Tucker didn’t change his mind. Despite what everyone thought, it wasn’t the drugs. He wasn’t going to be responsible for Elle giving up everything she wanted for him, and hell, maybe getting shot was the universe telling him it was time to get a desk job. He didn’t feel ready for retirement, but he didn’t feel ready to die either.
With a woman like Elle, you couldn’t stifle her. You had to let her fly.
Maybe that’s what she did for him—she helped lift his grounded butt up into the air a little. And maybe when she floated too high, he pulled her back down. They were a good fit, he and Elle, and damn, he did love her to pieces.
When he was discharged from the hospital and River helped him into his house, Elle was sitting in his living room waiting for them. She was lying stretched out on the couch, reading a magazine, her belly visible under a tight T-shirt. He had asked her not to come to the hospital because he was worried about her getting some random staph infection or something, and for once she had actually listened to him.
What was confusing to him though was that his entire hallway was filled with boxes and suitcases. She was clearly moving in, which made no sense, because they were moving to Las Vegas.
Elle stood up with a bright smile and said, “Welcome home, Tucker. River, thank you very much for your help, now get the hell out if you don’t mind.”
“Not at all, ma’am.” River tipped his imaginary hat and backed out in amusement. “Tucker knows his discharge instructions but here they are if you need them.” He handed a pack of papers over to her.
Tucker stood there on his crutches, silent.
“Thanks, that’s good to know. Since certain people are stubborn.”
That was him, obviously. She could think what she wanted. He knew when he was right.
Tucker sat down on the sofa with a grimace. He’d refused painkillers, having seen all too often how easy it was for regular folks to get hooked on them. It was something he firmly believed was dangerous, yet at the moment, he was wishing like hell he could pop a few pretty pills and make the pain go away. It hurt like a motherfucker.
“Are you okay?” she asked him.
He nodded, words required too much energy at the moment.
“Call me if you need anything,” River said.
“Thanks, cuz. I appreciate it,” Tucker managed. He closed his eyes briefly.
When he reopened them, Elle was watching him with concern. River was gone. “Do you want a glass of water?” she asked.
“No. I want to know why you moved into my house.”
“You’re my husband and you were shot,” she said, clearly exasperated. “Plans change. It’s no big deal. This”—she pointed back and forth between them—“is a big deal.”
“It is a big deal, I totally agree. That’s why I can’t be that guy who is selfish and keeps you home, in a place you hate. I won’t do it.” Why did no one understand that?
“If you don’t start talking sense I’m going to shoot you in the other leg.”
That actually made him grin through the pain. “Oh, yeah? Ten bucks says you miss.”
“This isn’t funny!”
“It’s kind of funny.” At least the idea of her shooting him was. Elle didn’t have a violent bone in her body.
“It is not. I’ve moved in and that’s that. I don’t give a shit about Vegas. I don’t care if we have to stay in this town for the rest of our lives. I’ll be with you. The man I love. The man I have always loved.” Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes dark and shiny with tears. “You have busted your ass to do a hell of a lot of good for a hell of a lot of people and you need to keep doing that. It’s your calling, Jason Michael.”
Tucker wasn’t sure how to respond to that. He hesitated, no longer so sure of himself. He just wanted to do the right thing. For her. “I don’t want you to have regrets.”
“The only thing I will regret is if our marriage gets destroyed before it even gets started for real. You asked me that night, the night before our baby was conceived, what did he do to me. The guy I went out with. All that guy did was dent my ego. What you have the power to do is break my damn heart. Don’t do that, Tucker. Don’t tell me I can’t when I’m aching to take care of you, to be as good to you as you’ve always been to me.” Her voice caught.
Everything inside him melted, softened. He did what he always did with Elle. He reached out, ready to comfort her. To make it right, to let her know his goal was never to hurt her. “Sweetheart. I don’t want our marriage to end. That’s what I’m trying to avoid. The last thing on this earth I want is for our marriage to end.”
He took her hand and she sank down next to him on the couch, her lip trembling.
“Then I’m not leaving. Not now, not ever. It’s time to stop letting my past control me. It’s time to come home.”
He searched her face, looking for any signs of hesitation, of uncertainty. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. Do I look like I’m on the fence?”
“No. You look kind of…fierce.” Like a warrior. Tucker wasn’t sure how to put his thoughts into words. “It’s just I don’t know what to do with it—the idea that you want to fight for me, for us. I was trying to be reasonable.”
Elle looked at her husband and blinked. “Honest to God, that is the sweetest but most messed up thing I’ve ever heard in my life. We’re making decisions together, remember? And I’m not in this for whatever I can get out of you. We’re in this together.” It seemed they both had a thing or two to learn along the way. “I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but I think you’re a little misguided, honey.”
He made a face at her.
She squeezed his hand, wanting him to understand. “Vegas wasn’t just about me. I wanted it to be a place where we established our life together.” She took a deep breath, because she couldn’t believe she was actually going to say this. “But our life together has always been here—in Kentucky. Maybe this is where we’re supposed to be.”
He shook his head. “No. You can’t raise our baby somewhere you have nothing but bad memories.”
His concern made her smile. “Not all bad memories. This is where I fell in love with you.”
Tucker squeezed her hand back. When he spoke, his voice was tight. “Maybe nothing worked out for us with anyone else because we’re supposed to be together. Maybe we were supposed to be together all along.”
“Maybe. But it’s enough for me we’re together now.” She brought his hand up to her lips and kissed it. “We’re together, aren’t we?”
“Remember how you said you like it when I get bossy and alpha?” He eyed her, his nostrils flaring.
“Yeah?” Elle got warm. She thought this was going somewhere good. Better than anything in the last three days anyway, which had all been shit piled on top of shit.
“Then we’re together. And I changed my mind about moving to Vegas. I want you to stay here. I want you to take care of me. All of me.”
Elle felt a wave of triumph. Of love. Of arousal. “I can do that. Thanks for the opportunity.”
The corner of his mouth turned up. “Sass master.”
She grinned. “You know it.”