“What was that?”
He rubbed the back of his neck and gave me a lopsided smile. “A really bad idea. I got your text and …” His shoulders lifted and fell on a shrug. “The idea of trying to sneak a kiss in the library sounded fun at the time.”
I gave him a dry look. “Mister ‘we need to hide from the world?’ I’m shocked.”
“I know.” He glanced back at the building. “I hate it too, trust me.”
It didn’t seem possible that he could hate it as much as I did. He fit here, fit everywhere he showed his face in this town. I couldn’t help but wonder if I was a known entity, not an outlier, if we’d have these same problems.
“What was with the coughing fit?” I asked.
His cheeks flushed red, and his eyes slid past my shoulder to the building we’d just exited.
“I panicked a little bit,” he admitted with a wry smile.
I rolled my eyes, but gave him one of my own. “No shit.”
Tucker exhaled a laugh, rubbing the back of his neck as he did.
“How long do we have to pretend? Because I’d like to kiss you in the library. Or the park.” I glanced up at him. “Or right now.”
He clenched his jaw, big chest heaving on a sigh.
“Sorry,” I said. “I know it’s not fair to ask something that you don’t have a good answer to.”
“You have every right to ask,” Tucker told me. “I want to kiss you right now too. I just … I don’t want people to look at us like we did something wrong.”
I didn’t want that either.
Nothing about what I felt for him was wrong, and there was a whole lot of comfort in knowing that he was feeling exactly what I was.
Maybe not exactly, given no L words had been tossed between us. But I felt it. I felt it when he looked at me, when he touched and kissed me. And that soothed any fears or frustrations I might have had.
“Fine.” I crossed my arms and smiled up at him. “But you owe me a back massage for whatever just happened back there.”
He grinned. “Deal.”
Chapter 49 Grace
“You dirty little sneak," my brother said as I filled my plate in Dad's small kitchen.
I rolled my eyes.
"Don't roll your eyes at me, it's incredibly rude."
Picking up the tongs, I dumped some asparagus onto Grady's plate. "You couldn't even see my face."
He pointed his fork at the microwave mounted above the stove. "Reflection in the door."
I grimaced, grabbing another roll from the basket. Grady nudged my shoulder as I spun around and set the edge of my butt on the counter. Dad was watching TV, so there was no chance he'd be able to hear us.
"Keeping my relationship off the table for public consumption is not the same as being a dirty sneak."
"Really?" Grady snapped a stalk of asparagus in his mouth. "So, when I saw him entering the garage apartment around midnight the other night, that was … what?"
"He works late sometimes."
"And the fact that you never go anywhere in town together …"
"We like the restaurant choices in Knoxville better. There's no crime in that." The words tasted like garbage coming out of my mouth.
He pursed his lips.
I glared at him. "There are other people to consider, okay? We're being conscientious."
My brother snorted. "You're so full of shit it's a wonder your eyes aren't brown."
I set my plate down and crossed my arms. "What's your point?"
"Have you told him about the curse yet?"
"Ha. You're funny." I took a violent bite out of the unbuttered roll. "And what am I supposed to say? Oh, it's fine if the truth of our relationship is detrimental to your business and will probably get my dad fired from his job, we're destined, Tucker, let's just ignore all the people who are affected by it. Let’s also ignore how crazy I sound."
Grady kicked his foot out and dragged a chair away from the small kitchen table, folding his body down into it and gesturing for me to sit across from him. Our dad's apartment wasn't roomy by any standards, which was why we could hear the television like it was propped up next to us. But at least in here, we had some modicum of privacy, and as that was the hallmark of my life for the last two-ish weeks, I huffed out a breath and sat across from my brother.
"I tell you what, Gracey, I thought this whole thing was horseshit until I saw you go ass over teakettle for him."
I slumped in the chair. "Tell me about it."
Grady studied my face. "So why aren't you happier?"
"I'm happy," I said immediately. "I am. It's hard not to be, because he's so … we're so …" I tried to find the right words. Words that didn't sound crazy.
"Nauseatingly perfect together?" he supplied.
"Yes," I exhaled. "It's the truth, Grady. And it's not like we don't disagree on things. We disagree on a lot. He drives me insane when he drives under the speed limit, but he's never in rush to get anywhere, you know? And he's always so put together! Just once, I want to see him in a dirty shirt or make a mess or burn something he's cooking."
"What a jerk."
I gave him a look. "You know what I mean."
"I really, really don't."
"Fine." I played with the tines on my fork. "It's like … the thing we’re hiding is so amazing that I can accept the need for discretion."
Sort of.
Almost.
So what if all I wanted to do was hold his hand while I sat in his truck, not drive my own vehicle the roundabout way to his house, just in case so-and-so saw me go the direct route.
People survived worse, I constantly reminded myself. At least I had Tucker. I just … wanted to be able to show it.
He shook his head. "And his ex-girlfriend, whoever she is, Flower
