To Win Her Trust

by Mackenzie Crowne

  His fingers dragged over her belly, and he pulled his hand out from beneath her suit. She opened her eyes and wanted to cry as he tugged the straps up over her arms, covering her.

  “You should probably get that.”

  She stared into his sober gaze for a long moment, then rolled to her side. He shifted his weight enough for her to reach into her bag. Thumbing the phone’s screen, she answered the call. “Hello, Mom.”

  “Where are you, baby? Are you all right?”

  The muscles of his arms bulged as he pushed off her. He jammed the fingers of one hand into his hair and mouthed, “I’m going for a swim”. Her gaze zoomed in on the impressively tented front of his trunks until he turned abruptly and stalked for the door with Walter following.

  Her eyelids slid shut, but the enticing image stayed with her. “I’m fine, Mom. I’m at the beach.” She jackknifed her legs and rolled to stand. Moving to the windows, she watched as Tuck’s long legs carried him across the sand and into the surf where he dove clean and disappeared beneath the waves. Walter bounded after him with joyous abandon.

  “Are you sure, baby? I sensed a strange vibration in your aura and got concerned.”

  Her gaze jerked to the couch she’d just vacated. Well, hell. Could hovering on the brink of orgasm vibrate one’s aura? Thankfully, her slightly hysterical laugh sounded more like a cough. “Nope, no vibrating here.” Well, except for the remnant weakness in her shaking legs.

  “That’s odd. Maybe I’m sensing a forerunner to something that hasn’t happened yet.”

  If you’d called three minutes later….

  “Oh, well. Time will tell. Do you have any idea what time you’ll be home?”

  The hair stood up on CC’s neck. “Not really. Why? Where are you?”

  A slight hesitation, then, “I decided to do a little shopping so I flew in this morning.”

  Great. Just what I need.

  “Shopping? More like you flew in to try and convince me to see Curt.”

  “That’s not true, I—”

  “Mom.” She slid her fingers through her tangled curls and shoved them back from her face.

  “Okay, that’s part of it, but I can’t help it. The time has come for you and your father to put the bitterness behind you. Besides, I’ve missed you and Kris. Can’t a mother spend some time with her girls?”

  She heaved a sigh as Tuck rose from the waves with his back to the shore. He shook his head, and a spray of water shot out in all directions from his shaggy mane. “I’m not questioning your motives, Mom. I know what they are and don’t want to spend the next few days arguing.”

  “Then we simply won’t argue.”

  She dropped her chin to her chest. As usual, her mother’s sunny promise masked the determination behind her true quest. “How long will you be in town?”

  “Oh, no more than a couple of days, maybe three.”

  Her eyes slid shut. Three days? With Tuck leaving for training camp in less than two weeks, every day was precious.

  “It’ll be fun. We’ll do lunch and visit a few museums, and I really do need to shop.”

  She sighed. “Where are you? Do you need to be picked up?”

  “No, I’m fine. I’m at the Plaza. Will you be home in time for dinner? I thought we could meet at Carmine’s. My treat.”

  On the beach, the roped muscles of Tuck’s arm bunched as he chucked a rock into the surf. Walter dove in head first to retrieve it. “I’ll be there. What time?”

  “I made reservations for seven.”

  “Fine. I’ll see you in a little while. I’ve got to go.”

  “Okay, baby. We’re going to have fun. You’ll see.”

  Right. Her mother pestering her to see Curt for two days…maybe three? Yeah, that sounded like a blast.

  “Bye, Mom.” She thumbed the phone and tossed it to the couch.

  On the beach, Tuck bent to pick up another rock. He sent the stone flying, and she gnawed at her lip. He’d nearly brought her to orgasm only moments before—would have, if not for her mother’s untimely interruption, and she had no idea what happened next. Had he fled so quickly because she’d made it clear discussing her family was off limits and wanted to give her privacy? Or was he upset she’d taken her mother’s call at such a moment? The erection straining the seams of his suit proved tossing rocks to her dog on the beach wasn’t how he saw the next few minutes going.

  As bold as he was, she doubted he’d let her act as if that heavy duty petting session never happened. Not that she would. She’d made her bed—she huffed at the apropos expression—and wasn’t at all disappointed at the thought of sleeping in it. No. Of her own freewill, she’d stepped over a line she never thought she could, both emotionally and physically, and the sky hadn’t fallen. Quite the contrary. For the first time in her adult life, victory over the neuroses that kept her chained seemed possible, and a normal life dangled within her reach. She’d be damned if she’d crawl back into her self-induced cave of exile.

  Perhaps the vibration her mother claimed she sensed was the brand new hope of freedom pulsing in her heart. Whether he knew it or not, Tuck’s brash and bold assistance was largely responsible for her transformation from frightened rabbit to optimistic woman. She owed him a debt she couldn’t ever repay, but she planned to try.

  Her head flooded with possible scenarios of how she could show her appreciation, and she cleared her throat. He was right. For a virgin, she did have a dirty mind.

  Her only concern was protecting her heart in the process. It would be so easy to fall for him. She was already halfway there. No, guarding her heart was essential, because she obviously had no willpower when it came to her sexy, freedom muse, and it was only a matter of time until they consummated what they’d left unfinished with the ringing of her phone.

  Their agreement would end in less than two weeks, but she’d survived nearly two decades under debilitating panic attacks. Surely, she could keep her heart detached for so short a time. And if she failed? Well, she’d cross that bridge if and when she came to it. The demon lust dealer had done his work well. One taste, and her mouth, along with another hot and greedy body part, watered for more.

  After plucking several towels from the cabinet near the door, she stepped outside and descended the steps to the sand. Uncertainty dragged at her feet. What, exactly, did one say to a man who had recently sucked your nipples while his fingers played your body like a master musician?

  She eyed Tuck where he continued the game of fetch with Walter a dozen yards off to her right. He was a man who met life’s battles head on. It made sense to tear a page from his playbook and do the same.

  As if sensing her presence, he turned. He bumped up his chin in greeting, but his usual boyish smile was absent.

  Oh, hell. The direct approach would have to wait, at least until her maniacally beating heart slowed enough to allow her to breathe.

  Dropping the towels on the sand where they’d stay dry, she broke into a run. She hit the surf, and as she’d watched Tuck do minutes earlier, she arched into a dive.

  * * * *

  Tuck waded into the water as CC reemerged from her dive to bob in the chest high waves. Pushing through the surf toward her, he studied her face. A pink blush stained her high cheekbones, and her full lips were drawn tight in a flat line. Clearly she was rattled over the heavy petting they’d indulged in. Considering her lack of experience, he’d have been surprised if she weren’t. But virginal embarrassment didn’t account for the haunting shadows in her thickly lashed eyes, any more than guilt over touching her as he had was responsible for the cataclysmic shifting in his chest.

  Jesus. Locked in a closet. Most nine-year-olds would have closed in on themselves in terror and, in a way, she had, but she’d also grabbed at survival, clutching it in her fingers in the form of a blue crayon.

  She had no idea how strong she was, but he did.

  He ignored the heavy pounding of his heart, knocking against his ribs as the urge to rip apart her kid
nappers clashed with a longing to wrap her in his arms and promise her nothing would ever hurt her again. The former wasn’t possible, but neither was it necessary. The men responsible for holding her in the woods would live out their lives in five by eight cells, suffering much worse than the pain from a few broken bones. As for the latter… She might have turned to fire in his arms, singeing both his mind and body with her heated response, but that was simple chemistry. Nothing had actually changed. They had a deal. A short-term one, and exposing his growing primal need to hold her close and protect her from the world’s harms would only scare her off.

  He floated close, holding her gaze. “You okay?”

  She shoved dripping hair out of her face. “I, uh…well.”

  He smiled softly and scraped a fingertip over her cheek to pluck a clinging hank of hair away and tuck it behind her ear. “Take a breath, sunshine. We’ll get to what happened on the couch, I promise, but, for now, I assume that was your mother on the phone. Is there a problem?”

  Her harsh laugh was muffled by the palm she dragged over her face and mouth. “Not exactly.” They rose on a swelling wave, and she curved her lips in a weak smile. “She’s in town for a couple days.”

  He treaded water at her side. “That’s a bad thing?”

  She turned her head to stare out at the horizon. Like diamonds on an endless bed of blue, the sunlight sparkled on the water, but the sight paled against the sober intensity of her profile. “She wants me to see Curt.”

  “And you don’t want to.” It wasn’t a question.

  She turned and met his gaze with haunted eyes. “No, I don’t.” She dipped her head and looked away. “If that makes me sound like a selfish bitch, so be it. I don’t owe him a damn thing.”

  The band around his heart squeezed tighter at the bitterness of her tone. He’d once asked about the root cause of her attacks and had a sneaking suspicion he’d just found the source. He drifted closer on a rising wave. “I was pretty young at the time, but I remember seeing a picture of you with your father after the kidnapping. The two of you looked pretty close. What happened?”

  She jerked her head up to stare. “Pictures can be deceiving. Even when hundreds are taken. Especially then.”

  He shook his head. “I don’t understand.”

  “I know. I’m sorry.” She squeezed her eyes shut briefly and sighed. “As frightening as the kidnapping was, the months following were worse. Curt’s sister, Kris’s mother, was killed in a car accident two months before the kidnapping, and Kris had come to live with us. Instead of taking us away somewhere private where we could heal and feel safe, my father booked a year-long tour and took us along as props. He never missed an opportunity to toss me in front of the cameras.”

  Anger bulged the clenching muscles of Tuck’s treading arms.

  “I was nine and on the verge of a breakdown. I couldn’t eat or sleep. The nightmares were…” She shuddered and a sudden sheen of tears shimmered in her eyes. “Nothing mattered but Curt’s floundering career. For a rocker on the verge of invisibility, the sudden publicity was like winning the lottery.”

  “Jesus.” Tuck swam closer, needing to touch her, to remind her the painful memories were all in the past and could no longer hurt her, but that wasn’t true. The memories tortured her still. He rubbed a hand down her arm. “What about your mother? Didn’t she see what was happening?”

  CC sniffed and blinked away her tears. “She’s always been blind when it comes to Curt, and she was busy with her modeling career at the time. It wasn’t until six months later when she opened her eyes, after a mutual friend of her and my father’s cornered her and threatened to kidnap me himself. I have no idea what was said or what kind of threat she used to wrest us away from Curt, but I was almost ten and weighed fifty-three pounds when she whisked me and Kris to a small villa in Italy. I haven’t seen him since.”

  Dark and lethal, fury churned in the depths of Tuck’s soul. His stomach muscles clenched, and his fingers curled with the need to clamp around her father’s throat and squeeze in repayment of every hurt he’d caused his daughter. But killing Curt Jensen wouldn’t release her from the terror she’d labored under all these years. Only facing her fears and putting them behind her could do that.

  Tuck wanted nothing more than to stand by her side and help her do that—if she’d only let him. His gaze roamed over her face before locking on her eyes. “Then maybe it’s time you did.”

  Chapter 15

  Walter squeezed inside the moment CC opened the door to her condo. He padded straight to his toy box to retrieve one of Tuck’s old shoes, then across the floor toward Kris and Ronald. They stood with their backs to CC at the shelves holding her finished works.

  “The gallery owner practically begged me to convince her. It’s the opportunity of a lifetime.” Her agent ran a fingertip over Yearning.

  Kris crossed her arms. “Obviously, CC doesn’t see it that way.”

  A grunt of frustration rumbled in Ronald’s throat. “She has the kind of talent that could make her famous, but does she listen?” He looked down at Walter when the dog bumped against his thigh as he wiggled between them to grin up at Kris.

  CC gritted her teeth and shut the door with a thump. “Maybe I don’t want to be famous.”

  Ronald jumped and spun around to face her. Guilt stretched his smile thin.

  Kris yanked the tattered shoe from Walter’s mouth and tossed it into the hallway. “Hey, Cees. Look who I found loitering on the stoop. Oh, and you’ll never guess who’s in town.”

  “I heard.” She crossed the room to dump her bag on her workbench.

  Her cousin zeroed in on her nose. “Then you’d better do something about that Rudolph beak. How many times has Natalie told us, ‘sun damage isn’t only dangerous, it leaves wrinkles’?”

  She touched her nose and winced at the sunburn’s heat. Great. One more thing for her mother to complain over. Her gaze met Ronald’s. He struggled with a smile. It withered and died when she arched an accusing brow.

  “I didn’t expect you.” Although she probably should have. He’d left several messages saying he needed to see her but, embarrassed over their last encounter, she’d been avoiding him.

  Ever the gentleman, he didn’t mention the calls or the encounter. “I’m sorry to barge in unannounced, but I was hoping to talk to you.” He ran his gaze down her legs, bare under her shorts, and cleared his throat. “If this isn’t a good time, I can come back later.”

  “I—”

  “Don’t worry about me.” Kris gathered her laptop case and small Prada clutch from the couch. “I’ll be upstairs freshening up for dinner.” She flicked a glance at the clock on the wall. “Keep an eye on the time. You know how your mother hates to be late.” She swept from the room without another word to Ronald.

  CC shook her head, crossed her arms, and turned on her agent. “What were you talking to Kris about?”

  “I—”

  “Don’t ever go behind my back, Ronald. I consider that type of thing a deal breaker.”

  He had the grace to wince. “I wasn’t. Honestly.” His gaze slid to the empty hallway leading to her and Kris’s upstairs apartment. “All I did was mention the gallery’s offer, and she started pounding me with questions.”

  Of course she had. Kris was nothing if not protective. For whatever reason, she disliked and distrusted Ronald. She probably considered grilling him her duty. “I know how pushy my cousin can be, which is why I haven’t immediately tossed you out the door.”

  He shoved his hands into the pockets of his slacks. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have shown up without letting you know I was coming.”

  Walter nosed his favorite toy into her palm. She tossed it over the couch. “Forget it. What did you need to talk to me about?”

  He cleared his throat. “I’ve been thinking about what you asked me last week.”

  Oh, shit. Would this day ever end? Her proposition was the last subject she wanted to discuss with him. She turned he
r back to walk to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water. “I told you to forget that. It was a stupid idea.”

  “I disagree.”

  Her fingers paused in the act of twisting off the bottle cap, and she turned slowly.

  His dark gaze held hers, but he shuffled his feet as if the subject made him nervous as well. “I feel awful about the way I reacted to your request.”

  I’ve stepped into a nightmare.

  She rolled her head back and stared at the ceiling. “Ronald, please. I told you—”

  “Hear me out.” His strained smile didn’t reach his eyes when she dropped her head and met his gaze. “Your offer was honest and sweet, and I flung it back at you like an asshole.”

  True, but still…

  “I’m sorry. If you can forgive me…” Change jingled in his pocket as he breathed deeply. “I’m hoping you’ll give me a do-over.”

  She blinked. “Do-over?” Trepidation tensed her muscles as his smile turned hopeful.

  “I’d like to change my answer.”

  Oh, geez. Talk about awkward. How was she supposed to explain her offer hadn’t been sweet or honest? She’d simply needed a man, and he was the only one she knew. Well, except for Tuck, and… She frowned. “Wait. What about the new woman?”

  His shoulders rolled in a careless shrug. “That didn’t work out.”

  What am I, the consolation prize? She sipped from the bottle. “I’m sorry to hear that but, as it happens, I’ve started seeing someone.”

  “Kevin Tucker?”

  Surprise widened her eyes. So much for worrying their dates so far had been too anonymous to properly test her theory. She rarely read the papers and hadn’t had time to think since meeting Tuck, much less pay attention to headlines. Was it common knowledge the Marauders’ lady killer wide receiver had found himself this month’s woman? As far as she knew, they hadn’t drawn the attention of anyone in the press, but that didn’t mean some enterprising reporter hadn’t snapped a picture from behind a tree somewhere.

  The possibility had her suppressing a shiver. “Yes. How’d you know?”