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She closed her eyes on a
contented sigh. “I wish we could just shut out the rest of the world. Hmmm, if
it were just you and me…”

Tucker shared her desire for
isolation. If he could steal her away from the rest of the world, he would. But
he had a life and a job here in Brant. Too many people counted on him. “Maybe
we can get away for a while, take a vacation, just the two of us.”

She opened her eyes to stroke
his cheek. “I’d love that, but we both know it’s not possible.”

He wouldn’t give in to the
frustration, not now. There would be time for that later, when he was alone.
Right now, he just wanted to enjoy every second he had left with her. He eased
her up so he could peel her dress off before stripping his own clothes off.

She smiled up at him. “You’re
incredible.”

He grinned. “I’m glad you
think so.” He came down on top of her and brushed her hair off her face so he
could look into her eyes. He braced his body weight just above her, hovering
close enough to touch her, but withholding the connection they both seemed to
crave. No words could express what he was feeling without making her feel
pressured into something she wasn’t ready for, so he decided to let his body
show her what he was feeling.

Her eyes drifted closed as
her lips parted to invite his invasion.

He slipped his tongue inside
of her mouth and felt her reservations slipping away.

She wrapped her arms and legs
around him, drawing him closer as she threaded her hands through his hair and
moaned into his mouth.

He couldn’t wait; he had to
be inside of her now. In the back of his mind, there was a vague notion of
consequences, but he couldn’t focus on anything beyond the intense need to be a
part of her.

She tipped her hips to
encourage him to thrust deeper as her nails pierced his back.

He gripped her head between
his hands as he made love to her with his mouth. His cock and his tongue worked
in unison to solidify the depth of their bond. He couldn’t get deep enough to
satisfy his inexplicable need to possess her. The harder he thrust, the more he
wanted to fill her. His body screamed at him to move faster, but his heart told
him to slow down and savor every moment.

Rachel tore her lips away
from his and sunk her teeth in his shoulder. “Tucker, yes, right there. Ohhhh,
you’re gonna make me come.”

As soon as he felt her pussy
clenching and throbbing around his cock, he knew it was too late to think about
maintaining control, his body was in the driver’s seat, pushing the peddle to the
floor. “Fuck…” he shouted. Just when he thought all sense of reason had fled,
the reality of his actions came crashing down and he pulled out, spewing his
semen all over her abdomen.

“Oh my God,” she whispered,
looking up at him with dread tinting her bright green eyes. “We forgot the
condom.”

He cursed himself for being
so careless when she trusted him to take care of her. “I’m sorry, sweetheart.
Shit, I’ve never had unprotected sex before, I swear.” He sighed. “I think I
pulled out in time.”

“You think you pulled out in
time?” she shrieked. “What the fuck do you mean you think you pulled out in
time? You’re not sure?”

He glanced at the evidence of
their lovemaking glistening on her skin, and he was almost positive his body
took over when his brain shut down.

“Get off me!” she shouted.

He eased off, wishing he
could promise her they would never have to deal with the repercussions of their
recklessness, but he refused to make her a promise he couldn’t keep. “Rachel…”
he said, reaching for her wrist.

“Get away from me.”

She stalked into the bathroom
and he jumped up to follow her. He watched her clean herself off before he
attempted to make her see reason. “I’m sorry. I fucked up, okay?”

She glared at him. “Did you?”

He grabbed her shoulders when
he sensed she was getting ready to flee. “What are you talking about?”

“Are you sure this wasn’t
part of your plan to trap me?”

“What the hell are you
talking about? You think I want you to get pregnant?” The image of her body
curved with his baby popped into his head and he winced when his body
responded.

“I think you’re used to
getting what you want, and you hate being rejected.”

“You’re crazy. I don’t want a
kid.” As soon as he said the words, he knew they were a lie. He did want a baby
with her, but not now when things were still so precarious. He wanted her to
want his baby, to be excited about the prospect of bringing a life into the
world with him, not to feel trapped and deceived.

She pushed him back. “Good,
perfect. I’m glad I found that out now. It makes it a whole lot easier to
pretend I never met you.”

He grabbed her wrist before
she could flee the room. “What the fuck are you talking about? You’re not
leaving until we finish talking about this.”

She shook him off and
sprinted back into the bedroom. “I am finished… with you.”

He felt the panic rising as
he watched her get dressed. She was leaving him and there wasn’t a damn thing
he could do to stop her. She could leave town, and he would never know whether
these brief moments in time resulted in a child he might never know. “Listen to
me, if you’re pregnant…”

She secured her dress and
slipped into her heels. “You’ll never know.”

He grabbed her shoulders and
shook her slightly. He’d never been so angry with a woman in his life. The
thought that she could walk out on him and not only take his heart, but also
the baby they may have made, made him crazy. “Don’t…”

“Take your hands off me.”

He let his arms fall to his
sides before thrusting his hands through his hair. He hated feeling so
helpless, but he knew they both needed to take a step back to calm down. They
weren’t thinking clearly right now. He didn’t want to risk pushing her further
away. “Fine, let me take you home. We’ll talk about this tomorrow.”

“I’m done with you. You’re
not taking me home. I’ll walk.”

“Fuck that!”

She took a step closer, her
voice dangerously low when she said, “Listen to me carefully. I almost lost my
life once when I allowed a man to control me. I swore I’d never let it happen
again, and I won’t. You may think your word is law around here, but you can’t
force me to love you.”

He took a step back, shocked
by the venom lacing her words. “I’m nothing like him. How could you even think
that?”

“You’re more like him than
you realize. You want to protect me, and you have the nerve to assume you know
what’s best for me.” She pointed at the rumpled bed. “Then you pull a stunt
like you did tonight.”

He grabbed her around the waist,
pulling her flush against his body. “If I wanted to try and get you pregnant
tonight, I wouldn’t have pulled out.” He closed his eyes and whispered in her
ear. “I would have shot my come so deep inside of you that you wouldn’t have
had a hope in hell of walking out of here without my seed firmly planted inside
of you.”

She pushed against his
shoulders. “Stop! I don’t want to talk about this anymore. I just want to go
home and forget this night ever happened.”

It took all of his willpower
to release her and resist the urge to pull her back into his arms. “You can
leave, but good luck trying to forget. I know I sure as hell won’t be able to.”

Rachel was going through the
motions the next day when Jessica popped her head in the door.

“You have time for a coffee
break?” She held up two Styrofoam cups from Mavis’s diner.

“Sounds great.” She waved her
over. “Come on in.”

“Thanks.” Jessica crossed the
studio. “Your car looks great, by the way. It’s amazing what a fresh coat of
paint will do.”

Rachel frowned. “My car? What
are you talking about? My car’s still in the shop.”

“Uh, no, it’s not. It’s
parked out at the curb.” Jessica handed her the familiar key ring. “I was just
over at the police station visiting Jake, and Tucker asked me to give you
these, since I was planning to stop by anyways.” She shrugged. “I don’t know
why the garage dropped them off there. Maybe you’d stepped out when they
stopped by?”

Rachel knew why, because
Tucker was footing the bill for the repairs, but she didn’t think Tucker would
want his sister to know about his act of generosity.

Apparently he didn’t even
want to see her after her outburst last night, not that she could blame him.
She cringed when she thought about how hard she’d come down on him. When she’d
had time to calm down, she realized they’d both been too caught up in the
moment to think about protection. He wasn’t the only one to blame, but given
the circumstances surrounding her last pregnancy, she found it difficult to give
an innocent man the benefit of the doubt.

Glen had been so desperate to
hold on to her she’d caught him piercing holes in a box of condoms. Days later
she found out she was pregnant with Madison, so she assumed he had been trying
to trap her with an unplanned pregnancy for months. But Tucker wasn’t Glen, and
he had withdrawn as soon as he realized his actions could hurt her. He was a
good, honest, caring man, and she’d treated him like he committed a crime.

Jessica touched her hand.
“Hey, are you okay?”

Rachel plastered a smile on
her face as she held the cup up to her lips. “Sure, I’m fine. Why do you ask?”

She frowned. “Jake mentioned
that you and Tucker had been seeing each other.” She propped her hip against
the glass display case. “My brother was in a lousy mood today, too. Am I to
assume that has something to do with you?”

Rachel closed her eyes. She
didn’t want to divulge too much, especially to Tucker’s sister, but she sure
could use a friend. “Your brother is incredible, but he wants more than I can
give him right now.”

Jessica frowned. “My brother
wants a commitment? That doesn’t sound like him.”

“It doesn’t?”

She laughed. “The girls in
this town have been trying to nail him down for years, but none of them have
caught him.” She sobered as she raised an eyebrow. “Until now.”

“I wasn’t trying to catch
him, or trap him, or… oh, whatever. I wasn’t trying to start anything with him.
It just sort of happened.”

Jessica smiled. “Tell me
more.”

Rachel sighed. “He’s amazing,
but my life is way too complicated to even think about getting involved with
someone right now.”

Before Jessica could respond,
two uniformed men entered the building. “Excuse me, are you Rachel?”

“Um, yes. What can I do for
you?”

“We have a work order here.”
One of the men held up a clipboard containing several sheets of paper. “We’re
supposed to install an alarm and two panic buttons.”

Tucker.
He must have placed the order before she walked out
on him last night. “Oh, that won’t be necessary, thanks.”

The man frowned as he glanced
at his paper. “Uh, ma’am, this has been signed by your landlord and the chief
of police. I can’t cancel it unless one of them tells me to. Sorry.”

She pointed across the street
to the police station. “You’ll find Tucker Carlton over there. I’m sure if you
just go over and talk to him, he’ll tell you to cancel the order.”

The guy shrugged. “Okay, I’ll
see what he has to say.”

Jessica watched the two men
leave before she turned her attention back to Rachel. “What was that all about?
It’s not like we’re living in the crime mecca here in Brant County. Hell, most
of us don’t even lock our doors at night, so why is my brother insisting you
have added security?”

Rachel wasn’t comfortable
talking to anyone else about her relationship with Glen, so she simply
shrugged. “He’s just being overprotective. He’s worried about me being here
alone at night with massage clients.”

Jessica grinned. “Wow, my big
brother does have it bad for you. I knew if he’d give it a chance, he’d see how
wrong he was about you.”

“Thanks, but…”

The two men returned carrying
a small cardboard box. “The chief said to go ahead with the system, ma’am.”

The fact that he was still
concerned about her safety spoke volumes about the kind of man he was,
especially after the way she’d treated him last night. “Fine, thank you.” What
was one more reason to be indebted to the man when she was already in so deep?

“Anyways, the reason I
stopped by was to invite you to a barbeque we’re having at my parents’ house
tonight,” Jessica said. “Jake’s little sister, Charlene, is home from college
and she just got a job teaching at the local elementary school. We wanted to
give her a little welcome home/congratulations bash, and my mama insisted on
hosting. So what do you say? Can you come?”

“Um, I don’t think that would
be such a good idea.”

Jessica rolled her eyes. “So
you and Tucker had a little fight, big deal. He’s a hot head, but he’ll be over
it by tonight, trust me.”