Page 66 of Coming Home Country
“Noted. I’ll make sure to pack some extra antihistamines tomorrow for when you have to give your speech.”
Tucker’s teasing made me smile. “That’s different, and you know it.”
He pressed a soft kiss to my forehead. “You’re right. Because if I know you, you’ll be speaking from the heart.”
A smirk lifted my lips. “Are you saying you need notes for your speech? Blasphemous.”
When he tickled my side, I squealed, twisting away to escape his playful attack. The shift had me flat on my back, and Tucker saw an opportunity, electing to cage me in from above.
Burying his face in the crook of my neck, he kissed a path upward until his lips skimmed my jaw before capturing my mouth. There was zero hesitation; I opened for him instantly, moaning at his familiar taste.
His hands skated up my sides, shoving the shirt covering me out of the way. Fingers trailed fire across my exposed skin, and I lifted my hips, moaning when the hard length of him brushed against where I lay open and naked for him.
That, apparently, was enough to bring Tucker back to his senses, and he tore his lips away with a groan.
“Just sleeping tonight.” The words came out strained, like he was struggling to keep a grip on his control.
My breath came out in short pants, and I replied, “You started it.”
His chest rumbled, and he nipped at my lower lip one more time before sitting back on his knees and pulling the shirt back down to cover my naked body.
This time, when he laid back down, he turned onto his side, pulled my back flush to his chest, and banded his arms around me to keep me close.
Wiggling my ass against his hard-on resulted in a sharp sting in the flesh of my shoulder as Tucker bit down before he growled in warning, “Behave.”
“Fine,” I huffed, though I was unable to keep the amusement from my tone. “How about instead of fooling around, you tell me how you came to run the family practice in town.”
His breath fanned across my ear as he spoke. “When I left Baltimore, I had a couple more years left on my residency, so I transferred it to the hospital in Enid. The commute was killer, so I spent more nights than I care to admit sleeping in the on-call room, but I made it through. By the time I’d finished it, Doc Stevens was getting ready to retire. With no one else in town qualified to take his place, I offered to buy him out of the practice. I met Felicity Bowman while working in Enid and practically begged her to join me down here. Six hundred people doesn’t seem like a lot when you’re talking about the population of the town, but it’s far too many patients for one doctor to handle alone. Honestly, I don’t know how Doc Stevens managed all those years without a partner.”
“Sounds like it keeps you busy.”
“It does,” he agreed. “But it’s also really rewarding.”
“What’s your favorite part?” I was curious to learn more about his position within the community.
“Nothing brings me more joy than one of my patients calling me from the hospital to share the news that they’ve brought a baby safely into this world and need me to come check the little one out.”
One of Tucker’s hands shifted to rest on my lower abdomen, and I sucked in a sharp breath.
What seemed like a lifetime ago now, we’d talked about having babies. Together. And I couldn’t help but wonder what they might’ve looked like and how many we would have today if things had been different.
I hadn’t forgotten the short list of names for the children we never got to have.
Oaklynn, Saylor, Bowen, and Reece.
I mourned them even though they’d never been conceived, the same as I mourned the loss of their theoretical father—the only man I’d ever considered having children with.
My eyes began to burn, and I blinked furiously, willing myself not to cry any more tears over a dream long lost. Even if Tucker and I somehow managed to rebuild our relationship after all this time, so much had changed.
Nearing thirty, I knew the window grew smaller with each passing year I waited to start a family. Plus, there were Evie’s infertility struggles that had come to light earlier this week. What if that impacted Tucker, too, and the choice had already been made for us?
Then there was my career to consider. While legally, the firm couldn’t discriminate against women for taking maternity leave, they found subtle ways to punish those who did. Their clients were passed off to male colleagues in their absence and not returned, the pumping room was a glorified storage closet, and they were still expected to hit the annual required billable hours, regardless of legally being given time off after birth. It also didn’t go unnoticed that there wasn’t a single female partner who hadchildren. The message was crystal clear: if you want to move up, sacrifices in your personal life must be made.
All of that had been fine a week ago. I’d made my peace with the path I’d chosen.
Now, everything had changed. Courtesy of the man at my back.
In typical Tucker fashion, he sensed my internal turmoil and provided silent comfort in the form of soothing circles stroked over the skin of my hip.
