Tucker (The Family Simon) (19 page)

“She’s been gone for over three years, Tuck. It’s time.”

Shit. There it was.

He glanced back downstairs. Caught sight of Abby giggling next to Betty and his heart twisted. He could ignore the obvious and shrug his shoulders, or he could be honest and lay it all out there. He could say the words that had been knocking around inside his head for days.

“I asked her to move in with me,” he finally said. “I think I love her.”

“You think?” Jack asked roughly. “Jesus, that’s not good enough, Tucker. Not for someone like her. That girl down there wants the whole nine yards and I don’t know her real well, but she seems the type to deserve it.”

“You think I don’t know that?” He shot a dark look at his brother.

“Hey, you’re the one who started this bullshit. Not me. I’m just pointing out the obvious.”

“Yeah? What’s that?”

“That girl’s in love with you, and if you don’t feel the same way, you’ve got to cut her loose.”

Tucker didn’t know what to say. He’d been in love before. Hell, up until a month ago, he thought he’d be in love with Marley for as long as he was alive. Their love hadn’t been perfect, in fact a lot of the time it had been rough and volatile…but it had also been passionate—it had been young and fresh and exciting and…

It had been safe. Back then, their whole world had been safe. Until she took a ride on that plane.

“Fuck me,” he whispered, eyes still glued to Abby, more confused than ever. The memory of Marley was something that he didn’t think would let him go. How could it? It would always be unfinished. That last morning he’d shared with her would always be unfinished. How did he deal with that? With the things he hadn’t done?

How did he make Abby fit into all of that without hurting her in the end?

And so he stood next to his brother, looking down until Abby turned her sweet face up to him. She wiped at that long piece of hair that always tickled her nose and she smiled at him until Betty said something that made her giggle and turn away.

“I don’t know if what I have to give is enough for Abby.”

Jack put his hand on Tucker’s shoulder. “Brother, you need to find out. But a word of advice—”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t use
think
and
love
in the same sentence when talking to a woman. Not if you want to keep all your manly parts intact.”

Tucker’s gaze was on Abby again. “Good to know,” he murmured.

***

>A few hours later, Tucker thought about his brother’s words as he and Abby made their way outside to the
bunky
, which was a small bunkhouse the boys used to sleep in when they were younger. Located about twenty feet from the main house and nestled among a bunch of Fir trees, it was big enough for a double bed, a TV, a small bathroom and not much else.

But it was private and Tucker had some things on his mind. Things that needed to be taken care of.

The place was warm—his father had made sure the heat was turned on and the small lamp near the bed cast a soft glow.

He shut the door behind him and pulled Abby into his arms, resting his chin on top of her head, listening to her breathing, feeling her heart beating. Slowly her arms made their way up to his shoulders, and she leaned back, eyes shimmery in the low lights.

For several moments, the two of them stared at each other, Tucker not letting go and Abby looking up at him with a shuttered expression.

Finally, she exhaled. “You’re scaring me.”

God, that’s not what he wanted. “I don’t mean to.”

“What’s going on, Tucker?” She wiggled her hips and stepped out of his embrace, shivering. After folding her arms across her chest, she met his gaze, her toes digging into the pine floors.

“We need to talk,” he began and stopped. How the fuck was he going express the feelings inside him? What words could even come close to describing what he was trying to say?

“Okay,” her voice trembled a bit. “What about?”

“Us.”

She made a weird noise and shook her head. “I get it. Being here with your family made you realize a few things.”

“Yeah, it did.”

She licked that bottom lip which was usually his trigger for all sorts of hot and sexy things. Already his mind was going south, but before he actually followed through on it and went south, he needed to be clear about things.

“So, this is it then?” She thrust her chin out. “We’re done? You’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t fit the Simon mold? Well, I gotta say Tucker, not everyone can be like a…a Monique Patterson or a…” She stumbled over her words, glanced away and whispered. “A…a Marley.”

“You’re right about that.”

She whipped her head around. “I’m right about what?”

“You’re nothing like Monique Patterson, thank God and,” he paused because this was important. “You’re nothing like Marley.”

“So what exactly are you saying?”

He took a step toward her.

“I’m saying that I want you to move in with me.”

He took another step. “I’m saying that I want to wake up with you next to me every single fucking morning. I’m saying that I want you. I want you in my life and I don’t want anymore of this ‘let’s see where it goes’ bullshit, because I’ve got to tell you, Abigail. We’re already there.”

“We are,” she repeated softly.

“We’ve been there for a while, and I think that I’m just now getting it. But…”

“But?”

“I’ve got some shit to sort out. Hell, Marley hasn’t even been declared legally dead yet, and it might take a while for me to deal with some of it, so if you can’t wait…or you need to think about it.” He blew out a hot breath not really sure what else to say. “I’ll understand but you have to know I’m not giving up, and if you need a break, I get it. But you also need to know that as soon as I get this stuff squared away, I’m coming for you. When I think ahead, when I think of tomorrow or next week, I see you. When I think of next Thanksgiving, it’s you I see, Abby. No one else.”

He watched a play of emotion run across her face like the tide rolling in from the ocean. He knew what she wanted to hear and Christ, but he wanted to say it…those three little words that were game changers. But there was still a part of him that felt as if he couldn’t go there until everything else was dealt with.

He needed to deal with Marley’s death. Only then could he move on with his heart 100% free. He just hoped like hell Abby would be there for him when he was done.

Abby’s bottom lip trembledm and he couldn’t help himself. He traced her generous mouth with his forefinger and swept his lips across hers.

“I’m not going anywhere, Tucker.” Her voice was so soft that at first he wasn’t sure she’d spoken.

He rested his forehead against hers, some of his tension gone. “Okay.”

“So,” she said, voice husky and full of all kinds of sex and smoke. “What exactly are you going to do with me now that you have me out here in your little bunky?”

He kissed the corner of her mouth, so relieved that it felt as if a hundred pounds had just been lifted off his shoulders.

“Well, Miss Mathews. I’m going to get you naked and wet. I’m going to lay you down on that bed and I’m going to spread your legs and then I’m going to fuck you hard and fast.”

Her chest rose and fell. His girl liked the dirty talk.

“And then I’m going to taste every inch of you, with my mouth…my tongue, my fingers.”

She made that noise that she did—the one that told him she was already close. He smiled, licked her, and stole another kiss.

“And then we’re going to go nice and slow. I’m going to worship you, Abby. Your mouth. Your breasts. That delicious ass of yours.” His voice was ragged now. “I’m going to kiss you between your legs until I make you come. And then I’m going to start all over again.”

She reached for the top button of her blouse. “So worship, Mr. Simon, because I’m halfway to horny and you kind of had me at hot and wet.”

Chapter Twenty-two

Abby woke just as dawn was breaking. The air was cool on her nose and outside the wind howled, but here, under the covers with Tucker, she was warm.

She was warm and content and so in love that there was no turning back now. If that had even been a consideration before, it was long gone. Especially after the night they’d just shared. She and Tucker had connected on a level she’d never thought possible.

She
knew
he loved her. He might not have said the words, but she knew. It was in the way he touched her—as if she was a breakable. In the way his eyes watched her while his mouth was on her. The way he held her face and kissed her with a tenderness that had brought tears to her eyes. It was in the way he held her and caressed her temple.

They’d talked with their hands, their bodies and with their eyes. The words weren’t said, but they were there. Just beneath the surface. Waiting for the right moment.

And Abby was willing to wait. For Tucker, she would do that.

Gingerly turning over so that she faced him, her heart swelled watching him sleep. God, he looked so young. So incredibly young and alive. She grinned. And sexy.

He’d let his hair grow out over the last month so it curled over his ears, teased his neck, and long waves swept over his forehead. Gently she pushed them back, her fingers tracing his sculpted cheeks, strong jaw, until they rested on his lips.

Man she loved his lips.

Reaching forward she swept a kiss across them and then held her breath when she felt him move.

His hands snaked around her waist, and he snuggled into her neck. “Hey,” Tucker murmured, his whiskers making her shiver as they scraped across her skin.

“Good morning,” she managed to say. His hands moved downward and cupped her butt intimately against him.

“This is nice,” he said, mouth against her neck.

“Really nice,” she answered, squirming a bit because the desire, it was already burning hot.

But Tucker didn’t. He stayed there, nose buried in her neck, hands holding her close to him. They laid together like that for a long time, each breathing the other in until dawn became full blown morning.

Eventually, Tucker moved a bit and rested his elbow on the pillow so he could prop his head, his eyes unreadable, but intense.

“Are you all right?” Abby asked, carefully, her body suddenly tense. It never ceased to amaze her how emotions ebbed and flowed, rushing and then disappearing. What was going on behind those eyes?

“I’m better than all right,” he answered, a slow grin creeping over his face, making her insides melt all over again.

“You’re amazing. Do you know that?” Tucker said softly.

Abby shrugged. “I’ve been told once or twice.”

He laughed—outright chuckled—and the sound made her feel as if she could fly. When it fell away to nothing, she couldn’t take her eyes off of him.

“Last night was…” he said. There was that wicked grin again.

“Yeah.” She blushed at the thought of some of the things she’d done to him. With him.
For
him.

“So this is really happening. Us,” Tucker said quietly.

For a second Abby couldn’t speak. So she nodded and closed her eyes, hoping the tears that pricked the corner of her eyes weren’t visible. But one slipped down, and she felt his touch as he slowly wiped it away.

“Abby.”

“I’m fine,” she managed. She was more than fine. She was more than everything that she thought being with Tucker would be.

“Tell me about Marley.”

Oh. God.

Abby’s eyes flew open and Tucker’s hand froze. Where the hell had that come from?

It was surprise that sat in Tucker’s eyes, that much was clear, and Abby cleared her throat, reaching for his hand.

“Tucker, I don’t….I’m sorry, I…”

But what to say? She knew about the nightmares and insomnia that had haunted him for months after Marley disappeared. She knew that he’d taken a vacation from life. She knew that for a while, he’d drank himself to sleep every single night. She also knew they weren’t the picture-perfect couple that the press had touted them to be, but then who was? She knew those kinds of things.

But she knew nothing about Marley. Not really. Not the stuff that mattered.

Tucker exhaled and drew her into his arms so that her back was to his chest, her head once more tucked under his chin. Her eyes moved to the window, to the snowflakes slowly making their way down from the sky. So white. So Fluffy. So perfect.

“I met Marley in college and uh, I think it’s pretty safe to say that she didn’t like me at first. Mainly because I was an arrogant shit, but mostly because I put the moves on her while being involved with someone else. I was young and stupid and kind of wild, but I saw something in Marley. Some intense and focused part of her that somehow fit.”

For a few moments, there was only the wind outside. Only Tucker’s long, steady breaths.

“Our families didn’t want us to get married. Especially my mother. They thought we were too young. And when I think back now, I can see why. We
were
too young. Just out of college. But Marley always had this way of talking people into accepting her point of view. She was relentless. It’s why I could never win an argument with her. I would give up, and she’d spend the next hour talking. God, that girl…she liked to argue.”

He kissed the top of Abby’s head. “I guess that’s something you have in common.”

Abby didn’t say anything, she just settled in to listen. She knew in her heart that Tucker sharing all of this meant something. It meant that he was finally letting her inside the one part of him that he’d closed off. And she couldn’t lie to herself. It hurt to hear him talk about a woman he’d loved. A woman who had been his first love.

It hurt to think that if Marley was still here…that if her young life hadn’t met a tragic end, the two of them would still be together.

“It’s been over three years, and I’ve had time to think Abby. Time to remember things. And one of the things I loved most about Marley was that she lived life like there wasn’t going to be a tomorrow. Everything that she did, she did full tilt. One hundred percent all in. It’s as if she knew that she wasn’t going to be around for long, and I’d be a liar if I didn’t say that it could be exhausting at times..”