“Yeah. Tucker and I went to Nonna’s before we went to the grocery store.”
Mom’s gaze lingered on me, but I looked away quickly so she couldn’t read my thoughts. Tucker read me so easily. It washard to believe that the people closest to me couldn’t see what he does. He was a good guy, but he scared the shit out of me because he was a loner—not the type to want to settle down. Even as I said that to myself, I knew it sounded hypocritical when I didn’t typically last past five dates with a guy myself, but I couldn’t help it.
“Did you apologize for being rude this morning?”
“No. I’ll apologize next time I see him,” I promised.
Mom nodded and gave me a hug. “Have a good night at work. I love you.”
“Love you, too. Tell Dad I love him when he gets home.”
“I will.”
By the time I finally left the house, I had fifteen minutes to get to work. I knew I was cutting it close, so I ran upstairs to his apartment and knocked quickly on the door. Tucker still had my keys from earlier. When he didn’t answer, I knocked harder.
“TUCKER!” I shouted as I knocked again.
The door pulled open quickly and my mouth snapped shut. Tucker was wet and only wearing a towel around his waist. His shoulders were wide, and water from his hair left drops to fall onto the smooth muscular curves of his shoulders and slide down his well-defined pecs with dusky brown nipples. My mouth watered, and I suddenly felt thirsty as hell, like I hadn’t had anything to drink in days.
The six-pack I saw earlier was on display again, and the sharp V of his lower abdomen made me want to drop to my knees and give homage to the muscles the man had cultivated over the years. I noticed the rather ugly scar on the left side of his ribcage, but even that scar didn’t detract from his masculine beauty. My eyes ate him up like a candy bar. When my eyes moved on from the feast that was his abdomen, I noticed the tent behind his towel.
I swung my gaze back up to his and found him looking at me just as hard. There was amusement in his gaze for sure, but also a hunger that I had never seen on any man’s face before. I shivered from the primal desire I saw deep in his eyes. “Keep looking at me like that, Patience, and I’ll lose what little control I have.”
I swallowed hard and licked my lips nervously as those butterflies started dancing again.What did I need from him? I know I came up here for a reason, I questioned myself. Fuck. Him coming to the door naked, save for the towel, made me lose my train of thought.
“Keys!” I half shouted as I remembered what had brought me to his door. “I need my keys so I can get to work.”
Tucker grabbed the keys from the table next to the door and handed them to me. I quickly grasped them, but he didn’t release them right away. My gaze swung back up to his. “Drive carefully, Patience.” His cocky smirk showed his amusement at how much he rattled me. We both knew it, and he enjoyed it.
I nodded as he released the keys into my hand. I turned to run down the stairs and rushed to the safety of my car. My chest eased when I felt like I could breathe again. The image of Tucker in nothing but a towel was going to play the main role in my fantasies for a while, if not for the rest of my life. He was perfection, even with the angry scar. He was sinful, beautiful, tantalizing perfection, and I wanted nothing more than to taste the unknown with him. I was in way over my head where Tucker Roth was concerned. He was so out of my league that we weren’t even in the same damn arena, but that didn’t stop me from wanting him.
Chapter 8
TUCKER
After Patience left, I finished getting ready to head to her job. She had no idea that I was planning to be there all night in case her ex showed back up to cause trouble. Plus, I’d agreed to meet the guy about the truck. Hopefully, this trade would be good for both of us. He would get the bike he wants, and I’d get a truck I needed.
I threw on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, and grabbed my bag from the closet, reaching into the hidden pocket for the phone stashed there. When I turned it on, there was a text message waiting for me.
Soon. Stay safe.
I sighed with relief because I didn’t have to go back yet. I wasn’t ready to leave Brook Cove, but more surprisingly, I wasn’t ready to leave Patience.
She was the girl next door. The innocent, sweet, caring, and feisty girl that you couldn’t help but fall for, and I would be lying to myself if I didn’t admit I was starting to fall for her—hard. In a little over twenty-four hours, Patience had made me feel alive in a way I haven’t felt in a long time.
I liked that she was a smartass, yet sweet and a bit shy at the same time. How she’s still a virgin and single, I had no fucking clue. The guys in this town were morons to not realize what a fucking treasure she was, or maybe they did realize it, but she was just indifferent to the men around her. I grinned to myself, remembering the way her eyes devoured me when I opened the door in nothing but a towel. She definitely wasn’t indifferent to me.
God, my dick twitched again as I recalled the way her eyes ran over my chest like a cat in heat. Her cheeks turned pink, and her eyes dilated when she saw the tent behind my towel. If she had stayed a few more seconds, there was no way in hell she would have made it to work on time.
I willed my dick to behave by taking a deep breath before I shot a text off to check in. Hopefully, it wouldn’t be much longer before I could tie up those loose ends and get on with my life. I shoved the phone back in its hiding place after I turned it off, and I tossed the bag back into the closet. I grabbed my leather jacket from the hanger and shrugged it on before picking up my wallet and keys from the dresser to go back out into the cold. I’d endure the frosty bite of Colorado air to ride one more time.
When I got down to the garage, I put on my helmet and cranked up the bike. I was going to miss riding. The sense of freedom you feel on the back of a bike is like nothing else. If I didn’t need a vehicle that would get me moving no matter the weather, and would help me haul even basic items, then I wouldn’t even consider trading in my Harley.
It wasn’t even fifteen minutes after Patience left her house that I walked into the bar. She was already busy talking to people as she took drink and food orders. I went to find myself a spot in the corner of the bar where I could keep my back to the wall and my eyes on Patience as I waited for the guy to show up.
“What can I get for you?” the other server asked as she poured a beer from the tap for another customer.
“Just a Coke.” It was going to be a long night, and I didn’t want to be drinking for most of it.
