This was a once-in-a-lifetime view. Emma, the usually stern and professional woman, was in my lap with messy hair and the neediest expression. Her eyes, those hungry eyes that were more rosemary-colored in the dark, were droopy, and her pupils were dilated. She looked at me with her tongue out and brows scrunched up. She whined when I was away from her for too long. I wrapped my lips around her tongue and took a drag of her, suckling at the muscle. She tasted of instant coffee, and I nearly lost it right then and there when she moaned, light and airy, the sweetest noise I’d ever heard.My hands squeezed her perfect asscheeks. Soft, firm, and plump all at once. I bucked my hips up into her as my bulge grew. “Mine,” I grunted once I pulled away. “These lips are mine.”“Yours, yours,” Emma nodded, eager and desperate. I was lightheaded, and her every movement felt slowed down. Time, for once, worked in my favor. I could memorize every second of this before I would forcefully detach mysel
TUCKER’s POVRocky hopped around the living room. He had gotten much better over the past couple of weeks. I had taken his care instructions from Emma, ironically. Now, he was right back to being energetic, eating, and interrupting my sleeping schedule.I laid my head flat on the fuzzy rug and let Rocky climb onto my chest. He licked at my face as I gently scruffed the back of his neck. My sweet, sweet boy. I snuggled up to him and held him close. He calmed down a little and settled in my arms as I curled up around him.“There, there, little guy,” I mumbled. It was past midnight, and I was giving Rocky his final rounds of medication and some treats. I finally seemed to help him burn through his energy, and he started to settle down in my arms. As I watched him doze off, I closed my eyes as well and let my mind wander.First, it went to Emma. That woman was simultaneously the problem and the solution. I couldn’t pinpoint why I wanted her in particular or why I had started going to such
“Oh, y’know, someone as tall and handsome as you,” came the southern accent from beside me, and the shrill tone of the woman’s voice set me off.I heard the glasses clink onto the marble of the bar, but I kept stealing sideways glances at Emma. Jealousy ate at my thought process. “You just seem to be more of a bourbon fella.”“Sure,” I mumbled absentmindedly. I watched the man’s teeth appear one by one as he sleazed his way closer to my girl, raising his grubby hand to stroke her hair. The hairs on my neck stood up on edge, and I intently watched for her reaction. Every muscle of mine tensed up.Emma glanced at me with an urgency in her eyes once his hand made its way down her neck and close to her collarbone. My chest caught fire.Before I could think about what I was doing, I planted my feet on the ground and strode up to them. Within seconds I had my hand on his shoulder and spun him around. The man stumbled, and I saw the anger in his bulging green eyes. I took him in properly for
TUCKER’s POVI leaned against the car door, waiting for Emma to come down. Anticipation danced circles around my heart. To see her all done up was a rare occasion, and I was going to get my first taste of it tonight. Perhaps it was for good reason that she didn’t get dressed all the way up too often. When Emma emerged from the apartment building, her hair was pulled back in an effortless updo, and her necklace glimmered under the streetlights. She was drop-dead gorgeous. I froze in place for a few moments, and our eyes met; she, at the bottom of the entryway stairs, and I, leaning against the passenger door of my car.By the time I collected myself enough to remember that I was meant to go up to meet her and open the door for her, Emma had already made her way toward me. She endearingly wobbled in the heels she wore, perhaps the highest pair I’d seen her in to date, and stumbled as she got off the sidewalk. I snapped out of it just in time to catch her, and our faces were inches away
Emma rubbed light circles on my back, and I was too ashamed to admit that it gave me a comfort I never knew existed. I felt small and helpless, but I was never allowed to show it before. Father would berate me for my weaknesses. Jordan needed me to be his rock for our entire lives. But nobody was ever my rock. I was never given the space to be helpless. And Iwas somehow always okay with it. It truly wasn’t that bad, not until I no longer had Jordan.With Rocky, it felt like I was a father, not just a caretaker. He looked up to me for everything—I fed him, sheltered him, played with him, and raised him. He was my sweetheart. He was my everything now.But when Emma pulled me into a loose hug, I started reconsidering everything. She was worthy, she was brilliant, and she had my back. Part of me thought it was perhaps because this was her job, it was what she was paid to do. Emma, my therapist, coming to my rescue the one time I showed signs of emotional distress made sense, but the way
TUCKER’s POVI stepped on the gas, swerving through slower cars on the highway. I didn’t care if I was being reckless. The streets were mostly empty anyways at two in the morning. Rocky, my sweet little boy, the best husky in the world, whimpered in his carrier in the passenger seat. He’d been unwell, and I tried to nurse him to the best of my ability, but I was just not enough. He had barely gotten up all day, and I couldn’t deal with it anymore. Guilt ate at me for everything: for not spotting it earlier, for not being qualified to help him, and for speeding down the road and disorienting him. But I just needed to get him to urgent care as fast as possible.Handing off my puppy was nearly impossible. I was disheveled, out of breath, and on the verge of tears as they took him from me. I knew he was in good hands. I knew the vets loved him to bits. And yet I still couldn’t stop myself from following them around until I was given a gentle but firm “Sir, stay in the waiting room, please