Tease Me by Donna Kauffman Page A

him was even proud of Lainey for not surrendering easily. She was more
     sensible than she gave herself credit for. But there was something in her expression—or
     maybe he simply wished there was—that told him she wanted to listen tohim. He hoped she’d give in to her impulses at least one more time.
    “Let me go first.”
    “But—”
    “You want me to trust you? Then you have to trust me.”
    He eyed her warily.
    “Sorry, but it’s the best I can do.”
    “Your best is pretty damn good, Lainey Cooper. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”
     He loosened his hold, half bracing himself for a lung-sucking blow between his legs,
     but she slid easily, if not gracefully, from his grasp and wobbled to a stand.
    She folded her arms. “Okay, what’s going on?”
    “It’s not a short story. You might want to sit down.”
    “I’ll sit when I want to. Start at the beginning.”
    He hid a smile behind his hand—her feet were still well within kicking distance—then
     rubbed his chin. No matter what anyone said, Lainey Cooper wasn’t anybody’s fool.
     “I started at the beginning a few minutes ago. Promise to let me finish this time?”
    She merely glared at him.
    “Okay, okay. I’ll go back a little further. I’m an old friend of Lillian’s. In fact,
     I’ve known her all my life. She was my mom’s best friend. She helped raise me after
     my mother died.”
    Lainey instantly sat down next to him, her face wreathed with concern. “Oh, Tucker.”
    Tucker wanted to shake his head. She was nobody’s fool, but she was also a softy.
     It was hard to believe those caring green eyes had only moments earlier been spitting
     fire. It was no wonder she got herself into trouble. For all her sensibility and intelligence,
     she had a heart as big asthe moon. He wanted to tell her not to fall for every sad story she heard; he wanted
     to rail at her to do a better job of protecting that warm, wonderful heart of hers.
    He wanted to be the one to protect that heart.
    “How old were you?” she asked.
    His attention jerked to his knee, where she’d laid her hand over his. “Eight,” he
     answered automatically. Her hand looked small on top of his, yet he felt cared for,
     protected in a way, by her real and honest concern. Perhaps size had nothing to do
     with the ability to provide security. Perhaps her heart wasn’t the only one that needed
     protection.
    “I’m so sorry,” she said. “I lost my folks when I was twenty-five. I can’t imagine
     enduring that kind of loss so young. You still had your father though, right? Did
     you have any brothers and sisters?”
    “No siblings, just me. And, yes, my dad did the best he could for me, but we had a
     fairly tough time of it. I spent my summers with Lillian until I graduated from high
     school. My father died of a heart attack a few years after I graduated from college.
     So Lillian is basically the only family I have.”
    Lainey sat silently for several moments, then said, “I haven’t known Lillian that
     long, but Minerva has spoken fondly of her since she moved to Sunset Shores about,
     what, six or seven years ago now?”
    “Seven.”
    She had been staring at their hands but shifted her gaze to his face. “Are you still
     close? I mean, have you visited Lillian in the last seven years? Because I’m fairly
     certain Minerva doesn’t know anything about you, or she’d have told me when I was
     talking about you yesterday.”
    He smiled. “You mean when you were telling her how wonderful my … technique was?”
    Her skin colored a bit, but then her brow furrowed and any color staining her cheeks
     at that point was due to anger. “I guess I’d better explain that part next, huh?”
    “Do you have any idea how humiliating this is for me? Do you have any idea how hard
     it was for me to make an appointment, much less see it through once I got a look at
     you and realized—” She snapped her mouth shut and glanced away.
    “Looked at me and