Page 37 of Tuck & Roll

She hated to ask, but she needed to be prepared. “Is there any chance the baby could be yours?”

He glanced to the side before he answered. “I don’t know. It depends on how far along she is.”

“And if it is yours?”

He rubbed a hand over his face, then answered, “If it is, I’ll take care of it. Meaning, I’ll be a part of the child’s life.”

Which meant Taylor would forever be linked to him.

At her continued silence, he asked, “Do you expect me not to be a part of my child’s life?”

“No. I never thought that. I’m just wondering where that leaves us. Me.”

He scrubbed his face in his hands. “If it’s my baby, that doesn’t change what’s between us. We can still be together.” He reached for her hand and held it tight. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The baby more than likely isn’t mine. Okay?” He swung her hand with his.

“Yeah. You’re right.” She forced a smile for his benefit.

They walked back toward the living room side by side to find Taylor snooping through the shopping bags. It might sound childish on her part, but she no longer wanted any of the things in the bags. As far as she was concerned, it was all contaminated. Tuck got the keys and she grabbed her new laptop from the kitchen counter where it had been charging all night.

Tuck walked her through the door leading to the garage and held the vehicle door open for her. He stood with his hand on the top of the truck and the other on the open doorframe. He watched her get situated behind the wheel and buckled in. He reached behind him and hit the garage door opener mounted on the wall, the door slowly rising behind them. He leaned in, cupped her cheek and pressed his lips to hers. She thought he was going to kiss her tenderly like he did this morning. Instead, the way he devoured her felt almost desperate. Did he feel like a ticking clock had just started, counting down the time until the possibility of them ever being together ran out? Did it feel like goodbye to him, too? He pulled back, settled his forehead against hers and briefly closed his eyes.

“This isn’t the way I saw things going today,” he tried to tease.

“Yeah, me neither.” Her smile wobbled. Yeah, this definitely felt like goodbye.

The door behind him opened. “Tuck? Are you coming?” The sound of Taylor’s voice felt like the final nail in the coffin.

“Stay here until you see Darren, then he’ll follow you,” he whispered.

“Okay,” she answered just as quietly.

He stared at her, his eyes roaming over her face as if committing every little detail to memory. “I’ll get this sorted,” he promised. “I’ll call you when she leaves,” he reminded her.

She waited until he went back inside to start the truck and backed out. Fuck waiting for Darren to get there to escort her to the clubhouse. She was sure she would run into him on the way and he’d probably give her hell for not waiting once they got there. A part of her wanted to run away, to drive until she ran out of gas, but knew she wouldn’t because she didn’t have a death wish.

As she backed out of the driveway, she glanced one more time at Tuck’s house. He was standing on the front porch, his hands on his hips with a serious frown on his face. He was pissed that she didn’t wait for her escort. She was sorry for that, but she was heartbroken.

Starting down the street, she spotted Darren. He frowned at her as he did a U-turn to fall in behind her. Great, one more person mad at her. At this point she was too numb to care.

7

“How long has she been like that?” Tuck asked Race over the phone.

“Crying in her sleep, lying on the new couch we just put in her office? A couple of hours.” Race wasn’t sure what was going on with Tuck and Kylie, but it clearly wasn’t good. All Darren could tell him was that Tuck called and wanted someone to come to his house and follow Kylie to the clubhouse.

She’d come in looking lost and heartbroken, clutching her laptop to her chest. Thinking it might cheer her up, Race had shown her to the new office they’d set up for her. She’d immediately broken down into tears.

“What’s wrong? You don’t like it?” he’d asked her. He looked around trying to see what might have set her off. “We can do whatever you want with it.”

“I love it,” she cried. “You got me a couch,” she’d sobbed. “I was going to ask you for a couch.” Stepping farther into the room, she looked around at all the computer equipment they’d bought her, waiting for her to set it up the way she wanted it. She cried even more as she touched this box and that box.

He rubbed the back of his neck, worried that they’d got it wrong. “Did we not get the right ones? Jed and Darren thought these were the ones you were talking about at the store.”

“You got me my dream office,” she sniffed. Setting her laptop down on her desk, she went to him and wrapped her arms around his waist and cried into his shirt. He didn’t know what else to do, so he hugged her back, letting her tears soak his shirt. Having been married twice and raised two daughters, he was aware that when a woman was experiencing emotional upheaval, a man treaded carefully.

“Sweetness? You all right?”

She pulled back and let him go. He watched helplessly as her face crumpled and she collapsed on the couch at his question. He thought he heard her say something like “Taylor.”

---