The Trouble with Tomboys (Tommy Creek #1)(68)

Tucker glanced over when he heard her enter.

Instantly, he straightened from where he’d had his foot propped on a bench. Turning to face her fully, he gave a brief and solemn nod.

Not realizing she was holding her breath, B.J.

returned the silent greeting. Her steps were much slower as she approached.

“B.J.,” he said.

She didn’t answer.

“Got a minute?” he asked.

She nodded, cleared her throat, and pointed to the closed door of the office. “We can talk in there,”

she said, irritated with herself for letting her voice go hoarse.

Tucker stepped back to let her lead the way. He was just like Grady, she realized, letting the lady go first. Her heart clenched in misery.

Grady.

She opened the door and started to enter, but immediately realized someone—probably Pop—had just brewed a fresh pot of coffee. Slamming a palm 208



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over her mouth, she backed out of the doorway and spun toward Grady’s dad.

“We can talk out here,” she amended.

He grinned at the humor in the situation, but politely asked, “Want to go outside to get some fresh air?” She didn’t answer immediately, still fighting back the nausea. Then she closed her eyes, blew out a breath and shook her head. “No. I’m good.”

Straightening, she faced him head-on. “Look, I don’t know what you want now, but I’m not making any more deals. You can just keep the goddamn plane.

Okay? I can’t—”

“B.J.,” he broke in. His smile faltered, and he shifted uncomfortably. “No. I, uh...to be honest, I’m here to apologize for all that.”

B.J. nearly passed out at his feet. Striving to hold in her shock, she managed a casual shrug.

“Well...don’t worry about it. No harm done.”

“No,” he said. “There was harm done. I offended you and…” He paused and shook his head, looking ashamed. “I get a little overprotective and irrational when it comes to my children. I—”

“Mr. Rawlings, you have every right to worry about Grady. I don’t blame you at all for anything.

In fact, I probably would’ve thought less of you if you hadn’t done anything. I—”

“B.J.,” he said, stopping her again with his soft voice, shocking her into silence as he took both her hands into both of his. “I was wrong,” he murmured, looking into her eyes with a penetrating blue stare so like his son’s that she could only gape back, holding her breath.

“You’re not some scheming gold-digger. You’re not out to hurt or cheat anyone. You’re just a woman who’s in love with a man.”

She sucked in a surprised breath. Wow, it felt extremely uncomfortable to hear anyone actually say 209



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that aloud. She sent Grady’s dad a leery look.

“You’re not going to tell him that, are you?”

Tucker sputtered out a surprised laugh. After a moment, though, he squeezed her fingers

reassuringly. “I’ll leave that detail to you.”

Her shoulders deflated, and she nearly fainted once again.

“Oh! Before I forget. Here. This is for you.”

Tucker yanked an all-too-familiar-looking document from his back pocket and tried to hand it to her.

B.J. backed away from the deed as if it had lice.

Then she lifted her eyes. “I can’t take anything for marrying Grady.”

Lips parting in dawning realization, Tucker

glanced down at his hand and then tried to shove it at her again. “Well, look at it as a wedding present then.”

She shook her head. “I can’t take it,” she

whispered.

Tucker looked distinctly uncomfortable as he continued to hold out his hand. “B.J., honestly. I don’t want your plane.”

He glanced in horror at her Cessna, and B.J.

finally grinned. “I’ll tell you what,” she relented.

“How about I make the same payments to you I was making to the bank and buy it back?”

“That would work,” he said, his shoulders

sagging as tension eased out of them. “That would work just fine.”

“And about the prenuptial agreement,” B.J.

started. “I don’t mind letting Grady have everything that’s already his. But the baby—”

“I’ll have a new agreement worked up by the end of the week,” Tucker said.

This time it was B.J. who was relieved. “Thank you,” she said.

He nodded. Thinking that was all the business they had to discuss, B.J. shifted when Grady’s dad 210



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merely stared at her a moment longer.

“I, uh, came to give you something else too,” he finally said. She frowned just as he added, “This,”

and enfolded her into a huge hug. Too bowled over to resist the fatherly embrace, she just stood there like an idiot with her arms hanging down limply at her sides.

“Thank you,” he said into her hair, “thank you so much for bringing my boy back.”

Confused, she pulled away and looked up at