“I’d love for you to meet them someday… soon.”
Tuck smiled at her and Maryn had to force herself to keep eating her breakfast and not climb onto his lap and see if those nice-looking lips tasted as good as she’d dreamed about from his brief kiss last night.
ChapterEleven
After breakfast, they checked on Max again. She was rambunctious and obviously healing a lot quicker than Maryn, though Maryn really couldn’t complain. She wanted to take a shower, but besides that, the pain was minimal and if she wasn’t injured she wouldn’t be spending all this uninterrupted time with Tucker, so there was definitely a silver lining.
They climbed all the way back upstairs and relaxed in Tucker’s sitting room while they waited for Braxton and Johnson to clear the driveway so they could take Maryn to the doctor in the Range Rover instead of on a snowmobile.
“I could’ve ridden the snowmobile,” Maryn said, sitting next to Tucker on the leather sofa. The picture was just so perfect she was gazing at—this beautiful room with the fireplace, the sun sparkling off the snow in the trees outside the window, and Tucker. She wondered if she’d ever get tired of looking at his face, which seemed to grow more handsome to her every hour, framed by his dark hair.
“I’m sure you could, but I would never do that to you.”
“You just seem to want to protect me.”
He reached over and squeezed her hand. “I do, plus I really like you wearing my shirt.”
She blushed. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“Nothing. I just wanted to make sure you knew how good you looked in it before you change to go to the doctor.”
Maryn couldn’t help but smile. “Thank you.” She leaned against the left side of the comfortable leather sofa and savored his hand holding hers and the warmth of the fire. “I wish I could just stay here all day.”
“You could. UPS delivered a huge shipment of books the day before you came. We could read together and sit by the fire.”
Maryn loved the image he was painting.
He exhaled slowly. “But we did promise the doctor we’d bring you in today and I want to make sure you heal properly.” His voice dropped. “Can’t stand the thought of scars on that beautiful back.”
Maryn hadn’t even thought about scarring. The cuts were low enough if the scars didn’t fade very few people would ever see them except for maybe in a swimsuit. She wondered what her husband would think of the scars someday. She studied Tucker as that thought rolled around in her head.
He returned her gaze and gave her a smile that had her sweating. Maybe they should turn the fireplace off. He dropped his gaze and cleared his throat. “I forgot to tell you, Johnson found the paperwork for your rental when he cleaned out your car for you. He got a hold of them this morning and they’ll come soon and take care of the car. The rental’s insurance will cover everything.”
Maryn smiled at him. “Thank you. That’s nice to not worry about. So what do we doafterwe visit the doc and read to our heart’s content by the fireplace?” Maryn looked at him from beneath lowered lashes. She should’ve been back in California by now. She needed to go home and write Tucker’s story, which she now had plenty of information for, but for the first time in her adult life the story wasn’t the motivation. There was something about this house, these people, and especially Tuck that made her reluctant to leave. Crazy that a couple of days ago she’d run for her life and now she had no desire to leave.
“Well.” Tuck smiled at her. “I’m hoping we could talk you into staying with us for a few more days. You wouldn’t want to make me drive in all this snow to the airport.” He winked.
She smiled, certain driving in the snow didn’t bother him and thrilled that he was willing to drive her to the airport when that time came. “No, I wouldn’t want to do that.” She met his gaze and made sure he knew through her look exactly why she wanted more time with him.
Tucker scooted a bit closer and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. “Maryn?” his voice dropped low and husky.
“Yes?” she gazed up at him and moistened her lips.
His head slowly descended toward hers. Maryn was transfixed by the smoldering look in those dark eyes.
The doorbell rang and seconds later the front door banged open and shouting could be heard from the foyer.
Tucker jumped to his feet, looking back at Maryn. “Stay here, please.”
Maryn nodded. Whatever was going on, she was in no condition to get in the middle of what sounded like a brawl. Footsteps pounded up the grand staircase.
“Where are you keeping her?” someone yelled.
Maryn stood too quickly, wincing at the tug to her stitches. “James?” she whispered.
“She’s upstairs,” Mama said, “but you can’t just go up there.”
Tuck turned back to her. His brow wrinkling and his jaw set. “James?” he asked.