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Then again, what about this womandon’tI find arousing?
“I’m not leaving either, then, until you come with me.” Tuck takes a step forward, towering over us both.
Jen moves to stand between us. The dogs follow, jumping up onto her bare legs. “Great. Come sit down so we can talk, for God’s sake.”
“I’m not sitting at that man’s table.” He points to me. “C’mon, Jen, don’t you want the big wedding and the white dress and everything? What happened to all that?”
Jen rolls her eyes. My stomach cramps. I’m getting a bad feeling this is something we’re never gonna come back from. Tuck will forgive his sister eventually. They’re too close, love each other too much.
But me? I’m not sure Tuck will ever let me back into his life.
I wouldn’t blame him if he didn’t.
“That’s your loss, then,” Jen says. “If you don’t wanna talk tonight, fine. Abel and I already had plans to come over tomorrow and share our news. Why don’t we—ow, Tai!” The dog is stepping all over Jen’s feet. She bends down to pick her up.
The Navy SEAL in Tuck comes out every so often. Usuallywhen you least it expect it.
Like now, when he takes the two-and-a-half-second opportunity while Jen’s bent over to grab my shirt again and yank me aside. Drag me, more like it, so that Jen’s far enough away she won’t get hurt.
Then he’s shoving me, hard, before winding up for another punch.
I’m able to catch this one in my palm. I feel something in my hand crack at the force of his fist landing there. Grunting, I try my best to shove him back. He’s got three inches and fifty pounds on me, but this isn’t my first rodeo.
“Tuck, quit it,” I say. “Please.”
But he charges at me again, ducking at the last minute to jam his shoulder into my gut. I fly backward, registering Jen’s shocked expression before I land on my back. Luckily I hit the rug, not the hardwoods, but the impact still knocks the wind out of me.
“Tuck! Stop! My God,stop!” Jen is sprinting across the room.
But her brother is already reaching down and fisting the front of my shirt in his paw. I close my eyes. I’m not gonna let him make a bloody mess out of me, but I also got no right to fight back. I deserve every ounce of this pain.
Part of me wants it. I’ve been good to Jen. Until she opened that robe and I pounced on her like a dog. I deserve to be punched for that.
I deserve to be punched for wanting my friend’s sister so bad I’d offer to pretend to be her husband so her dad would be happy. No one else I know would even think to do that.
No one else has this problem.
Then again, one of my biggest reasons for wanting to back out of this whole thing was because I knew being close to Jen would be hard. But doing something to help Joe took precedent over that.
See? Not all sinner.Just mostly.
I screw up my face, preparing for the blow.
“Robert Tucker Monroe.”
The room goes still at the voice that booms from the door.
Tuck turns his head. “Dad? What the hell are you doing here?”
“What the hell are you doing, hitting your friend like that? Let him go. Now.”
Joe Monroe is a kind man. But when he means business, you know it.
You listen.
Looking back at me, Tuck flexes his jaw. “You know about this?” he says to his father.
“Let him go, Tuck. I’m not going to ask you again.”
