Grasping his hand, I smile as I squeeze his fingers and pull it away from my face. “Oh, yeah, sorry, so much to digest.”
His eyebrows pinch ever so slightly as he looks over my face, but he nods and turns around, keeping my hand in his, and leads me into the main room. As we walk toward the front door, the guy he was about to have dinner with steps up to him and holds his hand out to shake.
Tuck stops and lets go of my hand to shake his as the guy shakes his head with a laugh. “Definitely not the evening I expected, but I have to admit, I enjoyed it.” He drops Tuck’s hand and slides his fingers into his pockets before he continues. “The job’s yours if you want it, we’re based in Tennessee if you want to come out and look around before you make a decision.”
My heart drops to my stomach, and the hair on my arms stands up. He’s not staying here. Is he already planning his exit?Just like Matt was always looking for the next best thing? Am I just a temporary stop for him? My heart splinters, and I swallow around the lump in my throat.
This is exactly what I need to get my mind right. I’m not staying here, he’s not staying here. I won’t get him involved.
Tuck nods his head. “Send me all the details, and I’ll call you after I look over everything.”
“Will do.” The man turns to me and says, “I hope your evening gets better.” He winks before he turns and walks out the door.
Taking my hand again, Tuck pulls me toward the door. “Come on. I’ll take you home.”
As he closes the passenger door after helping me in, I watch him slowly walk around the front of his truck. His limp is more pronounced since the scuffle with the gunman.
I’m dying to know why he would ask me to lunch to get to know me better when he also knew he was talking about taking a job in another state. Maybe this is just about sex.
Is this just a big act to get me into bed? My gut is telling me that’s ridiculous; it just doesn’t feel right. Maybe my feelings have me looking through rose-colored glasses, but that doesn’t feel like something Tuck would do.
I’m not well-versed in the world of dating; I only had two boyfriends before I met Matt. The first one I’m not even sure I’d call a boyfriend, we were more like study partners that spent our evenings together in high school. He was just as introverted as I was.
The second was a guy I was crushing hard on in one of my college book groups. I didn’t know he was dating half the girls in the group before the whole thing blew up. I was crushed.
And then there was Matt.
I think I might be an asshole magnet, which kind of doesn’t bode well for Tuck.
I’m just going to play it cool and let him bring it up if he wants to, there’s no need in having weird conversations. None of this matters. Taking a deep breath, I focus on just getting through the next few minutes so I can go back to my room and cry.
He grabs the steering wheel and slowly pulls himself up in his seat, his weight on his left leg, and buckles his seatbelt. He’s not going fast enough, maybe I should have just declined the ride and walked. I need some fresh air.
The emotions from having a gun pointed at me, the new information I just learned, and the fact that I feel trapped in a life I don’t want are making my chest squeeze so tight that I can barely hold myself together. I think I might have another panic attack.
As he starts the truck and backs out of the parking space, nervous energy mixed with my fractured heart washes over me, and I blurt out, “So you’re taking a job in another state?” I try to make it sound conversational, but my voice is too high.
His hand is resting on the gear shifter as he turns to me, noting the odd tone in my voice. His gaze moves over my face, scrutinizing the fake smile I’ve plastered on, then he does the Clint Eastwood squint.
“I haven’t decided. The offer was just extended today.”
Oh. That helps. He didn’t know about it before today. I twist the ring my Grams gave me on my finger, another nervous tic, before I clear my throat. “Tennessee? I’ve heard it’s beautiful there.” I don’t really know that. I don’t know anything about Tennessee except that it’s where the Grand Ole Opry is, but I blurted the thought out on a wave of nervous heartbreak.
Putting the truck in gear, he turns his head to watch the road, but not before he looks at my fidgety hands. “It’s a little on the balmy side, but I guess it’s not much different from here.”
The inn is so close that it takes less than a minute to pull into the driveway. He puts it in park and turns to me again. “Are you sure you’re okay, you don’t seem okay.”
Fisting my hands so I’m not fidgeting, I hug my purse to my chest. “Oh yeah, I’m fine. I just remembered that I have two manuscripts to edit and a tight deadline, so would it be okay to take a raincheck on lunch tomorrow? Maybe we can go another day?”
He doesn’t even flinch. In fact, he’s very still as he looks over my face like he’s looking for something to appear, like in one of those pictures you can only see if you let your eyes go out of focus.
“Okay. You want me to walk you up?” He tips his head toward the front porch.
Quickly grabbing the door handle, I sound like an idiot. “No, you don’t have to do that. Thank you for everything tonight, you know, the ride and making sure I didn’t hyperventilate. Crazy stuff, right? Never thought that would happen when I was getting ready for work.”
He stares at me, the squint getting deeper as I babble. That should have been my cue to exit gracefully, but I’ve never been very graceful.
“Wow, it’s warm in here.” I open the door as I’m still talking over my shoulder. “Thanks again.”
