Dear Rose 2: Winter's Dare

by Mechele Armstrong

  She searched his unreadable face for any clues to his mood. He seemed almost angry. But why? She usually could read his moods. Not today. He seemed strange and almost different somehow. “I want you inside me, Tucker.” She wasn’t going to say the f-bomb just to get laid. No matter how good the lay was.

  “Inside you to do what? And keep saying my name.” He still looked irritated and patient. Only he could pull off that look.

  “I want you to…” She should be able to come up with words. She’d minored in English for heaven’s sake. A double minor with history, but still. “…to make love to me, Tucker.” Even if it wasn’t lovemaking.

  His entire face changed. It lightened, softened somehow. “That’s my girl.” And he slid into her in the most delicious of ways. He moved against her like a knife through butter. Easy. And a hardness to her softness. They fit together like gloves that had been paired up for so long they knew how the other would move and rose to meet it.

  It was bliss.

  It soon became frenzied as they rocked against the other. Back and forth, back and forth. Until he was pounding in her and she was returning the favor by meeting him with as much as she could give him.

  When she came, she cried out his name, and he followed her into the abyss seconds after. His entire body shook with his rapture as he lay on top of her. Sweat covered their bodies, and they both struggled to fill up their lungs. He laid his forehead on top of hers.

  She tried to quiet her breathing.

  When he spoke, it was quiet. Soft so she almost didn’t hear it. “Why aren’t you happy, Ally?”

  It was a question she’d been asking herself lately. She possessed a great job, assisting at a veterinary clinic. She’d volunteered there from high school on, which meant once she’d graduated with her degree in biology and attended veterinary tech school, she’d had a reputation already to land her a job. She also gave her free time to the local history museum, and she enjoyed being a docent. That was the job she was headed for now. She had two great best friends, Devyn and Tucker. She experienced great sex with Tucker, great conversations with both of them. Even her apartment was…great. So why wasn’t life great? And how many greats could she pack into one thought process. A few.

  The thing that caught her off guard was that she thought she’d been hiding it. She hadn’t expected that question. Especially from Tucker. She didn’t think he would notice if she sprouted two heads.

  She held out her arms. “Unlock me please. I do have to go.” She pretended she didn’t hear him. “I’m going to be late as it is.”

  He shifted off her before he pulled the condom from himself. He wrapped it in a tissue and dropped it in the trash can. Then he grabbed the keys and undid her cuffs. He looked morose. Was it because she ignored his question? Maybe he deserved an answer. But how could she answer him when she didn’t know herself?

  She dressed in a hurry, tossing on her clothes. “I won’t be back until dinner. You can let yourself out if you’re working today.” Tucker had a key.

  She paused and looked at him, spread out in her bed. “I don’t know, Tucker.” And with that she walked out of the door.

  Chapter Two

  Tucker rubbed his forehead before he took a swig of water. Would have preferred something stronger, but the sun was up high in the sky. He didn’t think that would be appropriate, as he had to go back to work after this.

  Like you care?

  He didn’t. But it would take one hell of a big drink to dull the feelings inside him, and working with power tools and a buzz didn’t sound so appealing. It sounded like something that would wind him up in the emergency room.

  Devyn slumped into the seat across from him. He glared at Tucker with a look that would have scared Darth Vader. “This better be good.” He straightened and glanced around. “God, how do people get up this early and still function?” He picked up a menu lying by his seat. “And read this before the coffee comes. Damn, they are expecting rocket science here.”

  “Normal people do get up at this time, you know. And even earlier. Ones who don’t do drag shows for a living.” Tucker wasn’t into early mornings either. But especially with the summers here, working at carpentry was much better in the a.m. than the p.m. Ally had been the only early riser among the group. And so damn cheery about it too. Like some nervous lab puppy.

  “Whoopee for them. Not for me.” Devyn looked at the menu, closing one eye. “Okay, where is the waiter?”

  “It’s waitress and over there.” Tucker pointed toward a woman hovering by the kitchen. She saw him point and came rushing over.

  “I’d like some coffee, please.” Devyn smiled his electric smile. The one that Tucker referred to as his BS smile. It was designed to charm. He always used it in restaurants and service industry places. He looked up and startled. “Josie. I didn’t know you worked here.”

  The waitress, who Devyn apparently knew, smiled. “I just started.” She scampered off to bring Devyn the manna that always got him going. They’d always joked that he needed an IV of the stuff with early morning classes.

  “Who was that?”

  “Josie.” Devyn yawned again and spoke as though that explained everything. He saw Tucker look at him and said, “She comes into Temples a lot.” Devyn looked at his menu as though it were the most fascinating thing on Earth.

  Tucker stared at Devyn until he looked up from the menu to peek at him, but Devyn glanced quickly back down. Why hadn’t Devyn asked him why he’d called him yet?

  Devyn continued looking down and finally slowly lifted his head. His gaze rose to meet Tucker’s. He looked behind himself first, then met Tucker’s stare. “What?”

  “What? I called you for an emergency meeting. And you haven’t even asked why?” The reason could be as simple as Devyn was hungry or as complex as Ally had already talked to Devyn, and he already knew the problem. The two of them were always talking. It had never made Tucker feel left out. Until now.

  “I’m hungry. I was going to order first.” Devyn’s gaze drifted down toward the menu. “And I’m guessing it’s a problem with Ally. As you said on the message, ‘I need to talk you about a problem with Ally.’” His gaze went back down south. “What? Did she use your razor again?”

  Tucker could beat the man. But he’d probably go to jail. And not only that, Ally liked the infuriating son of a bitch and would be even more melancholy than she already was. Neither was a good scenario, so he’d refrain from doing it. “No. And that was years ago. We worked that out fine.” Ally had a drawer at his apartment. And Tucker made sure there was a razor there. A woman’s razor. They spent more of their time at Ally’s place anyway.

  “Can I order some food first?”

  Tucker must have thrown a murderous look Devyn’s way, because Devyn shut his menu with a deep sigh.

  “I guess not. So what’s wrong with Ally?”

  Only Josie came back to their table and poured Devyn a cup of coffee, so Tucker still couldn’t state the problem.

  “Here you go. Cream?”

  “Yes, please.” Another dazzling smile tossed Josie’s way. “I saw you last weekend at Temples. You were talking to Quinn. One of my dancers. And Zach. A friend.”

  “Sugar?” She didn’t smile at him. “Yeah. I was.” She didn’t elaborate further. Tucker thought he knew Quinn. But he didn’t know who Zach was. Rose must know. That bitch knew everyone.

  “Have any substitutes?” Devyn batted his lashes. “I’m trying to keep my figure.”

  She giggled. Both of them seemingly unaware that Tucker was stewing at each disturbance. Devyn could charm the socks from anyone. Tucker didn’t need his charm. He needed his knowledge of Ally to help fix this. “I do. I have blue, pink, and yellow.” She reached in her pocket and pulled out a trio.

  “Yellow.” Devyn took the small rectangle with a flourish. His movements were graceful and exaggerated at the same time.

  “Can I take your order?” She pulled a pad from her pocket and clicked a pen, getting
ready to write.

  “Maybe if someone had let me look at the menu.” He cut his eyes toward Tucker who wondered how far someone could be pushed before it would be considered self-defense. “Fine. I’ll have a chicken Caesar salad. Dressing on the side. No olive.”

  He put the menu back into the Josie’s eager hands. She turned to Tucker. “And for you, sir.”

  Tucker had been looking at the menu but hadn’t paid attention to it. He didn’t care what he had. “Same here.” That caused Devyn to look pointedly at him. Tucker never ate salads. Except by force. Ally had gone on a vegetarian kick one time when they’d been roommates. They’d had spinach and radicchio coming out of their ears. But she’d been in charge of grocery shopping that week, and that had been all she’d bought with the shared grocery money. None of them had been able to afford more groceries. They’d all been so tired of greens by the time it was Tucker’s turn to shop. They’d never enjoyed grilling out so much as they had that night with steak and shrimp that had mercifully been on sale, and they’d even had a coupon.

  “Same way as your friend? Sauce on the side? No olives?”

  “Yes.” Did that sound as biting to them as it did to him? He couldn’t help it. He had a crisis, and lunch orders seemed more important to these other people than they did him.

  Josie shot him a look before rushing off. Tucker would have to leave her a big tip for dealing with his bad mood and Devyn’s BS.

  “Something has you all hot and bothered.” Devyn added cream and sugar substitute to his coffee before he stirred it.

  “Someone.” Tucker took a sip of water. “Someone.” She’d had him hot and bothered since college. Only she never seemed to know it.

  “So what has Ms. Ally done now? Did she not do chores? Did she leave her romance novels in the bath?” Devyn rested his chin on his palm. “Or maybe she sang in the shower?” He shuddered. “That would be scary.” Ally loved to sing. Off-key.

  “She’s not happy.”

  “Imagine that.” The lack of surprise evident on Devyn’s face chilled Tucker to the core.

  “She talked to you.” Tucker’s hands tightened. “What did she say?” He should have known Ally would have talked to the man. And for the first time ever, he felt jealous. After all, he was the one who shared Ally’s bed. And most of her life. Why would she talk to Devyn over him? Hell, about him?

  “She hasn’t talked to me. She’s been a little wrapped up in some things I’ve being doing, so we haven’t talked much about her. But I’m not blind. I noticed she isn’t Miss Sunshine lately.” Devyn narrowed his eyes at Tucker. “I do notice things beyond myself. Sometimes.”

  “Shit. Then you don’t know what’s going on.” That was what he was hoping for even as he’d been envious. He’d wanted Devyn to tell him what she’d said so that he could fix it and make it better. He was a whiz at fixing stuff. Surely he could get this done. He could make Ally better, and they could go on like they had been.

  “I don’t know what it is. I suspect what is.” Devyn gave him his best serious look. That Devyn suspected what it was surprised Tucker.

  “What?” Right now he’d take anything. And that included speculation from someone he’d known longer than Ally. Devyn didn’t have a reputation for his insights, but maybe he could have picked up on something.

  “You truly don’t know?” Devyn shook his head back and forth. He looked sadly at Tucker. “You’re clueless.”

  “I don’t.” Tucker tried not to let irritation come through his voice but he couldn’t help it. “And usually, I am.” Except when it came to carpentry or philosophy. Women had always eluded his superior plane of knowledge. Ally had been the exception. Until now.

  “You’re a big fucking idiot. It doesn’t take rocket science to figure out why Ally is unhappy.” Devyn stated the words like whatever was going on was the most obvious thing in the world. It wasn’t. If it was, Tucker would have picked up on it. He wasn’t that dense. Or was he? Because he didn’t know and Devyn seemed to.

  Tucker drummed his fingers on the table. “Why don’t you tell me why Ally is unhappy, rocket scientist who thought it took that level to read a menu before noon. Enlighten me.”

  “You philosophy majors. Geesh.” Devyn took a huge sip of his water. “I think I burned my tongue on that damn hot coffee.”

  “Dev.” Devyn’s actions reminded him of when they played card games like Bullshit and Ally bluffed. She was always changing the subject to anything but the game. They had both learned to read her actions. She never understood how they knew she had not put down what she claimed. Dev usually dived straight into whatever he was doing and damn any consequences. But his alter ego, Rose, did love to torture people. Maybe Devyn had picked up a few things from her.

  Devyn met his eyes with an unflinching, unflattering glare that made his words all the more shattering. “You.”

  “What?” Of all the answers that Devyn could have given him, he hadn’t been expecting that one. Yes, he irritated Ally sometimes. But not to the point of making her miserable.

  “You.” He didn’t enunciate it any differently. He said it short, crisp, and to the point.

  “Me what?” Tucker wasn’t buying this explanation yet. Devyn was going to have to sell him on it.

  “You’re making Ally unhappy.” Devyn pinched his nostrils shut. “Do I have to explain why, genius?”

  Tucker sat back in his chair. “Excuse me?” He worked like a dog to make Ally happy. He tried to do as much for her as he could. That was ludicrous, that he could be the cause of her misery. “Yes, you do need to explain this. How can I be causing her to be sad?”

  Devyn held up his palms as though in supplication, though he was never sorry for anything he said, especially when he believed it was the truth. “I don’t think you mean to. But you’re making her unhappy.”

  “How could I be?” Tucker blew out an exasperated breath. This was ludicrous. Only outside Tucker, Devyn knew Ally better than anyone. He had to have some insights. So how had he come up with that answer?

  Josie showed up with their meal. Of course Devyn had to chat about everything, so it was ten minutes later before she left again.

  “How could I be making Ally unhappy?” Tucker almost snapped the words. He had been waiting too long. He didn’t want to delay any more with chitchat. It was time that he got his answers. He wasn’t usually this impatient. But it was Ally they were talking about.

  “How long have we been friends?” Devyn set about cutting up his lettuce. He always cut everything down to size. Tucker would just shovel it in. Only he didn’t feel like eating. A miracle. “All of us. Not just you and I.”

  “Forever.” Tucker shrugged. “Since first year of college. I met you, and not long after we met Ally…”

  “…and the rest is history.” Devyn finished cutting every piece of lettuce. He surveyed and cut up one that must have been too big. “Did Ally talk about her dreams with us?”

  “Yeah, we all did. And we’ve all made a lot of those dreams come true.” Tucker had known he wanted to work with his hands, even when he was in college. He’d gotten a job at a construction company that he’d eventually taken over. He was now the boss. Ally had wanted to work with animals. She’d become a biology major, than a vet tech. Devyn, he’d wanted to sing. Who would have guessed Rose would have taken him so far? They hadn’t even known Rose existed in Devyn. All that they had known was that they needed friends, and they’d found each other. They’d all been misfits in some way.

  “We have made a lot of the things that we talked about come true.” Devyn held up his coffee cup as in salute. “That we have.” He set down his coffee cup. “We talked about the future and our significant others too.” They’d talked about everything. “When Ally talked about relationships, did she in any way talk about being someone’s fuck buddy for the rest of her life?”

  Tucker swallowed. Everything suddenly cold inside him. Stupid salad. Not that he’d eaten any of it. He should have gotten red meat. Or
at least something hot. There was an iceberg in the pit of his stomach. “No. No, she didn’t.”

  “What did she talk about?” Devyn crunched on a crouton, looking interested in the answer. An answer he knew.

  Those late-night sessions where they discussed their ideal mate had usually been after several beers or whatever cheap wine the ABC store had on hand. But Tucker had listened to every word that Ally had put forth. Devyn hadn’t been looking for Carl, so it had surprised them all that Carl was different than what Devyn said he wanted. Ally hadn’t been looking for Tucker either. “She talked about a man. Walks on the beach. Typical girly stuff. Nothing out of the ordinary. White picket fence.” She’d wanted stability. Like her parents. “A home with a garden. Bird-watching. Sunsets.”

  “And that’s where you didn’t listen. To what Ally said.” Devyn paused. “She wanted a husband. Someone to be in love with. Someone to love her back. Love was in everything she talked about. And permanency. Like her parents. She wants a committed relationship.”

  That was true. She had an idealistic idea of love. Her parents had been together forever and had been happy. Ally had always talked about finding what they had. But what did that have to do with this? Ally and he weren’t dating. There had never been any talk of a relationship. They had just sort of fallen in together. “So?”

  “So being fuck buddies isn’t being in love.” Devyn must have seen Tucker tense. “Don’t be irritated. I’m just telling the score. She wanted someone to love and love her back, not just have sex with her. You two have been having sex, what since the last year of college?”

  “Third year.” It had been a wild night. They’d seen a falling star. He hadn’t had to do much coaxing to get her into his bed. Now he couldn’t imagine her not sharing his bed. They spent more time together than most couples. And up until recently, she’d been fine.

  “Oh my. Ally held out on me.” Devyn smiled with a wicked glint in his eye. “That vixen.”

  They hadn’t done that again until the next year in a mad rush of graduation angst. It hadn’t become a regular thing until four years ago. He couldn’t remember the last woman he dated. Most of his time was spent with Ally.