Page 85 of Playing With Love

I was an Army Vet and in law enforcement. Neither of those were good enough.

“Lizzy, maybe you should put down your phone before you break it.”

Sure enough, I had a death grip on the stupid thing.

“He’s such an asshole,” I whispered.

Tucker grunted what I took as his agreement.

“He wants me to come take care of his wife so he doesn’t have to cancel his trip. Not that he’ll cancel. It won’t matter if I’m there or not, he never misses playing the sportsbook in AC during the NBA finals, or the World Series, or the Super Bowl. And then there’s tennis. He’d swing a trip for the ATP finals if nothing important was happening at work. He didn’t give a shit if the finals were in December and they’d been invited to Christmas parties. She’d be expected to attend, give his apologies for not being there, and play dutiful wife to her perfect can-do-no-wrong husband.”

Another grunt.

“You know, I’ve never told him to fuck off.”

“Lizzy—”

“I think maybe it’s time I stop cowing and start crowing.”

“I don’t disagree with you. But maybe you save that until we have time for you to give him a proper dressing down. And a time when after you’re done I can see to you and not when we’re on an assignment.”

We.

After you’re done I can see to you.

Mine.

“Okay.”

“Okay,” he repeated, and put his hand on my knee.

My gaze went from my phone to Tucker’s hand.

All I had to do was take that hand and I knew he’d show me the way. All I had to do was trust him to take care of me and he would.

In theory it was simple.

Putting it into practice scared the hell out of me.

“When I make that call don’t let me forget to tell my father I’ll be sending him the electroshock therapy bills I’m going to encounter when I go in to exercise his damage.”

“Baby,” he quietly muttered, and squeezed my thigh.

Just take his hand, Liza.

“I’m joking but I’m not,” I told him. “Intellectually, I know why I am the way I am. Logically, I understand his neglect is the cause of my commitment issues. But fear isn’t logical. I can’t just rationalize my way out of it when it hits.”

“You know I understand that fear.”

Yes, I knew he did. When he’d shared his father’s infidelity he’d been open about his fear he’d one day follow in his father’s footsteps. That growing up with a father who had repeatedly cheated and carried on relationships with other women outside of his marriage would inherently make him a cheater. That was why Tucker had never had a girlfriend in high school, nor a long-term, serious relationship as an adult.

“Do you think I’d ever cheat on you?”

Tucker’s question had me turning his way, or maybe it was his sharp tone that had me shifting in my seat to look at him.

“What?”

“Do you, think I’d, ever cheat on you?” he asked again, slowly this time.