Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX

C olson

I should have brought a flashlight. Or a pair of shorts. Or even a phone for calling 9-1-1 if there really was a burglar on Sofia’s property. But that was all hindsight that didn’t help me right now.

More splashing noises made it to my straining ears as I exited the line of trees that separated the two houses on the property and the river that ran through the back side. A shadow moved and I pounced without waiting for the intruder to hear me and brace for the surprise attack. Everything kind of happened in slow motion, not making much sense in the moment.

A muffled scream. Soft wet skin. Two breasts pressed against my chest as we hit the ground, intruder pinned below me. That confused me most. What kind of intruder breaks into a place naked? And with the most perfect breasts I’d ever had the pleasure to squeeze the shit out of as I lay on top of him. Her? Wait. What the hell was going on?

“What the fuck?” A woman’s terrified voice had me lifting my gaze from her boobs to her face.

Tully.

Well, shit. This wasn’t ideal.

I felt myself instantly harden below the boxers that now felt thin enough to be nothing between us. Chilly drops of water on her skin made Tully all slippery, which came to matter when she started flailing. Something dark covered her hands as she scrambled to get out from under me when I outweighed her by double. I didn’t get a chance to figure out what the dark stuff was before she swiped her hand across my cheek, smearing mud and obscenities. Her arms somehow shoved between us and she covered her breasts. That was a shame because I had every intention of cataloguing every minute detail of how they’d changed over the years. Not that that was what was important here. It’s just where my brain went.

Her knee came up suddenly and I shifted to get my balls out of striking distance out of instinct. Unfortunately this movement, plus the aforementioned slipperiness, made my hips shift so that I settled perfectly between her thighs. She gasped. I knew she felt it. There was no hiding my firehose when he came out to play.

“Quit fucking moving,” I growled, trying to extricate myself from her now that I had a little bit of my wits about me.

She only squirmed more, and my dick very much liked that. He thought we were playing a game of playful wrestling. I put both hands on the ground and tried to push upward. My hands slid in the mud and I flattened out on Tully again.

“What the fuck, Colson. Get off me!” Her angry face was lit perfectly in the small amount of moonlight shining through the pine trees.

“I’d love to, Tully, but someone’s wet and made a fucking mud pit.”

Her mouth dropped open in outrage. “Oh no, you don’t. This is not my fault. You tackled me !”

I gave up trying to get off of her, incensed at her accusation. “I live here. Of course I was going to see what was causing all the ruckus in the middle of the night.”

She inhaled deeply, which I felt as if it was part of my own body. Every inch of her pressed against mine for one glorious and painful second. “I live here! Why do you live here?”

I hooked my thumb over my shoulder. “I live in the carriage house.”

“Since when?” I knew from experience if we’d been standing, Tully’s hands would be on her hips right now.

“Since a few months ago?” I frowned, wondering why I didn’t think about her living here with her mama. I’d been so gobsmacked seeing her today, it didn’t occur to me to ask about where she was staying. “When did you get here?”

Her eyes took on a fire that my dick mistook as interest. Before she could incinerate me with whatever she had on her mind, I rolled to the side. Mud squelched up the entire length of my body, but it was worth it. I moved so suddenly, Tully didn’t have a chance to cover herself. The sight of lean legs, a flare of hips, and that dip of her back not connected to the ground was enough to have me embarrassing myself in my damp boxers. My hand flew down to calm my dick.

“Get my clothes!” Tully wailed, arms pressed to her breasts and between her legs.

I couldn’t help myself. My mouth curved into a grin before I could tuck it away. Fuck she was gorgeous. All curves and filled out like a woman her age should be.

“Clothes, Colson!”

The snap of her tone had me dragging my gaze away from her naked body and reluctantly getting to my feet. My dick wasn’t having it, so I kept my hand there to somehow strangle him into behaving. I found her clothes on the same rock we used to put our clothes on when we were teens. Habits died hard, I guessed. I snatched them up and held them out to her.

“Close your eyes or something!” Her voice had gone so high pitched I was sure Hayes could hear her back at the carriage house.

I smirked down at her, not able to see nearly enough of what I wanted to see, thanks to the sliver of the moon. “Nothing I haven’t seen before, wife.”

Tully huffed her irritation and scrambled to her feet, somehow keeping all the interesting bits behind her arms and hands. “ Ex -wife.”

She snatched a shirt from my hands and tugged it on. Seeing a flash of her bare breasts before the material covered her wasn’t helping the smile on my face. She growled at me and snatched the sweats too, stepping into them before facing me with her nose in the air, a wet, muddy mess. I wasn’t much better, mud covering my face and backside, and with my hand on my dick. Her gaze darted downward before quickly coming back up to my face.

“He doesn’t understand the whole ex part,” I explained, nodding down to where I obviously still had a problem. I couldn’t help it. Tully was gorgeous and her spitfire attitude had always done it for me.

Tully rolled her eyes so hard I worried they might stay that way like Mom always warned us kids. I took that exact moment of distraction to notice that her nipples poked through the material of her wet shirt, as if they were straining to get to me. Okay, fine, they probably weren’t. That was just wishful thinking on my part. Though there was a time when those nipples had responded to me. I’d enjoyed them thoroughly and maybe they were up to a little reunion, you know?

“Eyes up here, hotshot.”

Tully’s sharp voice brought me back to the moment. I blinked away the years and focused on the angry woman in front of me with her arms crossed over her chest. “You didn’t tell me you got fired.”

Clearly that wasn’t what she was expecting me to say. Her face went through an array of emotions before she settled back on angry. “I didn’t realize I owed you my life’s story.”

That actually hit me between the eyes, because once upon a time, Tully had been my whole life. Her life’s story was my life’s story. I couldn’t have imagined us being apart a few days, let alone nineteen years.

“What happened?” My voice was soft, throat choked on all the years and regrets and missed opportunities.

Tully inhaled deeply and looked at a spot over my shoulder. “A tale as old as time. They wanted someone younger. Cuter. Better looking. All about the sex appeal and not the renovation skills.”

“They’re fucking idiots, then.”

The words were out before I could evaluate my place to say them. It was a true statement. The network execs were idiots for getting rid of Tully, no matter what age she became. I’d never sat down to watch her show, but over the years, I couldn’t help but see some of it. Blueball’s restaurants and social gatherings always had the show on, proud of our hometown heroine. I’d reluctantly agreed she was damn good at her job. Firing her was a dumb move. Anyone, including her ex-husband, could see that.

Tully’s lips lost the pinched look they’d had since I tackled her to the mud. She didn’t exactly smile, but she didn’t look like she wanted to strangle me either. Her wet hair was starting to curl as it dried, a sight that made me happy. She hadn’t permanently destroyed those curls after all.

“Thanks.” She looked down at her mud-covered feet.

“You should sue for age discrimination. Sadly, you can’t sue for stupidity.”

Tully huffed, but this time it came with a distinct tug on the edges of her lips. She wanted to smile, I could feel it. I just had to keep her talking. I had this insane need to know that I could still make her smile.

“I tried to sue Boon for using a wolf in all his social media once he made it into the majors. That shit was my brand, and we all know it.” That was a lie, but I did verbally threaten him with a lawsuit.

Tully blessed me with a full-on smile. “You did like to doodle wolves on everything in high school.”

Smirking down at her felt so much like old times I didn’t even feel my hip screaming at me for tackling her and trying to take the brunt of the fall. “I had it on good authority the high school girls liked that.”

She’d told me on numerous occasions how much she was looking forward to taking my last name. Tully must have remembered that. Her throat bobbed as she swallowed hard. Her gaze went back to over my shoulder.

“Seriously, though. You should sue. Everyone knows you’re the best at that job. Rich motherfuckers need to learn a lesson.”

“You always got so fierce when it came to protecting me,” she whispered.

Tully pivoted the second the words were out, voice much louder now. “I need to get back and get this mud off. I’m freezing.”

I felt at least a foot taller, knowing I’d teased out a smile and gotten her to remember how much I used to protect her. There were a lot of good times before the arguments started. I pivoted with her, putting my hand on her lower back. Every muscle along her spine tensed the second I touched her, but she let me walk her past the carriage house and to the back door of Sofia’s house. A motion sensor light that I’d installed awhile back flipped on when we got close to the house. Awkward silence descended while Tully looked like she was deciding if she was going to say good night or simply go into the house without another word.

I stood there, feeling like an idiot in my muddy boxer shorts. Not exactly the way I pictured talking to Tully again after so many years. Even so, I wasn’t sorry I’d run into her. The silence stretched out and I had to bail her out, even if it was from an awkward conversation with myself. I’d always help Tully. It was engrained in my goddamn DNA at this point.

“I, uh, I’m sorry you have to work with me on the fundraiser. I’m sure you weren’t expecting that.”

Tully shrugged, but it looked half-assed. Or maybe she was just cold and wanted to hurry inside. “You didn’t seem happy about it either at the fire station.”

I wanted to snap back a thousand different things, falling back on old arguments and hurt feelings, but I remembered Dad’s final words to me on the subject of Tully. He was right. We were both too old to do the same song and dance, so I went with the truth. “I always want to be around you, even when you’re spitting mad, Tully.”

I may have imagined it, but her eyes seemed to shine in the floodlight. She didn’t answer or agree with my statement, but she didn’t walk away either.

“See you tomorrow at the fire station? We can get things organized.”

Tully nodded, then hesitated. Every part of me ached for her to let go of that doorknob and turn into my chest for a hug. I wanted to put my arms around her and offer comfort, stability, a safe space for her to be vulnerable. I’d been all those things at one time, and part of me wanted to be them again.

But she turned, opened the door, and slipped inside.

I stood there for another few minutes, telling myself I was just making sure she was safely inside when in actuality I was hoping she’d come back out. When the door didn’t open and a shiver wracked my body, I turned and headed for the carriage house.

Just me and Hayes for the night.

Like always.