“I plan to be around a lot. I hope you and I can get along.”
Caroline lifts her chin. “I guess that depends on you. If you hurt her, I’ll cut your balls off and shove them up your ass.”
I gasp, but Tucker bursts out laughing. “Fair enough.”
“Then we might just get along.” Caroline spins around and stomps off to her room.
Tucker grins at me. “I like her.”
I’ve never loved her more. “Me, too.”
“What were you doing when I showed up?”
I smirk. “You have to ask?”
“We have a history test this week. We could study together.”
I can’t help smiling. “I’d like that.”
I get my textbook and notes and we sit next to each other on the sofa, going over my notes. Lifting my eyebrows, I give him a playful glare. “I think I see the reason you’re with me now. You just want my notes.”
He kisses me long and slow, then grins against my lips. “Damn. You saw through my devious plan.”
I kiss him back. “I like it.”
After we’ve studied for thirty minutes, it’s obvious that history comes more easily to Tucker than math. When I mention it, he shrugs. “Why do you think I’m majoring in it?”
I tilt my head to study him. “You’re serious?”
He sighs. “Look, I have to get good grades to keep my scholarship and stay on the soccer team. So my parents insisted that I majored in something that I’m good at. The fact is, I might not even come back for my senior year. There’s an agent who wants to sign me and work on getting me signed pro a year early.”
“An agent?”
He chuckles. “I told you I was good.”
“You’d really quit school to go pro? What about your education?”
“If I can make enough money playing professional soccer, then I don’t need an education.”
“But is that what you really want to do? You don’t even love soccer that much.”
He turns serious. “I lived most of my life with nothing. I have a chance at something.”
He’s shared more of himself. Granted, it’s not much, but it’s something. I understand having nothing, but I can’t help wondering if Tucker is selling his soul just for the chance of having more. “I still don’t understand why you can’t major in what you want, in case your professional soccer plans fall through. You want to major in education. You’d be fantastic at it.”
He pushes me backward on the sofa and leans over me, kissing my neck. “I told you already, Scarlett.”
I laugh. “I almost forgot Mr. Beckham.”
He pins my hands to my sides. “Oh. Insulting my soccer skills, huh?” A wicked look fills his eyes. “Have you even seen me play?”
My voice lowers, and I grin. “Oh, I’ve seen you play.”
His mouth gapes, then he laughs. “You’re full of surprises, aren’t you?”
No one is more surprised than I am that I have a playful side. I stretch up to kiss him.
He releases my arms and his hand slides down my neck to the exposed area on my chest above my oversize t-shirt. “I want to study something else.”
“I thought you loved history.”
He turns serious. “Maybe I love something else more.”
My smile falls as I wonder what he means by that, but he kisses me until I’m breathless and forget everything but Tucker.
***
On Monday morning, Tucker is the one meeting me after my set and logic class. He’s waiting outside The Higher Ground and kisses me as though he hasn’t seen me for days instead of only a few hours.
“I missed you,” he says.
“I missed you, too.” I’m surprised I mean it. I’m so used to being alone, it scares me how attached to him I’ve already become.
We go inside and sit after we order coffee. “Tucker, I’m going to cancel our official tutoring sessions.”
His eyes widen. “Why?”
“It’s not right, for one thing. The university is paying me to tutor you, and it seems a conflict of interest since we’re…” The blood rushes to my cheeks. “Together.”
He grins. “You’re cute when you blush like that.”
I glance down at the table. “I’m glad somebody thinks so.”
He lifts my chin and looks into my eyes. “You’re perfect, Scarlett. Don’t be embarrassed about who you are.”
How does he do that? How can I go from feeling embarrassed and nervous to relaxed and at peace in a few seconds? No drug, no therapy for my anxiety, has ever been able to accomplish what Tucker can do with a smile and a touch.
“I’ll still work with you, but we both know that you really don’t need me except to explain a few things. You have me anytime you want me now.”