Chapter Six
Libby
Tucker was as appreciative as any man raised by a momma who could cook, and managed to put away enough food for two men before collapsing back in his chair with a groan. Olivia was begging to go to the pool, but poor Uncle Tucker looked like the wrong end of an eating competition. He rubbed his belly and pouted.
“A beer sure would help to settle my stomach.” He rubbed his distended stomach.
“Well, now I know what it looks like when a tall, skinny man binges on boiled crawfish and slow-cooked barbeque beef. I can’t tell if I’m horrified, or just really impressed.” He chuckled and stood slowly, stretching, and rubbing his belly again.
“I don’t get home-cooked meals very often, and when a beautiful woman makes two of my favorite foods in the whole wide world, I know better than to leave anything behind.” I patted his shoulder and handed him the backpack he’d left in the front hall.
“Think you can still shimmy into those board shorts you brought?” He snatched the bag out of my hands and scowled.
“Not only can I get into them, I’m going to make all the soccer moms at the pool crazy.” I arched an eyebrow at him and he grinned. “Hankering for my food baby.” He pushed out his stomach and made it bounce for Olivia, who cackled with glee.
“Get those shorts on and let’s take Olivia swimming before bath time.” I took my daughter upstairs and changed her into her Disney princess bathing suit, before slipping into my red bikini. I felt guilty the moment I put it on, but I’d caught Tucker watching me as I moved around the kitchen and I wanted to feel that way for just a little while longer. His eyes had been hungry and possessive. I’d scalded my wrist with boiling water, all because of those hooded eyes and the way they’d tracked me around the room. I was tempting fate and testing my own willpower by choosing the little triangle bra swimsuit, but something in those eyes made me feel like I was in complete control. It was heady, and empowering.
I glanced in the mirror and checked out the cellulite on my thighs, care of pregnancy and spending more time with Olivia instead of going to the gym. Seeing it brought me down a couple of notches from power-drunk and I wrapped a sarong around my waist and rejoined Olivia and Tucker in the tiny, fenced-in square of grass I called my yard. Kennedy the mutt was on her back in the cool shade of the privacy fence, and Olivia rubbed her belly while her little back leg kicked.
Tucker was kneeling next to Olivia, facing away from the door, and didn’t see me when I joined them. Their heads were so close together they almost touched, as he helped her convince his pup to love her. His hair was almost as long as hers, its color a light brown that once would have been bleached almost white-blond by this time of year from hours of time in the sun.
Olivia threw her head back and cackled at something he’d said, and Kennedy jumped and started barking. Kennedy running in circles barking made Olivia laugh even harder, and Kennedy attacked in love-sponge fashion, and soon they were rolling around in the grass while Tucker scooted back out of the way. He looked up at me from his seat on the grass, and gaped at me like a fish on a dock.
“It’s wrong, isn’t it? I knew this was too young for me,” I stammered and he jumped up and took my hands in his.
“First, no one under thirty should be worrying about how ‘young’ their wardrobe looks. Second, and I mean this with much more enthusiasm than I’m permitted to exhibit in front of the squirt, but, damn! You look good enough to eat.” He glanced at Olivia, who was still oblivious to my presence, and continued. “I’m not sure I don’t mean that in a pervy way.”
I laughed as my cheeks got hot, and covered my embarrassment by calling Olivia over and slathering her up with sunscreen so it would be dry by the time she hit the water. Tucker accepted the tube from me and spread sunscreen over his legs and arms, and handed the tube back, turning around so I could help him with his back.
The sunscreen slid over and melted into the sun-warmed skin of his back and shoulders as my hands moved over him. He groaned when I hit a tender spot, just below his neck, and I massaged deeper, digging my thumb into him while he whimpered quietly. His sounds of pain brought Kennedy to him, jumping up against his legs and tilting her head to one side, and he moved away from me to reassure her.
“I need to have someone do that more often,” he quipped. “Although, my stress is less than it used to be.”
“I bet. Andrew said he wondered why you held on so long. I remember he came home once, and he was yelling into the phone as he walked in. I guess he’d been yelling the whole drive home from the office. Someone had crossed a line with you—again—and he was just done.” I rubbed the excess sunscreen off my hands onto Olivia’s arms. “He said a couple of times that if you’d left, he would’ve gone with you.”
“Yeah, he said that to me, too. Unfortunately, he said it too late for us to expat together.”
“Expat, huh? Was Cripke and Company truly that bad?”
“If by ‘bad,’ you mean ‘trying to find a new position required the same level of security and secrecy that the government uses against espionage,’ then yes. Yes, it was.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. He shrugged and put out a few treats and a got down a water bowl for Kennedy from the little table I kept outside. I locked up and we headed down to the pool, Olivia swinging between us, one of her hands in each of ours. The day wasn’t hot, but he sun had shone down on the water all day, and even with all the children already splashing and playing, the water was warm. I snapped Olivia into her life vest and she floated and kicked her feet happily, while I laid towels over two chairs for Tucker and me.
Tucker had done a cannon ball into the deep end of the pool and Olivia was jumping into his arms, then climbing up the ladder and jumping again. It was a game they’d played since Olivia was old enough to walk, and I was reminded of the times I’d watched them play together at parties, while Andrew had been too busy glad-handing clients and flirting with the wives—or more often, daughters—of the senior partners to notice.
I laid down on the chaise and closed my eyes in the sun, enjoying a moment of relaxation, now that Olivia had another adult to watch her for a minute. I had just enough time to doze off, before a shadow fell across me and cold water droplets hit my stomach and chest. I sat up with a gasp and a squeal, ready to lash into Tuck for being mean. Instead, I looked up at a neighbor I’d seen, but never spoken to.
“Sorry,” he laughed, sounding not sorry in the least, “I was just going to ask if you were using this.” He pointed at the chaise that I’d saved for Tucker.
“Uh, yes. My friend is in the water at the moment.”
“No problem. Uh, you live over on Willow drive, right?” My eyes darted to Tucker, who was watching me, Olivia on his shoulders. At the look on my face, he lifted her out of the pool and pulled himself out behind her.
“Yes, we live here.”
Tucker joined us, an easy grin on his face.
“Hey, don’t mind me. I’m going to grab those towels real quick.” He stepped in front of my neighbor and pulled the towels off the chaise, wrapping one around Olivia after he took off her life vest. My neighbor moved to the other side of me and leaned against the wall, and Tuck sat on the end of the chaise he’d emptied and proceeded to ignore us, rubbing the towel over his wet hair and chatting with Olivia.
“Well, obviously, you’re busy. It was nice to see you. I’m Sam, by the way. If you ever need anything, I’m just around the corner from you.” He held out his hand and I shook it, color rising in my cheeks when he stroked his thumb over the back of my hand before letting go. Tucker was still talking to Olivia, but I saw his shoulders stiffen out of the corner of my eye, and my stomach dropped.
Sam walked off, and Tucker straddled the chair and leaned back on one elbow to meet my eyes. He looked past me and I resisted the urge to follow his gaze, knowing he was watching my neighbor, waiting for me to look.
“You and Olivia look like you’re having fun,” I said, trying to make eye contact with him again. “She wears me out, but you’re holding up really well.”
“I’m probably going to be feeling it tomorrow, actually,” he admitted with a laugh. “That girl has endless energy.” I followed his gaze to my daughter who had spotted D’Ante in the pool and was struggling back into her vest so she could join him. Shaunte waved and pointed at her husband, Dale, who was already in the pool. I waved back and pointed out to Olivia where to go to play with D’Ante and his family, smiling when Tucker stood to better watch her make it to her destination safely.
“So, why you so stressed, Tucker?” He barked out a laugh.
“Oh, you know, just all that adulting without a break.” I nodded and watched my little redhead run up to Dale, then dance out of reach before he could pull her in.
“Yeah, I know what that’s like.” I wrapped my arms around my knees, wishing I had just worn something else, and hugged myself. “I’m worried that I won’t be able to convince people to buy my designs. What do I do if I have to start waiting tables, and Olivia ends up always being watched by someone else?”
“Well, lots of parents work, and their kids turn out all right. What is it you’re worried about?”
“Andrew was adamant that no one else would raise our daughter. It was the only thing about being successful that he spurned. He thought all those Texas housewives with nannies were pathetic and worthless.” I sighed. “Of course, for all I know he was sleeping with them all, so…”
“No, no, not Andrew. That would be a different partner,” Tucker drawled. I bit off a laugh.
“I always thought there was something wrong with me, as a wife, you know?” He arched an eyebrow. “Andrew would have walked through fire for you. He loved you, like you were a Peele, instead of a Hargrave.” Tucker shook his head and turned all the way to face me.
“I’m beginning to understand that Andrew had some screwed-up ideas about women.” He clasped his hands in front of him and stared down at his fingers as they laced on his knees. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t a better friend, Libby. I introduced the two of you. I should have protected you, and I didn’t.”
“Well, I was pretty bummed you weren’t in love with me, back then. Then Andrew appeared in my life. He was so charming and well-spoken. I fell hard, and fast. There was nothing you could’ve done.” I placed my hand over his and he covered it with his own.
“I’m grateful for the life I had. I just need to find my place again, Tucker. You are one of my oldest, truest friends. I’m glad you’re here, and so is Olivia.”
“Well, O has a way of making you want to give her everything she wants. She half talked me out of taking Kennedy home with me when I leave.” His hands were warm around mine, and my laugh died in my throat as my body reacted to him holding me captive. The noise of the pool faded in the background and humming white noise rose in my ears as my blood started pumping faster through my veins. He stared into my eyes as he ran his fingers down to my wrist and felt my racing pulse. He smiled, wolfish and possessive, before he released me. His grin widened and he lay back in the chair, with his hands behind his head.
“I, uh, I’m going to go say ‘hi’ to Shaunte and check on Olivia before she starts trying to run poor D’Ante and his dad like the little tyrant I know she is.” He nodded without opening his eyes and I rewrapped the sarong around my waist before I fled to the other side of the pool.