by Alexa Davis
Olivia threw her head back and cackled at something he’d said, and Kennedy jumped and started barking. Kennedy running in circles barking made Olivia laugh even harder, and Kennedy attacked in love-sponge fashion, and soon they were rolling around in the grass while Tucker scooted back out of the way. He looked up at me from his seat on the grass, and gaped at me like a fish on a dock.
“It’s wrong, isn’t it? I knew this was too young for me,” I stammered and he jumped up and took my hands in his.
“First, no one under thirty should be worrying about how ‘young’ their wardrobe looks. Second, and I mean this with much more enthusiasm than I’m permitted to exhibit in front of the squirt, but, damn! You look good enough to eat.” He glanced at Olivia, who was still oblivious to my presence, and continued. “I’m not sure I don’t mean that in a pervy way.”
I laughed as my cheeks got hot, and covered my embarrassment by calling Olivia over and slathering her up with sunscreen so it would be dry by the time she hit the water. Tucker accepted the tube from me and spread sunscreen over his legs and arms, and handed the tube back, turning around so I could help him with his back.
The sunscreen slid over and melted into the sun-warmed skin of his back and shoulders as my hands moved over him. He groaned when I hit a tender spot, just below his neck, and I massaged deeper, digging my thumb into him while he whimpered quietly. His sounds of pain brought Kennedy to him, jumping up against his legs and tilting her head to one side, and he moved away from me to reassure her.
“I need to have someone do that more often,” he quipped. “Although, my stress is less than it used to be.”
“I bet. Andrew said he wondered why you held on so long. I remember he came home once, and he was yelling into the phone as he walked in. I guess he’d been yelling the whole drive home from the office. Someone had crossed a line with you—again—and he was just done.” I rubbed the excess sunscreen off my hands onto Olivia’s arms. “He said a couple of times that if you’d left, he would’ve gone with you.”
“Yeah, he said that to me, too. Unfortunately, he said it too late for us to expat together.”
“Expat, huh? Was Cripke and Company truly that bad?”
“If by ‘bad,’ you mean ‘trying to find a new position required the same level of security and secrecy that the government uses against espionage,’ then yes. Yes, it was.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. He shrugged and put out a few treats and a got down a water bowl for Kennedy from the little table I kept outside. I locked up and we headed down to the pool, Olivia swinging between us, one of her hands in each of ours. The day wasn’t hot, but he sun had shone down on the water all day, and even with all the children already splashing and playing, the water was warm. I snapped Olivia into her life vest and she floated and kicked her feet happily, while I laid towels over two chairs for Tucker and me.
Tucker had done a cannon ball into the deep end of the pool and Olivia was jumping into his arms, then climbing up the ladder and jumping again. It was a game they’d played since Olivia was old enough to walk, and I was reminded of the times I’d watched them play together at parties, while Andrew had been too busy glad-handing clients and flirting with the wives—or more often, daughters—of the senior partners to notice.
I laid down on the chaise and closed my eyes in the sun, enjoying a moment of relaxation, now that Olivia had another adult to watch her for a minute. I had just enough time to doze off, before a shadow fell across me and cold water droplets hit my stomach and chest. I sat up with a gasp and a squeal, ready to lash into Tuck for being mean. Instead, I looked up at a neighbor I’d seen, but never spoken to.
“Sorry,” he laughed, sounding not sorry in the least, “I was just going to ask if you were using this.” He pointed at the chaise that I’d saved for Tucker.
“Uh, yes. My friend is in the water at the moment.”
“No problem. Uh, you live over on Willow drive, right?” My eyes darted to Tucker, who was watching me, Olivia on his shoulders. At the look on my face, he lifted her out of the pool and pulled himself out behind her.
“Yes, we live here.”
Tucker joined us, an easy grin on his face.
“Hey, don’t mind me. I’m going to grab those towels real quick.” He stepped in front of my neighbor and pulled the towels off the chaise, wrapping one around Olivia after he took off her life vest. My neighbor moved to the other side of me and leaned against the wall, and Tuck sat on the end of the chaise he’d emptied and proceeded to ignore us, rubbing the towel over his wet hair and chatting with Olivia.
“Well, obviously, you’re busy. It was nice to see you. I’m Sam, by the way. If you ever need anything, I’m just around the corner from you.” He held out his hand and I shook it, color rising in my cheeks when he stroked his thumb over the back of my hand before letting go. Tucker was still talking to Olivia, but I saw his shoulders stiffen out of the corner of my eye, and my stomach dropped.
Sam walked off, and Tucker straddled the chair and leaned back on one elbow to meet my eyes. He looked past me and I resisted the urge to follow his gaze, knowing he was watching my neighbor, waiting for me to look.
“You and Olivia look like you’re having fun,” I said, trying to make eye contact with him again. “She wears me out, but you’re holding up really well.”
“I’m probably going to be feeling it tomorrow, actually,” he admitted with a laugh. “That girl has endless energy.” I followed his gaze to my daughter who had spotted D’Ante in the pool and was struggling back into her vest so she could join him. Shaunte waved and pointed at her husband, Dale, who was already in the pool. I waved back and pointed out to Olivia where to go to play with D’Ante and his family, smiling when Tucker stood to better watch her make it to her destination safely.
“So, why you so stressed, Tucker?” He barked out a laugh.
“Oh, you know, just all that adulting without a break.” I nodded and watched my little redhead run up to Dale, then dance out of reach before he could pull her in.
“Yeah, I know what that’s like.” I wrapped my arms around my knees, wishing I had just worn something else, and hugged myself. “I’m worried that I won’t be able to convince people to buy my designs. What do I do if I have to start waiting tables, and Olivia ends up always being watched by someone else?”
“Well, lots of parents work, and their kids turn out all right. What is it you’re worried about?”
“Andrew was adamant that no one else would raise our daughter. It was the only thing about being successful that he spurned. He thought all those Texas housewives with nannies were pathetic and worthless.” I sighed. “Of course, for all I know he was sleeping with them all, so…”
“No, no, not Andrew. That would be a different partner,” Tucker drawled. I bit off a laugh.
“I always thought there was something wrong with me, as a wife, you know?” He arched an eyebrow. “Andrew would have walked through fire for you. He loved you, like you were a Peele, instead of a Lancaster.” Tucker shook his head and turned all the way to face me.
“I’m beginning to understand that Andrew had some screwed-up ideas about women.” He clasped his hands in front of him and stared down at his fingers as they laced on his knees. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t a better friend, Libby. I introduced the two of you. I should have protected you, and I didn’t.”
“Well, I was pretty bummed you weren’t in love with me, back then. Then Andrew appeared in my life. He was so charming and well-spoken. I fell hard, and fast. There was nothing you could’ve done.” I placed my hand over his and he covered it with his own.
“I’m grateful for the life I had. I just need to find my place again, Tucker. You are one of my oldest, truest friends. I’m glad you’re here, and so is Olivia.”
“Well, O has a way of making you want to give her everything she wants. She half talked me out of taking Kennedy home with me when I leave.” His hands were warm around mine, and my laugh died in my thro
at as my body reacted to him holding me captive. The noise of the pool faded in the background and humming white noise rose in my ears as my blood started pumping faster through my veins. He stared into my eyes as he ran his fingers down to my wrist and felt my racing pulse. He smiled, wolfish and possessive, before he released me. His grin widened and he lay back in the chair, with his hands behind his head.
“I, uh, I’m going to go say ‘hi’ to Shaunte and check on Olivia before she starts trying to run poor D’Ante and his dad like the little tyrant I know she is.” He nodded without opening his eyes and I rewrapped the sarong around my waist before I fled to the other side of the pool.
7. Tucker
I watched from under my eyelids as she made her escape. Damned if she didn’t look like sex on two legs in that little red bikini. I couldn’t blame every other guy there for staring at her, but I did. We’d never been a couple, and I had no right to her. But it had taken every last ounce of will power I had not to lay her neighbor out flat, and I wondered how hard it would be to convince her to move, just so I didn’t have worry about him anymore.
She’d never been vain; it was one of the things about her that made her so desirable to men. But from the moment I’d held her in my arms while she sobbed, both of us wondering why it hurt so much to lose someone in death who had abandoned us already in life; from that moment on, she’d been at the back of my mind, every minute of every day.
That I wanted her seemed logical. That she and Olivia were family was beyond question. But until I’d seen that guy, Sam, moving on her, it hadn’t occurred to me that her mourning might be over. I stood and looked around for Olivia and Libby, who were still on the far side of the pool. Libby saw me watching and waved, gesturing me to join her, and I scooped up the towels and pool toys and carried them over to the table that Shaunte and her husband had saved for us. I was re-introduced to Shaunte, whom I’d met at the funeral, and Dale, a mountainous man who was almost as big around as he was tall.
Olivia started begging for shave-ice, and Dale and I stood in line at the snow shack for treats for everyone while Shaunte blackmailed good behavior out of Olivia and her own four kids by promising them shave-ice only if they could manage to not fight or talk back before we returned. Olivia wisely climbed into her mother’s lap and watched out over the pool like a little lifeguard, ignoring the other children completely, as they poked and pinched each other, trying to push each other into breaking their silence and lose their treat.
“So, how long you and Libby been dating?” Dale asked as we stood in the mile-long line. The sweat coursing down my neck from the sun, doubled.
“We’re just friends, actually,” I replied. “I’m Olivia’s godfather. I’ve been friends with both Olivia and her ex since we were kids.”
“Were they high school sweethearts?” He sounded astounded.
“No, they met at a party I threw in college. From that night on, they were together, until they got married a year later.”
“Damn. Shaunte and Libby were friends from back in the day, but I’d never really met her until Shaunte and I helped her move into her place. I think I saw you in a truck that day.”
“Yes, I had court, but I helped as much as I could. I guess that means you met my brothers, Danny and Jackson.”
“Oh! No wonder. Shoulda known, y’all look like each other.” I laughed and nodded. “So, you’re just here for Olivia, then?” I glanced at him, and scoffed at the wide grin that split his face.
“So, what do you do, Dale?” Impossibly, his grin widened, and when he laughed, his whole body shook with it.
“All right, I’ll let it go. But the body language you were giving off when Sam was saying ‘hi’ to our girl was pretty dang unmistakable. So, if you were hoping for the element of surprise, you best change your tack.” I sighed and rubbed my palm over my face.
“I’ll keep that in mind.” He laughed out again, and clapped me on the back. It was impossible not to like him, even when he was yanking my chain. We inched forward in the line until we were finally able to drop almost fifty bucks on ice and sugar syrup. I arched my eyebrows at Dale, who smiled and shrugged.
“Hey, you were the first to cave. Those green eyes got you good, man.” It was my turn to laugh. He was right. Her mother was under my skin, but Olivia had my heart from the moment she was born. Nothing between her parents had changed the fact that she was the first baby girl I’d ever encountered in my life. All my preprogrammed settings, the things I’d been taught about protecting the weak and caring for women, taught by old horse men and cow pokes, and learned from watching my father and mother, had risen to the surface when I held Olivia.
I stood with my hands and arms full of paper shave-ice bowls, the cold bleeding through them and prickling along my arms until I was ready to drop them. Dale handed them to his children, one at a time, but only after they thanked me. I shot Libby a look of anguish as frostbite settled into my forearms and she smirked at me and winked. The innocently sexy gesture hit me full force, and I stared for a moment, stunned.
Dale took the second-to-last little glacier off my hands and I took Olivia’s over to her. She threw soft, pudgy, five-year-old arms around my neck and thanked me for her treat as though I’d bought her the whole stand, and told her she could replace broccoli with shave ice at every meal.
I let her sit in my lap as she ate, grimacing with each spoonful of sticky, sugary ice that fell down my thigh instead of going in her mouth. Libby watched us, her face unreadable. I had a sudden jolt of worry. Libby was more than just an attractive woman. She was everything a man could want in a lover, a partner, and a friend. That she was still single was obviously only because she’d been staying away from that part of her life. I certainly wouldn’t want leftover men in her life if she belonged to me. The thought of losing her and Olivia jarred me to my core. Libby tilted her head and questioned me with her eyes, but I shot her a half-smile and looked away.
“You ready to get in the water and rinse off, O?” I asked as she dumped the melted remnants into her mouth, spilling half of it over her chin and down our legs. Libby giggled and carefully lifted her daughter off my lap, doing her best to hold her at arms’ length until she reached the shallow water of the kiddie pool and set her down in the warm water.
I walked to the deep end of the big pool and slid into the water, rinsing myself clean before joining them in the shallows. I sat on the wide steps next to Libby and bumped her with my hip, and she splashed me and shoved me away. I jostled her and pretended to drown her, until she stiffened in my arms. I glanced up to see O, watching us with a bemused look on her face. I set Libby upright and she put a few more inches between us, and my stomach sank a little.
“Hey, O, want me to drown you next?” I teased, sliding off the stairs and chasing her on my knees, so the water was up to my neck. She swam and tried to run in the water until I reached her, then she pretended to give up, only to shove my head under water when I had her in my arms. I surfaced and tickled her, until she held my face in her hands and looked straight into my eyes.
“Uncle Tuck, I want to play with my mom, now. You should relax in the hot tub.” I carried her to her mother, feeling a little stung that they’d both rejected me, minutes apart. I told Dale I was heading to the hot tub, and he joined me, sending tidal waves across the pool, as he ran through the water scattering his kids, who were floating on body boards, playing a game of keep away.
I sat in the jetted hot tub, letting the water pound away at the stress spots on my back, eyes closed. We’d tried talking when we first got in, but the combination of heat and water jets had dulled the conversation, and I was half asleep, when a sudden change in the water level told me Dale had left. I was utterly alone, and when a hand slid over my thigh and gave it a squeeze, well above the hemline of my trunks, I started and slipped off the stone seat, swallowing almost as much water as suddenly (and painfully) flooded my nose.
“Oh, Tucker, I’m so sorry. I was just playing, oh, God, I’
m such a jerk,” Libby laughed as she helped me back upright.
“You sound real torn up about it,” I said. She giggled again.
“I really am sorry, but if you’d seen how funny you looked...”
“Well, now I know who not to take out on the water with me, laughing at a drowning man.” I yanked her into my lap, still blinking the sting out of my eyes, and grabbed her thigh the same way she’d grabbed mine. I aimed a little high, and mirrored the look of shock on her face as my hand slid against the fabric between her legs. I froze, staring up at her and trying to find words for an apology that I knew I wouldn’t mean.
She swallowed and her bottom lip tucked between her teeth as she stared down at me, her eyes tight with fear, even as she reached down and pushed my hand tighter against the apex of her legs. My fingers connected with that softest warmest part of her, hotter even than the water around us.
“I only came over to tell you that I appreciated how you are with Olivia. I wasn’t trying to, um….” I pulled her down to me and kissed her softly.
“I’m just about all out of control, so I’m going to put you down now, ‘cause we’re in a very public place, and I don’t know if I can stop, if we decide we really want to start something. But Libby, I want to start something, and I don’t think I can take ‘no’ for an answer after you’ve shown me you want it, too.”
She didn’t answer and I slid my hand down the impossibly soft skin of her inner thigh as I put some space between us. I blew out a breath and laughed shakily.
“As for O, I love the crud out of that girl. I don’t need a ‘thank you’ for hanging out with her, or helping you with stuff, or anything. I like being here.” She tucked a strand of blond hair behind her ear and pulled her knees up under her chin.