I glanced over at her face and knew something wasn’t right. “Hey, what’s going through that head of yours?”
“A lot of things.” She huffed out a half laugh, half sigh.
“Hit me with it.”
She looked at me and partially turned in her seat as much as the seatbelt would allow. “I don’t understand him, Tucker. He seemed sane and reasonable when I agreed to go out with him, otherwise I never would have gone in the first place.”
“What about when you went on your dates?” I wondered, curious as to what tipped her off about him being nuts.
“I don’t know. It was nothing big that stood out and said, ‘Hey, I’m a creepy stalker guy’. I just didn’t vibe with him—not like—” She stopped and looked down at her hands in her lap, cutting off the admission she was about to let out.
“Not like we do.” I finished the sentence for her. My knuckles were white around the steering wheel because I was holding it so damn tight.
“Yeah.” She admitted.
I reached over and took her hand, twining her fingers with mine. The silence settled around us as I navigated the roads back home.
Home. That word meant so little to me for so long, but in a short span of time, Patience had made Brook Cove feel like a home—my home.
Chapter 11
PATIENCE
My body was achy in ways I’d never experienced before. His fingers were laced with mine, and I felt like I was touching an electric fence that had enough voltage to make my blood thrum through my veins.
When he pulled into the driveway, I was ready to bolt from the fear that I would end up making a fool of myself. But Tucker had other plans. He lifted our hands to his lips and placed a kiss on the back of my knuckles. “Let me get your door.”
I nodded and licked my lips nervously as he released my hand and hopped out of his new but used truck. Nervously, I fidgeted as I waited for him to round the hood of the truck and open the door.
He opened the door for me, and I slid out in front of him. “Where do you want to go, Patience? Safely tucked up into your room where you can get some sleep, or safely tucked into mine where you won’t?”
The bottom fell out of my stomach at his words. No sleep meant sex, and for the first time, I was all for the idea. At twenty-one, I was the oldest virgin I knew. Most people punched that V-card when they were in high school, but I’d kept mine intact, waiting for the right man to take that honor.
Tucker was the right man.
“I’m not tired,” I finally worked up the courage to say after several moments of pregnant silence. My voice was a little shaky with nerves, but I wanted this. I wanted him.
He leaned down to where his lips were hovering just above mine and whispered, “I was hoping you would say that.”
Tucker wasted no time claiming my mouth in a hot kiss. Those damn butterflies were back in full fluttering force, and this time, my knees were trembling along with them. If he didn’t have a hold on me, I would have been a puddle of aroused mush on the ground.
He lightened up on the kiss, giving me a few lingering pecks before pulling back. “Let’s take this upstairs, Patience.”
I took his offered hand and followed him to the apartment above the garage. He closed the truck door behind us and hit the lock button on the key fob. The sound it made was loud in the quiet around us. I was in front of him as we climbed up the stairs to the apartment. I could feel his gaze on my backside as his hands cupped my hips.
Need and desire poured through every cell in my body. It felt like everything had been building to this point since the moment we met. He wasn’t far off with his volcano analogy, because that’s how I felt. It was like there was a hair trigger pressure plate deep inside me that was just waiting for someone to release it.
I stepped aside at the top of the stairs and let Tucker on the landing so he could unlock the door. I’d been in this apartment a lot over the years, but coming up with Tucker, with the anticipation of having sex, made it feel like I was walking into this place for the very first time.
My heart was pounding as I stepped forward and followed him inside. I knew that no matter what happened down the road, I was going to remember this night and this man.
“You look like you’re about to bolt. You sure you want to do this?” he asked, leaning against the still open door like he was giving me another chance to back out, but I didn’t want to back out. I wanted him for as long as I could have him.
“I’m sure,” I replied softly, reaching for the door to push it closed. He let me take the first steps forward before helping meshut the door and invading my space. My senses were on high alert and the smell of him, raw, masculine and fresh soap, was intoxicating.
I looked up at him. My back was against the door, right where he maneuvered me. He was standing over me, his green eyes alight with a hunger so fierce it took my breath away. Tucker’s hand cupped my neck as his thumb caressed my jaw. His head dipped as his lips covered mine in a long, deep, sensual kiss. I opened for him and his tongue slid inside my mouth… tempting… tasting… taking.
My hands bracketed his waist as I held on to steady myself, and to keep from drowning in his kiss. I moaned into his mouth when he pushed his long, hard body against mine, wedging me firmly between him and the door. Heat rushed through me and pooled into my core. My pussy grew wetter and needier with every passing second his lips were locked on mine.
