All In (11 page)

Tucker took several long, deep breaths, and although Mariah tried to do the same, she wasn’t as successful. She was trying to think of something to say when he nudged her foot.

“You know, I can’t walk away for two reasons,” he said. “First, we’re on a boat.”

Mariah gave a half-sob/half-laugh in spite of herself. If he thought she was insane, would he be joking around like this? She didn’t think so. Hope flickered inside her.

Leaning forward, Tucker took her face in his hands and turned it toward him.

“Second,” he said, looking into her eyes, “I couldn’t walk away from you. Not after finding you again.”

“Oh my God,” she sobbed, fresh tears spilling down her cheeks. “You believe me? You don’t think I’m nuts?”

Tucker shook his head slowly. The poker face had disappeared and all that was left was his warm smile.

“Look,” he said, “I’ve never been one to believe in ghosts or psychics or junk like that, but I read people pretty well, and I don’t think you’re insane. So if you say some kind of pixie voodoo brought us together, then I gotta believe you.”

After helping Mariah out of the gondola, Tucker pulled out some cash to tip the gondolier. As he handed the guy some bills, he noticed something strange. His lucky card seemed different.

“What the…?” He pulled it out of his money clip to get a closer look.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Mariah moved next to him to see what had his attention.

“Look.”

It was undoubtedly the same card, still frayed from handling and still missing the upper left corner. However, it was no longer the king of clubs. In the box where the solemn monarch was usually pictured, a king of hearts smiled—
with
his queen. And the card shimmered and flashed as if from a diamond glaze.

“Oh my God,” Mariah whispered. “Davina did this. I know it. It’s just the sort of sappy thing she would do.”

Then, as they watched, the king and queen kissed.

Tucker’s jaw dropped. “I’ll be damned.”

He believed Mariah about the magic, he truly did, but this positive proof still startled him. He quickly palmed the card, not wanting to call any more attention to the fact that his life had been magically hijacked. Not that he minded. He just hadn’t quite come to grips with the existence of real hocus-pocus.

“Hey,” Mariah said, taking the card from him, “I want to see that… Aww, they’re cuddling.”

Tucker checked for himself. Like an animated movie, the king and queen were affectionately rubbing cheeks.

“You know what this means, don’t you?” Mariah said excitedly. “It means it worked. It worked! I did what I was supposed to. We’re clear for an HEA!”

With a squeal, she threw herself into his arms, almost knocking them both into the drink. Tucker chuckled and hugged her back. He had no idea what an HEA was, but he didn’t really care much, not when he could feel her soft breasts pressed against his chest.

“Hell, I could have told you that. If it hadn’t worked, I would have looked at you and wondered why the hell I was on a boat with you. Instead,” he said into her ear, “I remember everything about the past two days. I remember how you taste between your legs, how wet you get when I suck on your—”

“Tucker!” Mariah stepped back, a reproachful scowl on her face. “Someone’s going to hear you.”

She dashed off past the people waiting for their turn in the gondola. Tucker laughed and followed her at a jog.

“On second thought,” he hollered, “I think I’m starting to forget you.”

“You are not!” she called over her shoulder, still walking quickly in the direction of the wedding reception.

“Yes I am. I think my memory needs refreshing. Upstairs. In my room.”

“Tucker, no,” she said as he finally caught up. “We have to get back to the wedding. They’re going to cut the cake, and they’ll probably want to thank me, and I won’t be there and they’ll wonder why.”

“Damn,” he said. “When you’re right, you’re right.”

An hour later, the cake had been duly admired, cut and eaten. Guests were dancing and drinking and Tucker had a hard-on that wouldn’t go away. It didn’t help that the band was playing a slow song that had Mariah pressed up against him, swaying and rocking, her curvy softness tempting him like the chocolates in her display case. His hands ached to squeeze her ass cheeks and pull her up tight so she could feel his stubborn erection. Damned if he wasn’t counting the minutes until it was late enough to say goodbye and drag Mariah upstairs to bed. More than anything he wanted to tickle that mole of hers, the one that hid next to her clit. He wanted to lick it, circle it with his tongue, coax all the honey out of her that he could so that after she came all over his face, he’d be able to slip his cock right inside. After that he’d do his best to satisfy her so completely that the next day she’d sleep until noon.

Unfortunately, Mariah had already mentioned she wanted to hang around for the tossing of the bouquet, so sighing, he resigned himself to another half hour at least until he spied a door they’d tried to shield with potted plants festooned with twinkle lights. A quick glance told him that the banquet room had been divvied up to provide a more intimate space for this small reception, and he recalled only one sign outside in the hallway identifying the DeLuca reception.

Conclusion: there was no party going on next door.

Not yet, anyhow.

* * * * *

“What’s going on? Where are we going?” Mariah frowned at Tucker as he led her away from the dance floor after the song ended.

“I have a surprise for
you
now,” he replied, looking around to see if anyone was watching them. No one was.

He pulled the door open, swiftly drew Mariah with him into the darkened room and closed it behind them.

“Tucker,” Mariah protested, “I can’t see a—”

He cut off her words with a kiss. Mariah was obviously startled but didn’t hesitate to kiss him back. Their tongues slid against each other as he herded her toward the partition. A more lively song played in the room next door, for which Tucker was glad. The louder the music, the better the sound buffer.

Mariah clutched him tightly as he ran a hand along her thigh, lifting her leg so it rested against his hip and allowed him to grind himself against her. She moaned as the ridge of his cock rubbed her.

“Have you ever done it in public before like this?”

“No, never,” she said, panting.

“Me either, but I want you too damn much to wait.”

Their mouths met again. Tucker reached under her dress and snuck a hand into her panties. Her pussy was already dripping. With a low moan, he pushed a finger inside the tight heat and then back out again. Mariah rocked her hips toward him as he thrust his tongue into her mouth with a corresponding tempo.

By now his eyes had adjusted to the darkness. The room held only furniture—round tables and stacks of chairs lined up along the perimeter. As much as he wanted to take Mariah right up against the wall, he was afraid the movable partition would give them away. Making a quick decision, he grabbed her by the waist and hoisted her with a grunt on top of the nearest stack of chairs. She stifled a gasp and flailed, grabbing the base of the topmost chair as they tilted slightly with her weight.

“I gotcha,” he said, steadying her. Now she was at the perfect height.

“You’re crazy,” she said under her breath, still gripping the seat of the chair.

“Crazy about you,” he replied in a low voice. He reached under her dress and tugged her panties off.

She gave a little laugh. “How crazy?”

Tucker paused, her undies dangling from his hand. He knew her question was an earnest one cloaked in an offhand tone, and he was tempted to give her a flip answer, but she deserved better than that. She’d shown her emotional hand to him when she admitted to TiVoing the WPT and again in the gondola when she’d divulged everything about the wish and the magic. He couldn’t in good conscience keep his own feelings so close to his chest, not if he wanted this budding relationship to work.

“I’m so crazy about you,” he said slowly, annoyed at how jittery he felt, “that I’m moving here. I’m going to relocate to Vegas.”

She fell silent, peering at him. Her eyes were bright even in the darkness of the empty room. Even though he could hear the party going on strong next door, he felt as though he and Mariah were frozen in time. He was pretty sure she’d be more than okay with his announcement, but his nerves jangled nonetheless.

“Are you moving here because of me?” she asked finally.

The tremble and uncertainty in her voice made his chest feel tight. Suddenly he worried she might cry again, like she had on the gondola, and he quailed at the memory. God, that had been torture. Every sob had twisted his heart. At that moment on the boat, he’d have done anything to take away her distress. He’d wanted to protect her at all costs, and now, here in the deserted banquet room with her weighted question hanging in the air, he realized with a growing sense of alarm that he was always going to feel that way.

He loved her.

He stepped backward, stunned by this revelation. His scalp prickled and he broke into a cold sweat. He told himself that maybe all this sentimentality was because he’d just taken part in the wedding of his lifelong friend. Plus, this was Vegas. Something about this town infected people with a nuptial virus, hence the wedding chapels on every block. Unfortunately, none of that canceled out the fact that his feelings existed.

He loved her. Love was serious. It meant commitment, exclusivity…things he wasn’t necessarily opposed to. He’d witnessed firsthand the happiness a man and a woman could have together. His parents were deeply in love with each other, to the exclusion of most everything else, including their son. Although most of his life he’d fought against resenting them for it, he did have to admit that his mom and dad had something special. What Tucker really craved was what the DeLucas had—a loving, inclusive marriage, one that embraced kids.

He just hadn’t planned on settling down yet. Well, to be honest, he hadn’t really planned at all. Like most guys, he’d never mapped out a specific timetable and relegated all that marriage stuff to “the future”. But maybe the future was now. Maybe his future was Mariah.

Gulping hard, he raised his gaze to hers and tried to talk, but the three words stuck in his throat. He cleared it, determined not to let nervousness get the best of him. Timidity didn’t serve him at the tables and it wouldn’t here either.

Time to go all in.

Leaning forward, he cleared his throat. “Yeah, I’m moving here because of you,” he said clearly. “Because it’s really stupid to live on the opposite side of the country from the woman you love.”

He heard a little squeak as she covered her mouth with her hand. “You didn’t just say what I think you said.”

“Yes, I did,” he said. “I love you.” This time he sounded sure of himself.

The more he thought about it, the more he realized he wanted to share everything with her—successes and losses, hopes and worries and even the mundane, everyday goings-on of their lives. He wanted to know what kind of day she had, if she’d invented a new truffle. Hell, if she got a paper cut, he wanted to hear about it. He needed to take care of her, nurture her business, raise a family…all that sappy stuff that Tony had just pledged himself to.

Then he heard the unmistakable sound of her crying again.

“Oh come on, Mariah, please don’t cry. I hate it when you cry.”

He moved forward again, parting her knees so he could get as close as possible, and she threw her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, clinging to him with unexpected strength.

“I can’t help it,” she said into his neck. “I’m so happy. I’m filled up with happy and it’s coming out through my eyes.”

He chuckled, feeling perilously close to filling up too. Good thing it was pitch dark. And good thing he knew how to distract himself. With his declaration out of the way, he would take up where they’d left off. The heat of her pussy was burning him through his pants and his cock was waking up again.

Their mouths found each other, tongues too. He kissed her deeply, thoroughly, as if he wanted to absorb her. She was completely off the chairs now, clinging him as he struggled to hold her up and undo his belt at the same time.

“God, I love you, Tucker,” she gasped as he freed his aching cock. “I always have.”

Fuck. It was just like Tony had said. Her words hit him like a ton of bricks. All of a sudden, he felt like the Hulk, like his muscles had doubled in size. With a shift of her hips, she angled her body so he could slide inside her as he supported her with hands hooked under her thighs. He groaned as she enveloped him, her spicy scent gusting up from between them. Widening his stance to stabilize himself, he lifted her and lowered her back down. Her pussy gripped his cock with a tight friction that made him grit his teeth. She braced herself with her forearms on his shoulders, her legs against his hips, aiding their movements, but there was no way he was going to get the kind of speed he needed. He wanted, needed to pound her hard and fast.

Somehow he managed to get them to the floor, still connected, with Mariah on her back. He claimed her mouth in a deep, penetrating kiss, muffling her moans as he thrust into her in earnest now. Her hips rose again and again to meet his. She seemed as desperate for it as he was. Nothing mattered but reaching that pinnacle together. He was fucking her so hard, they were inching their way across the carpet, but she took everything he doled out.