Page 58 of Coming Home Country
My head moved from side to side slowly as I lifted my eyes to meet his warm blue gaze.
“Then that settles it. You’re my date.”
“Just like that?” I challenged.
“Unless that’s a problem?” He arched an eyebrow.
Was it?
I’d broken off an engagement not even twelve hours ago. It probably wasn’t the smartest move to get swept up in the idea of rekindling a lost love. Not when I was set to leave in two days.
This wouldn’t be my final visit to Oklahoma; I’d already decided that. The pull was too strong to ignore, my roots deeper than I realized, and the reason for my self-imposed exile no longer existed.
I couldn’t help but feel like this was the start of a new chapter in the same book I’d set aside years ago. The story may have veered off course for a bit, with disposable side characters stealing the attention of the heroinefor a time, but all the while, the hero remained steadfast, waiting for her to return—to find her way back home and into his arms.
Allowing him to hold me in this place that contained all of our shared memories awakened feelings I’d shoved down deep for fear that letting them free would destroy me. Was it so wrong to want to recapture what we’d lost through no fault of our own?
The next two days could be deemed a trial run. To see if that spark would set the world on fire around us, to see if we could rise from the ashes stronger than ever.
I had nothing left to lose and everything to gain.
“Bex?” Tucker said my name with a note of uncertainty. The pain of impending rejection written in his eyes was what tipped the scale on my decision.
Here goes nothing.
“I’ll be your date.”
Tucker plucked a bloom from the arrangement at the center of the table while we waited for dinner to be served. When I cocked my head in question, he only offered me a smile.
His fingers ghosted over my cheek, and my sigh at his touch was automatic. With practiced ease, he tucked the loose strands of my hair behind one ear before slipping the stem of the blush pink rose over the shell, tucking it into place.
“Beautiful.” His eyes practically glowed in the dim light now that the sun had set.
The gesture was romantic, intimate even, and butterflies flapped wildly in my stomach, knowing he meant me, not the flower.
I hadn’t truly been living during the time we’d spent apart. Nothing compared to having Tucker Grant looking at me like I was the center of his universe. His undisguised affection brought my dull life into color, making everything seem so vibrant that it was almost overwhelming.
How could I go back to working my life away in the city whenthiswas an option?
Having grown up a lot in the past ten years, I wasn’t naïve enough to believe that every day would be like this. But if we could string enough of these ones together—ones that felt like a damn miracle after a decade of prayers to wash away the pain of the past—it might just be enough to sustain me through the not-so-great ones in between.
Bolstered by that hope, I leaned in to speak softly in his ear. “Never took you for a thief.” My fingers floated over the buttery-soft rose petals.
“Normally, I wouldn’t be, but I tend to lose my mind when you’re around.” The deep timber of his voice settled right between my thighs.
It had never taken much for this man to turn me on. And we’d never even fucked. Damn travesty if you asked me. Especially when I’d been forced to endure more than my fair share of mediocre sex.
The chemistry we’d once shared still swirled in the charged air surrounding us. If it was half as explosive as it had been back then—we might not have sealed the deal but had done pretty much everything else—I was in for a rare treat.
That thought stopped me in my tracks.
Was I seriously considering sleeping with Tucker in the next forty-eight hours before I hopped a plane back to Chicago?
Yes. The answer was a resounding yes.
I couldn’t spend the rest of my life not knowing what it was like to connect with my soulmate on that level. Even if it only happened once.
“Does anyone have a permanent marker I could borrow?” Tucker called out as the night began winding down, our dessert plates sitting empty before us.
