Page 68 of Just One of the Groomsmen
Obviously he was kidding, but her eyes met his and her thoughts turned literal.
She’d already missed him for two years, and if she ruined their friendship by pushing for more, it’d almost be worse than missing him, because she’d have to do it while living in the same town. “I really would.”
Using his grip on her hand, he drew her in for a hug and she let herself relax into it.
As much as she could, anyway, considering her whirring thoughts and racing heart.
The quiet crept in again, neither of them moving. As if both of them were scared of what might happen if they said or did the wrong thing.
Or maybe she was alone in that. The more she thought about the complications that would come about if she told him her feelings for him were growing stronger—and in a totally not platonic way—the tighter the band around her chest became.
Fear took over, whispering how crossing lines could ruin everything between them, and then she’d lose him all over again, but for good this time.
It probably makes me a coward, but I can’t risk it. Too much could go so very wrong.
Addie broke the hug, glanced at the water, and steered the conversation down a side street. “A few years ago, we went to visit some of my mom’s Yankee cousins, and one morning while we were there, I woke up to a scream that made me shoot right out of bed. I seriously thought I was rushin’ toward a crime scene. My cousin had gone to take a shower, but there was a spider in one corner. I grabbed a tissue and killed it. Then I told her at least you could smash a spider; if you stepped on an alligator, all he got was mad. She seriously looked at me like I was from the backwoods.”
“You are from the backwoods.” Tucker swung his arm, encompassing the lake and the shadowy trees along the shore. “Exhibit A.”
“Well, counselor, I prefer to think of it as the front woods.” She shivered as the breeze kicked up a notch, and Tucker rubbed his hands up and down her arms.
He noticed so much, and she couldn’t help wondering if he could see right through her. If he already knew she’d been warring with her feelings for him.
“I’m guessing you didn’t buy my claim that I was over my fear of gators?” she asked, since it was a less complicated question.
“Not for one second. I know all your tells.” He touched the corner of her mouth with his thumb, and her self-control thrashed in the desire quickly flooding her system. “You get this twitch here.”
“Do not.”
“It just twitched again.”
Now she was going to have to focus on what her mouth did during poker, and what his mouth did.
Wait. Scratch that.
No watching Tucker Crawford’s mouth or thinking about what it’d feel like pressed against mine.
If he could see through her and he hadn’t made a move, that must mean…
Her stomach sank. Where was the exit for this emotional roller coaster? Because she wasn’t sure she could handle the ups and downs much longer without going insane.
Tucker glanced at his watch. “Guess my hour’s about up. The fish aren’t biting anyway, and it’s getting late.” He began reeling in his line, and Addie did the same. “Extra silver lining, my boat didn’t sink.”
“And neither of us ended up as alligator bait. Knock on wood.”
She rapped her knuckles on the nearest surface.
As soon as they’d packed up everything, she said, “I like your idea about repairing and restoring boats, by the way. It suits you, and I think it’ll make you money. What if it doesn’t, though?” She sucked in a deep breath, fortifying herself for the answer. “Will you go back to Birmingham?”
He shook his head. “When I was sitting in my high-rise office late at night, surrounded by stacks and stacks of paperwork, I used to dream about being out here on the lake. Even when I went home to my apartment, it never felt like home. I’m done with city life.” He flashed her a smile that she felt deep in her core. “Give me backwoods any day.”
At least that was something she could cling to.
He ran his fingertips down her arm, the same way he’d done to convince her to come out on the lake with him, and she wondered what she was about to get talked into now. “You wanna drive back?”
Her inner child jumped up and gave a squee. “Does a hog like mud?”
Tucker folded her hand into his, and as he tugged her toward the front of the boat, she practically floated. “According to people in town, you and I like mud.”
