Page 78 of Just One of the Groomsmen
Then she ventured out to the deck, and sure enough, Tucker sat having his coffee, still shirtless, although he’d pulled warm-up pants over his boxers.
While the urge to flee flooded her system, she knew she’d have to face him sometime. Might as well do it in a ridiculous dress, yesterday’s eyeliner today’s smoky eye.
Was raccoon chic a thing?
“Um. Good morning.”
The smile he fired at her hit her square in the chest. “Mornin’.” He gestured to the seat across the tiny table from him and she settled into it. “How’s your head?”
“Not too bad. Minor pounding, and I feel like I drank a glass of sand.” Her nerves stretched to the fraying point, and she figured she’d go ahead and address the elephant. “What I really could use is that memory-swiper from theMen In Blackmovies. If I tell you to look right into my flashy-thing, you’d do that for me, wouldn’t you?”
“Not a chance. I plan on spending every spare second of the day rehashing the details of last night so I never forget them. I’ll bring it up constantly to tease you, too, in case you were wondering.”
“Thanks for that.” She took a drink of coffee and earned seared taste buds for her efforts. “Those city girls seem all innocent until they ply you with alcohol, force you into a dress, and drag you to a dance club.”
“I told you the city wasn’t all it was cracked up to be, but did you listen?”
“You know me. I like to make my own mistakes. Sometimes over and over, just to ensure I learn my lesson.”
He raised an eyebrow. “You’ve broken into someone’s houseboat and tried to take advantage of them before?”
She smacked his arm, and he laughed, the sound making her heart pitter patter. “No, that was a first.” She bit her lip. “Are we okay? I made it weird, didn’t I?”
He set down his mug, turned to fully face her, and curled his hand around her knee. “Not as long as I can still talk to you as a friend about this crazy drunk chick who broke into my house and threw herself at me.”
Her stomach sank—or it tried to. With his warm hand on her knee, it couldn’t quite decide on sinking or swirling. “Sounds pretty traumatic. I hope you called the police—except not Easton. You should probably keep the girl’s identity safe in case that was an out-of-character move for her, one she’d rather not have spread around town.”
“Yeah, I figured that might be the case. Only now she’s just made herself at home, grabbed a mug from my cupboard like she’s been here a hundred times, poured herself a cup of my expensive coffee, and I’m worried she might be a stalker.”
“Well…” Addie sipped the coffee, thinking that was why it tasted so yummy—he sprang for the good stuff. “You should probably buy shitty coffee if you want her to leave, so really that’s on you.”
“I guess that’ll teach me. Also, we need to talk about this dress…” His fingers slipped up her thigh and dizziness set in. “It’s pretty much the opposite of overalls and your ratty sweatshirt.”
“I’ve never been very good at taking instructions.”
“We should probably work on that.” He snagged her hand and tugged. “Come ’ere.”
Usually she would put up a better fight, but the intoxicating drag of his fingers had her aching all over. So she let him pull her across the small space and onto his lap.
She wrapped an arm around his shoulders, and his hand returned to her thigh, and while she used to roll her eyes at mushy gestures like sitting on laps, she understood it now.
He brought his other hand up, pushed his fingers into her hair, and then cupped her head and brought her face to his.
The mix of scruff and soft lips sent pleasure cascading down her spine, and then they were going at it like teenagers. Kissing and feeling each other up and moans and groans and not bothering to come up for air.
If she didn’t stop… She broke the kiss and worked to catch her breath.
“Let me guess,” Tucker said softly. “Today you’re back to thinking we should take it slow.”
“Is that all right?” she asked, placing her hand on the side of his face and peering into his blue eyes.
“Course it’s all right.”
Relief washed through her, even though she should’ve known he wouldn’t push. That wasn’t his style.
Thank goodness he’d been sober last night so at least one of them was using common sense.
Kissing him was amazing.
