Chapter 28
Ruth
“You guys do this a lot?” I shift around, getting comfortable on one of the luxurious sofas tucked into the corner of Tobias and Brooke’s pool room.
Actually, calling it a pool room feels like I’m doing the space a disservice.
It’s a huge, soaring space with a wall of windows running up each side and French doors that open out into a gloriously landscaped yard across the back.
Sunlight streams through large skylights, and a waterfall spills over one side of the elevated hot tub into the deep end of the curving, salt-water pool.
Gorgeous tile work serves as the deck and large potted tropical plants fill every corner.
It’s insanely stunning. Even nicer than the pool at the luxury hotel where I used to work.
Just thinking about work has a pit forming in my stomach as Brooke explains their bi-weekly girls’ night schedule to me. I want to listen—I do—but in truth, it doesn’t matter to me. I’m not going to be here to partake in any more nights like this.
A fact that has my stomach’s pit growing wider and deeper.
“Unfortunately, when we have girls’ night here, it usually gets crashed by the boys.
” Maren sucks down a mouthful of the blended pina colada Brooke whirled up at the kitchenette built into one corner of the space.
“They pretend like they’re not bothering us while they splash around the pool acting like idiots. ”
“Don’t lump all of them into your name-calling.” Mariah stretches her legs out on the chaise she claimed immediately upon arrival. “Titus is an angel.”
Maren angles a brow, the slant so high half of it disappears under the sweep of her bangs. “The last time we hung out here Titus pantsed Tucker.”
I nearly choke on my own swallow of fruity, creamy, coconutty goodness. “He pantsed Tucker?”
Maren nods, giving Mariah an I-told-you-so style smirk. “Yup. We all got an eyeful.” Maren elbows me with a knowing grin. “But you already know that, don’t you?”
Jealousy flairs hot and sharp through my insides, slicing the pit occupying my gut in half. I like the women around me. Could probably love them if I was able to stick around. But I have the sudden urge to jab each of their eyeballs out for knowing what Tucker’s dick looks like.
Brooke chuckles, shaking her head. “When I first heard Tucker had a girlfriend, I didn’t believe it. Thought there was no way it could be true.” Her smile on me is warm. “But then I met you, and totally understood.”
Maren and Mariah nod their heads in agreement. I’m the only one who seems confused by her statement.
“Understood what?” I try to sound casual, but find myself leaning forward, holding my breath in anticipation as I wait to hear what she has to say.
“Understood why he fell for you.” Brooke waves one hand in my general direction.
“I mean, obviously you’re gorgeous, but lots of women are pretty.
” She takes a drink of her beverage like I’m not about to turn inside out during the pause.
“You are just the perfect counter balance for him. Tucker’s not a different person with you around, but he’s calmer.
” Her brows pinch together, as if she’s fishing for words.
“It’s like he’s able to focus in a way he normally can’t. ”
“Tucker is focused.” I can’t stop myself from defending him. “He just focuses on a lot of different things at the same time.”
His brain is actually pretty amazing when I think about it. Tucker moves seamlessly from one subject to another—one task to another—able to be equally invested in each. It’s bananas, and makes my own brain hurt just imagining all that’s bouncing around his mind.
Maren gives me a slow smile. “I bet he is.”
Is she imagining what Tucker’s like in bed right now? I’ve never thrown a drink at anyone in my whole life—and don’t intend to start now—but I can see how there are certain situations where it might seem like a reasonable response. Because I don’t want her thinking about Tucker in bed.
I don’t want anyone thinking about Tucker in bed but me.
“Tobias can focus on multiple things at the same time too.” Brooke almost sounds defensive of her fiancé. “A lot of things.”
“I know.” Maren rolls her eyes to where Brooke sits. “My desk is right outside your office. I’ve heard how good at multitasking he is.”
A commotion rattles around inside Tobias and Brooke’s house, carrying out through the open doors that allow Bruno and Copper to come and go.
“Seriously?” Maren slumps down in her seat, looking dejected. “I’m not going to come on pool nights anymore if they can’t follow the rules.”
Based on our earlier conversation, I already know who they are. And while Maren is clearly not thrilled at the Bradshaw brothers’ arrival, I can’t seem to unglue my eyes from the door.
Tobias is out first, already decked out in his swim trunks, carrying a baby in one arm. I can’t quite tell if it’s Marybeth or Mitchell from this distance, but they’re definitely sporting a swim diaper. Titus is up next, and he’s got twin number two, again both looking pool ready.
Walker is the third brother through the door, and he’s hauling two cases of beer that he takes directly to the fridge.
Trevor is close behind him, and my brain buffers at seeing him in something besides a suit for the first time.
It’s weird. Weird enough it takes me a second to process the set of abs he’s sporting.
Trevor must be taking out all his stress on his home gym, because the man is ripped.
Chiseled in a way his brothers aren’t. All the Bradshaw boys are fit and muscular, but Trevor has taken it to a whole different level.
And I don’t seem to be the only one noticing. Maren talked some shit, but her eyes are fused to the man I’ve been helping for over a week. I swear she’s not even blinking as she glares his way, lips pressed into a flat line.
I know Brooke and Mariah occasionally joke about the chemistry between Maren and Trevor, but up until this point I didn’t translate their behavior as chemistry.
To me they just looked like two people who hated each other.
Now I’m starting to think there’s more. They do still seem to hate each other.
They just also seem to want to hate fuck each other.
Hopefully that never happens, because I’m pretty sure Maren would end up experiencing the best lay of her life and Trevor would end up in love.
Which would royally piss both of them off.
All my attention abruptly leaves Maren and Trevor the second Tucker clears the door. The process is slow and wobbly since he’s holding Birdie’s hand, making sure she navigates the steps leading down to the pool deck safely.
Birdie has been to Tobias and Brooke’s pool a few times, and she gets braver and braver with each visit. Her delighted squeals and cackles bring a smile to my lips as she jumps into the water over and over, eager for Tucker to place her back on the edge so she can leap at him again.
And he catches her every time. Unerringly. Unfailingly. It doesn’t matter how fast she flings herself off the ledge, or how off her trajectory is, Tucker’s hands keep her from dipping under the water.
Seeing Tucker taking such good care of my daughter hits me in a way I can’t fully explain.
It’s the most confusing combination of respect, appreciation, and arousal I’ve ever experienced.
I’d accepted Tucker Bradshaw was attractive from the get go, but now that I’ve seen the kind of brother, son, employer, and person he is, I’m forced to admit the man is devastatingly appealing.
Gorgeous. Funny. Smart. Dedicated. Patient. Kind. Hard-working.
The list could go on and on…
But it doesn’t matter how great Tucker is. What we’re doing has always had an expiration date, and it’s approaching quickly, barreling down on me like a train.
The bite of sadness that comes with it chews on the edge of the pit in my gut, adding a new level of discomfort to my current state of existence.
It amplifies two truths that have been brewing in the back of my mind.
My daughter is going to have to leave someone she can trust behind.
And that person would be such a good dad.
Such a good husband and partner in life.
But those aren’t things Tucker wants in his future. And it wouldn’t matter if he did. I’m leaving.
I don’t have a choice.
Tucker looks my way more than a few times as he and my daughter continue playing in the pool.
He’s probably looking to make sure I’m seeing how great Birdie is doing at learning to float on her back.
It’s a technique he started teaching her the first time we came here.
I thought there was no way a toddler her age could learn something like that, but he’s proving me wrong.
He’s proven me wrong about a lot of things.
Maren leans toward me, her voice lowering just a little. “I can’t get over the way he looks at you.”
Again, I find myself unable to resist the desire to know exactly what one of my friends means. “How does he look at me?”
“Like he wants to eat you alive.” She gives me a grin. “In the good way.”
My thighs clench a little, because it is a very good way. A way I’ve experienced every night before falling asleep in his bed.
“I think he’s just checking to make sure I see how good Birdie is at floating on her back.”
“I think he’s just checking to make sure you see how hot he looks in his swim trunks.”
Maren goes silent as Tucker once again seeks me out, his eyes lingering on where I sit for a minute before going back to my daughter.
The woman beside me sighs, the sound filled with a sort of longing I’ve been feeling a lot lately myself. “I wish a man would look at me like that. Like he loves me so much he can’t stand not seeing me for thirty seconds.”
I try to swallow, but my throat refuses to work. It’s probably the same reason my words are barely a whisper when I say, “Tucker doesn’t love me.”
That would be impossible.
Right?
I think back to how easy it was to list off all his attributes. All the pieces that would make him a good dad and husband. All the reasons he’s so easy to like.
And would be so easy to love.
But I can’t love Tucker Bradshaw. That would be ridiculous.
The reason I feel sick over moving to Maryland can't be because I love him. It can’t be because I’ll miss the way he gags when Birdie poops. That he makes the best tiramisu I’ve ever had. The sound of his footsteps as he chases Birdie through the house.
It just can’t be. We barely know each other. Neither of us wants a relationship.
“Don’t look now, but a man is for sure looking at you.” Brooke's voice pulls me from my spiral as she stretches one leg to tap at Maren’s shin with her toe. “And hasn’t stopped since he got here.”
Maren’s eyes swing across the room to level on where Trevor is positioned at the opposite end of the pool, his arms stretched out along the ledge as he stares.
She glares back, a scowl on her lips. “Yeah, but he’s not looking at me like he can’t stand not to.” She narrows her eyes. “He’s staring at me like he’s thinking about drowning me.”
I’m not the best at reading people, but the intensity I see simmering in Trevor doesn’t look homicidal. Not at all. It looks…
Devouring.
It makes me a little concerned for her. Not because I think Trevor would ever hurt her. I’ve spent hours with him, and the man is all bark. But because if he ever decides to make a move, she’s not going to know what hit her.
I’m afraid I might be in a similar boat. Because the reality that I’m leaving Tucker behind in just a few short days is starting to hit me.
Along with the fear that my feelings for Tucker have accidentally become more than simple respect and appreciation.
I might have gone and done the dumbest thing in the world and fallen in love with him.
And boy would that be a terrible development.