Corinne collapsed across his chest, her hair sticking to his sweat slicked skin. Tucker held her to him, until their hearts began to slow. She pressed a kiss to the underside of his jaw, where her head was nestled. He could probably stay like this for the rest of his life, cozied up, still inside her. Smug and happy, he felt so goddamned lucky not to be that guy again.
He didn’t realize he’d spoken aloud until she asked, “What guy?”
Well shit. He hadn’t meant to get into this.
She stirred, shifting just enough to look into his face, concern lighting up those sky blue eyes as she waited for an explanation.
Tucker exhaled and stroked a hand down her back. She’d bared her scars to him. “The guy who gets left.”
Realization dawned. “Laura?”
He nodded.
“We don’t have to talk about this. I don’t know why I was so angry, except that everybody knew and I was sensitive right then. We don’t have to—”
“No, listen. I want to tell you this. I haven’t even thought about my marriage in a long time, but being with you has made me look at things in a new light.” Because it pleased him, he rubbed circles at her nape. She stretched against him, arching into his touch like a big cat.
“We were supposed to be the perfect couple. And less than a year after we took our vows, she left me for her high school sweetheart. You, at least, had the decency to say something when you walked away. She just had me served with divorce papers. Never said a word about being unhappy. We never fought.”
“That’s horrible.”
“Blindsided me, for sure.”
“The others don’t know, do they? Piper’s too bloodthirsty and protective of you to speak so casually of her otherwise.”
“They didn’t know, no. It came out this weekend when I lost my shit.”
“That’s so hard to imagine. You’re always so calm and together.”
“There was a lot of alcohol and self-pity involved. And generally wondering what it was about me that made me so easy to walk away from.”
Her kiss tasted of apology. “Walking away from you wasn’t easy. It tore me in two. I never wanted to leave you, Tucker. I just thought I had to.”
“I know. And I get that now. You needed to do it for yourself or we’d have ended up circling back around to this same issue at some other point.”
“If you always felt like the guy who gets left, I always felt like the girl who wasn’t good enough. Not for my parents. Not for my ex. But for you, I’m not just good enough. I’m just good. You make me a better person. I can’t promise I won’t still have rough patches. But I’m finally making peace with my past and moving on from it. And I want to move on with you. I like who I am with you. I like who we are together.”
“Me too.” He levered up to kiss her, rolling her beneath him because he already wanted her again. “It’s worth noting, I didn’t lose my shit when Laura left me. I was upset. Embarrassed. But not devastated. In the end, she did me a favor.”
Corinne dragged her hands down his back and arched into him. “Yeah?”
“I wasn’t in love with her. Not the way I should’ve been. But I am in love with you and with Kurt. And I look forward to every messy and challenging second with you both.”
She framed his face. “You’re a good man, Tucker McGee, and I’m so proud to call you mine.”
He sank into her and spent the rest of the night proving he was up for the job.
~*~
Corinne stepped out the automatic doors of Wilton Memorial Hospital with a spring in her step. Credit for that went largely to Tucker. Amazing what stupendous makeup sex would do for a girl’s confidence, despite the almost total lack of sleep. Regardless of what happened in the end, she’d done her absolute best in the panel interview with the hospital board. If the various members who had direct or indirect history with her couldn’t look past that history to see she was the best candidate for the job, well, that was on them. She’d find something else.
Her phone rang as she crossed the parking lot. Fishing it out of her purse, she checked the display, but didn’t recognize the number. “Hello?”
“Corinne? It’s Whitney.” Her voice sounded hesitant and put Corinne on immediate alert.
“Are you okay? Is Garrett giving you trouble? Did he find you?”
“I’m fine. Well, as fine as I can be. I’m still out at the shelter.”