Page 59 of Truck Stop Tempest

Erik Meyer had never given my mother the time of day. Why would he bring her to me? I couldn’t see his face, but I knew he was watching from behind that dark glass. “Why do you stay with them, Mom? I know that you and Dad never officially tied the knot.” I ignored her gasp and raised my middle finger in Erik’s direction before marching back inside.

“I need a minute,” I growled, storming past Slade toward the bathroom. I almost made it to safety before a hand caught my wrist and swung me around.

Tito caged me against the wall, holding me captive with a set of molten eyes. That slow burn I’d fought for weeks spiked into a blaze. I breathed. Tito breathed. He studied my face, warming my weary soul.

I needed to hide and clear my head, but I couldn’t break the connection, the silent communication we shared. He was so strong and confident and beautifully terrifying. If I held on tight, absorbed his glare, his energy, maybe, just maybe, I could absorb some of his strength, too. I could be stronger. I could be braver. I could raise my middle finger to my family and not feel riddled with guilt or shame.

Tito’s eyes crinkled at the corners before he pressed his lips to my ear and whispered, “I knew there was a beast inside you.”

What?

“Good job handling your mother.” He kissed my cheek, pushed off the wall, and gave my butt a hard slap. “No hiding. Shake off whatever the hell she said to you. Get back out there, do your job, and don’t let those fuckers ruin your day.”

With that, Tito turned and sauntered away, leaving me to bask in his ocean of encouragement. I didn’t go to the bathroom. I straightened my shoulders, adjusted my apron, and got my ass to work.

I needed to get my ass back to work. Should have been home, getting shit together for my upcoming excursion with Tucker, or at the mansion, making sure renovations were on schedule. Instead, I made myself comfortable in Slade’s office and waited for Tuuli’s break.

Halfway through the eleven o’clock news, she stepped through the door, face flushed, shirt stained. More gorgeous than ever.

“Hey,” I said, lacking the capacity for anything manlier, like, “Fuck, baby, you look good enough to eat.” Or “Bring that sweet smile over here and wrap it around my cock.”

Those were the first thoughts that came to mind. But I wouldn’t speak words like that to the woman who’d completely shifted my universe. She deserved better. I refrained from verbalizing my feelings, stretched my arms across the back of the couch, and drank her in.

“Hi.” Her gaze landed on my chest, then drifted lower. Apparently, her mind was in the gutter right alongside mine. Damn, I loved watching that blush spread over her cheeks. Made every hour I’d spent in the gym or hitting the pavement worth the bloody knuckles and blisters.

“Eyes up here, Bunny,” I teased, pointing to my face.

Dear sweet, baby Jesus, her laughter was a shot of adrenaline straight to my ego.

A thousand years of worry seemed to lift from her shoulders. “You’re still here.”

“Wanted to make sure you were okay.”

Her gaze dropped to the floor, her foot bouncing in that cute, nervous tic. “Yeah, my mom. Sorry you had to see that. I hate her.”

“No, you don’t. You don’t have a hateful bone in your body.”

“Fine. I love her. But I hate that she wants that life for me.”

I wasn’t about to engage in a conversation about maternal influence. My mother had wanted a different life for me. Her dreams had sent me into the parochial bowels of hell. “How long is your break?”

“I’ve got fifteen minutes.”

“Walk with me?” I grabbed her hand before she could respond and headed through the back door to avoid the nosey blonde out front.

We headed across the parking lot and down the trail that led to the hidden beach below The Truck Stop’s property line. Tuuli didn’t speak. Neither did I, distracted by the fit of our hands, the way my calloused palm scraped her soft skin, making me hyperaware of our connection.

I straddled a large driftwood log, and sat, pulling her with me.

The beach was deserted and quiet, the only noise coming from the quiet splash of waves lapping the shore. Across the bay, my uncle’s home stood out like a sore thumb. Like The Truck Stop, the Rossi Estate didn’t quite fit with the landscape, but it belonged, as much a part of Whisper Springs as the mountains and pines.

“I’m going out of town for a few days on business. I need you to look me in the eye and tell me that you’re okay.”

Tuuli turned, straddling my thighs, and dusted a finger over my cheek. “I’m more okay than I’ve been in a very long time.”

“You’re still having nightmares.”

She studied my scar before settling on my eyes. “I don’t expect them to go away anytime soon.”

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