“Isa.” Again Tucker drags his tanned, lean hand through his hair. I don’t think he knows where to start.
I’ll help him.
“She’s in love with you, Tucker. And the worst part about it is that your boys have become attached to her. They love her.” When I say the words out loud, the reality of this situation weighs heavier on me. “Who is she?”
I hate that I don’t feel like touching him right now. I hate that a distant look has replaced his adoring gaze from earlier.
“She’s a friend of the family. And she’s not in love with me,” he insists. “I don’t know how you can even say something like that. You barely know her. You barely know any of them. You disappeared right after dinner. How can they get to know you if you don’t even try?” Tucker unbuckles his belt and hangs it over a clothes horse.
I’m stunned. Watching him do something so casual as remove his wallet and sit it on the dresser after tossing such a grenade into the room… I shake my head in disbelief.
I’m amazed that he would say this to me. Red rims my vision. “Get to know them? Get to know them?” I want to rail on his sister’s attitude when she picked me up, on how she seemed to intentionally wait for the dogs to get mud all over me before calling them off, how they barely spoke to me when I walked in the door.
It feels like they hate me. Like I’m the enemy.
I’m not just mad at him, right now, I’m devastated. Feeling like my heart’s bleeding out, I head for the bathroom. I need to be alone right now. I want my own space.
If he isn’t with me. If we aren’t a team. If he doesn’t listen to me…
In that moment, I want to go home.
So much for all my good intentions.
I walk to the back of Tucker’s closet, the area which he’s apparently emptied for me, and sit on the carpeted floor, hugging my knees.
My engagement ring scratches my arms as I do so.
“Isa?”
I don’t look up. I’m not like this. This isn’t me. One day on Bear Creek Ranch, and I’ve reverted to the emotional maturity of a fifteen-year-old.
“Isa?” Tucker drops to the floor beside me. When his index finger skims a whispery line along my arm, I want to cry. I want to cry because I love him so much and this might not be so easy after all. “We hardly ever get this much rain. I haven’t seen so much come down in one day for about five years.”
Even though my brain is in lockdown, my entire body wants to curl into him.
“And this year has been especially dry.”
Not sure where he’s going with this…
“In fact, the last three years… yep. Pretty damn dry.” His husky voice has me turning toward him against my will.
“Then about a month ago. I meet this gorgeous blonde. Found her on the beach. In paradise. And she’s… she’s an oasis in the desert.” He chuckles a little. “I probably should have expected something like this on the day she’s set to arrive. All the rain everyone’s been praying for pouring down in one fell swoop. I didn’t see it comin’, though. Even so, Mother Nature has her way. I can’t do anything about it. Worse part– I didn’t make arrangements to keep my fences strong. No, I was fixin’ to pick my girl up from the airport, with flowers of course. Take her shoppin’ so we could pick out a pair of boots. Because I know she’s got all kinds of those high heels but I doubt she owns a good pair of cowboy boots. And my woman needs boots.” My heart melts as he narrates the plans he’d made. “After that, I was gonna take her to a fancy dinner. Wine and dine her. But that’s not even the best part. Made us some reservations for the honeymoon suite up at the Hyatt.
“I figured you and I could get reacquainted before I threw you to the wolves…” His arm has worked its way around me. “Today… God damn, Isa, I’m so flippin’ sorry. And I never should have said that. Such a mess. I didn’t think… You’ve been nothing but perfect.”
His warmth penetrates me along with his apology. Why was I mad at him? When his lips devour mine, I can’t quite remember. I barely remember my own name.
“Tucker?” I murmur against his neck.
He’s lifted me in his arms. He’s carrying me to the bed. “Anything, sugar. You say it. It’s done.”
“Just love me?”
Because in that moment, this love, my love, his existence, are all that really matter.
“Forever, sugar.”
CHAPTER SIX
