Page 56 of Tuck & Roll

Tuck walked with her out to Cutter’s bike. “Do you have a helmet for her?”

“No, but she can use mine.”

“Hang on.” He jogged over to his bike and pulled a helmet out of his saddle bag. He jogged back and handed it to Kylie. “Here you go. I picked this up after the last time we went for a ride.”

“Thank you. That was awful nice of you.”

“Not a problem, babe. Cutter, can you give us a second?” He waited until the prospect stood several feet away, giving them a little privacy. “I wanted to spend more time with you today, but it looks like what you found is going to be keeping us all a little busy.” He rolled his bottom lip in, then released it. “Fuck it.” He brushed his lips against hers, his tongue teasing until she allowed him entrance. It was a deliciously hungry kiss, promising all kinds of dirty things. Sadly, it ended all too soon as the sound of motorcycles starting up broke the spell they’d been under.

“I’ll try and come by to see you tonight, if I can.” He dropped a quick kiss to her lips and backed away.

Damn, that man could kiss. The way he was able to draw her in always left her breathless and her brain scattered. Every. Single. Time.

10

Kylie woke the next morning to find the spot next to her in bed empty. Tuck hadn’t made it over last night like he’d hoped. She assumed it was due to the information she’d found yesterday, although it could have been because of Taylor. The fact that Darren hadn’t gotten home until sometime after she went to bed gave her hope Tuck’s absence wasn’t Taylor related.

Her phone pinged next to the bed, alerting her to a message. She rolled to her side and stretched to retrieve it from the nightstand. A smile spread across her face, seeing it was from Tuck. She opened and saw that he was asking her if she wanted to get breakfast. He wanted her to come to his house and to text when she got there, so he could come out and meet her.

Ugh. The thought of running into Taylor and having to deal with her snide looks and razor-sharp tongue was the last thing she wanted to do. However, if she was going to have a relationship with Tuck, she was going to have to find a way to deal with her when there was no other way out of it. She responded by telling him to give her an hour and she’d meet him. She dropped the phone next to her on the bed and had to remind herself she was doing this for Tuck. And for the baby that might be his.

Throwing back the covers, she got up to get ready. After her shower, she would have preferred dressing in shorts and flip flops, but decided on a pair of jeans since she would be riding on the back of Darren’s bike. “Well crap.” She couldn’t get them to button and she’d just bought the damn things. Frustrated, she pulled them off and found a pair of cobalt blue capris that were stretchy. “Ahh.” That felt much better. The pressure the jeans were putting on her already messed up stomach was giving her pause before she opted to change. She slipped on some tennis shoes and a white shirt with cap sleeves and called it good. She wasn’t a hundred percent recovered from yesterday and this was the best she could do at the moment.

She entered the kitchen and went straight for the cabinet where she knew the vanilla wafers would be. “Good morning,” she greeted Darren as she walked past where he was seated at the table. The smell of cooked bacon caused her nose to scrunch. She covered her nose with the back of her hand, hoping to suppress the building urge to vomit. What the hell? Surely, after yesterday, she’d thrown up enough and the bug had run its course.

“Hey. Good morning,” he responded while he gave her a quick onceover, assessing her level of sickness this morning. “How did you sleep? Cutter said you threw up three more times after you got home.”

“Yeah. I still think it was a bug.” She pulled a chair out at the table and took a seat. She opened the box, dug out a cookie and popped it in her mouth. She chewed slowly, mentally crossing her fingers that it settled her stomach. “I slept really good and so far so good this morning.” Dropping his eyes to the box of cookies told her he wasn’t totally convinced she was feeling better.

“Do you think you could give me a ride to Tuck’s? He sent me a text this morning asking if I could come over and we’d go get breakfast. I thought I might as well get used to Taylor being around just in case.” She didn’t need to add the part about just in case Taylor fucked up her life.

One side of his mouth kicked up as he chuckled. “Yeah. I can take you over. When did you want to go?” He placed a small glass of orange juice in front of her.

“Thanks. We can go whenever you finish your breakfast. I’m not in a hurry.” Her mouth went dry as she watched him shove the last piece of bacon in his mouth. She quickly reached for her juice and took a big drink.

“I’m done.” He got up to take his dishes to the sink. He rinsed them and put them in the dishwasher. “You finish up while I get my boots on.”

All too soon they arrived outside Tuck’s house. Darren pulled to the curb and shut off his motorcycle. Her hand absently went to her stomach in an effort to calm down the butterflies. This was ridiculous, she chastised herself. She and Tuck had known each other since they were kids and been friends for forever. There was no reason for her to be so nervous about being at his house. She’d been in it before for crying out loud.

“Maybe you should text him that you’re here,” Darren suggested when she didn’t immediately hop of his bike.

Kylie sent him a message and waited for a response.

Darren tried next, frowning when Tuck didn’t respond to his message either.

“I guess I’ll walk up and knock on the door.” She took a deep, fortifying breath to build up her courage and got off the bike. She didn’t know how long she’d been standing there staring at the front door before Darren tugged on her hand.

“You got this. I’ll wait here until you come back and wave me off,” Darren encouraged her, seeing through her nervousness.

Ever since he’d given her a ride home the night she’d had sex with Tuck the very first time and called her Taylor, Darren had been a good friend. He’d kept her humiliation a secret when it became obvious Tuck didn’t remember being with her. He invited her into his home when she had nowhere else to go. He helped protect her from someone trying to kill her and now, he was encouraging her to be brave.

Pulling her shoulders back, she crossed the newly mowed grass and raised her fist to knock on the door. “I can do this.” She knocked and waited for Tuck to answer. When no one came to the door, she knocked a second time, getting the same result. She turned and shrugged her shoulders at Darren. He made a motion with his hand indicating she should try the doorknob.

She tried and was surprised it opened. She pushed it wider and slipped inside, leaving the door half open. “Tuck?” she called out when she didn’t immediately see him. She didn’t know if she was lucky or not that Taylor wasn’t sitting around ready to verbally attack her for entering without permission. Maybe he was in his bathroom taking a shower?

Venturing down the hall, she saw his door was partially open. The sound of a female moan coming from inside his room startled her. The next few seconds played out as if she were outside her body watching a movie. Her heart beat sluggishly and she struggled to breathe as what she was seeing registered. She couldn’t hear anything due to the blood whooshing in her ears and it felt as if she were moving through quicksand.

She pushed the door the rest of the way open. “Tuck?” she choked in a whisper.

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