Page 78 of Never Say Never

“Tucker? Are you okay?” Daisy looks at me with concern in her eyes.

“Yeah. I just.... Before you go and get on that plane, I need you to know... I love you.”

“Tuck…” She drops her bag at her feet and wraps her arms around my neck.

“Dais, I’ve never been in love before. But Iamin love with you,” I say, needing to get this out. “I’m pretty sure I’ve loved you all my life. Daisy… you’ve always been mine. My heart is yours.”

The words that I’ve been dying to say to her hang in the air between us. I swear my heart stops beating. Her teeth scrape over her bottom lip as her eyes once again fill with tears. She rises to her tiptoes and pulls my mouth to hers.

“I love you too,” Daisy says when we break apart. “I was born to love you.”

I kiss her one last time, then bend to pick her bag up off the ground and hitch it on to her shoulder.

Daisy’s lips purse together in a smirk. “I could have gotten that.”

“Are you sure about that?” I ask, eyebrows raised. “You packed your entire closet into this thing.”

She puts her palms against my chest and gives me a playful push. “Such a guy,” she says, rolling her eyes. “I need every single one of those outfits.”

I smile, the lump still in my throat. “You better go.”

“I know.”

Daisy turns, and I watch her walk away, looking back at me with a soft smile. When I get to my truck, my body crumbles into the seat like all the air has been knocked from my lungs. I don’t know how long I sit there, with my forehead against the steering wheel, wondering if there’s a limit to how much a person can wallow. Then I start up the engine and drive home.

TWENTY-NINE

I’LL FUCK IT OUT OF YOU

Daisy

It’s been a little over a month since I’ve been in Italy, and the constant, nagging feeling of missing Tucker still consumes me. I miss the scent of him. I miss the way he drags his fingertips over my arms in the morning to wake me up. I miss the way he plays with my hair. I miss seeing him walk through the door at the end of the day wearing his RPU gear. I just misshim.

We’ve spoken every day, long telephone conversations and explicit text messages. Tucker listens to my travel stories with genuine interest and I love him even more for supporting me. But what I look forward to most is listening to him talk about Haven Harbor and the team. I love hearing him talk about his day, his thoughts, his new ideas for the Outlaws.

Tucker doesn’t talk much about his dad, and I don’t push it. I know that they haven’t been in touch since that night at my parents’ place, and that Tucker has skipped every Sunday dinner since I left town.

When Tucker and I can find a time that works with our schedules and the time difference, we Facetime. Our chats have become progressively steamier. Watching Tucker take off hisclothes and touch himself for me is a level of hot I never knew existed, and it didn’t take long before I found myself craving it. The whole thing made me nervous at first—it was so vulnerable, letting Tucker watch me touch myself over a camera. But it didn’t take long for my inhibitions to fade away. Now, I love the way it makes me feel. Knowing I can make him hard even though we’re an ocean apart makes me feel powerful. And watching him come in a video is the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.

I’ve thought about our future more times than I can count. What will it be like when I come home? Will he want us to move in together? And down the road, are marriage and babies even something that he wants? Where does he see us in five years?

When I lie in bed at the end of the day, these are the questions that cycle through my head. I know with certainty that I want it all with Tucker, and that excites me. But I also know that being in a relationship is a big step for him. Anything beyond that—marriage, kids, a white picket fence—might scare him.

I’m about five minutes from my quaint bed and breakfast in Sorrento when my phone rings. It’s Tucker, calling a lot earlier than usual. It’s almost 2 a.m. in Reed Point.

“Hi,” I say, answering his call as soon as humanly possible.

“Hey, baby,” he says, his voice raspy. “What are you up to?”

“I just picked up a coffee and a pastry from a cute café. What about you? Why are you up?”

A low groan comes through the phone. “I couldn’t sleep. Had beers on the porch with Holden, talking him through some shit. I went to bed late.”

“Is everything okay?”

“With Holden? Yeah, he’ll be fine. Just worried if he made the right decision breaking up with Aubrey.”

“And what did you tell him?”

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