by J. L. Beck
I blinked my eyes. “Me?”
Nodding her head, she stared at my chest.
“I try to keep—well, I work…” I laughed. “I’m a bit older than well, probably guys you might date. But I’m not a god, Macy. I’m just a normal man.”
She sat down and as she stared, she nervously licked her lips. “Well, if you are normal, I’d liked to know why I’ve never seen guys like you before!”
Smiling as I shook my head, I pulled the plastic from the garment bag, revealing a tux. I set it aside.
Her eyes widened as I pulled some boxers on from a smaller box. Then I grabbed the crisp white shirt and intended to put my arm in a sleeve when I halted and glanced back at her.
Macy now looked as if she were panting and she was biting her lower lip.
“What’s the matter?”
Looking distressed, she shook her head. “Well, I’ve heard how sexy it is for a man to undress, but I NEVER thought watching a man dress would be so freakin’ hot!”
I froze and watched her face to see if she was joking. “Okay…well then.” I slowly pulled the shirt on. Then I neatly buttoned it up. Next, I put one leg into the pants then the other. Gazing up at her, she was now fanning myself.
“Damn, put it all on, hot man!” She clapped her hands and giggled.
I laughed outright. Whoa, this woman was funny too, smart, sexy and a sense of humor. I shook my head and then made a slow turn and grabbed the tie.
Macy let out a loud wolf whistle.
I kept laughing and tied the tie as I’d done ever since I was a teen. So many social affairs over the years had trained me to tie without even looking. Who would have known it would be a sexy thing to someone? I then reached for the cummerbund and fastened it around my waist. As a final touch, I donned the jacket.
“Whoot!” Macy cheered. “Dammit, I wish I had a fistful of dollars to shove into your cummerbund!”
I was again laughing. This was a first for sure. A woman thinking that me dressing myself was sexy? What a fun loving woman. I’d wanted her body since I first laid eyes on her, but I also found that I wanted to hear that laugh of hers for the rest of my days. I didn’t want that haunted look I’d seen in her eyes before to ever come back. “Okay, your turn.”
Her laughter halted. “Wh-what?”
“Time to get your dress on.”
“Oh. Yeah.” She stared down at it.
“I can help,” I prompted.
Her eyes shot up at me. “Um—I—?’
I stepped forward and grabbed the dress. “I can dress you.”
Macy still looked anxious, but nodded her head.
“Arms up,” I urged.
She complied.
I put t it over her head and tugged it down over her breasts and hips. “No underwear needed,” I teased.
She stared down at it. “Wow. This dress must have cost a fortune.”
I remained silent. If she only knew that, it did in fact and it was mere pennies to me. I nudged her to sit on the bed and grabbed another box. “This is where I may have gotten it wrong. Damn, I sure hope…” I pulled out a green velvet pump and slowly slipped it onto her foot. It fit! “Well, I will be dammed.” I peered up at her.
“What?” she asked with bit of fear in her voice.
“You are Cinderella!” I reached for the other and slipped it onto her foot.
Macy looked shocked and then she grinned. “You know what? That is what I am!” She laughed heartily. “I mean, that is a perfect analogy. Macy Gump turns into Cinderella.” She stood up and took a few steps then twirled around in her dress. “Its’ the best explanation yet! Gump girl meets the good looking version of Bubba fairytale!”
I stared at her. I had no real idea what all of that meant, but I didn’t care as long as she kept looking this happy. I took her hand. God, she is beautiful! “Sweet Macy. You haven’t seen anything yet.” I tugged her to the door, then tapped a button on my phone.
The truck slowed and then halted.
The trailer doors opened and Macy leaned forward while looking super curious as she peered at the opening.
Suddenly, a woman jumped in, then another followed, both were holding cases in their hands.
“What? Who?” Macy looked entirely mystified as she took a step back. “Now, wait a dammed minute, Mister Midland. I don’t do ménages!” She placed her hands on her hips.
“No. No! It’s nothing like that, Macy.” I laughed loudly at the idea which never occurred to me when I’d made the arrangements earlier. “But if I remember right, Cinderella had these mice or was it bunnies? They helped her get ready for the ball.” I shrugged. “I get all those Disney movies mixed up. These women are going to do your hair and such. They are not to— um, well, do you otherwise.” I smirked and glanced over at them. “Very light on the makeup ladies. She doesn’t need a whole bunch of paint, okay?”
They looked surprised by my comments, but they both nodded.
I went back into bedroom area. “Now, where are my shoes?”
Chapter Ten
It is all so amazing….kept repeating in my mind as the women did my hair and applied a bit of powder, a little eyeliner then some terribly expensive looking lip color. Finally, they opened another case and I almost choked on my own breath. Diamonds? I clasped my hands tightly together in my lap.
One of the woman held the jewelry case out and smiled at me. “Well, aren’t you going to choose?”
There were diamond necklaces and pearls along with earrings. I simply sat and gawked. “It’s costume jewelry right?” I squeaked out in a panic.
The two women stared at me then looked at each other.
“It’s close to it.” Tucker suddenly stood next to my chair. “Just pick out what you like.”
The two women swung their shocked gazes up at him. Then their expressions seemed to go blank.
I felt an immense relief. “Good, because I would feel nervous wearing something that could feed and house all the people in my apartment building!” I laughed, then reached out to choose a simple necklace and small cut diamond earrings to match.
“Any rings?” one of the women asked.
I shook my head. “Oh, no. No. It’s too much glitter already. I mean what if I lost some of this?”
They both stared at me.
Yeah, they wouldn’t know about my habit of losing things.
They both stepped forward to grab the jewelry cases.
“No, no ladies. I will do this. You can go now. And thank you so much,” Tucker prompted.
The women gathered their cases and left.
Tucker took the necklace and stepped closer.
I lifted my newly curled hair from my neck as he slipped it on.
He then took the earrings and put those on too. He paused to kiss my neck with a hot smack of his lips. “Okay. We’re ready.”
Ready? Ready for what? I stood up. I’m not ready! I don’t think I was ready from the moment I saw this man.
Taking his cell out once again, he tapped the screen.
“So, is that our pumpkin coach you’re sending for?” I asked.
He grinned. “Something like that.” His phone buzzed. He then jumped down from the truck and reached his arms up. “Jump and I will catch you!”
My eyes widened. “In these heels? Um…NO. It would figure that I would act stupid and break my neck.”
He raised his arms a bit higher. “Aw, come on. You know I can pick you up and carry you for a good few miles. I can catch you.”
I sighed. The man looks like a god but sometimes, he could be dumb as a rock. “Okay…” I reluctantly took a step forward, pulled in a deep breath and jumped.
He caught me just as he promised and swung me around.
“Ohh!” I squealed as he set me down. The man is strong, but a little nuts and how in the hell is he able to just command all this stuff to happen with just a tap on his dammed phone?
Tucker lowered his lips and kissed me soundly.
Then my thoughts
floated away as I tasted him and felt his hot mouth and tongue sweeping mine. I could kiss this man forever. Time just seemed to halt. I could believe in magic, love and a happy ever after when he kisses me.
Suddenly, a loud roaring boomed all around us. I pulled my lips from his with a gasp.
About twenty feet away, a helicopter sat down on the road behind the truck. I gaped at it and then looked up at Tucker. “I was kidding about the helicopter!” I yelled over the noise, “Oh crap, so now are gun toting ninjas going to—”
Tucker laughed and scooped me up into his arms, carrying me to the buzzing vehicle.
Oh man, this just keeps getting weirder! I held onto his neck for dear life.
He stepped up and into the copter, then set me on a seat. Next, he buckled me in and placed an ear-microphone set on my head. He also did the same for himself. He gave a thumbs up to the pilot and the helicopter lifted up.
Staring at the ground and seeing the Peterbuilt penthouse getting smaller, I anxiously grabbed Tucker’s hand.
“See? No ninjas or guns, okay doll?” He gave me a blue-eyed wink.
Batting my eyes, I spoke into the mic, “Did you just call me doll?”
Looking a little sheepish, he shrugged. “Yeah, I suppose I did. Do you hate it?”
I tilted my head at him. “No. It’s just…well, why?”
He placed both his hands over mine. “When I first saw you I thought well… that you were so beautiful, like a sweet looking doll.”
The answer again shocked the crap out of me. In all of my life, that wasn’t anything close to what—how people saw me. Yet, this man…Walking god thought I was like a pretty doll? Shaking my head, I just did not get it. Well, some women might be insulted. Like I was some rubber doll for him to play with. My body immediately heated up. Images of his recent playing flowed through my mind. OKAY, not insulted, I flushed. I would love to just be his doll to play with. I bit at my lip to keep from grinning.
Tucker had been staring at my face and he flashed that dazzling smile at me.
It’s like he knew what was in my mind, the naughtiness, the things he did to me—his fingers, mouth, his—“Oh!” I gulped heavily as my whole body flushed now.
He threw his head back and laughed. “Yeah, maybe like that kind of doll, but no…Precious, full bodied, REAL. Not a doll at all, actually.”
Okay now, my throat closed all the way up. He kept insisting that I was this woman who’s…beautiful and perfect. I leaned forward close to him.
He stopped smiling and gazed into my eyes.
All I could see was sincerity, gentleness and a bit of heat in that mysterious blue gaze. Well, damn. I leaned in closer and grabbed his head. Latching onto his yummy hot lips, I kissed him hard, like it was our last kiss in all the world. It lasted for several hot, blazing dream filled minutes and when I broke away, the helicopter sat on a roof. I looked around. We were on the top of a skyscraper! “Holy shit!” I yelled.
Tucker took my headphones off and undid my belt. Lifting me up, he helped me down from the copter.
I just allowed him to tug me along to a door, down a hall and in through another door.
It was a penthouse suite, top floor if my line of sight through the windows was correct. Opulence all around. All smoked glass and vinyl furnishings. Expensive looking paintings and vases sat here and there.
Tucker kept silent as he moved me to the outside balcony. He pulled out a chair from a glass table that sat there.
Stunned, I sat and gazed at the silver covered plate in front of me.
He reached down and pulled the cover up.
Pancakes! Three stack, smothered in butter and syrup!
My wide eyes swung up to his face.
He wore that grin.
“You brought me here to have—pancakes?”
Nodding his head, he rounded the table to sit across from me. “Served with strawberries and champagne though.” He uncovered his plate. “Dig in!”
I dropped my astonished gaze back to the pancakes. I was hungry, as I hadn’t eaten in a while. I picked up my fork and took a bite. Moaning, I took another.
Tucker poured me a glass of pink champagne.
I stared at it for a few seconds. “Well, I can say I have never had them with champagne!” I sipped it. “Wow, that goes perfectly with it!”
Tucker nodded and took a sip.
While we both ate, I gazed out over at the view. Incredible was the word that stuck in my mind. I still couldn’t believe all of this. Coming from being evicted and fired to sitting at the top of a skyscraper in a penthouse, eating pancakes while drinking champagne.
I finished my last bite and popped a strawberry into my mouth. Then, gulped down the pink liquid. Sitting back, I felt stuffed.
Tucker finished too and leaned back like I did. “Ahhh. Wonderful.”
“It is and was,” I agreed. “Now though, you gotta tell me something.”
He sat upright.
“You are obviously filthy rich, right?”
Tucker stared at my face, as all he did was nod.
I glanced away and took in the fantastic, unbelievable view again. “I don’t know about this. I mean I couldn’t even make my rent, yesterday. Then we meet and…” I swung my gaze back over. “…You could have any woman you wanted.”
Tucker stood from his chair and went around to pluck me from my seat. “I could have and never found her. Not at those stuffy social gatherings or balls or whatever mansion parties there were. I found the woman I wanted inside a Peterbuilt, going 75 miles an hour down the interstate. And I’m proud to say she chose me over a cardboard box.” He gave me a slow grin.
I stared at him. Looking into those amazing eyes again. I wanted to believe this… all of it. But I had to tell him. I just didn’t know how. He needed to know that he’s my ex’s dad… “There is one thing…” My voice fell away.
He looked into my eyes. “One thing?”
I nodded. “And you better set me down for this one.”
Looking confused, he set me back down on the marbled floor.
I let out a long breath. “And you’d better sit down to hear this.”
He blinked his eyes and stepped to his chair then sat.
“I need to tell you about my ex.”
He tilted his head at me. “Why? Did you marry him or something?”
“NO!” I almost shouted. The fact that it never got that far was an immense relief. Not that it would’ve been valid, considering he’d used a fake name. I shivered at the thought.
He looked surprised at my reaction. “Then why does it matter?”
I bit at my lip. “J-just let me try to explain, okay?”
He stared at me and then nodded.
Oh, god, Oh god. I know I am about to blow the best thing that ever happened to me. But isn’t that what I do well? I squared my shoulders. “David and I were together for six months. He seemed so straight and narrow. Always telling me I lived on the edge too much.”
“The edge?” Tucker questioned.
I nodded. “Yeah, the edge of poverty.” I laughed but not with any humor.
He still looked puzzled.
“So he set me straight. I worked two jobs and he helped me to start a savings.”
Tucker nodded.
“Well, about 4 months ago…” I shook my head. “I came home and my apartment door was torn off and the Super told me…” I took a breath and blurted it out, “That the police came and arrested him. For embezzlement and other white collar crimes. Fraud…” I lowered my head.
Tucker stood up and grabbed my arms. “None of that matters to me, Macy.”
I raised my gaze to his. “It will.”
“I don’t see how.”
“David Long wasn’t his real name. I found out his real name yesterday.”
Blinking his eyes, he then stilled. “No.”
I swallowed heavily and nodded. “Yes. David Long is Scott Midland. He had taken all my savings and I think he intended to skip town when th
ey arrested him.”
Tucker sucked in a breath and took a step back.
I wrung my hands. “I tried to tell you but you said you didn’t want to talk about him.” Tears filled my eyes.
“But how can this be?”
“I thought the same thing! Of all the people in the world. I mean… I just cannot believe it. I couldn’t believe it! But it’s true.”
“So you are my son’s ex-girlfriend?
I nodded and then sat back down. There. I destroyed any chance we had. But I have never lied to anyone in my life and I wasn’t about to start now.
Tucker sat in his chair with his hands over his face.
I waited. He will have me driven back to my apartment and my disastrous life. Of course, he would.
He raised his head and dropped his hands. “So you just happened to be the one to give me the message from the buyers?”
I shrugged. “See? I mean how could that happen?” I leaned forward. “But I swear, I didn’t know anything. I didn’t know any of it.”
He gazed into my eyes. “I believe you.”
I let out a breath of relief.
“But that doesn’t matter,” he stated quietly.
Well, there it was. I was with his son the criminal and now I’d been with him. I get it. I nodded and stood up. “Yeah, I know. I mean you can’t accept…” My throat swelled up. “…I understand. So umm… can you call what was his name? Parker?”
His brows furrowed. “My driver?”
I nodded. “Yes, so he can take me home.”
Tucker stepped closer while looking even more upset. “You want to go home?”
I sighed. “Well, I probably should. Like you said… the fact that I didn’t know, doesn’t matter now.”
“No it doesn’t matter, but I don’t think you get it.”
“I do get it! I can’t expect you to—”
Tucker grabbed me up and tugged me close. “Listen, it had to be fate. It brought you to me. I don’t care how.”
I gasped. My heart felt like it stopped. “What?”
“You were always meant to be mine, doll. I mean if someone had to choose a woman made just for me in every way? They would have created you! I even got spooked when this all first went down that the buyers chose you as a weapon to get to me. But no one is that good. Not when you have qualities, I never knew I would want in a woman. I’m not letting you go anywhere.”