Give Me Something (12 page)

$ $ $

The next morning, I awoke with the sun as it poured through the bedroom windows.  I was still wrapped up in Tucker's arms.  I felt the peaceful rise and fall of his chest as I stared at his face.  I could hear his heart beating slow and steady as I lay in his arms.  It could have been the quietness of a country morning or the incredibly comfortable bed, but I was really enjoying the moment.  I moved my hand up and brushed a piece of hair back that had fallen across his forehead.  His long, dark lashes curled against the tops of his cheeks.  I stared at his lips, trying to figure out exactly what made kissing them so unbelievable.  It could have been the way he moved them effortlessly against mine, but I decided it was because he just had good lips.  They were full and soft and equally proportioned.  Nothing more than a specimen of perfect lips.  It didn't matter whose face they were on, kissing them would probably always feel amazing.  After I settled that debate with myself, I carefully slid out of his embrace, careful not to wake to him.  I pulled the curtains closed on the two big windows to block out the sunlight and left my sleeping pseudo-boyfriend in his peaceful state.

After a quick stop in the bathroom, I walked into the kitchen with a clean face, fresh breath and an empty bladder.  I gaze over the appliances and opened the hardly stocked fridge.  I believed this was what the country folks would call “slim pickins
.
”
   I was up early and decided the least I could do was make Tucker breakfast.  I came up with coffee and a package of frozen waffles
.
  It would have to work. If nothing else, maybe cooking for him would ease a little of the guilt I was constantly fighting when I was around him.  I worked as quietly as I could, careful not to wake him before the meal was finished.  I noticed a radio mounted under the cabinet and debated whether or not I wanted to turn it on for a little background music, but then I remembered all of those lame-ass movies where the girlfriend danced around the kitchen while cooking.  So cliché and unrealistic.  I'd be the girl who'd trip while dancing and split her head open on the marble counter top.  I thought about how embarrassing it would be for Tucker to stumble over my unconscious body lying on the floor while the burning waffles set off the smoke alarm.  I was lost in my own thoughts when I felt a pair of strong arms wrap around my waist.

“
I'm not gonna lie,” Tucker's sexy, morning voice whispered in my ear, “I was pretty excited when I woke up to the smell of breakfast.”

“
I wouldn't call this much of a breakfast.” I said, pointing at the Eggo box.

“
I was sad that your face wasn't the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes.”

I turned in his arms and wrapped mine around his neck, “I love it when you use a cheesy line first thing in the morning.”

“That's
my
girl,” he said with a grin as he lowered his lips to mine.  That was the moment it hit me.  The moment where I realized I actually had real feelings for Tucker Kline. 
That's my girl. 
But
I wasn't his girl.  At least not completely. Nick had my heart, and despite my best efforts to keep it from Tucker, he had at a part of it, too.
I quickly pulled my lips from his and turned my attention back to the toaster.

“
It will be ready in just a few minutes if you want to grab a quick shower,” I said, refusing to look at him.  I couldn't.

“
Okay,” I heard him say with a defeated tone. 
I had screwed up
.
  I shouldn't have turned away from him so quickly.  I should have sucked up what I was feeling and played the part I'd set out to play, but the feelings I didn't want to have for him were kicking right through that wall I'd tried to put up.  When I finally worked up the courage to turn around he was gone.  I heard the shower turn on just as my cell phone chimed from the living room.  I quickly pulled the waffles from the toaster before running to find my phone, knowing it was Nick.  There was no way Brynn would disturb my weekend with Tucker and the only other person who texted me was in the shower.  I pulled up the message screen.

Nick: Hey Rae.  Any progress on the funding?  Belletti's been calling.

Me: I'm working on it.

It was so easy to lie over text messages.  I was glad Nick wasn't around to actually see the conflicted look on my face.  Last night was great, but I needed to remember exactly why I was here.

Nick: Great!  Keep me in the loop.  I miss you.
:-(

Oh, he was definitely in the loop.  The big fucked up loop I'd put myself in.  I was pretty sure I was in love with Nick, falling for Tucker, and lying to both of them. 

Me: I miss you too.

With that, I shut my phone off.  I could only handle one guy at a time and right now I needed to turn my attention back to Tucker.  Feelings be damned.  I was going to be with Nick just how I'd planned.  Tucker was rich and good looking; he'd have no problem finding a new girl when I was gone. 

“Breakfast ready?”  I looked up from my phone. Tucker was showered, dressed, and toweling the remaining water from his hair.

I forced a pained smile, “Yep.”

“Everything okay?”

“
Perfect.” 

He saw right through it.  “Don't lie to me.  I can tell something's wrong.”  He sat down beside me on the sofa.  I was so twisted up in my own head that I didn't even remember sitting down.

Now's your chance.
  This was the moment I'd been waiting for.  Tucker saw me in distress and I could tell by the look on his face that I could have asked him for the moon and he would have tried like hell to give it to me.  I choked the guilt down.

“
It's nothing.” I needed to play it up a little bit more.  I let the real tears that I'd been fighting back fall as substitutions for the fake ones I would have usually squeezed out.

“
Babe, seriously,” he doubted as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder, “what's wrong?”

I let my head fall against his chest and forced out a lie. “I just got an email from the finance office at school.  Something is screwed up with my financial aid.”  I took a sobbed breath. “I can't pay for next semester on my own.”  I waited a second before sneaking a glance up at Tucker's face.  His perfect lips were pursed as he thought about my situation.  “I'm going to have to drop out.”

He held me for a moment.  “It going to be fine,” he finally said, kissing the top of my head.  “I'll take care of it.”

“
No,” I said.  It was what I was supposed to say. “I couldn't let you do that.”

“
You will.”

“
I'm going to pay you back.” I looked into his thoughtful eyes, “Every cent. I promise.”

“
It's not about the money, Lila,” he offered and placed his hands on each side of my face. “I'd spend it all to get to see your face every day.  I'm not going to let some screwed up financial aid keep you from school and away from me.”

I kissed him.  It was amazing and painful all at the same time.  On one hand, everything was going according to plan, but on the other, I had a great guy, willing to do anything for me and I was going to have to break his heart.  And, I was pretty sure a piece of mine was going to break, too.

Chapter 9

After we finished breakfast, Tucker told me that his accountant was coming over to finalize a few things with the family business. 

“Tractor talk, huh?” I tried to lighten the mood after our last conversation.

“
Yep,” he laughed.  “How do you know about Kline Implements?”

“
I asked around,” I replied with his words.  “How exactly does that work anyway?”

“
Well, my dad was a good salesman.  It started small, but he figured out a system for buying and selling farm equipment that involved shipping them overseas. It all took off from there.”

“
Well, seeing as how my knowledge of farm equipment is limited, I think that's pretty cool.”

“
It is.” He paused. “I just hope I don't screw up everything he built.”  I could tell that he was having a hard time with the transition from being the son of the CEO to the actual CEO.  Even though Tucker wouldn't completely take over until he graduated from college next year, he was still involved in every aspect of the business.

“
You won't,” I offered as my support.

While he and the accountant were in the office, I tried to come up with a reason to go back to school.  It was a bad idea to spend an entire weekend alone with Tucker.  There were no barriers, no Matt and Jenna, no fraternity party, no separate living arrangements.  Out here, it was just Tucker and Lila.  I was feeling a little too comfortable with him.  A girl could have gotten used to it quickly.  Way too quickly.  I didn't want to throw up any red flags, but I needed to put some distance between us and get my feelings in check before they wrecked this whole thing.  When he got back, I told him that work called and asked me to fill in for someone.  It was a plausible excuse; I wanted to work extra shifts to pay him back faster.  He'd never know that I actually called one of my co-workers and begged to take his Saturday night shift.

“Yeah, no problem.  We can go back,” he said with grin.  “I have something for you.”  He reached into his back pocket, pulled out a folded piece of paper, and handed it to me.  It was a check for twelve thousand dollars made out to me.  “I figured you wouldn't want all the nosy women in the finance office to know I was helping you out.  This way you can just deposit it in your account and write your own check.”

“
You're amazing,” I beamed, hugging him tightly.  I felt awful as I folded the check and put it in my pocket, but I was one step closer to being done with all of this.  And Nick would be happy.  I really hoped that when I got home and saw him it would put everything in perspective.   He was the one I wanted to be with.  “You know what? Let's stay tonight.  I can find someone to work for me.” I pulled back to look at him.  It was like the two sides of my brain were in constant battle with one another.  One side tell me to go home, while the other blurted out that I'd stay.

“
Seriously?” He asked, incredulous.  “That's awesome!  I really wanted you to meet some of my friends from back here.”

“
It's the least I can do.  Especially after how great you've been.”  It really was the least I could do.  Now that I had almost a third of what Nick and I needed, the absolute least I could do was stay and let this boy show me off to his friends.  “Let me go take a shower and get dressed.  Then I'm up for whatever you want to do.”  I turned with a forced smile and made my way back to the bedroom.  I needed some time to prepare myself for the day.  I had a feeling that the storybook town of Harrington was about to make me really work at not falling for Tucker any more than I already had.

$ $ $

“You're going to love this place,” Tucker assured as he pulled his truck into a parking spot in the small town square.  As we exited the vehicle I noticed the handful of mom-and-pop run businesses – an auto repair shop, a flower shop, a bank, a bar and our destination, a little diner, complete with a neon 'open' sign flashing in the window.  “Remember what we said about getting fat?”  Tucker squeezed my hand as we walked through the front door.  “This is the place to do it.”

I laughed as the tiny bell above the door alerted all of the patrons that we had arrived.  This was that scene in the movie where the jukebox freezes and everyone looks over to see the strange girl on the arm of the town prince.  I smiled as Tucker greeted his loyal followers.  At least five handshakes were exchanged before we took a seat in a back booth.

“Sorry about that,” he apologized as we sat down.  “This is just one of the those towns where – ”

“
Everyone knows everyone.”  I finished his sentence.

“
Yeah.” He grinned, handing me a menu.

“
I should have known from your popularity back at school that you were royalty back in your home town.”

“
I wouldn't say royalty,” he laughed.  “Although, I was the Prom King.”

“
Of course you were.” I shook my head with a playful eye roll.  “So, what's good here?”

“
Everything really.  I mean, it's all cooked in the same grease so it kind of all tastes the same, but I've never seen a plate not cleaned.”

“
Sounds perfect.”  The waitress approached and I could tell by her smile that she was also in the Tucker Kline fan club.

“
Hey stranger.” She patted him on the shoulder.  She was petite older woman with short black hair and red framed glasses.  “It's been a while.”

“
Hey Jeanie,” he greeted her.  “Back at school now. I don't get home to often.”

“
That's okay college boy.  We know you're awful busy up there. Making us proud.” She turned her attention to me.  “And who is this pretty girl you brought home?”  She gave me the once over and an accepting nod before Tucker introduced me.