Page 60 of Coming Home Country
“Tucker.” She uttered my name so softly I almost didn’t hear it over the buzzing in my ears.
My head snapped up, and the anguish written in her eyes about damn near shattered my heart.
I made a move toward her but stopped after half a step, holding myself back for fear of making this worse. The initials I’d written on her cast taunted me from across the open space.
What the hell had I been thinking, not asking her first if that was okay?
Gesturing toward the thick plaster encasing her right forearm, I offered, “If you want, first thing in the morning, I can add an extra layer to cover that up.”
Bex’s eyes dipped to the letters, but she remained silent.
“I’m sorry. I thought—” I shook my head. “I don’t know what I thought. It was impulsive; I got carried away. It was stupid, I know—”
“It wasn’t stupid.”
“What?” I wasn’t sure I’d heard her correctly.
“I said it wasn’t stupid.” Bex pushed off the concrete floor and walked toward me, only stopping when there was barely six inches of space between us. “These past few days . . .” She heaved a sigh so heavy it shook her entire body. “They’ve been a lot. I came down here intending to put my head down and focus on my best friend getting married, but instead, my entire life got flipped upside down. It can’t come as a surprise that I’d need a minute to process that.”
My fingers twitched, desperate to pull her into my arms, but I could respect that she needed space to get this off her chest, so I stuffed them into my pockets.
“Tucker, you were my whole world. There aren’t even words to express the gut-wrenching pain that resulted from thinking that you didn’t want me. That everything about our relationship—your promises, yourlove—had been a lie. That I was only a placeholder until you found someone better.”
Her words were like a thousand tiny cuts to my heart, each one enough to make me bleed but not enough to put me out of my misery and finish me off.
Bex huffed out a wry laugh. “Only to find out that nothing was as it seemed. That we’d lost those years together at the hands of another.” She closed her eyes briefly before reopening them. “Do you know how many nights I stared up at the sky, praying a shooting star would pass by so I could make a wish? Which was a fool’s errand living first in LA and then in Chicago, where it’s damn near impossible to see the stars. Though it was symbolic in a way, because it was foolish to hope that what I planned to wish for would ever come true.”
Unable to hold my tongue a moment longer, I dared to ask, “What did you want to wish for, Bex?”
She closed the gap between us, looping her arms around my neck. My lungs seized, too afraid to breathe for fear that she might pull away if I did.
“To wipe the slate clean. To forget the past and have another chance with the only man I’ve ever loved.”
My hand came up to cup her cheek, the thumb grazing over the softness of her skin. She leaned into my touch, her eyes sliding closed on a shaky exhale.
Swallowing thickly, I rasped, “Let me grant your wish.”
Lashes fluttering, she lifted her gaze to meet mine. In those beautiful brown eyes, I saw my future—the one I’d thought long lost.
I pressed my forehead to hers. “Tell me you want this. I mean, really want this. I don’t want to be your rebound.”
Fingers skated up the sides of my neck, leaving goosebumps in their wake. With two hands gripping my face, Bex forced it back enough thatI could view hers. “Every man who has come after you until now has been a rebound for me, Tucker. And guess what? None of them helped me get over you. It was pointless even trying.”
There was barely enough time to register the deep meaning of those words before she rose on her toes and pressed her lips to mine. My grip on her tightened, my groan involuntary as I got a taste of the woman I loved for the first time in over a decade.
Bex slid her hands into my hair, her nails scraping against my scalp, causing me to hiss at the bite of pain. She used that as an opportunity to slide her tongue inside my mouth to tangle with mine. Gone was the timid girl I’d once known who had always let me lead. In her place was a woman who knew exactly what she wanted, with plans to take it.
Our mouths were fused together like we were trying to steal each other’s air, our tongues stoking the flames of our desire for reconnection until it threatened to consume us. Bex shoved at my shoulders, walking me backward until my back hit a wall. I spun our positions instantly, my hands anchoring on the back of her thighs and lifting until she’d wrapped them around my waist.
My cock was straining against the fabric of my pants, seeking her out, desperate to feel her from the inside—a pleasure I’d never known. With her body pinned, legs spread wide, I fit myself against her core, and the heat of it nearly had me blowing my load.
Bex tore her lips away on a moan as my hips bucked, desperate for friction, but it wasn’t enough. I needed more.
But I’d be damned if our first time was quick and dirty in a barn. I wanted to take my time with her, commit to memory what made her moan, gasp, and eventually, scream.
Though that didn’t mean I planned to leave her unsatisfied.
I pressed wet, openmouthed kisses down the column of her neck as I unhooked her legs from around my waist, setting her feet on solid ground.
