Sugar Plum Serenade (Seawolf Beach #2)

Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13

She’d never showered with a man before. Stefan had liked his privacy when he bathed, and there hadn’t been a man since. So here she was. Another first for her. Tuck’s walk-in shower was a good size; they weren’t crowded. That didn’t mean they moved away from one another. No, they touched constantly. They kissed under the spray of warm water. Tuck washed her back, and then her thighs, and then more.

She’d never expected to be here, with him, but all she could do was live in the moment. She didn’t do enough of that. Live in the moment . Enjoy the curveballs life threw her way. This trip to Seawolf Beach had been filled with curveballs.

When they were more than clean, Tuck dried her body with a fat gray towel, and she did the same for him. They took their time; they had all night. With every touch, with every second that passed, Olive spiraled closer to losing control. She’d never wanted any man, never wanted anything , the way she wanted him. She’d be happy for their first time to be on the floor, or standing in the shower, but they hadn’t been thinking ahead. The condoms were on the bedside table, just a few feet away. They wouldn’t do any good at all from that distance .

Tuck held onto her as he danced her into the bedroom and grabbed one as they fell onto the bed. She laughed a little as they bounced, but there was no laughter as he kissed one nipple and then the other, as he touched her where she needed him to touch.

Another new sensation; another curveball. She’d never been so ready for a man that she completely lost control. She’d never been this ready for anything in her life! She wrapped her legs around him and he was there, inside her, filling her. Relief and a desire for more washed through her; she was caught up in a sensation of connection, togetherness , that went beyond the physical. There was nothing in the world but this, nothing but the two of them and the way they fit together.

She could stay here all night, joined with Tuck, letting physical joy wash over her, wanting to wallow in it but also driving toward the end. Control? She had none, wanted none.

She shattered, and he came with her. It had been a long time for her, but she couldn’t remember a sensation this powerful, couldn’t remember ever being with a man and feeling so… complete.

Could one night with a man change her life? Change her ? It felt that way.

Tuck lifted his head and smiled at her. “Damn,” he whispered.

She wanted to believe that he felt something like she did, in this moment. That this was more, or could be. That this was special. That they were special.

Fanciful thoughts.

“Damn, indeed. We didn’t even make it all the way onto the bed, did we?”

“Close enough. Next time…”

“Next time,” she whispered .

Dawn was just going to have to get used to it. For a while, at least.

There were no annoying customers in Dawn’s Radiance on Tuesday. Were the people around her more well-behaved or was she the changed one? Did a long overdue orgasm really spark a shift in her personality?

Olive was happy. She was always pretty much content with her day-to-day life, but when was the last time she’d been genuinely happy ? It had been a while.

She couldn’t help but wonder if any of the neighbors had seen her run from Tuck’s house to her own in the early morning hours, in her crumpled red dress, heels in hand. For the first time in her life she could actually say she’d taken the infamous walk of shame .

She felt no shame at all.

During business hours she talked to Mike a couple of times. Dawn and the baby boy were doing well. They’d probably head home tomorrow. She couldn’t wait that long! Tonight she’d head to the maternity ward and visit with her sister. Maybe she could even hold the baby for a while. Dawn was sure to ask questions about Tuck, which Olive would either ignore or answer honestly. She hadn’t decided.

If she’d been thinking she would’ve driven to work today instead of walking, but walking had become a habit, one she enjoyed. Her walk home after work was a brisk one. There was so much to do tonight!

Maybe Tuck would like to go to the hospital with her, to check out the results of his handiwork. Her heart dropped a little when she saw his empty driveway. Of course he was at work. Their schedules were so different it was a miracle they’d even met, much less…

Thank goodness he’d come over to say hello and save her from an unwanted Christmas tree.

She stripped off her work clothes and slipped into jeans, a casual blouse, and tennis shoes. What she’d worn all day had retail all over it, and she was glad to shed as much of it as she could. She didn’t even think about her pirate ghost, not until she was in the midst of changing clothes.

Why should she care? If Giles was real, if he’d been hanging around watching for hundreds of years, then he’d seen countless naked people. In this house, since it was built. On the land before that. She wasn’t special in that respect.

Before she left the house, she typed a quick text. I’m going to the hospital to see Dawn and the baby. Did Mike tell you? They named the baby Nathaniel. If you want to stop by…

She didn’t want to come off as pushy, or needy, or desperate, so she deleted the last sentence. He knew where she’d be, and would stop by if it suited him.

She hit send and left the house in a bit of a hurry. So much to do! After a visit with her sister and nephew, she had another stop to make.

Standing behind the bar at The Magnolia, Tuck read Olive’s text. He thought about responding. He thought about asking her if she wanted a ride to the hospital. He thought about saying a lot of things, but he did nothing.

He needed time to think, and when he was with Olive, he didn’t.

Within a couple of days he’d found out he’d had a grandmother living down the road for years but it was too late to get to know her, since she’d died more than two years ago; he’d delivered a baby again , something that had not been on his list of experiences he wanted to repeat even though it had been kind of awesome; and he’d fallen for a woman who wasn’t going to stay.

Olive had a life in Alabama, a good life from everything Mike had told him. A thriving business, friends, and her parents didn’t live too far away. No man, to hear him tell it, not for years, so maybe she didn’t need one.

He could relate. After a couple of earlier relationships went sour, he’d decided to be happy on his own for a while. He wanted to say the destruction of those relationships hadn’t been his fault but looking back… maybe he’d been as much to blame as the women. Maybe it was all his fault. Maybe they’d just been wrong for him.

None of them had been anything like Olive.

Yesterday had been momentous. Dinner, a new baby, incredible sex. He liked Olive, he liked her a lot.

But like everyone else he’d ever cared about she wasn’t going to stay, so why make more of this than it was or could ever be? Fun, for a while. Someone to spend Christmas with, and then she’d be gone. This holiday affair, if that’s what it was, had begun with Olive saying she wasn’t looking for a relationship. He saw more in them, or at least the possibility of more, but she was simply… hooking up. That should be fine with him; it should be perfect. So why was he mentally grousing about it now?

Olive was going to leave, too soon. She’d be back to visit, he supposed, and one day she’d show up with a husband on her arm. Kids would follow. Maybe she’d remember hooking up with him one Christmas with fondness.

Shit, he was thinking too much, overthinking everything. He liked her more than he’d expected he would, but neither of them needed the complication of a serious relationship .

She liked him, too; he knew it. That didn’t mean she’d change her life for him. Whatever they had was temporary, a fling and nothing more.

The Magnolia stayed busy, even now as Christmas approached. Tuck wasn’t the only one who didn’t have family plans for Christmas. He wasn’t the only one hiding from the holiday, just waiting for it to be over. He wondered if he could take his tree down this week, well before Christmas. He’d only put it up — well, he’d had it done — for Olive.

He was surprised to see Mike walk into The Magnolia on a Tuesday night. The new father had called several times today. Tuck always found a reason to send those calls to voicemail.

“He lives!” Mike said as he took a stool at the bar.

Unless he wanted to turn and run, there was no place to go. “Shouldn’t you be at the hospital?”

“I should. If you’d answer your damn phone, I would be.”

“Beer?”

Mike shook his head. “Not tonight. Though I will take a burger with the works, fries, and a glass of water.”

Tuck put the order in, then returned to his friend. “So, Nathaniel,” he said.

“Who told you? Olive, I guess. I wanted to tell you myself, but you didn’t answer your damn phone.”

“Don’t you know how to text?”

“I thought this was too important to put in a text, but hell, what do I know. I hope you don’t mind. No one calls you anything but Tuck, so it’s not like it’ll be confusing. Actually, I’m grateful. Dawn was planning to name him Edgar, after her grandfather. She moved that to the middle name, which suits me.”

“It’s fine. I’ve been Tuck for more than twenty years. And…” He grinned. “Edgar?”

“Yeah, that was a close one. ”

“You didn’t have any say in the matter?”

Mike laughed. “Hell, no. You just wait. One day you’ll understand.”

He didn’t think that day would ever come.

Mike demolished his burger and inhaled the fries. When he was done, he gave Tuck an odd, probing look.

“So, what’s with you and Olive?”

The question of the day, one he had no answer for. Not for Mike, not for himself.