This Love's Not for Sale (21 page)

“Nope. Not gonna happen, babe.”

Lilliana threw her arm up in the air and cursed under her breath. She absolutely hated when Adam called her
babe
. It disgusted her beyond reason. “God damn you, Adam. I thought moving 3,000 miles away from your worthless ass would keep you at bay.”

“Wrong again. You should be used that by now, though, right? You were always fucking wrong about me. If anything, you’re moving away has made me think about you more.”

“That’s the most truthful statement you’ve ever spoken to me. I believed you enough to marry you and you did nothing but lie and cheat. How wrong I was to think that you could be ever be trusted.”

“This again? How many times do we have to rehash this
shit? I cheated, so what? If you had kept me happy it never would’ve happened, so get over it.”

Lilliana
would not allow herself to be put down by Adam, but she knew the conversation was pointless and going nowhere, and she wasn’t going to argue any further with Adam. “Why the hell did you call anyway?”

“To tell you it’s time to
come home. Vacation is over. Sell that land and do what you need to do, and get your ass back here. Your friends miss you and I want you back.”

Unbelievable.
What an utterly moronic statement. Lilliana laughed loudly – the kind of lunatic laugh that only Adam could induce. “You just told me I couldn’t keep you happy and now you want me back? Wow. Just. Fucking. Wow,” she retorted in cold sarcasm.

“Now you know what I need and want, and you’ll do better next time.
Won’t you?”

Lilliana was flabbergasted.
“
I’ll do better next time?
Oh, my, God, Adam. Seriously, you’re going to make me vomit… in my mouth no less, because you’re so sickening. And then I’m going to piss down my own leg because you’re so laughable. Piss and vomit, Adam, those are the bodily functions you elicit from me. I am never, and I honestly mean
never
going to have you again. Ever. Never fucking ever. Are you writing this down? Do you want me to send it to you in a memo or email, or would you prefer I come over there and shove that statement right up your pisshole?” she spat out the words impatiently.

Lilliana was feeling good about her verbal assault until Adam began his vocal backlash.

“Listen here, you little bitch. No one leaves me! No one! I allowed the divorce because I know how motherfucking stubborn you are. I played the waiting game, but I’m done with it. I have a fucking reputation and people are starting to talk about how you fucked me over!”

“I fucked you over?
And you
allowed
it? Are you listening to yourself?” Lilliana shrieked back.

“Get your ass back here, Lilliana, or I swear to God, I’ll come out there and drag your ass…”

Lilliana held the phone away from her ear. She didn’t want to hear anymore and she was tempted to hang up, but knew Adam would only call right back.

Adam was still yelling about Lilliana not returning his calls and dragging her ass back to Kansas when she heard Tucker’s whispered voice in her ear.

“Hang up the phone, pet.”

Lilliana hadn’t even heard Tucker sneak up.  Lilliana’s hands trembled from embarrassment and anger, and she just wanted to end the call and hide. When she didn’t immediately comply with Tucker’s order, he gently took the phone from her hand and hit the end button. When she turned to face him, she felt relieved Tucker had taken the initiative to cut Adam off. Tucker powered the phone down and casually laid it back on the counter.

“I want all of your attention and your ass back in my bed
now,”
he said with quiet emphasis.

Lilliana nodded fervently and moved quickly, but not fast enough. Tucker’s hand caught her bare cheek with a harsh slap making her yelp and jump. She ran to his bedroom and sat waiting for him on her knees
on the bed, anxious energy coursing through her veins. When Tucker came into the bedroom, he smiled at her, his eyes dancing with lust and filling Lilliana with a kind of longing she had had never felt before.

“Stunning,” he spoke in a broken whisper, his voice echoing
her own sentiments about him.

Tucker held his hand out and helped Lilliana lay back on the bed. When he slid in next to her, he pulled her onto his chest.

Tucker’s voice was calm and steady, and exactly what Lilliana needed after the distressing conversation with Adam. “Are you okay?”

Tucker must’ve heard what was going on and Lilliana suddenly felt
reserved. She didn’t particularly enjoy talking about Adam and her past marriage woes.

“Yes, I’m fine.”

“Do you still have feelings for him?”

Lilliana leaned her head back and gazed into Tucker’s eyes and shook her head, trying to reassure him. “Oh, I have feelings for him alright, just not the sentimental kind and there sure as hell isn’t any love lost for him.”

Tucker lifted one side of his mouth in a crooked smile, but raised his eyebrows at her in disbelief.  “Then why are you still in contact with him?”

“I’m not in contact with him; he’s in contact with me.”

“Why haven’t you put a stop to that?” Tucker asked, pushing her off his chest and lying next to her.

“I’ve tried. I’ve even gone as far as changing my phone number twice, but he’s… relentless.”

Tucker clenched his mouth into a tight line and some indefinable emotion flickered in his eyes. “Perhaps someone should have a talk with him about that.”

“And that someone is going to be you? That’ll go over well. The last thing you need is anymore damage to your pristine smile.”

Tucker’s lips twitched with the need to smile. “What makes you think it would come to that? Why can’t two reasonable, grown men have an adult conversation?”

“It depends on the two men in question. You and Adam, reasonable? Not so much.”

“I can be levelheaded when necessary,” Tucker countered defensively.

“Maybe you can, but Adam doesn’t like being told what to do.”

With a hint of censure in his tone, Tucker responded. “Most men don’t, Lilly. That’s where the power of persuasion comes into play and as you know, I can be very convincing, especially when it comes to what belongs to me. Also, my amazing molars would be just fine. His on the other hand – those are the ones you need to worry about.”

Lilliana’s body
shuddered at the staunch look in Tucker’s eyes.
She belonged to him.
But then again, she thought she belonged to Adam. How wrong she had been. Lilliana sighed thinking about her failed marriage.

Before she could stop herself, her feelings came out. “Love is such a sham.”
Tucker looked taken aback and sat up on one elbow to face her. “It’s not only blind, but deaf and dumb. And it sure as hell doesn’t conquer all. Why do people tell little girls that? Why don’t they just put a kibosh on the whole fairy tale with a happy ending BS and tell them that life is unfair and love sucks.”

“Because it doesn’t suck. Shit, Li
lly, why such a bleak outlook? No, it doesn’t always conquer all, but when it’s real, it feels so fucking good – no matter how fleeting.”

Now it was Lilliana’s turn t
o be taken aback. This coming from the man whose name was synonymous with being a man-whore? It didn’t make any sense.

“Why so bleak? Because th
e man I promised forever to ripped my heart out and stomped on it. He took an oath to be faithful and he whored himself out right under my nose. The whole damned town new about it, my supposed best-friends new about it, and no one cared enough about me to let me in on the little joke.
Oh, poor little Lilliana. Look at her, she can’t keep her man happy so he gets it somewhere else.
What a joke. I did my best to keep Adam pleased and he still dicked every hole he could get into,” Lilliana said softly.

Tucker touched her face,
soothing her irritation as he ran his index finger over her lips.

“How did you find out?”

“When my gynecologist informed I had Chlamydia. Isn’t that nice? That douche nozzle was sleeping around and not using a condom, and then coming home and spreading his filth. That man is such a disgusting puddle of enema juice.”

“You certainly have a way w
ith words, pet.” Tucker laughed and his smile made Lilliana giggle in response.

“When everything was said and done, it turns out he slept with
almost a dozen women that I know of in the short span of our four year marriage. So you of all people should understand why I don’t buy into falling in love.”

Tucker furrowed his eyebrows at her. “Why me of all people?”

“Because you’ve been divorced twice,” she stated plainly.

“Just because
I’m not looking for love and I’ve given up on it doesn’t mean I don’t believe in it. Or miss it. The grand scheme for my life never included divorce. I was young when I married for the first time, and my career goals and education were more important than my love life. In retrospect, I didn’t fight hard enough for my first marriage, and I fought too hard to make something out of nothing with my second.

I’m
firm believer in true love, Lilly. I’ve found it twice. I thought I found it with my almost third wife, but it turns out I wasn’t in love with her so much as I was with the idea of love and having my own family. It turns out she was infatuated with the prospect of living the kind of lifestyle she had always wanted.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Lilliana said sadly.

Tucker’s eyes
saddened and drifted off into the background, his eyebrows pinched together. “Some people will lie to try and get whatever they want. My fiancé, she… she lied about… She wasn’t who she pretended to be.”

Lilliana’s heart hurt for Tucker. She couldn’t imagine only being wanted for money and popularity, and
not knowing who was real or phony.

Tucker
lay on his back, his hands clasped behind his head. “I’m no saint and I’ve told my share of lies, but some things are sacred. You know?”

Lilliana didn’t understand what Tucker was trying to say, but she sat, listening and wondering what lies he had told. Had he lied to her?

“Like marriage. I know you’ve heard all sorts of shit about me, but I’m no cheater.”

“So
it’s okay to lie, but not cheat? How does that work? I was under the impression the two went hand in hand.”

Tucker’s mouth popped open and he looked astounded at her statement.

“Don’t ever lie to me, Tucker. I mean it. That for me is a deal breaker. I’ve been hurt by lies; sometimes I think irreparably. I know we’re not, you know… serious or anything, but I won’t ever lie to you. It’s not who I am.”

Tucker swallowed hard and looked away and at the window on the far wall.

Feeling Tucker withdraw, Lilliana tried to draw him back out. She hadn’t meant for the conversation to get so intense. She also hadn’t intended to reveal so much about herself or expected Tucker to divulge such personal information.

“I’m sorry that your fiancé lied to you.”

Tucker breathed heavy and let out a loud sigh. “It’s funny, but I remember when I was young and my parents struggled for money, all I ever wanted was to be wealthy enough to have anything and any woman I ever wanted. Now that I have the kind of wealth I’ve always dreamed of, I’m not interested in the women that come along with this lifestyle. They’re without a doubt attractive, and accommodating in more ways than you can imagine, but genuine – rarely.  I miss the small-town girl that doesn’t pretend to be anything other than what she is.”

The room was
unnervingly quiet for several long seconds.

“
Don’t worry, I’m not looking for love, either,” Lilliana whispered, breaking the silence.

T
ucker looked disconcerted. He sat up again and turned to her with a stern look on his face as if wanting to say something more.

Slowly his
face relaxed, and he put the matter aside with sudden good humor. “I’m not asking you to fall in love with me, but unadulterated lust and infatuation would be nice.”

Seeing the amusement in Tucker’s eyes and the flash of his teeth, Lilliana laughed. There was something warm and captivating in his brand of humor.

Lilliana smiled naughtily. “Unadulterated lust? Yes, I think I can be of service to you in that regard.”

“I have no doubt that you can,” Tucker winked.

Lilliana changed the subject. “Are you still in contact with your ex’s?”

“No. I’m not interested in
being friends with my ex’s and I don’t believe in dwelling on the past. There’s a bit of advice in that statement you may want to consider.”

“I’m not friends with Adam.
Trust me, that man is as useful as a tape worm and as appealing as a raging case of syphilis.”

Tucker chuckled and shook his head.

“Adam is…”

Tucker put a hand up to Lilliana’s mouth. “
I don’t want to hear that man’s name again. The only name I want you saying when you’re in my bed is mine, in which ever form you choose. For example: Oh, God, Tucker or Master Tucker.  I’d even settle for Sir or King Tucker. Better yet, you can call me Tucker, tongue wielding expert and God of cunnilingus and love making.”