A knock had Tuck growling lowly, before bellowing, “Who is it?”
As if he didn’t know. Arianna was at school, Shane was out working with the ranch hand, Lila was working, so there was no one else but Paige who could be knocking on his bedroom door at 9:00 in the morning. All day yesterday, she’d knocked each time she’d brought him a meal or his pain meds or just poked her head in to see if he needed anything. And each time, he asked the same surly question. And each time her response was the same.
“Can I come in?”
“Yeah,” he answered on a sigh. His foot wasn’t broken, but it was badly bruised, and the ankle was still swollen. The doctor had ordered him to keep it elevated for several days, icing it on and off for the first two to reduce the swelling. Right now, Tuck couldn’t get a boot or even a sneaker on. He was stuck on crutches until he could put his weight on the foot. Yesterday, he’d slept most of the day, thanks to the pain pills. They made him stoned out of his mind, and he hated it, but his foot was throbbing. Shane had given him one before he’d headed out about fifteen minutes ago, but it hadn’t fully kicked in yet. Hopefully, by tomorrow, Tuck could get by on just Tylenol.
The door swung open, and Paige stood there in a pair of faded jeans, white sneakers, and a blue, V-neck T-shirt. Her hair was up in a ponytail, but he found he liked it better when it was down. Pushing the unwanted thought from his mind—it shouldn’t matter to him how she wore it—he tried to concentrate on what she’d just asked. How am I doing? I’m bored out of my fucking mind. “I’m fine, thanks. You don’t have to keep checking up on me.”
She frowned. “You must be bored out of your mind. Why don’t I help you out to the couch? That way I can clean in here and your bathroom, and then throw the sheets and towels in the washing machine.”
He knew she had a schedule she’d been following—a list of chores she did on certain days—and he didn’t want to inconvenience her. Maybe a change of scenery would do him good, not that he’d be any less bored on the couch than he was in here. Even though he didn’t watch much TV, it was better than lying in bed staring at the ceiling. Sarah hadn’t wanted a television in the master bedroom—she’d said there were a lot more entertaining things they could do in there—and after her death, neither Shane nor Tuck had thought of putting one in.
“Um. Yeah. But you don’t need to help me, I can get there on my own.”
Stepping into the room, she spied his crutches leaning on the other side of his night stand and retrieved them for him. She stood next to the bed, holding them in place. “I’d rather help. You were a bit wobbly on these yesterday. I don’t want to have to call Shane and tell him that you took another header.”
He scowled—he didn’t need a babysitter—but her expression told him she wasn’t taking no for an answer. Forcing the breath from his lungs in exasperation, he flung off the covers. Thankfully, he had on a pair of sweatpants, but then again, it would have served her right if he’d been in his boxer briefs or nothing at all. He thought he saw a flash of interest at his bare, sculpted chest, but she glanced away too soon for him to be sure. It wasn’t something he hadn’t seen before when women, and even some men, saw him without a shirt on—heck, Sarah had said his bare shoulders were one of the first things she’d found attractive on him. He’d been shirtless when she’d arrived at their annual barbecue all those years ago, after someone had accidentally spilled their beer on him.
Pushing off from the bed, he stood on his good foot and grabbed the crutches before he lost his balance. Once he was steady, Paige stepped back and gestured for him to precede her. Rolling his eyes, he thrust the crutches forward then followed with a hop. Slowly, he made his way out to the family room with Paige on his heels. He was surprised how strenuous it was to move with the aluminum supports. When he reached the couch, he carefully turned then sat. Leaning back, he brought his leg up to lie length-wise on the cushions.
Paige gently place a pillow under Tuck’s foot. “Is that okay?”
He grimaced as he tried to get comfortable. “Yeah, thanks.”
“I’m sure the pain meds will kick in soon.” She gestured toward the television and then the bookcases. “Do you want to watch TV or would you prefer to read?”
“The TV is fine, I guess—I don’t watch it often. And I don’t read at all.” When she raised a curious eyebrow at him, he clarified. “I’ve got dyslexia. I can read invoices, signs, and simple sentences enough not to be a problem, but the paragraphs in books and magazines drive me nuts. I can’t concentrate enough to enjoy them.” Why he’d told her any of that was beyond him, but he was starting to agree with Shane—Paige was easy to talk to.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
“No apologies needed. I didn’t expect you to know. When I was little, my mother was a teacher-turned-stay-at-home mom. She recognized early on that I had a reading disability and taught me how to work around it. Then when I was old enough, she got a job at one of those learning centers, so I got free help with all my other subjects. I was able to pass my classes but in some of them I barely squeaked by. That’s one of the reasons I prefer to work with my hands and let Shane deal with all the paperwork that goes with running this place.”
He pointed at the bookcases. “All of those are either Shane’s, Sarah’s, or from Shane’s mother’s collection. Helen loved the classics and her husband, Peter, would gift her leather-bound copies for almost every holiday. Shane and I continued the tradition for Sarah, but I’ve never read any of them.”
“I—” Paige held up a finger before striding toward the hallway leading to her suite. “Hang on. I’ve got an idea.”
His eyes narrowed in confusion as he wondered what she was up to. Moments later, she returned with one of her Kindles in her hand. Was she going to read to him? He wasn’t entirely comfortable with that. Yes, he could admit his disability, but he didn’t want to be catered to as a result of it.
“I’m guessing you’d be a suspense/thriller fan . . . hmm, let me see what I’ve got on here.” Her finger swiped across the screen several times. “Ah, here’s a good one by Brad Meltzer I think you’ll enjoy.”
“Uh, you’re not going to read to me, are you?”
“Nope. I’ve got a ton of laundry to do.” She reached into the pocket of her jeans, pulled out a pair of earbuds, then plugged them into the e-reader. “This has a text-to-speech feature. It’s digitally generated, so it’s a little monotone, but it’s still enjoyable. If you find you like listening to books, there is a huge variety of audiobooks with different narrators for you to try. Just let me know, and I’ll help you pick out some good ones I’ve already read.”
Paige handed him the device as he sat there, dumbfounded. He’d barely been civil to this woman since she’d gotten to the ranch, and here she was doing something incredibly sweet for him. Not even Sarah had thought about trying to get him into audiobooks—she’d simply accepted that reading wasn’t his thing, although she often gave him a summary of a book she’d read and loved.
Tuck stared at Paige with new and appreciative eyes. Yes, it wasn’t hard to see why Shane, and all the ranch hands for that matter, found her attractive, but there was so much more to her than her pretty features and curves. In some ways, she reminded him of Sarah, but in other ways the women were completely different and unique in their own way. Sarah’s words came back to him out of nowhere—had their wife really sent them someone else to love? Would Paige be comfortable in a relationship with two men? Could Tuck open his heart to her and let her in?
When she leaned down, he could smell her shampoo. It was light and fresh—just like her—and caused a stirring in his groin. She pointed to the e-reader’s screen, and he forced his eyes to follow. “Just tap here to start and stop, and if you missed something—I zone out every once in a while when I’m listening—you can go back just by sliding this icon here.” She straightened and smiled. “Can I get you anything else before I tackle the laundry and plan dinner?”
“Um, no.” Before she’d could step away, Tuck reached out and grabbed her hand. “Thank you, Paige.” He held up the Kindle. “This was very nice of you.”
“It was my pleasure. If you can’t get into that book, you can look through my library for something else. Although, I must warn you, about three-quarters of the books on there are romance.” She shrugged. “What can I say? I’m a sucker for a happy ending, even if I didn’t get one.”
Tuck still had her hand in his and gave it a squeeze. “Your husband was an ass.”
“Yeah, that’s putting it mildly. But, honestly, when we first started dating, and even when we first got married, he was different. Well, he had aspirations like everyone else, but when I think of us as a couple back then, there were a lot of good times. I’m not sure what made Myles change—greed I guess—but there was a point in his life when he’d been a good and decent man, and that’s how I try to remember him.”
Of that, Tuck had no doubt. He couldn’t imagine Paige falling for someone who wasn’t good and decent. He felt bad about what she’d gone through but was stunned at her resolve to remember the happier times and not dwell on the sad. Tuck should take a page from her book. Despite everything, she was determined to start over and find her place in the world once again.