Page 8 of Tucker

“Don’t be silly. I don’t mind—”

“Obviously not, since you went to all the trouble to set this up.” He glanced at her. “But Gabe will.”

When her feet froze, Tucker urged her onward.

“Dad doesn’t know about any of this.”

“He will.” Automatic doors slid open as they reached them, and they stepped out into the damp, dark night. Tucker inhaled a deep breath, glanced around the lot and finally spotted the van. As he headed in that direction, almost dragging her along now, he said, “Just as soon as I call him.”

CHAPTER TWO

BRINGINGOUTTHEbig guns was a desperate move, but then, he was a desperate guy. He’d already kissed her once, and Tucker knew if she stuck around, which she seemed determined to do, he’d cave again.

If that happened—in the privacy of his home—God only knew what might happen. He couldn’t risk it.

He’d awakened the man to rat her out, and Gabe sounded properly concerned over the phone despite Tucker’s repeated assurances that she hadn’t been hurt.

“She’s dropping me off,” Tucker said, watching Kady’s profile, “and then she’ll be heading home. Yeah, I’m sure she’ll call you once she’s safely back at her apartment.”

As he spoke, Kady’s expression turned downright surly, but she also looked hurt—and damn it, that hurt him, too.

“No problem,” Tucker said in reply to Gabe thanking him for the call. “I figured you’d want to know that she was fine before the gossip got around.” In a town the size of Buckhorn, any and all happenings spread like wildfire. Tucker had no doubt that Gabe would have been getting calls from relatives and neighbors alike first thing in the morning.

It was better that he heard it straight from Tucker...right?

He looked at Kady again. Console lights on the van glowed over her face and made a halo of her pale, tangled hair. She should have looked a mess in the baggy clothes, smudged makeup and sour expression.

Instead, she looked adorable.

He winced at a bump in the road, but quickly smoothed his expression when she glanced at him.

The tires hissed on the wet pavement, occasionally sending up a spray from puddles to further drench the trees lining the road. Gray clouds tumbling over the dark sky concealed any trace of the moon. The silence grew heavy.

“Gabe wants you to call when you’re headed home.”

“I heard.”

Her clipped voice didn’t alleviate the tension. “You know I had to call him.”

No reply, but her hands tightened on the wheel.

Tucker adjusted, trying to find a comfortable position. They’d be to his house in another five minutes, and though he’d instigated the tension, he didn’t want to leave it this way. “It was the respectful thing to do.”

“No,” she corrected. “It was the cowardly thing to do.”

“Cowardly?” He should have been insulted, but instead, he was curious. Plus he’d rather have her complaints over her silence any day. “How do you figure that?”

“I’m twenty-five, and I’ve been living on my own since I was nineteen. Dad assumed I was home in bed, as he should.Hewas home in bed.”

“Yes, but—”

“I could have explained everything tomorrow, but instead you woke him, and now he’ll worry until he knows I’ve locked myself inside my apartment. And for what? Because you were afraid I might take advantage of you?” She snorted. “Cowardly.”

Tucker straightened. “I wasn’t worried about you taking advantage.” He was worried about his own control, about resisting her.

“And you know what?” She continued as if he hadn’t spoken. “I probably would have tried for another kiss. I, at least, thought the kiss was nice.”

“Nice?”Now that was just plain insulting. It’d been a hell of a lot more thanniceto him.

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