I try to imagine seeing humor in them like I saw in his sister’s this morning.
The hardness from before returns to his face, and he looks down at his mug before he lifts it to his lips, his gaze focused across the room in front of him. As I step away to help the other tables in my section, I squash the tiny bloom of disappointment in my chest from him looking away like he’s dismissing me.
I don’t know why I thought he would be any different tonight than he was the last time I saw him, and I wish I didn’t know the things Kinley told me this morning.
When his dinner is set up in the window, I grab a set of silverware with one hand and slide the hot plate onto the other with a kitchen rag. He sees me coming, and I don’t miss the way his eyes move down my body as I’m moving between the tables, making my face flush.
For just a second, I wonder if he is checking me out, but then I hear Matt’s voice in my head,‘If your hips weren’t so wide, you’d be almost perfect’.
The spark of self-confidence that makes me feel pretty evaporates like smoke, and I wonder if the snug miniskirt I bought last week was a bad idea. My thoughts quickly pivot from wondering if he is checking me out to wondering if he is thinking I shouldn’t wear something like this for my size.
Maybe I should have got something looser. I felt good about it when I bought it because I usually wear a size eleven\twelve, but I fit into a size nine\ten, and that made me feel flippin’ awesome.
He sits back away from the table when I’m next to him, his hands on his thighs, to give me room to set the plate in front of him. I have to reach across to set the napkin-wrapped silverwareto the side, and the scent of amber citrus floats to my nose. It’s a warm, soft scent, which is the opposite of his personality.
The plate sitting on the rag between it and my palm is hot, so I’m letting it slide onto the tabletop, but I angle my arm to avoid putting my elbow in his face and the edge of the plate touches my wrist, making me flinch. It’s a slight flinch, nothing anyone would really notice, it didn’t even burn that much, but he grabs the edges of the plate and quickly sets it on the table.
