33. Tucker
Chapter Thirty-Three
TUCKER
I was trying to play it cool— really trying—but I was failing.
Completely. I didn’t know if it was Skylar or me.
Probably both. It felt so different to fall for her than it had with Claire.
Back then, I’d been young and foolish. Not foolish for falling for Claire, but just not realizing the way life could go.
When I was young and in high school, I’d pretty much thought I would live forever.
Until death and loss came slapping me in the face with a force so hard my ears rang from it for years.
That evening, without thinking, my feet aimed toward Ludie and Dan’s office. It was quiet when I walked into the front area, and I called out, “Anybody here?”
The front entrance offered a view down the hallway. Skylar peered out from a doorway. “Hey, I’m just shutting everything down.”
“Can I come back?”
“Sure.” She disappeared through the doorway.
I walked down the hallway, my heart rolling into a thundering beat. She was leaning over the desk, turning off computer screens.
“Was I the last flight to land tonight?”
She glanced up with a quick smile and nodded.
“My deliveries were on time at least.”
She laughed. “You usually are.”
I leaned my shoulder against the doorway, watching as she looked around before nodding as if satisfied everything was turned off. “All good?” I asked.
“Yeah.” She snagged her purse off a chair, lifting the keys beside it. “I didn’t know you were stopping by.”
“I didn’t either,” I answered honestly.
Her cheeks were tinged pink when she looked up at me. I couldn’t resist slipping an arm around her waist and pulling her against me as I stepped closer.
“How was your day?” I murmured, my lips a whisper away from hers.
“Pretty good. Yours?”
“Same.”
Then I was kissing her. I didn’t know for how long, but by the time we broke apart, I was rock hard and aching for her.
She stared up at me, her lips kiss swollen and her eyes wide. “You can’t do that,” she rasped.
“I can’t?”
“Somebody might see.”
“No one’s looking, Skylar.”
She laughed softly. “Fair enough.”
“Can I come home with you?”
We stared at each other, her eyes searching mine. For a second, I thought she was going to say no.
Then she whispered, “Yes.”