Feltner turned to head for the door.
Tuck gave Jodi a squeeze and then followed the officer to let him out.
Feltner turned toward Tuck at the door, glanced over his shoulder, and spoke in a soft voice. “I know I’m totally overstepping here, but for what it’s worth, that woman over there is a much better choice than Katia.”
“I’m beyond clear on that. I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t say anything about what you saw. I have not cheated on Katia, at least not with my body.”
Feltner smiled. “The mind is a powerful tool we can’t control though, isn’t it?”
“For sure.”
“I won’t breathe a word. Not even to my nosy wife.”
“Thank you.” Tuck breathed out a sigh of relief he wished he didn’t need to feel. Hiding his relationship with Jodi was driving him to the edge of sanity.
After he shut the door, he turned to face the room. He was exhausted, and he knew instinctively the night wasn’t over. He was in for a wild ride when he arrived at the apartment.
Jodi must have sensed his predicament because she didn’t even encourage him to stay. She made her way to him, leaned into his body, and hugged him close. “Go,” she murmured against his chest. “Before it gets even worse than I’m sure it already is.”
He ran his hands up and down her back, needing the contact, furious with himself and the world that he didn’t have the right to take her to her room and curl up with her. He’d sleep like a log if he could just do it with Jodi.
She lifted her gaze and smiled. “Just think, the insanity might be worse than usual for a few days, but you’re now down to two days and three nights.”
“Let’s pray it speeds by because I’m losing my patience.” He kissed her forehead and turned to hurry from the building before he could lose his self-control and take her lips. God, he couldn’t wait to kiss her properly.
Soon, he reminded himself as he climbed into his car. Like she said, two days and three nights. He could handle anything for two days and three nights, right?
Chapter 16
The bar was packed, which made Tuck nervous. Saturday nights had been like this for a while. According to the staff, business had never been this good until Tuck joined them and word slowly spread that the groom from Cold Feet was working at Bridgman’s Bar.
On the one hand, Tuck felt bad for being the reason squealing women came in all the time wanting pictures with him. They fawned over him incessantly some nights, which made him worry he was going to miss something. He’d been hired to catch a drug dealer, not set up a photo booth for his growing, unwanted fan club.
On the other hand, Tuck could clearly tell that business was booming, and Jodi and Bill seemed pleased to be bringing in more revenue. He hoped they could continue to grow as a business even after he was gone.
He needed to face an important fact, if Roxie somehow led them to the dealer and Tuck managed to put an end to Bridgman’s problems tonight, he would no longer be needed. It wasn’t as if they could afford to keep paying him anyway. And besides, he had every intention of spending every possible moment with Jodi starting at noon on Monday. It wouldn’t be appropriate to expect Bill to keep him on the payroll while he was dating the man’s daughter.
As much as Tuck hated to admit it, maybe his unwanted celebrity status would help him get another job somewhere nearby. Granted, it would need to be evenings so that his schedule matched Jodi’s.
First things first. He intended to put an end to Bridgman’s problems by the time the bar closed. Tomorrow he needed to spend time with his mother. That would eat part of the day and keep him from counting the seconds trapped in a small space with Katia. Monday, he would be home free.
The crowd continued to grow as the hours ticked by. Tuck knew someone in the room was an undercover cop, but he hadn’t been told who, and she was good because he couldn’t spot her.
He kept his eyes peeled, one of them on Roxie’s every movement and one of them on every male patron in the place. Roxie might be the one dropping the drugs into women’s purses, but she wasn’t the voice on the phone. She was someone’s minion. A middleman, or woman in this case.
There was a good chance her supplier wasn’t at the bar. Perhaps he never had been. But Tuck kept an eye out all the same. The best-case scenario would be if the undercover agent caught Roxie, arrested her, and then made a plea deal to get the bigger fish.
Tuck’s heart raced as he watched Roxie work the room, taking orders and delivering them. This wasn’t the kind of bar where each of the wait staff had a section. If so, Roxie would have a harder time making her drop. Instead, she and Jacob and Liz covered the entire bar at random.
Roxie was friendly and flirty with every customer. Before tonight, Tuck had never paid attention to the fact that she didn’t have a large personal space. She got very close to people. That made her drops easier. It also drove Tuck nuts because he had no idea if she’d already made her drop or not. She could have made a dozen by now.
Jodi was nervous too. Tuck had seen her drop more than one glass, the shattering drawing people’s attention. She laughed it off, saying she was clumsy tonight.
Bill spent most of the evening sitting at the end of the bar with one of his usual customers, talking. Tuck had encouraged him to
