After Math(47)
“Scarlett, I have no right to ask you this, not after the way I’ve treated you, but I’m going to ask anyway.” He takes a deep breath and squeezes my hand as though he’s worried I’m about to bolt. “I’m miserable without you. I need you. I understand if you don’t trust me and you need me to earn back your trust. I understand if you need to go slow—”
“Tucker.”
He sounds desperate now. “Nothing makes sense without you. I love you, Scarlett. Please give me another chance.”
“I love you, too.”
His eyes widen. “What?”
“I love you, too. I need you, too.”
“You… don’t you…”
“No. I don’t need time. I need you.”
He leans forward and wraps his arms around my back, kissing me and showing me how much he’s missed me. “I’ll spend the rest of my life making you happy, Scarlett.”
I smile, still not believing this is happening. “You’re off to a great start.”
Epilogue
Butterflies fill my stomach. “I think I’m going to throw up.”
“You are not going to throw up.” Tucker says in my ear, pressing his chest to my back and wrapping his arms around my stomach. “Take several deep breaths, close your eyes, and picture yourself walking into that FBI office for your internship, feeling confident and in control.”
His belief in me fills me with confidence. “I love you.”
He kisses my neck. “I love you, too. You’re going to blow them away. Now let’s get you some coffee before you go.”
We head to the kitchen, weaving through towers of boxes stacked everywhere.
Tucker pours coffee from his coffee maker into my travel mug. He looks up with a grin. “I know it’s not the one-touch coffee maker you and Caroline shared, but I’m not shirking on my coffee-making duties yet.”
Grinning, I shake my head. “You’ve only been at this two days.”
“And I haven’t failed you yet.” He hands the mug to me. “Does Tina need help moving her things into Caroline’s apartment?”
Caroline’s apartment sounds strange. Home with Caroline these past three years has been more of a home to me than my mother’s ever was. “No, I think she’s good, although she may fake needing help, hoping some of your soccer buddies will show up and help.”
Tucker laughs. “We might be able to arrange something.”
“What about you? Are you nervous about your summer session at school? It’s your first day, too.”
“Nervous? Nah. Not with these classes. But I suspect I will be nervous when I start working with actual students next fall.”
“You’ll be great.” I wrap my hands around his neck and pull his mouth to mine. “I’ll miss you today.”
“I’ll miss you, too. But later I’ll show you how much I missed you.”
I grin and realize Tucker has helped ease my anxiety. “Something to look forward to tonight.”
He smiles, love in his eyes. “We’ve only just started a lifetime of something to look forward tos.”
I like the sound of that.