Wood turned back.
“I shoulda let it go a long time ago and I didn’t,” Tate began and I pulled in a breath because I knew where he was leading with that introduction and I was happy he was doing it but I couldn’t believe he was doing it now. “Had to blame someone ‘cause I couldn’t blame myself for Dad leavin’ me the way he left me. Placed that shit on you. It was a dick thing to do.”
Wood stared at Tate and said not a word.
I held Tate tighter and Tate kept talking.
“Dad thought you were the shit. He wouldn’t have blamed you and he would be pissed as hell knowin’ I did.”
Without a word, Wood looked away and started to turn away.
“Wood,” Tate called and Wood stopped moving, hesitated and turned back. “Thanks for your help today, bud.”
Wood stared at him, his eyes flashed to me and then back to Tate.
“She a miracle worker?” he asked and I blinked, not understanding the question.
“Yeah,” Tate answered immediately, clearly understanding it.
Wood stayed silent a moment then suggested, “Maybe you’ll give it a coupla weeks before you two invite me over to a barbeque.”
“We can do that,” Tate replied and my eyes were on Wood but I could tell by Tate’s voice he was smiling.
“Right,” Wood muttered and turned again but was stopped again when Tate spoke.
“Jonas’ll be here. We have a barbeque –”
Wood started walking but he looked over his shoulder. “Then I’ll be here.” He faced forward again and I heard him say quietly, “Not just for Jonas.”
“Laurie?” Tate called to his back, it was a question for Wood not Tate addressing me.
“She’s got great fuckin’ legs, man,” Wood called back. “Not havin’ ‘em wrapped around my back don’t mean I can’t appreciate ‘em as close as I can get.”
Tate chuckled. Wood jogged down the steps and swung into his truck. I was still confused.
We watched Wood turn around in the drive and pull out. When his brake lights faded to normal and he took the turn out of the drive, I looked up at Tate.
“What was that all about?”
Tate turned me to the door. “Don’t worry about it.”
“Are things okay with Wood?” I asked as he pulled open the door.
“Yeah,” he answered.
“So that was it? Years of bad blood and you two talk about my legs –?”
He’d guided me through the door, closed it, locked it and switched off the outside lights.
“It’s a guy thing,” he stated.
“It’s a crazy thing,” I mumbled.
He headed us toward the hall. “Speakin’ of your legs wrapped around my back…”
“We weren’t.”
I saw his head tilt down to look at me through the dark as we hit the mouth to the hall.
“We are now.”
“Tate, it’s the middle of the night. We just survived another drama.”
“I’ll go fast,” he assured me.
“Right,” I muttered.
“Baby, trust me, I can go fast.”
“I can go fast. You take your time until I go fast.”
We were at the foot of the bed and he stopped me, turned me to him and his hands settled on my hips.
“Okay, babe, let me introduce you to fast,” he invited.
I rolled my eyes.
His mouth came to mine where he didn’t kiss me, he murmured, “And dirty.”
My heart skipped a beat, his hands gripped my hips and he threw me on the bed much like he threw Jonas through the air in the pool but except without the distance or elevation.
I bounced, he landed on top of me and then he showed me he could, indeed, do fast.
And he did it dirty.
And it was so fantastic, I wished he’d gone slow.
Chapter Twenty-Two
My Job Was Done
I woke up confused. It had to be morning but the room was way dark and I wasn’t snuggled into Tate nor was he curled into me.
I got up on an elbow and noticed I was alone in the bed and the dark denim curtains were closed. I’d never been in the room when the curtains were closed but I was right in my estimation of what it would be like when they were pulled, the room was nearly pitch.
I threw back the covers, wandered to the windows facing the front of the house and pulled back a side, looking to the right to see if Tate was having coffee on the deck.
The chairs were empty.
I pulled open the other side of the curtains and let the sun shine in and then turned to the bed, seeing the note on Tate’s nightstand. I walked to it, picked it up and read it.
Ace,
Getting Bub.