As he’d known since his human days, Tucker wanted a home more than anything.
But he’d never seen it. Never visualized it so clearly. A blue split-level on the lake with a white fence and a fire pit out back.
And Mary.
She’d been there in his vision of home. Days before he’d actually met her.
Dark red hair brushing her waist, sipping tea on a porch swing.
Smiling while the fireflies danced.
He could still feel the gut-deep longing as he’d sat around the poker table, missing a woman he’d never met. Craving her to his very bones. If he was an arrogant motherfucker, he’d tell himself a vision was a vision. That foreseeing a blue house with a fire pit meant that was how things were going to end up. Fate. But he wasn’t that arrogant. The world didn’t revolve around his ass. And his desire to make that vision a reality wasn’t more important than what Mary wanted.
So he fell back on doubt. Maybe that concoction had been a cruel joke. It could have projected a life that was never meant to come true. Trying to make it happen, when it went against the path she’d laid out for herself, would make him a selfish bastard.
Being irresponsible and short sighted led to bodies in the road.
Led to the people in his care losing their hopes for the future.
So he’d do what he did best.
He’d drive. He’d guard Mary. And he’d help her.
Mary’s unseeing eyes were fixated on the area between him and the steering wheel. “You’ll make sure I get there at all costs. Won’t you?”
“Yes.” He swallowed his idiot dreams and put the car into drive. “I’m sorry, Mary. I guess I thought I was…saving the day.” That statement seemed to distress her and that was the furthest thing from Tucker’s intention, so he drummed out a beat on the dashboard and worked on lightening the mood, even though his throat felt like it was stuck in a vise. “We’ll make as much progress as we can tonight, but I’ll need to find a place to spend the sunlight hours. I hope you weren’t planning on getting a tan on this road trip.”
“Redheads don’t tan. They fry. At least that’s what I’ve been told.” Mary was still watching him oddly, a line between her brows. “I’m not interested in a tan, but…”
“But?”
Her palms chafed on the material of her skirt and the thighs beneath, drawing his rapt attention. What his hands and mouth wouldn’t give to take over that task. “Well, I-I have a list compiled of things I’ve always wanted to do. Maybe we could knock one or two of them off while I have so much freedom?” She swallowed. “I don’t know what exactly is waiting for me in Ohio, but I doubt I’ll ever have the ability to do whatever I want. It’s too risky.”
The chance to give her something, anything, made him sit up straighter. “What’s on this list?”
She chewed on her bottom lip a moment. Leaning back in the seat and lifting her hips, she dug around in her pocket and Tucker couldn’t stop himself. Couldn’t keep his gaze from tracking down the curve of her butt as it lifted off the seat. Christ. She definitely wasn’t as young as he’d originally thought. Nope. Not at all. As soon as she’d landed in his arms, he’d had to amend his earlier impression that she was too young for him to be lusting after, because it wasn’t true. Mary was a young woman with breasts, hips and a scent that rattled and soothed him at the same time. And he’d already failed in his mission not to notice. Failed with flying colors.
Tucker floored it onto the parkway, only glancing to his right again once he’d gotten his thirst under control and Mary had unfolded the list, tracing her fingertips over an endless sea of braille.
“Hot damn, kid,” he laughed when he saw it. “How many items are on that thing?”
“One hundred and seventy-three.”
“Read some of them to me. I’ll try and figure out if they’re doable.”
“You’re not going to laugh, are you?”
“I laugh at just about everything. But it’s with appreciation, not ridicule.”
She processed that and nodded, shifting to get more comfortable in her seat. “Okay, then. I would like to go trick-or-treating. Just once. I’ve never done it.”
His heart might have been a dead lump, but somehow it still managed to flip-flop in his chest. “That’s a shame, Mary.”
She shrugged a shoulder. “The fae children I grew up with learned how to control their radiance, hide their abilities. But I could never manage to keep mine subdued. As soon as I get anxious or frustrated…” She pointed to the crown of her head, conjuring a flurry of blue glimmers that gave the interior of the car an azure glow. “We’ve worked on controlling it for a long time, Mother and I, but no amount of training seems to work.”