Page 33 of Tucker
Asif to prove my point, we hear another crash in the woods, farther away thistime.
“Thetrees around the side of the house. They could come through the roof, couldn’tthey?”
“It’spossible, but as long as we stay out of the bedrooms, we’ll be fine.”
“Atleast it’s almost over.”
Idon’t respond. She hasn’t gotten a good look at what’s going on outside. Thestorm may be ending, but we aren’t going anywhere for a while.
Wrappingmy arm around her shoulder, I guide her back to the living room. This isexactly the type of situation I didn’t want to end up in. Having anotherperson’s safety in my hands again. It’s been my worst fear since I came homefrom the Middle East. So why am I not stressing out over it? Taking care ofLeah just seems to come natural. It feels right.
Chapter Nine
Leah
We’rehalfway through the movie and all I can focus on is the feel of Tucker’s bodyright beside mine. The man gives off heat like a furnace and damn, he smellsgood. He always seems to smell of a combination of sawdust, soap, and somethingelse I can’t place. He’s loosened up so much around me lately, actually holdinga conversation instead of trying to escape me as fast as he can.
Ofcourse, there’s nowhere for him to go at the moment, so he doesn’t have achoice and you can believe I’m taking advantage of the opportunity. No matterhow much his actions show he isn’t interested in me, his face doesn’t lie. Hiseyes follow me and more often than not, when I look at him, he’s alreadylooking at me. Though he tries to play it off and pretend he’s looking behindme, I see the heat in his eyes.
Hewants me. He just doesn’t want to want me. I assume it’s because of Derek. Idon’t want to cause problems between two friends, but I’m a grown woman and Derekcan’t control who I see.
Ithink back to Ayda’s advice to go after what I want. I’ve never had a problembeing the forward one or making the first move and this time is going to be noexception. I remember that “accidental kiss” and I want so much more with thisrough, solemn man.
Asthe room gets colder, I move closer to him, and he doesn’t object. At onepoint, his arm wraps around me and he tucks the blanket around us tighter. Bythe last hour of the movie, we’re curled up together like it’s the most naturalthing in the world. His hand rubs my back every time I jump as another treefalls. It’s like listening to bombs go off every few minutes right outside andwondering if the next will tear through the house.
Ishould be worried, but wrapped in his arms, I can’t seem to give a shit aboutwhat’s going on around me. I must be a little too comfortable, because the nextthing I know, the room is full of light.
Tuckeris still cuddled up with me on the couch, our bodies wrapped together in theblanket. It feels almost cold enough to see your breath, but I couldn’t careless. I’d be happy to stay in this spot forever.
Unfortunately,the weather radio chooses that moment to blare its alarm. Tucker’s eyes popopen and it takes him a second to realize where he is. Mourning the loss of hiswarm body, I jump up and shut off the weather radio. It was only warning ofsub-zero wind chills today. We could’ve done without the rude awakening.
Tuckergazes at me for a moment then gets to his feet and starts building the fire.“Good morning to you too,” I murmur, and head to the kitchen to put some wateron for coffee. I hear the front door slam then the generator start. Through thekitchen window, I see Tucker’s back as he heads to the barn to take care of theanimals.
It’staking him forever to get there one careful step at a time and while I feellike I should help, he obviously doesn’t want to be around me this morning. Imean, I get that he let his guard down with me a bit, but we only cuddled. Hedoesn’t have to be an ass about it.
Itseems to be par for the course though. This is what he does. He lets me in alittle, gets a little closer, then quickly retreats as if I burned him.
Eventhough the kitchen warms a bit after I put a pan of biscuits in the oven, Istill shiver while making breakfast. I realize how lucky we are to have a gasstove. At least we can still have warm food while we’re trying not to freeze.
Whenhe returns from the barn, I have our plates sitting on the coffee table in theliving room which has warmed up considerably.
“Thanks,”he grunts as he picks up the plate and scarfs down three sausage and eggbiscuits in less time than it takes me to eat one. Without another word, hegrabs his coat again. So, I guess we’re back to this.
Determinednot to let him pull away from me again, I slip my coat on as well.
Hisexpression hardens. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“Well,since I’m over twenty-one and free, wherever the hell I want to go.”
Hislips press together. “It’s dangerous out there. Trees are down everywhere.”
“Whereare you going?”
“I’mgoing to walk up the driveway and see the damage. Try to figure out how longwe’re going to be stuck.”
Grabbingmy phone, I pull my hat down over my ears, and turn to face him. “I’m goingwith you. I want to take some pictures before it melts.”
Myresponse gets me a frustrated huff, but not an argument so I follow himoutside. Bitterly cold wind cuts through my clothes as if they’re made ofpaper. Damn, they weren’t kidding about the cold warning. No way the ice willmelt today.
