Page 70 of Just One of the Groomsmen
It probably didn’t speak well to his mental state that he preferred her not pulling punches. It meant things between them were at least normal-ish. “I know.”
“At least you acknowledge it.”
He traced her jaw with his thumb, and when her hot exhale of breath skated over his wrist, longing seized hold of his body and refused to let go. “I don’t want you seeing him anymore.”
She swallowed. “Why would you care?”
“You know why. We’ve been dancin’ around it for a while, but I doubt you’ve failed to notice that something’s changin’ between us.”
Before taking her out on the boat, he’d worried he was the only affected one, but between the way her body had melted against his on the drive to the dock, the way she was curling her fingers around his wrist, and her dilating pupils, he was sure the electricity was traveling both ways.
“Don’t act like you don’t feel it,” he said.
He slid his arm around her waist, tethering her to him, and the instant their bodies met, liquid hot need flowed through him.
“Part of me wishes I could pretend I didn’t,” he added. “That we could go back to how things used to be because it would be easier. Simple. Normal.” He hadn’t felt normal about her in weeks. Nothing felt right until he was with Addie again, and the thought of her with anyone else opened up a raging, possessive side of him he didn’t know existed till now. “But there’s no simple and normal between us anymore.”
“That’s what I’m worried about,” she said, and her eyes fluttered shut as he dragged his thumb over her full bottom lip. “There are so many complications and variables, and I don’t wanna create unnecessary drama.” Her eyes opened and locked on to his. “I don’t want to ruin things.”
“One problem at a time, Addes. Right now we’re discussin’”—he gritted his teeth—“the dentist.”
“He and I are done. Pretty sure we were done the instant you returned to town.”
Unable to wait another second, Tucker crashed his lips down on hers.
Relief and desire hit him at once, and he dove into the heady sensations.
He tugged on her ponytail, the way he’d done on countless occasions, but this time he used it to angle her head and deepen the kiss.
Her lips opened for him, her tongue tentatively touching his, and everything inside him roared. He pressed her closer and stroked his tongue over hers, tasting her moan as it vibrated through him.
The kiss was everything he’d fantasized it’d be and more.
And speaking of more, he couldn’t seem to get his fill. Even plastered against him, she wasn’t close enough.
He slid his hands lower on her back, and just before he gripped her ass and lifted her into his arms, he caught himself and—summoning all his self-control—forced himself to slow it down. To be cautious in his recklessness.
Torturous, but not nearly as torturous as it’d been to be around her these past few weeks without kissing her.
He broke the kiss but kept his hold on her.
She made a lowmmmnoise as she looked up at him through her lashes, a sexy move that had him wanting to kiss her all over again.
His thumb slipped underneath the hem of her shirt and skimmed across the smooth skin of her lower back. “You don’t really expect menotto kiss you when you say something like that, do you?”
“Do you really think we can kiss and not screw up our friendship?”
She placed her hands on his chest, where his heart pounded out a rapid, erratic rhythm.
“Factor in the upcoming wedding I’m now in again, our tight group of friends, my family getting involved, the whole town getting involved—basically, a lot of involvement all around.”
He wanted to tell her “of course” because they were Addie and Tucker, and they could take on anything.
Then he remembered Easton’s reminder of how much it sucked when the group dynamic was thrown off, and the pressure of nonstop gossip, and how once the town got involved, even the strongest of couples could hardly take it.
Lead filled his lungs, replacing more and more of his oxygen.
Man, the things he’d heard about his own parents when people didn’t realize he was around and listening. Not everyone was horrible, but several of the things he’d heard about Mom were.
