The One Place (8 page)

Tuck’s body locked and his face turned to stone, and I immediately realized my mistake.

“What do you mean because you wanted to?”

Trying to deflect him I said, “Tuck, I didn’t mean anything sweetheart,” and went to kiss him again.

Never the idiot, Tuck realized my avoidance technique for what it was, an avoidance technique, and backed away from my kiss.

“Talie, Babe. I’m gonna ask you again. What do you mean because you wanted? Did somebody make you do it when you didn’t want to?” His voice was vibrating from trying to contain the anger that was starting to surface.

Silence.

“Talie.”

Silence.

“Babe.”

Silence.

But really, the continued silence said it all.

Tuck erupted and jumped from the bed. “Fuck!”

He turned violently and punched his hand straight through the wall.
He punched his hand through the wall!

“
Fuck!
”

I jumped up, grabbing the cover and taking it with me to cover myself and yelled, “Tuck!”

Tuck misread my scream, pulled his shit together remarkably quickly, immediately came and eased me down on the bed, and squatted in front of me. “Natalie. I would never hurt you. I’m so sorry I scared you, but I was taken off guard. You mean a lot to me, Babe, and I hate that you’ve been through somethin’ like that.”

He ground his jaw to keep his anger in check and continued, “But I can promise you that nothin’ like that is ever gonna happen to you again. Nothin’ is ever gonna touch you.
Nothin’
.”

The look on his face was so pained and raw that I couldn’t wait a second longer to end his suffering. I reached down and cupped his cheeks, pulling him up so that he was between my legs and eye to eye with me.

“Tuck, baby, I’m fine. I’ve been through a lot, and to be honest, I hope to God you
never
know all the details of it. But I know you wouldn’t hurt me. I could tell that about you the first moment I met you. And I wasn’t even shaking because I was scared of what was about to happen. I was excited and overwhelmed. Overwhelmed because I was feeling so much emotion. Emotion that I turned off quite some time ago and didn’t know if I’d ever get back.”

The look on his face was unabashed, deep feeling. He was a completely open book in that moment and wanted me to see the depth of what he was experiencing. He stared right into my eyes and let me watch his blue-green ones get wet. He wanted me to have that. Of course, such openness made me feel nervous, so I kept talking to push through the moment. “Now let me look at your hand. You’re bleeding.”

I went to grab his hand and pull it up for inspection but he brushed my hands away and cupped my jaws while stroking my cheeks with his thumbs.

He murmured in a soft, reverent voice, “Jesus. My Talie. So strong.”

He leaned forward and touched his mouth to mine softly.

Backing up again and looking into my eyes, he spoke again. “Right, Babe. Good news. You’re beautiful and you’re in my bed. Also, my hand is fine, only needs a little doctorin’. Bad news, the mood’s ruined. So, tonight, sleep. We’ll try again tomorrow.”

He got up, scooted me into the bed, and threw the covers over me. He walked into the bathroom to, I assumed, doctor his hand and returned a couple minutes later. Going around the bed and flicking out the light, he climbed in behind me and hooked an arm around my waist pulling me back into his hard, still naked body.
Still naked.
Geez. We were both still naked, actually. I chewed on this for a while not knowing whether I was completely comfortable with the non-sexual nudity at this early stage, and then decided to say something.

“Um, Tuck-”

“Sleep, Babe.”

“But, um, we’re naked.”

“Yeah.”

“We’re
naked
.”

“Yeah. It’s nice. And I’d be able to enjoy it if you’d shut up about it.”

Thinking about that, I took in the feel of him behind me. And I could feel
all
of him. I decided he was right, maybe I should shut up and enjoy it.

“Okay, I’ll shut up.”

“‘Preciate it.”

I smiled into the dark room, thinking maybe the struggles of life weren’t so bad after all if you ended up in bed with Tucker Cody after them.

“Night, Tuck.”

I felt him smile into my neck from behind me and murmur, “Goodnight, my Talie.”

********

I woke up the next morning to Tuck kissing my neck. “Wake up, Baby. You gotta get to work.”

I jumped up in a panic, my hands taking on a karate chop position. “What time is it?”

Tuck chuckled and answered, “Don’t worry, you have plenty of time. We don’t have time to have any fun, but you have plenty of time to get to work. I’ll drop you off.”

Still in a just coming out of sleep combined with being naked and being in Tuck’s bedroom fog, I was confused. “Time to have fun?”

“When I enjoy your body for the first time, I plan to do it thoroughly. And I plan to have time to explore. You get me?”

Oh yeah, I got him. My whole body shivered. So I just nodded and continued my questions. “You’ll drop me off?”

“Yeah.”

“How?”

“Not following you, Babe.”

“How will you drop me off? You walk everywhere.”

“Have a truck.”

“You have a truck?”

“Yep.”

“How did I not know this?”

“Babe. I have a farm, gotta have a truck.” After a beat of silence he continued. “Have a motorcycle, too.”

Oh yeah, I remembered that now, but I wasn’t sure I was ready for motorcycle rides.

I was still confused, but Tuck obviously wanted to move on to the next topic. “You workin’ the dinner shift today?”

“No.”

“Good. I’ll pick you up, we’ll have dinner, and then come back here.”

“We’ll come back here?”

With an exasperated look on his face he said, “Yeah, Babe, here. Jesus, woman. You’re kinda annoyin’ me this mornin’.”

Having a mildly childish fit, I snapped, “Oh yeah? Well if I’m annoying you so much why would I want to come back here tonight?”

“Because as annoyin’ as you are right now, I still wanna share my bed with my woman and maybe finally get to do some pleasurable things with that woman. And trust me, Babe, way I’m gonna treat you, you’re gonna want it too.”

Now I was shocked. “I’m your woman?”

“Christ Talie. Stick with me. What do you think last night was?”

“Well I know you’re interested in me-”

“No, I ain’t
interested
in you. I knew you were it the moment I met you. I wanna build a life with you. I wanna go to sleep with you in my bed after fuckin’ you every night and wake up with you in my bed and hopefully fuck you again. I wanna spend time spendin’ time together and just gettin’ to know each other. I wanna put my ring on your finger, plan a future with you, and hopefully make babies with you someday. This is it Talie. You and me. We’re gonna fight ‘cause I’m me and you’re fiery than all hell, but ain’t nothin’ that’s gonna be big enough to make it so you and me aren’t together. You got that?”

I couldn’t find the ability to speak, so I just nodded. I didn’t know that I agreed there wasn’t anything big enough to break us up because I had some pretty ugly monsters in my closet. But there wasn’t anything to do in that moment, after that speech, other than concur with him.

********

On the way to work, I finally regained my speech capabilities and said, “I don’t know what to think about you saying all of these nice things to me. It’s not normal for us.”

He just shrugged and said, “You’ll get used to it. And until you do, I’ll say all kinds of messed up shit to you in between if it’ll make ya feel better.”

I couldn’t help it. I burst out laughing.

My body still racking with peels of laughter, I felt Tuck reach over and grab my hand. He laced our fingers together and set our hands back down on my thigh. My laughter immediately faded to a smile, and I couldn’t help but think that was the sweetest touch anyone had ever given me.

I thought he would just pull up and drop me off but he parked on the street in front of the diner instead. I opened my door to get out and he opened his too. I jumped down, shut my door and went to head for the diner when he rounded the hood and grabbed me by my forearm. He pushed me back against the truck, so that my back was to it and his body was full frontal against mine.

He got close to my face with a smirk on his and murmured, “Where ya goin’ Talie?”

I thought this was kind of a ridiculous question because it was pretty damn obvious where I was going.

“To work.”

He smiled and shook his head slightly. “That’s not how we say goodbye anymore, Babe.” Then he leaned the rest of the way in and pressed his mouth to mine.

It started as a soft touch of our lips, but at the feel of his soft lips against mine I melted into him, a little moan escaped my throat, and my hands made their way from their place on his upper arms up to snaking around his neck and into his hair. At that, I felt his tongue swipe against the crack of my lips begging for entrance. I opened immediately for him. His tongue snaked inside quickly and caressed mine with expert finesse. Man he was a good kisser. I silently thanked all of the women he had probably been through for building his experience to the point where it was now.

Last night’s kiss had been fabulous, but we had been in such a heightened state of emotion that I had missed a couple things. Like how good he tasted. Jesus, it was like nothing I had ever tasted before. All fresh and totally Tuck. And being this close to him, with all my senses opened up, I also noticed that he was the best thing I had ever smelled.

Evidently as affected as I was, he pulled back and raggedly whispered, “Fuck, Babe. Lookin’ forward to more where that came from.”

Looking over his shoulder I noticed that we had an audience. Toni and Anabelle, as well as all of the patrons of the diner. Embarrassed I ducked my head down and put my face in his chest. Tuck craned his neck and looked over his shoulder and then turned back to whisper in my ear. “Didn’t mean to put on a show. But thinkin’ it may be a good thing. Now it’s over with and guys’ll know better than to move on what’s mine.”

Still feeling the effects of the kiss, I breathed, “Move on what’s yours?”

“Yeah, Babe. Not big on men comin’ on to my woman. Or doin’ their best to get an eyeful. Which is what they’re usually doin’.” He paused a beat and then finished, “Especially after that performance at the Lizard with Ruthie.”

I guess he heard about that.

I didn’t understand so I shook my head. “What do you mean they’re usually trying to get an eyeful?”

“Been watchin’ you since you got here. Guys are constantly starin’ at your tits or your ass, dependin’ on what direction you’re facin’.”

I didn’t know guys checked me out like that. “Really?”

“Uh, yeah. And I don’t like it when what they’re eye-fuckin’ is mine.”

There was that ‘mine’ again. I still wasn’t completely sure I was comfortable with a possessive guy. “I’m not sure I like being your property, Tuck.”

“Not property, Babe, just mine. Give it time, you’ll adjust.”

“What if I don’t?”

“You will.”

I repeated, “What if I don’t, Tuck?”

Obviously getting tired of my questions he said, “Talie, just go in and work.”

Rolling my eyes, I pushed him back from me, stepped onto the sidewalk and huffed, “Fine. We’ll talk about this later.”

Tuck grabbed my hand, pulled me back, and turned me to him once again. And he was laughing.

Exasperated, I shouted, “What in the hell is so funny?”

Tuck didn’t answer. He just stepped into me again and crushed his mouth to mine. This kiss was short with just a little touch of tongue, but it was almost as delicious. And with that he stepped back, rounded the hood, opened his door, called “Bye, Babe”, jumped in, started it up and pulled away.

********

The day went by pretty uneventfully. At least, after everyone got their knowing looks and innuendo filled comments out of the way. Little did they know, we actually didn’t get to that part yet. I guess with the way I left there last night and Tuck’s normal elapsed time for getting into panties, it didn’t occur to anyone that it might not have happened.

Tuck came to pick me up and after I climbed up into the passenger seat of the truck he leaned over and touched his mouth to mine.

Man, that was awesome. I could really get used to his casual affection with me.

Before he could start the truck, I reached over and laid my hand on his forearm. He turned to me and I schooled my features to look neutral or maybe even a little concerned. He read my mood and gave me his full attention. “What’s up Talie?”

I gave my most sincere face and stated, “I have a really important question, Tuck.”

Growing more concerned, Tuck said, “Ok, Babe. Go ahead.”

“I’ve been thinking about it all day, and I just can’t come up with an answer.”

When I didn’t speak for a few seconds, he did. “Jesus, Talie, spit it out.”

“When I moved into the apartment...how did you know about the Coke?”

A flicker of surprise crossed his face before he burst out laughing. I slowly let my smile fade back onto my face.

Tuck reached out, tagged me around the neck with his arm, and pulled me into his body and then reached back to the ignition and started up the truck. Pulling the gear shift down into drive and pulling away from the curb, he talked through his laughter. “Not that hard, Babe. Ran into Steve over at the The Goods, and he told me both mornings you’d been here you’d been into his store first thing to buy yourself a Coke. From there I used my powers of deduction to realize you must have a Coke every mornin’.”

He drove down Main street, took a left and then a right, and we headed up the road towards his house. He turned left into the driveway and then pulled up in front of the house and parked. He turned to grab his door handle to get out, but I stopped him with a hand on his thigh. I actually
had
thought of some real questions while I’d been at work and couldn’t wait any longer to get the answers.

He turned toward me with a questioning look on his face so I proceeded.