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“I don’t care what your reasoning was, you’d better get your ass back home,” Tucker barked, fear evident in the tremor and sheer anger in his voice.
It was that fear that was giving her so many doubts. What if that was the only reason he’d forgiven all of her sins? What if his sheer desperation made him say things he wouldn’t mean now that the danger had passed? If he rejected her, she’d deserve it—completely—but it would kill her. It really would.
Rolling into the parking lot outside their shared apartment, Talia spotted the motorcycle Tucker had bought her for her birthday. It was big and purple and sparked some amazing memories. And it had a new few broken pieces and scrapes she imagined were probably the result of an angry outburst or two. His bike was sitting right there beside it as if it were a placeholder, a representation of everything they were supposed to be. She had a ghostly sense come over her, almost as if the life she left behind was just waiting for her to pick it back up, dust it off, and continue on as if nothing ever happened. Of course, that was impossible. So much water had passed under that bridge. Nothing could be the same again…but maybe it could be better?
With a deep sigh, Talia parked beside the bikes and made her way up the stairs to their door…and knocked. She had keys, but after being gone for so long and under the circumstances, it just didn’t feel like her right to walk in anymore.
She waited and knocked several times, with no answer. Unless Tucker had been picked up by one of the brothers, then his bike and truck in the lot meant he was there. So why wasn’t he answering the door?
Maybe he’d changed his mind about her coming back…“I ain’t goin’ anywhere, sugar,”she heard his voice in her head, remembering his promise to wait for her.
With tightness in her chest and mounting fear in her gut, Talia inserted the key in the lock and pushed her way inside.
The apartment was quiet. Too quiet. Talia took tentative steps until she reached the bedroom. The door had been left open a crack, and with a bit of hesitation and fear of what she might find on the other side, she touched two fingers to the white panel and pushed.
Her breath caught in her throat at the sight laid out before her.
On the bed was Tucker, sitting at the foot, bent over his knees with his phone in his hands. The sound of Angry Birds filled the air, and when he heard her tiny gasp, his head shot up. “I was starting to worry you’d changed your mind,” he said, his voice strained.
But Talia could hardly focus on what he was saying. She was too distracted and overcome with surprise and awe andlovefor this man to take her eyes away from the room. Everywhere she cast her gaze, she saw dozens upon dozens of flowers. Roses and daffodils and lilies and baby’s breath, exotic blooms and common mixed together. Bursts of color tantalized her vision, and the sweet smell in her nose electrified her senses.
Talia’s rigid composure shattered in an instant, and she started bawling her eyes out. Tucker was standing in front of her a second later, pulling her into his arms and hugging her tight enough that it was as if he’d reached inside of her and smashed all the broken pieces back together.
Talia stayed in his arms like that for so long, she lost track of time, but when she finally managed to pull herself together, she looked up at him and said the only words to come to mind: “I love you so much.”
Tucker’s denim gaze filled with emotion and he transferred those strong, capable hands to her face and pulled her mouth to his for a kiss that said bothwelcome homeandplease don’t ever leave again. It was one full of forgiveness and fear and desire, all wrapped up in one explosive moment that led quickly to clothes being torn off and growls of need and desire, and before Talia knew it, she was on her back on the bed, Tucker pounding his hard length between her legs and bringing her to an orgasm that shot her into the stratosphere. The sex wasn’t filled with finesse nor was it romantic, but it was exactly what both of them needed at that moment.
Once they both had time to calm down, still bound to one another by tangled limbs and a mutual refusal to let go, Tucker looked down into her eyes and said, “I think we’ve said everything that needs saying, sugar.”
Talia agreed with a simple nod and gentle smile. They always communicated best when they were naked, stripped bare, all the way to their souls. She loved him, he loved her, and no amount of distance or time or circumstance was going to change that.
Reaching up, she touched her fingers to his freshly shaved jaw and took a moment to just look at him. Ruggedly handsome despite being so well-groomed, and just the right amount of everything to make her heart sing.
Without words, she placed a sweet, lingering kiss to his lips, letting him know that she’d never leave his side again. She was home now, and that’s where she planned to stay. Forever.
twenty-six
Cricket wasn’t nervous. Really, he wasn’t. It was just that he’d never imagined being opposite the POS guns-slash-drug-slash-cartel—or whatever he was—leader, talking about dating his little girl.
Victorjia had failed to mention that her daddy was freaking Manuel Contreras. She was just his toothpaste girl, and that had been enough for him. And now he was in over his head because he was absolutely attached to this woman, and she was attached to trouble. Trouble he didn’t know how to distance himself from because he was totally unwilling to call it quits with her.
They hadn’t spent a ton of time together, but every moment they had, starting with that stupid little chat in the general merch section of the grocery store meant a hell of a lot to him. It marked the start of a hopeful new future, and he was so on board with all that it promised and more…except for the potential father-in-law.
Could he really see himself connecting to a woman whose daddy was so corrupt? He was smart enough to make the distinction between them. Victorjia was not her father. If anything, she was the opposite. That’s why he was struggling so bad with this.
“If you’re going to date my daughter, you’d better be prepared to make an honest woman of her,” Manuel was saying from his cigar chair where he was, coincidentally, chewing on the butt end of an unlit cigar.
“She’s not pregnant,” Cricket said defensively. She wasn’t. She’d assured him she was on birth control, and he’d used condoms during all of their sexcapades. They weren’t at the stage of talking marriage either, not that he hadn’t entertained the idea a few dozen times.
She was just so damn perfect for him. Call him a poor sap, but he was completely taken by her.In lovewouldn’t be a far reach. But this bombshell of her parentage was enough to make him take a breath and think with his big head.
Manuel’s narrowed eyes and the impatience pouring off him was unsettling, like looking into the eyes of a shark with deadly intent. Cricket wasn’t easily shaken, but it wasn’t where he wanted to be. It was one of those “I’m doing this for you” kind of things that he hoped Victorjia recognized and appreciated.
He cast her a sidelong glance and found her eyes on him. She wasn’t comfortable either, which made the alpha in him sit up and toughen up because he wasn’t about to be weak when his girl needed him strong.
“Look, I’m into your daughter. She’s a great woman, and I love spending my time with her.” He smiled at her and continued. “I have no idea where this is going—we just met—but I’m hoping it ends up someplace great. But I can’t sit here and promise marriage when we hardly know each other. That’s not fair to either of us, and I’m not going to put her in that position. So while I respect what you’re trying to do here, which I think is protecting your daughter from people like me, or men in general, cuz, shit, I would too if I were in your shoes, I’m just not going to get on board with you right now. But I can and will promise to treat her right and do my best not to hurt her. But I’m a man, so I’m going to guarantee I’ll fuck shit up along the way. I’ll just try not to.”
Manuel glared at him, and Victorjia twisted her hands in her lap. Cricket prayed for the best. Her daddy was looking like he wanted to jump him, maybe drive a knife through his chest, and Cricket didn’t want to have to lay him out in front of his girl, but he’d put a bullet in the bastard’s head before he let him put him in the ground before his time.
