Page 19 of Big Obsession
When our eyes meet, he gruffly responds, “I don’t want you to have any doubts here, so take it all in. Hell, take notes if you need to. You will not be going on any dates with Rick, Bob, Joe, or any other guy that is interested.”
I jut my chin at him. “Well, I’m going to hold off telling you that I’m an adult and can do what I want until you tell me why.”
He leans in. “Because you’re mine.”
CHAPTER 11
TUCKER
She looks so surprised, and I don’t get it. I thought I’d made it plain with my intentions but maybe not. “What’s that look? You have to know I’m attracted to you.”
Her eyes widen, and I don’t stop. “Hell, honey, I was so hard last night with your hands on me, you had to know I wanted you.”
Her cheeks turn red, and she shushes me. “Tucker Yates, keep your voice low. Do you want everyone to think that we… that I…”
I laugh. “What? That you slept at my house and in my bed with me last night? Why, yes, I do want everyone to know that.”
She gasps. “Tucker!”
I pull her hand toward me and hold it in my lap. “You can’t be surprised by this.”
She shrugs. “So you want to sleep with me… but not sleep… you want to have sex with me.”
I growl. “Fuck, baby, you keep talking like that and I’m going to take you back to the car.”
She’s shaking her head, and I can already tell I’m not going to like what she has to say, so I keep talking. “I don’t want to sleep with you. I mean, I do, of course I do, but…”
I let my voice trail off.
“But what?” she insists.
I nod. It’s time. “We both know we can’t just sleep together.”
Her eyebrows shoot up. “We can’t?”
“Honey, you’ve been like a mother to Ace. You’re the closest thing to a mother he’s got.”
She nods her head. “I love him like he is my son.”
I swear, that right there does me in. It’s like a hit to the chest, and I know I’m making the right decision. I want Dolly so badly that I’d wondered if sex and attraction was making me have poor judgment. And I knew she loved Ace, but hearing her say it without any hesitancy at all makes me even more sure about what I need to do.
“And he loves you… so we can’t just sleep together.”
Her silence is not reassuring.
“Tell me what you’re thinking.”
“I don’t want to lose Ace.”
I squeeze her hand. “You could never lose Ace. You won’t. You can’t. He loves you, too. I would never try to keep you two apart.”
She points between the two of us. “So when you’re done with me, would I still be able to see Ace?”
I gasp. “Done with you? What the fuck, Dolly?”
She shrugs, her lips puckered. “Yeah, you know, after we sleep together.”
Stunned, I ask her, “You think I’m going to use you to get off? And then what? Just walk away?”
