Jodi set her forehead against his chest, her hands flattening on his abs. “Go back downstairs. Give me a moment. I’ll be there soon.”
He kissed the top of her head and groaned. “Jodi…”
“Please, Tuck. I promise I’m okay.” She lifted her gaze again, a smile plastered on her face. “This was all I needed. I shouldn’t have doubted you. I’m good.”
He felt like a world class dick.
She smiled wider. “Seriously. I got a hug and a promise of a date. I can do this. Swear. I feel much better. Go. Catch the asshole who’s dropping drugs into people’s purses. At least you have a better idea what you’re looking for.”
He chuckled. “Women with purses?”
“Yep.”
He held her gaze, smiling wider too. His heart was slightly lighter from this momentary banter. In six days he would have this with her every day. In front of people too. Reluctantly, he released her, clutching her hands in his as he slowly retreated until he was forced to let go.
Chapter 12
Three days later, Katia got on Tuck’s last nerve. “I’m gonna catch you in the act, you know.”
Tuck closed his eyes and inhaled slowly. He would not let Katia make his blood pressure rise. She was nothing to him. Absolutely nothing. All he had to do was play this stupid game for a few more days and it would all be over. He’d never have to see her or hear her voice again.
She strolled closer to where he sat at their small kitchen table trying to enjoy his lunch while flipping through the latest news on his phone. She set her hands on the table and leaned into his face. “I know you’re sleeping with that waitress.”
He cocked his head and glared at her. “Really. And how exactly do you know that?” They were off script today. It happened. The producers didn’t even care. Most of the time ratings were higher when they strayed from the plan anyway.
“Ha.” She shoved off the table, cocked her hip, and planted her hands on her hips. “I have spies. It’s not hard. You spend ten hours a day at that stupid bar.”
“I work there, Katia,” he pointed out.
“Sure you do,” she drawled. “How often do you sneak to the back room with her?”
Interesting. The back room? Katia obviously didn’t know much if she thought the office would be the best place for Tuck to hook up with Jodi. Apparently, Katia wasn’t even aware Jodi lived above the bar and there was an entrance to upstairs from inside the building.
He returned his attention to his phone. “You’re full of shit. Go back to your Instagram and try to sell some lipstick or something.”
“Are you making fun of my job?”
“Job?” He lifted a brow.
“I make way more than you do, Tucker. So, yes. Job. It’s a legitimate business. If you had even one tenth of the followers I have on Instagram, more people would know who you are. How do you expect to get ahead in this world without name and facial recognition?”
He chuckled sardonically. “Oh, I don’t know. Hard work? I have no interest in being recognized. It’s a pain in the ass.” He hoped this whole fiasco would blow over soon and people would slowly forget him.
“You’re pathetic,” she said as she spun around and flounced across the room to the sofa. Seconds later, she was sitting in her usual spot, legs tucked under her, laptop on her thighs. And she thought he was pathetic.
Tuck rose from the table. “I’m leaving. And just so you know, if you have me followed, I’m not going straight to work today. I took a few hours off to visit with a SEAL buddy this afternoon. I’d rather not have his face and name dragged through the mud, so if you don’t mind, call off your goons. I’ll take pics to prove where I was.”
She gasped. “I do not have you followed. You’re an asshole.”
He turned back from the door. “Do you kiss your lovers with that mouth?”
She screamed in frustration. “I told you Brittany and Dawson are not my lovers. We’re just friends.”
“Who said anything about Brittany and Dawson?” he asked. She was so dense he couldn’t figure out how she managed to be an influencer of anything at all on social media. Then again. He shouldn’t wonder. She was gorgeous. That was all that mattered in her world.
She grabbed a pillow from the couch and launched it his direction, coming up short.
“Cute, Katia. So adult. And just so you know, I’m not stupid. I saw the pictures of you leaving that apartment. You looked like you’d been rolling between the sheets for hours. Your hair was a mess. Your dress was crooked. And you didn’t even have the same shoes on. Did you lose them under the bed?”
She turned beet red, and Tuck didn’t give her a chance to respond. He was out the door in less than a second.
He jogged down the outside steps and hurried over to his car, glancing every direction, hoping to escape notice. He should have taken Bill up on his offer to permanently trade vehicles for a while the night after he borrowed his car. Tuck didn’t figure he would have gotten away with the switch for very long, however. It probably wouldn’t have been worth it.
During the drive to McP’s he looked in the rearview mirror a thousand times. Somehow it seemed he managed to make it to his destination without a trail.
While Katia was in the shower that morning, Tuck had called his friend Nick, the one who got him into this mess with Cold Feet in the first place. Nick had suggested
