Chapter Two
Hadley
I keep my eyes glued out the window as I nibble on my bottom lip. I have no idea what is happening or what the heck I’m doing with this guy. I don’t even know Tucker, yet here I am in his truck as he takes me to places unknown. A part of me wants to beg him to take me back to Willow, but a bigger part wants to enjoy the ride. Who knows, maybe something good will finally happen in my life.
My phone dings loudly in the silent truck, bringing me out of my thoughts. I shrug my purse off my shoulder and start digging through it. Just as my hand wraps around my phone, Tucker’s hand settles on top of mine.
“Don’t answer that,” he orders, pulling my hand away and tossing my purse onto the floorboard.
“It might be my mom,” I reply, knowing full well it isn’t.
My parents left for Paris a week ago and have checked in with me once. They haven’t answered any of my texts or responded to my voice mails. When I mentioned this to Willow, she said they were probably having too much fun seeing the Eiffel Tower and visiting Notre Dame. When I told her they were not in Paris, France, but Paris, Tennessee, she looked at me like I was nuts and changed the subject.
“If you don’t answer, is your mom gonna freak?” he asks, placing a hand on my thigh.
Considering both of my parents are so excited about their newly purchased lake house, I seriously doubt they even remember they have a daughter. “Probably not.”
“Well, then let it go to voice mail,” he says, giving my thigh a gentle pat. “The rest of this day is about you and me. I don’t want to throw anyone else in the mix.”
The words no more than leave his mouth when my phone stops ringing. For the next minute or two, I expect it to start again, but it doesn’t. Since my cousin, Tanya, is probably still sleeping off last night’s party, there is no doubt in my mind that Willow was the person calling. The fact that she doesn’t call back lets me know she trusts Tucker. She would be chasing me down if she thought Tucker was a bad guy.
“You close with your family?” he asks, drawing my attention back to him.
“Not so much with my parents,” I admit with a slight shrug. “But I’m close to my cousin, Tanya. She and I share an apartment with Willow back in Louisville.”
His dark gray eyes cut to me and quickly back to the road. “Did she come to town with you and Willow?”
“No, she’s going home to Cincinnati for the summer.” I look back out the window and go back to chewing my bottom lip. “When we left last night, she was heading out to a farewell party at one of the frat houses.”
He grunts but doesn’t respond, so I take a sideways glance at him. When I see his eyes are focused on the road, I turn to take in his profile. He is absolutely the most handsome man I have ever seen. He has chestnut brown hair that’s a little long on top but short in the back and on the sides, giving him a bit of a faux-hawk. On any other man, it would look ridiculous. On Tucker, it only accentuates the perfection of his face.
With a glance, I can tell the stubble on his face is natural. He just lets it grow until he is ready to shave. Still, it perfectly outlines his chiseled chin and high cheekbones. Even though I don’t usually find facial hair attractive, his only adds to his rugged good looks.
His lips are a ruddy shade of pink, with his bottom lip sticking out a bit more than his top. His nose is not large, but it’s definitely one of his most aggressive features. It’s a bit long and a little wider than most with a bump along the ridge, but it does not look out of place. In fact, it somehow breaks up the perfect symmetry of his face, keeping him from being too pretty.
He has the most alluring gray eyes I have ever seen. Well, they may be the only gray eyes I have ever seen. Some people may call them a cloudy blue, but they’d be wrong. They are the most breathtaking shade of gray. They are also full of both kindness and interest when he turns to look at me.
“Are you from Cincinnati, too?” he asks, giving my thigh another squeeze.
It takes me a second to figure out where the question came from. Then, I remember telling him that Tanya was heading home. “Not exactly, I’m from a small town called Cat Scratch about twenty miles east of Cincinnati.”
“Cat Scratch,” he mumbles, a smile playing on his lips.
An answering smile spreads across my lips. “Supposedly, the town was once called Maple Hills, but the founder died from Cat-scratch Fever, and the town council changed its name in honor of him.”
“Well, that’s kind of fucked up.” He chuckles, his eyes back on the road.
As the truck goes silent again, my brain frantically tries to latch on to something to fill the silence. “Are you close to your family?”
“Yep,” he says, reaching to the dash to kick the air-conditioner up a bit. “My dad’s been gone for six years now. My younger brother, Major, and I watch over our mom. I have another brother, Gunnar, who’s a month younger than me. He lives in Tennessee, but we boys get together whenever we can. We’re pretty tight.”
I shake my head in confusion. “How do you have a brother who’s only a month younger than you?”
“Dad knocked up Gunnar’s mother right after he did the same thing to Mom,” he replies with a shrug. “Guess Mom was lucky she found out first, or she would’ve been raising me on her own.”
I want to ask how his mom felt when she found out his dad had gotten someone else pregnant. I also wonder how his brother feels about his dad, considering he left his mom with a child to care for. Knowing that I’m just nosey, I keep the questions to myself. Instead of talking, I go back to staring out the window again.
“How old are you?” The question is out of my mouth before I even realize I’m asking.
Tucker glances over at me a second before looking back at the road. “I turned twenty-seven a little over a month ago.”
Twenty-seven! He doesn’t look that much older than me. Not that twenty-seven is old, but he’s pushing thirty! Looking closer, I see some fine lines near the corner of his eyes. Other than that, his skin is smooth and tight. I peek at his hair again, looking for some gray, but find none. He must be lying to me.
“Are you sure?” I ask, still staring at him.
Another chuckle works its way up his throat. “Yep, my birthday is April the twenty-ninth. When’s yours?”
“August the seventeenth,” I reply as he turns off the blacktop and starts driving down a gravel road.
My eyes take in our surroundings, and my heart starts to thump an uneven rhythm. We are no longer in the small town Willow calls home. Instead, we are surrounded by fields covered in alfalfa. There isn’t a person or car in sight.
“Where are we going?” I croak out, my nerves getting the best of me.
“To someplace special.” He squeezes my thigh again, this time with a bit more pressure. “Trust me, Hadley.”
Tucker doesn’t answer me any further, but he doesn’t have to. I know he’s taking me somewhere private to have sex with him. As much as that scares me, my body is thrumming with excitement at the thought of being with him in that way.
Willow wasn’t lying. I am a virgin. I’ve dated my fair share of boys and have fooled around a bit. No matter how hard they tried to convince me to give it up, it never felt right to have sex with any of them. Now, here I am, with a guy I barely know, and I’m ready to give him my virginity on a silver platter.
Tucker pulls the truck to a stop in front of a dilapidated farmhouse with a small tree growing up through the porch. It was once painted white, but that’s mostly gone, allowing the wood to rot. The bits of old tin remaining on the roof are rusted and rolling up along the edges. All the windows are broken, with their shutters either hanging at a weird angle or gone completely. Even with all the signs of neglect, the front porch is lined with blooming rose bushes. The roses alone let me know someone once loved this place.
Looking around the yard, I see a newish looking pole-barn and what looks like the remnants of a chicken coop. “What is this place?”
“It was my great-great grandpa’s house,” he tells me, shutting off the truck. “He built it not long after he came over from Ireland. He died when my great-grandpa was just twenty-two. Gramps ended up building a new house on the other side of the property and brought his mom to live with him. She came back all the time to take care of those roses.”
My eyes go back to the bushes that line the porch. “They’re beautiful.”
“The tradition carried on from one generation to the next. When my grandma was put in the nursing home, my brother and I started looking after them. We’re not sure what in the hell we’re doing, but we do our best.” He adds the last few words with a shrug.
For some reason, the thought of this man taking care of his grandma’s roses has my heart slowing to its normal speed. If he can be gentle enough to care for his ancestor’s prized roses, he’ll be gentle with me. So, even though I don’t know him, I know I want this with him.
Still, I can’t keep fear from twisting my belly into a knot. “I’m scared.”
“I would never hurt you, and I’d never do anything that you didn’t want me to.” Tucker brings his face to mine and brushes a soft kiss across my lips. “I promise, you’re gonna want me to do a lot of things to you before this day is over.”
He slowly pulls away and opens the truck door. Grabbing my hand, he pulls me from the truck and shuts the door. Before I realize what he is doing, he has the back door open and is dragging out a blue blanket covered in some sort of southwestern design with frayed yarn tassels hanging from two ends. He shuts the door and grabs my hand. After leading me to the back of the truck, he pops the tailgate open and spreads out the blanket.
“It’s clean,” he says, nodding his head to the blanket. “With that being said, it was on Moonbeam’s back a few weeks ago. Even though it’s been washed since then, you’ll probably smell her on it.”
His words make absolutely no sense to me. “Moonbeam?”
“She’s the most beautiful white filly you’ll ever see, but she’ll never be a race horse,” he says with a smile that reaches his gray eyes. “A man out of Paducah wants to buy her, and he’s willing to spend enough money that it’d be stupid to turn him down. But he mentioned he likes riding bareback, and she’s not used to that.”
He reaches out and smooths a wrinkle from the blanket before continuing. “I want her trained to fit his needs before he comes to pick her up. I started her out by putting blankets on her back, so she could start getting used to carrying weight that feels different than the leather of a saddle.”
“Did it work?” I ask as he pulls me into his arms.
His lips meet mine for a split second before he responds. “Oh, yeah.”
I wonder if he is training me the same way, with all this talking and his light caresses of my skin. Even the way he gently runs his hands over the fabric of the blanket could be intentional. I think on it a minute more and realize I don’t care. Whatever he has that causes roses to bloom and horses to follow his lead, I want him to use every bit of it on me.
My body relaxes against his as his mouth descends on mine once again. Tucker’s mouth brushes against my own before his teeth start to nip at my bottom lip. His tongue invades my mouth as his hands move down to my hips. Pulling me flush against his body, I feel his hardness pushing against my lower stomach. Again, my fear starts to skyrocket.
He removes his mouth and kisses his way to my ear. “There’s no reason to be scared, Hadley.”
One hand slides around to cup my ass, while the other moves up to my breast. He manipulates my body into a fever pitch, causing me to grind against his leg. Just when I can feel the pleasure start to build, he steps back and pulls his shirt over his head. Seeing his bare chest for the first time, a sigh of pleasure forces its way past my lips.
Tucker is built but not huge. He is cut in a way that lets me know he doesn’t spend his days in a gym. Instead, every one of his muscles were earned by the sweat of his brow. He has a horseshoe tattoo right above his left pec and a light sprinkle of dark hair on his lower stomach, but everything else is bare.
Looking up into his shining eyes, I realize for the first time just how tall he is. Standing at only five-foot-two, my head doesn’t even reach his nipples. If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say he is closing in on six-foot. Granted, his height is probably average for a man. Compared to me, though, he’s a giant.
A slow grin spreads across his face as he says, “Now, it’s your turn.”
I grab the bottom of my shirt and start slowly pulling it over my head. I’ve had my shirt off in front of guys before. Even let a couple of boys remove my bra, but this is the first time I’ve ever undressed in front of a man.
By the time I’ve tossed my shirt in the back of the truck, he is pulling me against him again. His skin feels so warm against mine that I let out a little moan. His kiss swallows my moan as he starts fumbling with the back of my bra. A second later, it pops loose, and the only thing holding it in place is Tucker’s chest pressed firmly against mine.
He slowly steps back and stares at me. Pulling in a deep breath for courage, I let the straps fall from my shoulders. As soon as my bra hits the ground, Tucker picks me up and sits me on the tailgate of his truck. A second later, his lips are wrapped around one of my stiff nipples. He sucks it in deep, then releases, letting his tongue quickly swipe around the pebbled tip.
Crouching down between my legs, he unlaces the gladiator sandals I am wearing and tosses them to the ground. “I hope you know just how fucking gorgeous you are.”
My cheeks heat at his words, but a smile slashes across my face. “Not nearly as gorgeous as you are.”
“Bullshit,” he replies, standing back up and reaching for the button on my shorts. “I’m gonna ask you a question. We’re gonna do this, no matter what your answer is, but I want you to tell me the truth.”
When I just stare at him, he starts to unbutton. “Willow said you’re a virgin. Was she just fucking with me, or are you truly untouched?”
“Willow wasn’t lying.” I nod my head, letting my hair fall forward to hide my face. “I’ve never had sex before.”
He reaches out and cups my chin, forcing me to look at him. “There’s a story that has been passed down from generation to generation in my family. According to my dad, it goes all the way back to the old days in Ireland.”
I have no idea why he is telling me this now, but I can tell he is waiting for some kind of response. “All right.”
“It’s said that when a man carrying Brady blood meets the woman he is meant to share his life with, he knows she’s the one at first sight. My grandpa swore it was true, but my dad thought it was all bullshit. Until earlier today, I thought the same thing. Then you walked into the Dairy Dip, and my whole fucking world turned upside down.”