Page 86 of Untamed
He’s proven me wrong about a lot of things.
Maren leans toward me, her voice lowering just a little. “I can’t get over the way he looks at you.”
Again, I find myself unable to resist the desire to know exactly what one of my friends means. “How does he look at me?”
“Like he wants to eat you alive.” She gives me a grin. “In the good way.”
My thighs clench a little, because it is averygood way. A way I’ve experienced every night before falling asleep in his bed.
“I think he’s just checking to make sure I see how good Birdie is at floating on her back.”
“Ithink he’s just checking to make sure you see how hot he looks in his swim trunks.”
Maren goes silent as Tucker once again seeks me out, his eyes lingering on where I sit for a minute before going back to my daughter.
The woman beside me sighs, the sound filled with a sort of longing I’ve been feeling a lot lately myself. “I wish a man would look at me like that. Like he loves me so much he can’t stand not seeing me for thirty seconds.”
I try to swallow, but my throat refuses to work. It’s probably the same reason my words are barely a whisper when I say, “Tucker doesn’t love me.”
That would be impossible.
Right?
I think back to how easy it was to list off all his attributes. All the pieces that would make him a good dad and husband. All the reasons he’s so easy to like.
And would be so easy to love.
But I can’t love Tucker Bradshaw. That would be ridiculous.
The reason I feel sick over moving to Maryland can't be because I love him. It can’t be because I’ll miss the way he gagswhen Birdie poops. That he makes the best tiramisu I’ve ever had. The sound of his footsteps as he chases Birdie through the house.
It just can’t be. We barely know each other. Neither of us wants a relationship.
“Don’t look now, but a man is for sure looking at you.” Brooke's voice pulls me from my spiral as she stretches one leg to tap at Maren’s shin with her toe. “And hasn’t stopped since he got here.”
Maren’s eyes swing across the room to level on where Trevor is positioned at the opposite end of the pool, his arms stretched out along the ledge as he stares.
She glares back, a scowl on her lips. “Yeah, but he’s not looking at me like he can’t stand not to.” She narrows her eyes. “He’s staring at me like he’s thinking about drowning me.”
I’m not the best at reading people, but the intensity I see simmering in Trevor doesn’t look homicidal. Not at all. It looks…
Devouring.
It makes me a little concerned for her. Not because I think Trevor would ever hurt her. I’ve spent hours with him, and the man is all bark. But because if he ever decides to make a move, she’s not going to know what hit her.
I’m afraid I might be in a similar boat. Because the reality that I’m leaving Tucker behind in just a few short days is starting to hit me.
Along with the fear that my feelings for Tucker have accidentally become more than simple respect and appreciation.
I might have gone and done the dumbest thing in the world and fallen in love with him.
And boy would that be a terrible development.
29
Tucker
“You’re shitting me.” I turn from where I stand in the kitchen, eyes finding Ruth and Birdie playing in the corner of the great room, just out of earshot.
