His mother actually flinched at this information. It would have been funny if it were happening to someone else.
“Nichole? You’re staying with Nichole? Under the same roof?” she asked incredulously.
“In the same bed.” Cooper disguised his words in a cough, and Tucker flipped him off behind Nichole’s back.
“That’s very nice of you to take him in, Nichole. You’ve always been such a dear friend.”
“Yes. Nichole is Tucker’s dear, dear friend,” Cooper said, smirking. Roslyn smacked his arm while trying to hide her own laughter.
“Would you like to stay for dinner?” Roslyn offered.
No! Say no! Please say no! Tucker wished as hard as he could wish.
“It does smell delicious.”
Crap. Wishing had never worked for him.
Cooper went to grab another plate as their mother sat down next to Tucker.
No one said anything. The room was silent except for the scraping of silverware against plates.
Finally his mother spoke. “So, what have you been up to lately, Nichole? I haven’t seen you since the wedding.”
“Oh, you know, work mostly.”
“Is it grueling work? Sweaty?” Cooper asked, and then said, “ouch, dammit!” when Nichole kicked him under the table.
The conversation turned to the expectant mother, and from there moved through a play-by-play of Cooper and Tucker’s births. Tucker relaxed, having heard the stories a million times before. He could even keep eating through it.
When he was done, he leaned back in his chair and instinctively rested his arm on the back of Nichole’s. He brushed his thumb along her neck, loving the way her soft skin felt. He didn’t understand why he felt her shoulders tense until he realized what he had done.
It was too late. His mother’s eyes were locked on his display of affection.
“Fuck me,” he murmured, too low for anyone to hear.
His mother’s smile took over her face as she leaned closer. “My, my. I didn’t understand why on earth you would have been staying with Nichole; you two were never that close. I’m glad to see that’s changed.”
“Watch out,” Tucker whispered to Nichole. “I see a unicorn closing in.”
They got away from the house without having to cut off an appendage to escape. His mom had a thousand questions, none of which Tucker or Nichole felt comfortable answering.
“I guess the cat is really out of the bag now,” he joked as they drove home. “It wasn’t that bad.” It was absolutely horrible.
“Does that mean you’ll come with me to go visit my mother?” she asked.
“No.” He shook his head and waved his hand in front of him, still watching the road.
“Come on,” she pleaded. “I have to go sign some kind of bank document, and I won’t be able to get away without a meal and a PowerPoint presentation on all the ways I’ve disappointed her.”
“I think this might be the step at which whatever this is causes me to freak out,” he threatened.
“Please? I don’t like to go by myself. She’s worse when there’s no one there for her to pretend to be polite for.” She held her hands in front of her, begging. “Please? We don’t have to tell her we’re together. You can just be my friend.”
He made the mistake of looking over to see her pitiful expression. He was screwed.
“I’m supposed to go to your mother’s house for dinner and pretend to be your friend?” he asked. “That would mean no inappropriate touching until we left. I don’t think I can pull it off.” His mock seriousness made her laugh.
“Please?” she tried again, her head tilted to the side.
“Generally, when someone needs something from the other person, they offer some kind of compensation,” he hinted.
“I see. And what, pray tell, did you want in the way of compensation?”
“Will you come to New York with me for a weekend?”
She seemed surprised, no doubt assuming his terms would be of a sexual nature.
“And why would we be going to New York?”
“Technically, I live there. I would be checking on things. Going to a few meetings. Maybe getting some different clothes.” And maybe seeing about releasing their song on his own. He wasn’t ready to tell her that part yet.
“And then you would come back here?” she asked, biting her lip.
“If that’s okay.”
She nodded, but she there was a crease in her forehead.
“What?” he asked as he pulled in at her house.
“Why?” she said.
“Why?” He wasn’t sure what she was asking.
“Why would you come back?”
“Well, I like it here. I like you. I like working on songs with you. I can work anywhere I want, for the most part. I might as well take advantage of that perk.” He looked her over. “Do you want me to go? If I’ve overstayed my welcome, just say the word—”
“No, no. That’s not it at all.”
He took a deep breath and waited, but she didn’t expand on the topic.
“I’ll go with you to your mother’s house, but I don’t want to pretend we’re friends.” She smiled at her triumph. “But if she starts talking about weddings or human sacrifices, I’m making a run for it.”
“Fair enough.”
Two days later, Tucker was standing at the doorway to the seventh circle of hell. Otherwise known as Roth manor.
As nervous as Nichole had been when they went to his brother’s, it was nothing compared to how tense she was now. He could feel the stress coming off her in waves.
“It’s going to be fine,” Tucker said.
“Have you ever met my mother?”
“Well, there was that one time when she dragged you out of our house screaming at you. It was a wonderful experience.” He looked up at the gray sky. “More recently, I was present after you saved a child’s life and she scoffed, as if you’d done it wrong because you attended a . . . Yankee school. She’s such a sweet lady.” It worked; Nichole laughed. A little anyway.
She rang the doorbell and waited. Tucker couldn’t imagine ringing the bell at his mother’s home. He always just walked in, shouting his arrival. It was still his home.
This was Nichole’s home, but it was obvious she wasn’t comfortable here.
An aged, leathery-looking man opened the door and gave an expressionless greeting.
“Mrs. Roth is expecting you in the formal dining room, miss,” he said, gesturing to the room off the foyer.
“Thanks, Joe. It’s nice to see you,” Nic said with a weak smile. The man nodded and walked slowly down the hall. “Joe’s been my mother’s butler since I was a kid.”
A butler. She had a butler.
“Nice guy.” His snide remark got a tiny smile out of Nichole. He hated seeing her so anxious. He also hated anyone who made her that way.
Mrs. Roth was a tiny thing, with an inch of makeup covering her wrinkly skin as well as her scales. At least Tucker assumed she had scales. Her eyes were a washed-out blue and her hair sleek and black.
Obviously Nichole got her good looks from her father.
“You’re three minutes late, Nichole. What have I told you about punctuality?” the woman started.
“Sorry, Mama. This is Tucker Matthews. You remember him. He’s Cooper’s younger brother.”
Tucker held out his hand and, after staring at it for a second as though it had thorns, the woman put just the tips of her fingers in his palm and squeezed slightly.
“It’s nice to see you again ma’am.” It so wasn’t.
“Are you the drunk?” she asked with one perfectly sculpted brow raised.
Wow. Right for the jugular.
“Recovering drunk, yes.”
She sniffed and sat down. She threw a look and a nod over her shoulder at the plump woman waiting in the doorway. The woman scurried off, and a clattering of dishes could be heard in the next room.
“So, this is the best you could do after
that nice Christian boy?” Mrs. Roth said. If his presence was making her act nice, he hated to think what it would have been like if she were alone.
“Dennis and I didn’t work out. You need to deal with it. I have.”
“Are you sure you want to date my daughter?” Mrs. Roth turned her stony look on Tucker again. “She turned her last boyfriend into a gay.”
He couldn’t hold in a sputter of laughter.
“Mother, no one says a gay. He’s gay.” She rolled her eyes. “And he would have been gay long before we met, but he . . . didn’t know it.”
This was a lie. Dennis had known. Tucker didn’t understand why she was protecting the guy. Why not just call him a fraud?
“And you were so attentive you didn’t notice his preferences either.” The older woman actually tsked.
Nic looked down at her hands. He saw this for the retreat it was.
“If you were going to get involved with one of those Matthews boys, why couldn’t it have been Cooper? At least he’s made something of himself. He’s a respectable lawyer.”
“Mama! Don’t be rude to my guest.” Nichole’s voice was as hard and cold as ice, but Mrs. Roth didn’t seem to care.
“Your guest? Well, as long as that is all he is, I can make it through dinner.”
“Mother, can I speak to you for a moment in the kitchen?” Nichole tossed her napkin down and stood stiffly.
The woman looked a bit surprised but got up, her back straighter than a ramrod.
He couldn’t see Nic’s face, but by the way she stormed out of the room, he was certain she was furious.
As it turned out, the kitchen was not the place to have a private conversation if they didn’t want someone to hear from the formal dining room. He could hear everything.
“Why are you being so mean to him?” Nichole snapped as soon as the door swung shut.
“Nichole, look at him closer. He’s a vagabond. He doesn’t even have jeans without holes. Or someone to cut his hair?”
“He’s a performer. That’s his look.”
“A performer,” the older woman sniffed.
“It’s a real profession, Mother.”
“He’s using you to get to your family’s money.”
“He’s made a lot of money on his own. He doesn’t need my family’s money.”
“How much money?” Now the old bag was interested.
“I don’t know. That’s not why I’m in love with him.”
Whoa.
Tucker’s stomach flipped. She was in love with him? How had he let that happen?
“Shit.” He looked around the dining room, desperate for an exit, as he began to panic. He definitely hadn’t planned for that to happen. Sure he was really into Nichole. So much he didn’t want to leave. But love? No. He didn’t do well in relationships. He would invariably find some stupid way of letting her down. That was just how he worked. He knew it, and he’d thought she knew it, too.
After all, she’d known him for a very long time. She’d seen how he’d messed things up in the past. Why would she risk having real feelings for him?
Instead of running from the house, he stayed in his seat, not wanting to abandon Nichole.
“You love him? Are you insane, Nichole? Truly, I thought your rebellious phase would be over by now. You’re an adult after all. It’s time to start making adult decisions.”
“No one gets to decide if they love someone or not. Not real people anyway. I know you had it all planned out for yourself, and I came along and ruined your plans. Too bad!”
With that, she rushed back into the dining room and grabbed her jacket.
“We’re leaving,” she said sharply.
He couldn’t have been happier to hear those two words. Maybe they could go back to her place and have sex. Maybe things would just go back to simple.
Her hands were shaking as she put the key in the ignition and started the car.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
She gave him a smile, the kind that took a huge amount of strength to muster, and nodded.
“Yeah. I’m fine. I don’t know why I still let her get to me.”
“She’s your mother.”
“I know, but she’s never acted like a mother. Not like my friends’ mothers. She didn’t want me, you know.”
“Sure she did.”
“No. She told me once that I was the reason she missed the chance to marry some oil guy from Texas. She had been toying with the idea of divorcing my father and hooking up with this other, richer guy. She’d actually dropped my dad for him, until she found out she was pregnant. The oil guy dumped her, so she went back to my dad. I messed up her plans.”
“That’s ridiculous and you know it.” For a moment he wasn’t freaked out by hearing her say she loved him. At that second, he wanted to comfort her. He wanted to do something, say something to make her feel better. He just didn’t know what that was.
She hadn’t moved the car. They were still just sitting there while it ran.
He leaned over and pulled her to him. Holding her tightly, feeling her tense muscles relax at his touch. He put his face in her hair and breathed her in, wondering if it would be that bad to have her love him.
What would she want from him? Would he be able to give it to her? He wanted to, but he knew what he was capable of when it came to women. It wouldn’t be enough for someone as amazing as Nichole. He’d never be able to live up to what she wanted or needed from a man. He didn’t even know the first thing about being serious with someone. Except that he wasn’t cut out for it.
Tucker was quiet the whole way home from the restaurant she’d taken him to. It was the least she could do since he hadn’t gotten to eat before they’d bolted from her mother’s house.
Taking him to dinner with her mother had been a huge mistake. She’d thought it would give her a reprieve from the constant complaining about why she couldn’t find a man. Or even worse, when she tried to set Nichole up with her friends’ offspring. Only the rich ones though, and never anyone cute.
“I’m really sorry for subjecting you to my horrible mother,” she offered in apology.
“It’s fine. You’ve already made it up to me with a steak dinner. As long as I’m fed, I’m relatively easy to deal with.”
“Still, I’m sorry she treated you so badly.” She shrugged.
When they got home he sat on the sofa, rubbing his forehead slowly. She didn’t like the look of this, and after the silence, it could only be bad news.
“I heard the conversation between you and your mother in the kitchen. And by conversation, I mean catfight.”
“Oh!” Shit! He’d heard her tell her mother she loved him? “I—I can explain.” She needed to make something up quickly.
“It’s okay. At first I was a little freaked out, but I’m not anymore. I mean, I’m not sure I’m in the same place you are, but I am . . . somewhere.”
She nodded and laughed.
“I’m sorry you were worried. I said that just to push my mother’s buttons. I knew it would upset her. I didn’t mean for it to upset you, too.”
“Oh.”
“I’ve been doing it for years. It gives me some small satisfaction to piss her off.” This was good, and also somewhat true. She’d made stuff up before to irritate her mother. Although this time she had been telling the truth. Having to defend Tucker had made her realize how she really felt about him. “Well . . . Let’s go to bed.”
He nodded and slipped his hand into hers as he followed her to the bedroom.
Tucker seemed content to go right to sleep, but she needed to be with him. She wanted to somehow strengthen their connection again. She wasted no time removing her clothes before working on his. He hesitated for only a moment before taking her up on her silent offer.
She placed kisses down his body, lingering at the good parts. He let out a moan when she arrived at her destination. He looked down at her with lust-filled eyes as his fingers knotted in her hair. His hands seemed to tremb
le, as if resisting the urge to direct her rhythm.
He said her name, mixed in with a few bad words and praises to God before she pushed him back on the bed and climbed on top of him to finish them both off in a hurry.
He pulled her against him and pressed a kiss to her hair, like he did every night before they drifted off. It wasn’t long before his breathing evened out.
He was asleep, and she was in love.
At least he didn’t know.
Crisis averted.
This time.
Tucker had fallen asleep quickly but woke up later after a bad dream. No, not a bad dream; it was an all-out nightmare.
He was waiting at the end of the aisle in a tux. His brother stood at his back, looking at the entrance into the church. He followed his brother’s gaze and saw her.
She was coming toward him in a billowing white dress, a heavy veil covering her face. He couldn’t see her, but he knew it could only be Nichole. She was the only person he would ever ask to marry him.
At the end of the aisle, with trembling fingers, he reached out to lift the veil, but underneath the layers of lace and tulle wasn’t the girl he loved; it was Mrs. Roth, her face wrinkled in distaste. “Are you the drunk?” she asked, and he sat straight up in bed with a gasp of terror.
Nichole shifted slightly next to him, and a few seconds later, when his heart slowed, he lay back down.
He wasn’t sure why, but finding out Nichole had been lying about her feelings just to anger her mother had upset him. Enough that it was messing with his dreams. He had been worried she was getting too close, but now he was disappointed to learn she didn’t really love him.
What the hell was wrong with him?
He lay in bed next to her, trying to figure it out, but the ceiling wasn’t providing any answers.
It was one of those times when he wished he could have a drink. Sometimes alcohol provided a reflective moment before the numbness closed in and made it difficult to think. Those few minutes of clarity might help him now.
He rolled on his side and looked at her. Really looked.
She was beautiful. He’d known that since he was old enough to notice boobs. She was sexy and funny. Smart as hell and sweet. She also had problems that not only made her strong but also made her real.
Nick Of Time (Blue Ridge Romance 2) Page 13