by Doyle, Jen
With a curt nod, he picked up the box of toys and tucked it under his arm. After checking in with Taylor and Gabe, he headed back to Inspiration, making a mental list of what they’d need for themselves and their kids over the next few days. The only bearing Karen had on this whole situation was that she was Taylor’s doctor and she was apparently incredibly good at her job. And that was just the way things had to be.
Chapter Four
“Why are we doing this again?” Karen hadn’t been a regular attendee at high school sporting events when she was in high school. She had no idea why she was starting now, even if this was more a pep rally than an actual game.
“Because the school does some big fundraising drive for Christmas, and Zach’s boss is donating a shit-ton of kiddie tool belts, so it’s an all-hands-on-deck thing.”
“I know that,” she grumbled. “But why do we have to go?”
Ryan stopped fiddling with the radio and turned to her. “Because Zach is your cousin and you’re not, actually, Ebenezer Scrooge, and sitting in a gym for an hour or two won’t kill you.” Except he was the one who gasped—not her—when they turned onto Main Street. “Oh, God,” he said. “It’s like they’ve barfed elves and bells. It isn’t even Halloween yet.”
Karen grinned. “You were saying, Mr. Scrooge?”
She came to a very careful stop at the town’s one stoplight; she had no interest in any additional police encounters and was not at all thrilled that Tuck and Zachary shared the same hometown. For as much as she tried to hide it—unsuccessfully, clearly—she was even less thrilled to see the Christmas decorations. Knowing her feelings about the holiday, Zach had warned her, but she hadn’t believed him when he said it would be everywhere. Seriously. Who started to get ready for Christmas in October?
The good townsfolk of Inspiration, Iowa, that’s who. They put extreme enthusiasm into their holiday fundraising drive, apparently, with tonight being the official launch of the high school’s efforts.
As far as Karen was concerned, small towns plus Christmas equaled pending-emotional-crisis-to-avoid-at-all-costs. Her father would have been beyond thrilled by Inspiration’s early start on the season. Her dad had practically been nicknamed Father Christmas of their own hometown; he loved the holiday that much. He’d loved the music and the ceremony and playing Santa in the Christmas parade.
Karen had loved every moment of it right along with him, her favorite part being when he would lift her up to put the star on the tree at the police station. Then he’d put her up on his shoulders and walk around town like that, pretending to be surprised every time someone pointed out that’s exactly where she was. The hole in her heart had mostly closed up over the years, but the sound of those bells ringing was like a jagged knife tearing it right back open.
There was no getting away from it here, that was for damn sure. Because, yes, there were elves and bells and wreaths and holly everywhere she looked. Menorahs and Kwanzaa flags, too. “Do you think Zach would be okay if we just met him at the restaurant instead?” Karen’s schedule was so draining that, ever since she’d moved to Iowa, her cousin usually came to meet her rather than the other way around. She had been here a few times, though, and the local bar and grille had surprisingly good food. She’d happily wait for him there.
“No. You can handle teenagers in Christmassy outfits for two hours.” Ryan started in on the radio again. Karen had to smack him on the shoulder in order to get him to change back to the navigation. “Maybe he’ll hook you up with one of the coaches while we’re there.”
Karen rolled her eyes. “Please. That’s not his MO at all.” It was much more along the lines of something Ryan would do. “And anyway, he knows the deal.”
Ryan sighed. “Everyone knows the deal. And you know exactly what we think of it.”
Since Karen hung out socially with all of two people on a regular basis, the term everyone was an exaggeration. But both of those people—Zachary and Ryan—had made very clear that they thought she needed to loosen up on the whole diet front.
They were both wrong.
The high school was both bigger and nicer than expected, and there were a whole bunch more cars in the lot than there should be on a random weekday late afternoon. “They take their sports seriously here, don’t they?”
Ryan laughed as if she’d made a joke. She stared at him.
“Wow.” He shook his head. “You meant that, didn’t you?”
Well, of course she did. She wouldn’t have said it otherwise.
His hand went to her shoulder and he turned her toward the entrance of the building and gave her a little nudge. “This is Nate Hawkins’s hometown.”
“Nate who?”
“Hawkins? The catcher for the Chicago Watchmen? Totally favored to win the World Series for the second year in a row?” He looked at her with extreme pity. “Drop-dead gorgeous?”
Oh, okay. “Baseball.” That she knew. She wasn’t really a big sports fan. But she did remember someone mentioning something along those lines during one of her visits. “I think we beat him at Trivia Night one time.”
Yes. There had been a whole group of guys that the team she’d joined up with had knocked out of the final round. It had apparently been a big upset. Even though it was almost a year ago now, she remembered it clearly. Having spent most of the last two decades working her ass off, she’d never really done much hanging out with friends or playing on teams of any sort so those times she did made an impression.
She looked down at her phone. “Zachary says he’s in the fourth row on the left when we come in the door.”
And he was. But that wasn’t what she noticed first. Nor was it the cavernous space or how full it was. Instead it was the guy sitting at the end of the row two in front of him.
“Tuck.” Looking so freaking hot in that damn uniform. Dark blue, no less, with that pinstripe down the leg. Clearly, she’d done something to offend the universe.
He did an actual double take. “Karen. What are you doing here?”
God, he really was a beautiful man, even in the harsh lighting of the gymnasium.
“Meeting Zachary.” Who was looking down at her with obvious puzzlement. She hadn’t exactly mentioned to him she’d spent three ridiculously fulfilling hours in the back seat of her car with a guy he’d probably grown up with. Then again, Karen had had no idea Tuck was from this part of the world until the night he’d pulled her over. That had been a shock on all levels. Until that moment, he’d ranked way up there on her list of man memories, but known mostly as hot-guy-she’d-picked-up-in-a-Denver-bar once upon a time.
Though still looking surprised, Zachary moved over a little and... Oh, no. Waved Tuck up to sit with them. That wasn’t good. He made her feel all tingly inside. She didn’t like things that made her tingly.
He didn’t answer right away but instead looked up at her, asking her permission first. And damn, if she didn’t flash back to the way he’d looked up at her that night from his stool at the bar, the night she’d wanted him so badly she’d practically propositioned him on the dance floor. She hadn’t even been subtle about it. But she was a cop’s daughter. She usually had at least the basic facts on a guy before she slept with him. Ending up half-naked in Bruiser’s back seat wasn’t exactly her norm. Tuck had been her first and only in that regard, she’d been drawn to him the moment she saw him and it had snowballed from there, mostly just a blur of insane chemistry. And entirely worth it, even if he hadn’t remembered her name.
Which, actually, wasn’t entirely bad. She hadn’t been lying when she told Ryan that Tuck seemed like a seriously decent guy. And obviously uber-responsible. If she’d distracted him enough that he’d forgotten her name, it might not be the worst thing.
Seeing him here, however, was not a good thing, especially because the chemistry hadn’t dissipated one bit. He did something to her s
enses that was seriously uncomfortable—as in squirm-in-her-seat, make-sure-her-puckered-nipples-weren’t-visible-through-her-shirt, can’t-look-at-him-without-picturing-him-naked uncomfortable. He made her want to break her diet in the worst of ways and forget entirely why it was there in the first place. She had no capacity for that kind of distraction. No mental energy to have another person to have to navigate, no patience for the games required even in the lead-up to a relationship, much less the time to invest in something that would only end in heartbreak. No way in hell was she going to spend the next two hours sitting next to him.
“Officer Hottie should totally join us,” Ryan said, despite Karen’s glare.
As Tuck raised his eyebrows and laughed, Karen took a deep breath and made her way up the steps.
“You know each other?” Zach asked when she slid onto the bench, the surprise still on his face as Tuck sat down next to her.
At Ryan’s snort, Tuck glanced over at him before looking back down at Karen and then away. “We’ve run into each other a couple of times.”
Which should have reminded Karen about their meeting at the hospital. Of all the reasons she preferred not to have any further interactions beyond ones required by their respective jobs. Instead she flashed on a whole different thought, although this one not based on reality at all: him bending her over the hood of his car. Patting her down thoroughly. Handcuffs may or may not have been involved.
Before Zachary could ask for further details, Tuck said, “And what about the two of you? Have you known each other long?”
“Our moms are cousins,” Zachary answered. “They’d always come out for a week or two in the summer when Karen and I were growing up.”
“I see,” Tuck murmured, looking down at her, the hint of a smile on his face.
And there went all those tingles again, damn it. Karen shifted closer to Ryan, so as to avoid brushing up against him.
“So what have you guys been up to?” Zachary asked a few minutes later into the somewhat heavy silence. As if Karen and Ryan were a couple.
Although they kind of were, she supposed. He was much more social than she was; if it weren’t for him, she’d spend every moment she wasn’t at the hospital at home in her Snuggie watching TV. It was a life she was pretty happy with—she truly was. And maybe if he weren’t gay it would be perfect. But it did make her feel a bit pathetic to be known as the lesser half of a platonic couple, the other member of which was her coworker/best friend.
Not pathetic enough to reconsider her approach to men, however, or to Tuck in particular. Honestly? She’d rather just let silence reign. So she kept her hands and arms to herself, mentally reviewed the week’s surgeries, and watched what was happening in front of her. If he thought she was uninterested—or just plain bitchy—then...good. The more distance between them, the better.
Chapter Five
The woman shouldn’t smell so good. She was a doctor. She should smell like disinfectant. Like the hospital. She should be a reminder of all the things Tuck hated about everything she stood for. Instead, she smelled like lemons. No—flowers. Or maybe it was coconut. Hell, he had no idea. Just that it took him right back to those three hours they’d spent together and he was getting hard right here in the high school gymnasium. Goddamn it.
Tuck cleared his throat, put more space between them, and then rested his elbows on his knees with a renewed focus on what was happening on the court below...although it didn’t do one bit of good in terms of taking his mind off her. He wanted her desperately. He wanted to grab her by the hand, pull her into the hallway, and then taste and tease every single part of her until she forgot her name.
He didn’t react to women in that way. He didn’t think about women like that. And only once in his entire life had he had such a visceral response: in that bar in Denver, six years before. He’d been kicking back in the booth while his buddies were out making friends on the dance floor when he saw her sitting at the bar, giggly and giddy and the focus of enough male attention that he probably would have noticed even if not for the long, blonde hair cascading down her back. He did have a thing for long, blonde hair.
But there was a lot of attention directed her way, getting rowdier as the evening wore on. Always on the lookout for trouble, he’d headed to the non-crowded end of the bar—far enough away not to be obvious, close enough to step in should it be required—and ordered a drink. He’d been waiting for his beer when she looked up and their eyes met. Even from that distance he’d felt as if she’d actually touched him; everything came suddenly to life.
It had been uncanny. Unsettling. Unlike anything he’d ever experienced. But he’d already been feeling out of his element—city life was not for him—and he hadn’t known what to do with it. So he’d balked and merely nodded his head before turning away. He hadn’t been at all ready for her to come up to him a few minutes later, take the stool next to him, and lean over and ask him to dance.
He didn’t think you could call what they did dancing—and not because of his two left feet. He did know, however, that he’d been so caught up in her he hadn’t even thought twice when she’d asked him to leave with her. He’d barely been able to wait to get as far as where she’d parked her car. Part of him thought he should feel wrong about so anonymous of an encounter, yet he’d never quite been able to regret it. Not once in all these years since.
“Ready, Tuck?”
It took Tuck a second to remember where he was, which in itself was another reminder of why staying away from her was a good idea. Something about her pulled him in to the point of complete distraction. He was also fairly certain that, despite her apparent disinterest, she was just as attracted to him. But he had his own reservations. So, after acknowledging the principal’s question with a nod, he summoned the powers necessary to appear as unaffected as she was. Turning to her, he said, “I guess this is goodbye.”
She nearly jumped off the bench. “What?”
Tuck had to bite back his smile. Hell, yes, she was attracted to him. “I said, goodbye. I’m emceeing the halftime show and then heading out from there.”
She relaxed for the first time in an hour. “Oh. Okay. Goodbye.”
And now he had to hold back from sighing. Well, attraction or not, the relief on her face was clear. He tried not to grimace as he waved goodbye to Zach and Ryan as well.
Since this was the official kickoff of the high school’s annual holiday fundraising and toy drive, the halftime show was a bit outside of the norm. The tradition also included a school administration-sponsored fund drive, with those funds going to the charity of choice of whatever team or club raised the most money, and part of Tuck’s job was to announce the initial donations from various individuals and businesses across town. It required more of Tuck’s focus than usual, and he was grateful for that. Allowing himself to think any more about Karen than he already had was an exercise in futility. Twenty minutes later he was almost glad to be done and on his way out, something that bothered him immensely, especially because the basketball teams were up next and normally he would have at least stayed for that.
But he was pretty sure that if he spent even another minute in Karen’s presence he’d break down and ask her out yet again, even though he knew full well what the answer would be. So, yeah, he was definitely leaving now.
Less than two minutes later, he was halfway down the empty hallway when he heard the collective gasp of the crowd and then an immediate hush. Nothing about that sounded good. He double-timed it back, his worst fears being confirmed when he saw the huddle of people, Karen and Ryan included, crouched down around a player in the middle of the court. Tuck knew right away who was missing—Justin Hale, Inspiration’s next big hope. The kid had as much raw talent as Nate Hawkins in both basketball and baseball, and everyone knew this was his year. The season hadn’t even started and there were already college and pro scouts hanging around
.
Even if Tuck hadn’t seen the looks on the faces of the adults nearby, he would have known it was serious just from way the other kids were anxiously watching, several of them with tears streaming down their faces. Knowing they didn’t need yet another body huddled around him, Tuck came to a stop beside one of the assistant coaches instead. “What happened?”
The man’s face was white. “Hale was going for a jump shot. It was a freak hit. The kid blocked him but took his legs out from under him. He hit the floor headfirst.”
“Headfirst?” Shit. Even in practice these kids got real physical real fast and a kid could get seriously hurt. “Where’s Teresa?”
It was unusual for Justin’s mom to miss seeing him play, but she had two other highly involved kids, a part-time job, and a difficult husband who worked long hours in the city. Plus, this wasn’t even a game. He grabbed his phone out of his pocket. It wasn’t exactly his practice to make a call like this without more information, but since Coach O’Reilly, the trainer, and the EMTs were all in the huddle at the moment attending to her son, there was no one else with more information. And although most of his fellow Inspirationites were good people, news spread fast, no matter how incomplete or inaccurate.
Case in point, before he could even pull her name from his contacts, his phone rang, her name popping up on the screen. “Tuck. Oh, God. Please tell me he’s okay. Tuck, he has to be okay.”
Given the horns blaring in the background and the screech of brakes, Tuck had no question she was on her way to the high school right now. “Teresa, pull over. Your getting in an accident isn’t going to help him at all, okay? Stay on the line. I’ll see what I can find out.”
Since he was now officially Teresa’s representative, he felt less intrusive, although he was careful to stay out of the EMTs’ way as he crouched down. Making sure the phone was on mute, he held it up. “I’ve got Justin’s mom on the line. What does she need to know?”
