Chapter 4TUCKER
Chapter 4
TUCKER
I walked back to my new apartment above the garage with my hands full of comforters I didn’t need and a smile on my face.
Patience was cute when she got riled up. Fire ran in her veins, which I found amusing. She was like a powder keg of passion ready to explode. I’m not even sure she realized how much steam she needed to let off. The blush on her face when my eyes raked over her in those pajamas made my dick stand up. She could have been in the thinnest, sexiest fucking lingerie and I would have been just as aroused by the sight of her. She had no clue how she affected me, and that was a good thing because I wasn’t going to be sticking around here long. Though, if I were honest with myself, her being my landlord’s daughter definitely made me want to hang around a bit longer.
I tossed the comforters on the couch and went back to the bedroom to grab my other phone. There were no messages or updates from Seattle. No news is good news at this point. I shot a quick text to check in, then turned the phone off before I hid it back in the lining of my backpack.
If I planned to stay here, I was going to need more clothes than what I could fit in my saddlebags and my backpack. I don’t like being dependent on people for a ride everywhere, so I needed to find a cheap used truck for sale. It would suck getting rid of the bike. I’d gotten used to riding it the past couple of years, but it wasn’t practical.
I grabbed the laptop I borrowed from Mrs. Hale yesterday after I arrived and booted it up. A picture of the Hale family stared back at me. They all had big smiles on their faces as if the photo was caught mid joke. When I met Mr. Hale yesterday, he grilled me with scrutiny to make sure his wife and daughter would be safe around me. He also assured me both of them knew how to shoot and wouldn’t hesitate.
He was a man who cared about the women in his life, and that’s something I could definitely appreciate. If a man wanted to rent out an apartment on my property, there was no way in hell I would allow it if I had a wife and daughter. When we had our discussion, I gave him some assurances and told him the partial truth of who and what I am. I was able to convince him to keep that information to himself and from his family. The less people who knew about me, the better off and safer they were.
I did a quick search online and was able to find a truck for sale in the next town over that wasn’t far away. It wasn’t anything too fancy, just an older model truck that had low milage and it was in decent condition from the photos. The guy selling it was willing to accept trade and some cash. I knew the value of my bike, and his truck would be valued as an even trade, if not a little less.
I grabbed my phone and dialed the number listed. We talked for a few minutes and set aside a time to meet this evening after he got off work. He was going to meet me in town at the brewery so we could each have a look at the vehicles in a neutral place.
A knock at my door had me checking the time, and instinctively I reached for a gun that should have been at my hip. It’d been over an hour and a half since I left Mrs. Hale’s kitchen and came back up here. I wasn’t surprised when I looked through the peephole and saw Patience on the other side of the door. My pulse settled down at the sight of her, and I opened the door.
She had on a pair of jeans with brown boots that went almost up to her knees and a matching brown leather jacket. The dark green shirt underneath and the warm tones of the jacket made her amber eyes glow.
She was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen, and it was all natural. She didn’t even have to try. Her makeup was light and effortless, not dramatic or caked on. It was a refreshing change from the women in the city that seemed to change their whole appearance with makeup tricks.
“Are you ready, or are you going to stare all day?” Her cheeks were pink, but whether it was from the cold chill in the air or from my gaze, I wasn’t sure.
“Have I done something to piss you off, Patience?” I leaned against the door frame and offered her a small grin.
She bit her bottom lip, and I wished I could be the one biting on that plush, pouty flesh. “I still haven’t decided if I like you, Tucker. You aggravate me.”
My grin widened at her admission. “That’s not a bad sign, you know?”
She rolled her eyes. “You aggravating me isn’t a bad sign? How do you figure that? You roped me into spending the day with you, so now I will have to spend the rest of the day having to refrain from throttling you.”
I took the opportunity to step closer to her. She had nowhere to back up without falling down the stairs, so she was forced to stay where she was. She raised her chin proudly, and I barely stopped myself from kissing her. “First off, Patience, I didn’t rope you into anything. I asked your mom if there was a cab service in town or a ride share service. She volunteered you. Second…” I leaned down and whispered near her ear, “If you are that agitated and turned on just by being in my presence, imagine how hot you would get with me between your thighs.”
Patience flushed bright red and I could see her pulse pounding in her neck as she nervously licked her lips again. It took everything in me not to lean down and capture her lips in a hard, demanding kiss, but I knew if I started kissing her, I wouldn’t want to stop. She was a drug. I didn’t need a sample taste to know how damn good she would be, and with one taste I would be hooked—addicted to her. I was already struggling with my obsession of the woman in front of me. No woman had ever had this effect on me before, and she could wrap me around her pinky if I let her.
“Cat got your tongue, Patience?” I teased her instead, just so I could see the fire spark in her eyes.
“You have to be the most conceited, pompous asshole I’ve ever met, Mr. Roth,” she finally spit out, punching each word into my chest with the tip of her finger.
“Anything else?” God, I loved her fire. How the hell did that dumbass from last night ever think this woman was frigid? She’d done nothing but shoot off sparks since the moment I met her.
“Yeah.” She got on her tiptoes and right in my face, so close we were breathing the same electrically charged air. “And I don’t like you,” she forced out through gritted teeth.
I fought to contain my grin and edged just a bit closer. My lips were just a breath away from hers when I whispered the one word I knew would get a reaction from her. “Liar.” I murmured huskily before moving away from her to grab my wallet and keys from the kitchen counter.
When I turned back around, she had a disgruntled pout on her face and her brows were furrowed in obvious annoyance and confusion. Under that irritation, I’d bet my savings was unmistakable arousal. This trip to Brook Cove had been anything but restful and relaxing in the small amount of time I’d been here so far, but I found myself enjoying the high stakes game of cat and mouse I was playing with her.
Like any good predator, I knew how to be patient and wait for my prey to let their guard down. Patience is a virtue, and I had enough of it—even if she didn’t.