Donut Tucker Out (Beech Grove Book 1) Read online

  “And you think Chase Tucker is it? You think he could be a partner in my life?”

  “I don’t know,” she exclaimed with wide eyes. “I’m not a psychic, BUT you never know unless you try.”

  Try something with the sexy Mr. Chase Tucker.

  Damn if that wasn’t as tempting as a dozen donuts on the third day of a diet!

  CHAPTER THREE

  Chase Tucker

  HE WAS IN HIS CAR, TRYING NOT TO look around at the somewhat empty parking lot like some impatient kid. He was never impatient. But there he was, the sitting and breathing definition of the word, oddly nervous and excited.

  Kenzie Mason.

  Not that any of his buddies would blame him if he told them about her and the way he had uncharacteristically been waiting almost an entire school year to make his move.

  Waiting around to make a move wasn’t in his blood. You should keep waiting, a voice in the back of his head whispered, but he ignored it. He was done waiting. The closer the end of the school year had approached, the more difficult it had been to avoid her. No, that was wrong. Avoiding Kenzie Mason was like trying to avoid the damn sun in spring.

  Her light shone too brightly to avoid.

  Kenzie Mason was an incredible woman. Watching her this school year had only made his interest in her grow. Usually, he grew bored with women, finding something that turned him off.

  Her ex-husband was an idiot. What kind of man in his right mind would willingly let go of a woman like her?

  Chase was forty-one, not some sixteen-year-old trying to get his dick pet for the first time. Yet there he was in the parking lot of the school he taught at, waiting for one of his students’ moms to show up to help him with something. But who could blame him? His self-control was shit when it came to Kenzie Mason.

  He shouldn’t be there. He should be home, grading papers, have a beer, then pick up a basketball game with one of his buddies at the local park. He just couldn’t get himself to leave.

  Maybe it was the fact the school year was ending, or the fact he had heard one of the other male teachers he worked with talk about wanting to ask her out. It didn’t matter. He was done waiting. Something about the way her warm brown eyes had looked up at him, he knew. He knew whatever he was feeling had to do with more than the fact he hadn’t touched a woman since the beginning of the school year. Not that he hadn’t had the opportunity; he had. He just hadn’t been able to go for it. Not when the image of her sweet, dimpled smile popped up in his head and killed his erection whenever he was near any other woman.

  He was single, and she was divorced. He liked her boys. They were cool and funny and damn smart. They had a love for learning he knew, deep in his gut, she had sparked in them. He had watched her and them this year. Taking in every opportunity he could to learn, to try and find something, anything, to get him to stop his admiration and fucking crush on the woman. He had promised himself he’d wait until the end of the year.

  Then she had been smiling brightly at her youngest, and then her eyes had popped to his, and it was the last strike. The straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back.

  Mr. Tucker was done waiting, and Miss Mason was going to see class was in session.

  Kenzie

  “I am so sorry!” I yelled out and winced as I grabbed my purse from the passenger seat of my car and got out. “Have you been waiting long?” I asked in his general direction as I hurried toward his car. “Jim’s coach called and needed me to drop off water bottles. I thought I had time, but I got caught in traffic and—” Not another word slipped out of my mouth.

  How could it?

  There was no way my brain could possibly come up with how to make a noise, much less say a word. Not when his hands swiftly reached out and grabbed me, pinning me up against his car. Though, it wasn’t a car, not like my little sedan. He had a black SUV. Much like him, his vehicle was big and strong with lots of power and height.

  “Hey,” he said, his tone low and slightly raspy.

  “Hi,” I breathed, trying not to get lost in the mossy depths of his eyes. “I, umm…” I lost what I was going to say, suddenly aware of the way one of his hands rested on my waist.

  “Have you had dinner?” he asked oddly.

  “Umm, what?”

  “Dinner?” he repeated, and I shook my head.

  “No. I can just make a sandwich when I get home later—” I explained, but he cut me off.

  “Let’s go.”

  “Go?” Go where? Dinner?

  “Babe, you going to repeat everything I say?” he asked me, and I stilled, still aware of the way his fingers stroked my side, the sensation oddly comforting even though with anyone else, I was usually ticklish.

  “Mr. Tuck—”

  “Chase,” he corrected, and my breath hitched in the middle of my throat when his free hand cupped my cheek so damn tenderly, it shocked me.

  His hands were huge, and I had always imagined they would be soft because of his profession, but they weren’t. Far from smooth, they were slightly calloused, though he still held my face gently. How the hell was that possible? Then my mind moved to all the things he could use those calloused hands for. All involved me and him mostly nude. Where did that come from?

  “Chase.” I softly said his name, and I liked the way his green eyes darkened, almost to olive, as if he liked the way I said his name.

  “Kenzie,” he said, and now it was my turn to enjoy the sound from his lips. My name was spoken deeply, full of awe and warmth with a hint of unadulterated grit.

  “I thought you needed help with something in your classroom.”

  “Later.”

  “But—”

  “You need to eat, and I wouldn’t be much of a gentleman if I didn’t feed you. Especially if you’re going to help me with my room.” Something about his voice made me shiver. He hadn’t said or insinuated anything dirty. God, my poor hormones were out of control. I was seriously going to have to make a stop for some fresh batteries at the drug store on my way home. I couldn’t remember the last time I used my poor battery-operated boyfriend or when was the last time I had added batteries to it.

  “I’m fine, though, and I think I have a granola bar in my—” I started to ramble on, but he quickly quieted me.

  “Shhh…” His finger went up to my lips, and my heart rate spiked. Holy crap. Mr. Tucker, no, Chase, was touching my lips.

  “What’s going on?” I found myself asking. Could it be possible my sister was right? Had he been eyeing me like I had him? No.

  “I think you know.”

  “I, umm… Call me clueless.”

  “That’s the last thing anyone could ever call you, Kenzie.” It was sweet he thought that, and I wished I could be the type of woman to let myself believe sweet words, but I wasn’t.

  “Trust me. I know a couple of people who would disagree with that statement.” His lips twitched, and I bit down on the inside of my lower lip.

  “I like you. I thought I had made that abundantly clear, but in case I haven’t this year and you didn’t know, I do.”

  “Oh.” He liked me. My cheeks warmed even if I was slightly confused. “You mean, you like me as the mom of one of your best students?”

  “That.” He nodded, and I swallowed. Lead infiltrated my stomach. Of course, he saw me as the mom of one of his students. That’s all I was. “But I also like the woman you are,” he confessed, and my head quickly popped up, meeting his eyes head on, trying to decipher if I had heard things wrong.

  “You don’t know me,” I stupidly muttered without thinking.

  “I know more than you think.” Holy crap.

  “Umm. I don’t know what to say.” What was there to say? I think you are the best thing since glazed donuts.

  “Nothing to say. Well…” His lips stopped twitching, and he gave me a sneaky grin as his thumb stroked my cheek. “Other than saying you will let me take you to dinner, so we can get to know one another better.

  “Get to know one anoth
er better.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Oh.”

  “So?”

  Holy crap! I was going on a date with Mr. Tucker.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Chase

  THE EASY WAY SHE LAUGHED AS SHE spoke, telling him a story about Jim and Jack at the baseball park, said so much. Everything it showed was good, and damn, he liked it.

  He more than liked it.

  She was like summer after a long winter.

  Relaxed and laughing along with her, he watched her, enjoying his time with her.

  “I have been talking your ear off.” She shook her head, for some reason suddenly shy as she tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.

  “I like hearing you,” he admitted and didn’t miss the way her cheeks turned pink before she looked down at the napkin on the table beside her.

  “Thank you.” She smiled up at him, and damn.

  That smile of hers did things to him. Forty and never married hardly meant he was a player, but he was far from a saint. Yet the woman in front of him brought out emotions in him he had never felt for another woman. “Is that the time?” she asked when her eyes caught the clock on the wall behind him, and he turned to look at it. Half past ten. “I am so sorry. I didn’t even feel the time slip by,” she apologized, and he covered his hand with hers.

  “I liked being here with you.”

  “I know. I… I liked being here with you, too,” she admitted. He liked she could tell him that, even if he had already known it. She wasn’t lying when she said time slipped past them in a flash. When they had arrived to the diner, they had had to wait a little, but once they sat down in their booth in front of one another, time around them had stood still as they ate and talked. Enjoying great food and even better company.

  “I hate that I have to say I don’t think I can go back to help you tonight,” she laid out, and he raised a brow.

  “Tonight?” He imagined her in his home, his bed. He would have her pinned against a wall before they made it to his living room.

  “Your classroom?”

  “Right.” He cleared his throat and ran his hands through his short hair.

  “Did you need help with anything?” she asked, and his lips quirked upward.

  “Why, Miss Mason?” He leaned forward, keeping his voice low enough so only she could hear his dirty words. “Did you want to come into my class for a little one-on-one tutoring?” He winked, and she giggled nervously, but he could tell by the naughty gleam in her eye she liked it.

  “Chase.” She playfully shook her head, dramatically glaring at him. “Shame on you.”

  “I could always hand you a ruler, so you could punish me,” he offered jokingly and loved the way she laughed. Loud and without a care in the world, her face joyful. The sight of it and the way he felt only confirmed what he had realized a while ago.

  Kenzie Mason was a whole other kind of woman.

  His kind.

  “I…” She shook her head and smiled before looking away. “I don’t know what to expect with you,” she admitted, and by the way she said it and took her time to meet his gaze, he could see she was having trouble with that.

  “Is that a bad thing?” he asked even though he could see the answer in her eyes. She shrugged, lifting and dropping a delicate, sexy shoulder.

  “Let me get some cash to help with the check.” She chose to ignore his question, and he grabbed her hand before she turned toward her purse.

  “Kenzie—”

  “Chase. I’m not sure what tonight or this is about,” she said to the white tablecloth between them. He didn’t like it. He wanted her eyes back on him.

  “Look at me,” he gently ordered, and when she lifted her eyes to his, he saw so much he didn’t know where to start. “This was dinner.”

  “Why me?”

  “What?” He raised a brow.

  “I don’t get it, Chase. Honestly. Look, I’m divorced,” she said, as if she was somehow enlightening him with new information, but before he could say he knew, she kept talking, “I have a pain-in-the-ass ex-husband, two boys who I might love with all my heart, but even I know they’re a hand full, a job that drives me nuts but keeps the lights on, and no time to work out or shop or put more makeup on other than mascara.”

  “You don’t need it,” he cut through, done with listening to the list of excuses she had for them not taking wherever this was going. He knew where he could see it going, and before her, with any other woman, it would have scared the shit out of him. But with her, Kenzie and her boys, he could see it. He was hardly young, stupid, or naïve not to see the amazing woman in front of him and all the beauty she would bring into his life.

  “What?” she asked. Clearly, the steam had run out of her rant.

  “You don’t need more makeup than what you have time for, and honestly, babe, I gotta be real with you. I’ve seen you in the mornings without a shred of makeup on.” He smiled and stroked his thumb back and forth over the soft skin of the top of her hand. “And you are just as fucking gorgeous.”

  “Chase,” she whispered his name, and he felt it in his dick. The image of her under him, her hair messily covering his pillow as he hovered over her was clear as day in his mind, and damn if it wasn’t a sight. He wanted that. He wanted so much more than he could tell her without scaring the shit out of her.

  “I’m not clairvoyant, Kenzie, so I can’t tell you what the future holds.”

  “I didn’t mean—” He shook his head and kept sharing.

  “I know. But I get where you’re coming from.” It only proved how damn amazing she was. “It makes what I feel for you even better.”

  “What you feel,” she whispered, and he kept going, taking his chance to lay things out for her.

  “What I can tell you is, I’m forty-one. I know who I am. I’m the kind of man who knows what he wants and goes after it.” He watched, fascinated with the way she pressed her lips together as if searching for the right words.

  “And you want?”

  “More of this,” he laid out honestly.

  “And this is a new development?” she asked almost as if challenging him, and he freaking liked it. “Something you just realized you would like to, umm, explore.”

  “Hell, no,” he bit out honestly, about to rock her world with his truth. “I knew I wanted this August third of last year.”

  “That was the first day of school.” Her pretty eyes opened wide, and he knew she was getting it.

  His attraction to her.

  The way he always tried to strike up a conversation no matter where they were. When Chase found out his nephew played on the same little league as Jim and Jack, he made it a point to go to every practice. Not that he wouldn’t have anyway, but he was searching her out around the park. Always keeping an eye out for her. Accidentally bumping into her at the snack bar. All with the excuse to spend a little time with her. To talk to her and make her smile and blush at him like she always did.

  At the beginning, he had done it so he could find something about her he didn’t like. Something that would talk him out wanting anything with her. But the more he was around her, the more he heard her talk and laugh, the more he had wanted.

  “Jack’s in my class,” he reminded her and saw the understanding in her eyes.

  “School is still in session, Mr. Tucker.” Fuck, she was cute. Her brand of cute made him hard. Made him want to see how dirty he could get her to be.

  “It is.” This would be where he would see if she would take a chance with him. A leap at the unknown together.

  “Can’t we get in trouble if we, umm, explore this?”

  “I won’t tell if you won’t.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Kenzie

  I WON’T TELL IF YOU WON’T.

  The words clung heavily around us, and I didn’t know what to say.

  Yes! I could hear my sister’s voice in the back of my head, but I couldn’t get myself to say anything. I didn’t want to paint Chase with so
meone else’s paintbrush. If I told Lena about it, she would reason it was because my ex had been such as ass. A liar. Marrying his dirty little secret of a bubbly twenty-two-year-old receptionist a week after our divorce had been finalized.

  She sure as hell hadn’t told anyone about their three-year affair.

  The moment grew and passed, and when I didn’t respond, heavy in my own thoughts, he squeezed my hand to get my attention.

  “Chase...” I couldn’t say more than that. I didn’t have words. I wanted to ask if it was only because he was Jack’s teachers or maybe… perhaps because of the other moms he had on a leash as well.

  “Think about it. I better get you to your car.” He winked before getting the waitress’ attention and taking care of the bill.

  No. Chase Tucker wasn’t like my ex-husband. Chase was amazing. Kind and so damn funny and smart. Great with not just his students, and I had seen him in action when I had volunteered to help host the Winter solstice party, but he was amazing with his nephew and my own boys.

  That’s what I was thinking when I turned to look at him as he parked in the school’s darkened lot.

  “Let me get your door,” he kindly said before slipping out of the car as I watched him while my mind went into overdrive.

  Something about that gesture—a gesture any other woman wouldn’t think about, but to me, to a woman who had been married for over ten years and whose husband had never bothered to open a door for her—was like a lightning bolt. The entire night quickly replayed in my head. We had gone to a nice place for dinner, not once had he looked at his phone, I’d had his complete attention, and I knew in my gut, if we went out again, it would be like that. Easy conversation and laughter mixing and sparking with the mutual attraction we felt. I wanted more. My heart kicked up a notch as his hand reached my door. I wasn’t ready for the night to end. He opened the passenger side door, putting his hand out toward me. Big and strong. Protective. I didn’t know how I knew that, but I did.

  I knew it in a way I knew the sky was blue.

  My hand slipped in his, the warmth he radiated made me shiver, and I stood close to him.