Page 9 of Lonesome Man
Tucker put a large plate of food in front of me, made us coffee, then joined me at the table.
“Like I said, I want you to make yourself at home, Ruth. While you’re here, what’s mine is yours. Eat what you want, when you want, go where you want. Nothing here is out of bounds, yeah?”
“Thanks, I’ll do that,” I said and quickly looked away when I found myself caught up in those gorgeous green eyes of his.
“So, how long have you been doing this?” he asked, and I felt his gaze burning into me as I took a fortifying sip of my coffee.
“Oh, only a little while. I’m an actor and a writer—in other words, a starving artist.” I laughed. “I’ve known Jess a long time and got into escorting through her, um…last year.”
“Yeah? An actor?” His Adam’s apple slid up and down his throat at the mention of what I did.
Sharing real details about myself, within reason, wasn’t a huge risk, because there is no way in a million years Tucker would think the real Libby was an escort, fake or not, even if we were both actors. “Yep.”
“You been in anything I would have seen?”
“I do theater mainly,” I said.
He looked down at his plate. “I have…had a friend who did theater in the city,” he said, then looked up and there was pain in his eyes.
Had.
Had a friend.
He was talking about me. I’d put that pain there.
“What happened?” Stop. Shut the hell up.
He shrugged a broad shoulder and flashed me his beautiful grin. “I’m not all that sure to be honest, but it sucked.” He chuckled. “Enough of my sob story. How about I show you some of the property after breakfast?”
“I’d love that,” I said.
“Excellent. Then eat up, darlin’, and we’ll head off.”
Chapter Five
Tucker
I hit the bottom of the stairs, and Ruth turned to me, her pretty brown eyes moving down my body, taking in my boots, jeans, then finally my black T-shirt. Yeah, baby, it was time to play.
“You ready to have a little fun?” I said as I strode into the kitchen.
Her eyes lit up, and a wide smile spread across her face. “Always. What do you have in mind?”
I grabbed the basket from the pantry. I’d put together a picnic before I made breakfast. “Get out and enjoy the sunshine, then have some lunch at our favorite spot.”
She came straight to me, wrapping her arms around my waist, and looked up at me. “Sounds perfect.” Then she went up on her toes, and I leaned in, kissing her. Fuck me. My little wife was addictive. This was only day two and I was already fucking seriously into this.
It was hard, but I ended the kiss first, but only because I was this close to picking her up and laying her on the table. If I did that, we’d never leave the house, and I wanted Ruth…no, Libby, while we played, I was going to think of her as Libby. I wanted her to see the property, and I had plans.
I handed her a jacket, gloves, and hat. The sun was out, but it was cold, and there’d been a light dusting of snow on some of the surrounding mountains this morning. When she was all wrapped up, I took her hand. “Let’s go, baby.”
Her hand was warm in mine as I led her outside and over to the ATV. She got on without instruction, like she’d ridden one before, which surprised me. I strapped the basket on, climbed on as well, and started the bike. Libby slid forward and wrapped her arms around me, and I couldn’t suppress my shiver when her soft, warm curves pressed tight against my back.
I let that sink in, that feeling of being wanted, of how it felt to have my wife show me easy affection. I dropped a hand, covering hers, then lifted her other one, pressing a kiss to her wrist, then put it back on my stomach and we headed off.
She hung on tight as we drove across the property, and I couldn’t help but wonder if she liked my corner of the world. I loved it here, despite the loneliness. I planned on living my whole life right here, and I guess that was hard for some people to understand. This place was a part of me, though, it was in my veins and part of my soul, and I wanted this sweet, sexy woman hanging on to me, to see the beauty of it the way I did.
We rode for about thirty minutes, and when we stopped outside the little old cottage I’d been renovating, I heard her soft gasp as she jumped off the back of the ATV.
