Page 20 of Big Obsession

She pulls her hand from mine and throws both hands up in the air. “I don’t know what to think, Tucker. We’ve known each other for nine years, and it just seems all of a sudden you are, uh, attracted to me, so I’m just trying to catch up.”

I grip my hands together in my lap. I hate having this conversation here. There are kids laughing, people talking in the distance, and so much going on. If we were home or somewhere private, I could be holding her and reassuring her while we had this conversation. “Honey, I’ve always been attracted to you. I’ve told myself it was too messy with you being Karla’s best friend and how you and Ace are so close. I’ve fought this like you wouldn’t believe, but the more time I spend with you, the more I know how good it could be between us.”

She reaches for me, putting her hand on my arm. “Okay, so tell me what I should be thinking.”

“This could never be a one-night stand between us, Dolly. I want to date you.”

She laughs. “You want to date me?”

I don’t know how to put it any plainer than that. “Yes, I want to date you. I like spending time with you. You’re smart, beautiful, sassy, you won’t take any of my shit, you don’t back down from something you believe in, you try to protect my son from people and things that hurt him, you take care of me… and I’ve never wanted a woman as much as I want you.”

She lifts her hand to my forehead. “You were hurt.”

It takes me a minute to get her meaning. “You think me hurting my head is making me say all these things?”

She lifts her shoulders, and I see the insecurity on her face. “You did just hit your head and get a concussion last night.”

I cup her face in my hand. “Honey, talk to me. You know that things were good between us before I hit my head. Hell, I was holding your hand in this very spot the other day.”

She shoves a thumb over her shoulder. “Yeah, because one of the moms was trying to hook up with you.”

I lean toward her. “I didn’t hold your hand because I wanted you to ward off some woman. I held your hand because I wanted her to know I was taken.”

She opens her mouth and then closes it. “But…”

“Dolly, this isn’t a hard decision. You either want to be with me or you don’t.”

She blinks up at me and breaks my heart with three words. “Tuck, I can’t.”

CHAPTER 12

DOLLY

He releases his hold on me and sits back. He puts his glasses back on his face and turns to the field.

“Tucker…”I start.

But he’s shaking his head. “I’m a fool, Dolly. Why didn’t you tell me? I’ve been pushing myself on you, hell, I insisted you sleep in my bed last night, and now I find out that you don’t want to be with me.”

When I just sit here, biting my tongue, he keeps talking. “I mean, I can’t blame you. I’m a broken-down cowboy. You can do way better than me.”

I’m about to argue with him when another dad comes walking toward us. “Hey, Tucker, I heard about your fall last night. You doing okay?”

Tucker walks over to where the man is standing, and I’m left to myself. I stand up and lean against the fence to watch Ace on the field, but my mind keeps going back to everything that Tucker said to me. I never would have dreamed in a million years that hewould be interested in me, and now that he’s said it, fear has me in a chokehold.

Tucker keeps talking to the man for the rest of the practice, and I know he’s doing it because he needs some space from me. Hell, I can’t blame him. I’ve hurt his feelings. I told him I can’t be with him when in reality I want to be with him more than I’ve ever wanted anything.

As soon as practice is over, Ace comes running, and he and Tucker walk up to me at the same time. “Dad, can we go to the Hog & Hickory to eat?”

Tucker is avoiding my gaze. “Ace, we’re depending on Dolly to drive us around, and we’ve got food at home.”

“I’m hungry,” I tell him, wishing he’d look at me.

He finally does, even if it’s behind his sunglasses. “Are you sure you don’t have plans or anything?”

“I’m sure.” I grab my chair, and he folds his up and then takes the one I’m holding from me to carry them back to the car.

Luckily, Ace doesn’t pick up on the awkwardness between me and his father. He talks the whole way to the car and across town to the Hog & Hickory Smokehouse. We grab a booth, and as soon as we sit down, Ace is asking to go play some arcade games with a few of his friends from practice that just walked in with their parents.

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