“Me,” he replied as his eyes raked up and down the length of my body once more. His devastating, amused smirk made me want to either throttle or kiss him. Both options were definitely appealing as I stood there under his scrutiny. I wasn’t sure which was the more prevalent inclination—the jury was still out on that one.
Being in the same room with him made me feel keyed up even more than normal. My stomach tightened and flopped when he was near. It was annoying, and for that, I lost my patience even quicker than normal with him.
“Who are you? Are you stalking me?” I crossed my arms across my chest and cocked a hip, showing him attitude.
“You must have me confused with your ex, Patience.”
Even as he said it, his eyes moved to my right upper arm, where Grant had held me the night before. Instinctively, I reached over to hide the bruises I knew were showing becauseof my short sleeves. His eyes flared with anger at the slightly discolored skin on my arm.
“Morning, honey.” Mom walked in with a smile, carrying some extra blankets that she had set down in front of the man that was quickly becoming the bane of my existence.
“I see you met Mr. Roth already. He’s our new tenant for the garage apartment.”
“Call me Tucker, please.” He grinned at my mom, then sent me a side wink. “Patience and I ran into each other last night at the Brewery.”
My face heated because we did run into each other almost quite literally—or at least I almost ran into him.
“That’s great. After her class this morning, Patience can take you into town to get what you need for the apartment that isn’t already there, and to the grocery store.”
“Mom!” I whisper shouted. “What are you doing?”
“Nothing, honey. He only has his motorcycle, and he can’t go get groceries on a bike, especially when it’s getting so cold out there.”
I shot Tucker a glaring look. The infuriating man looked highly entertained. The scales were definitely tipping more toward throttling him than kissing him at that point. I don’t know why, but Tucker Roth could irritate me like no other.
“I’m not awake enough for this right now,” I grumbled, moving toward the coffee pot and my favorite mug, only to realize it wasn’t where it should have been.
I looked over my shoulder to see Tucker lift my mug to his lips as laughter danced in his eyes. He fucking knew he was getting to me, and that irritated me even more.
“Of all the mugs, you had to choose that one?” I practically growled at him.
“Patience,” my mom chastised, scolding me like a petulant child, but I was beyond caring at that point. This guy was on myevery last nerve and he seemed to be enjoying every minute of it. “He’s our guest.”
“He’s your tenant, Mom, not a guest, and he’s drinking from my mug.”
He arched that perfectly sharp black brow at me, and I wanted to slap the smirk off his face.
“Patience,” she chided again. “Go upstairs and grab a shower to cool off and remember your manners.”
I gritted my teeth and stomped my way upstairs to the bathroom. Once I was away from him, I was able to breathe normally again. When I stripped off my clothes, I noticed my nipples were hard points, and they were probably easily seen poking through my shirt as he stared at me. I groaned at the realization he was probably laughing because my nipples were turned on like blinding headlights.
When I stepped into the warm shower, I shivered because it wasn’t as warm as my body was from the heated exchange downstairs. I knew what I was going to find when I slipped my fingers between my legs, but that didn’t make it any less surprising to feel how wet I was. My mystery motorcycle man was living above my parent’s garage, and I wanted him—bad—even if I wasn’t about to admit it to anyone but myself.
Chapter 4
TUCKER
I walked back to my new apartment above the garage with my hands full of comforters I didn’t need and a smile on my face.
Patience was cute when she got riled up. Fire ran in her veins, which I found amusing. She was like a powder keg of passion ready to explode. I’m not even sure she realized how much steam she needed to let off. The blush on her face when my eyes raked over her in those pajamas made my dick stand up. She could have been in the thinnest, sexiest fucking lingerie and I would have been just as aroused by the sight of her. She had no clue how she affected me, and that was a good thing because I wasn’t going to be sticking around here long. Though, if I were honest with myself, her being my landlord’s daughter definitely made me want to hang around a bit longer.
I tossed the comforters on the couch and went back to the bedroom to grab my other phone. There were no messages or updates from Seattle. No news is good news at this point. I shot a quick text to check in, then turned the phone off before I hid it back in the lining of my backpack.
If I planned to stay here, I was going to need more clothes than what I could fit in my saddlebags and my backpack. I don’t like being dependent on people for a ride everywhere, so I needed to find a cheap used truck for sale. It would suck getting rid of the bike. I’d gotten used to riding it the past couple of years, but it wasn’t practical.
I grabbed the laptop I borrowed from Mrs. Hale yesterday after I arrived and booted it up. A picture of the Hale family stared back at me. They all had big smiles on their faces as if the photo was caught mid joke. When I met Mr. Hale yesterday,he grilled me with scrutiny to make sure his wife and daughter would be safe around me. He also assured me both of them knew how to shoot and wouldn’t hesitate.
He was a man who cared about the women in his life, and that’s something I could definitely appreciate. If a man wanted to rent out an apartment on my property, there was no way in hell I would allow it if I had a wife and daughter. When we had our discussion, I gave him some assurances and told him the partial truth of who and what I am. I was able to convince him to keep that information to himself and from his family. The less people who knew about me, the better off and safer they were.
