her. Enjoying her. He was married to a crazy woman who was suffocating him. He needed this moment. It would fuel him for the next fifteen days.
When he came back into himself, he jerked his hand out from under her. “Sorry.”
She rolled onto her side against the back of the loveseat, still holding the papers. The voice she used this time was husky with arousal. “I’m not.”
He swallowed and ran a hand over his head. “I’m trying to be a decent guy here.”
She sat up, set the papers aside, and grabbed his thighs, tipping her head back to meet his gaze. “I’m super aware that your marriage is a sham and you need to ride this out because you need the money. It’s for your mother’s bills, isn’t it?”
He nodded, keeping his lips tight.
“Tell me one thing, and then I won’t say a word about Cold Feet for the next two weeks until this show is over. I won’t even watch it.”
He took a deep breath.
She continued to stare at him. “Have you had sex with Katia since we met?”
“Jodi, I’ve never had sex with Katia. I’ve never even willingly seen her naked.”
Jodi blew out a breath and nodded. “That’s all I needed to know.”
“Not to say she doesn’t try. She prances around in nearly nothing every day. I think she sees me as a challenge. I don’t think many men have ever turned her down.”
Jodi smiled. “I’ll stop watching.”
He exhaled. “Thank you.” He didn’t deserve her. But she was making it clear without flat out stating so that she was into him and wanted to pursue whatever they might have when his show was done. Thank God.
He just hoped he could survive the next two weeks intact.
Reluctantly, he removed her hands from his thighs, reached to her side, and picked up the script. He added her pile to his and stuffed everything back in the folder. He didn’t want her to have this shit. He wanted to put it behind him and never bring it up again.
“Tucker.” The voice coming from the doorway made Tuck lift his gaze to find Jodi’s dad leaning around the corner.
Tuck felt heat rising to his neck as if he’d been caught making out with the man’s daughter. It was an absurd response, considering the fact that he and Jodi were grown adults, and, more importantly, they hadn’t even kissed. Nevertheless, Tuck stood and rounded the coffee table.
Bill didn’t say a word about whatever he must have heard from down the hall while he finished closing up the bar though. Instead, he winced. “Hate to tell you this, but when I shut off all the lights up front, I noticed there are several young adults in the parking lot. Maybe about a dozen with three cars. They’re surrounding your car.”
Fuck. “Shit.”
“Yeah. Didn’t figure that would make you too pleased. I didn’t mean to pry into your business, but I heard a little about your problems today from Liz. Seems like you could use an escape route.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys. “Why don’t you leave your car out front and take mine from the back. Hopefully, you can drive away without being hounded by the crazed fans.”
Tuck stared at the man, speechless. He also realized he couldn’t possibly come back here again. And that thought stabbed him in the chest. “I’m so sorry I brought this to your establishment. I shouldn’t have taken this kind of risk. I didn’t realize things would get so out of hand, or I wouldn’t have asked you to hire me. I never imagined having some social media fans who tracked me and followed me everywhere.”
“No harm done, Son.” Bill frowned. “I’m not worried about a few kids in the parking lot. They probably want autographs.”
Damn, he was being nice about this. He should be furious. Tuck cleared his throat. “I’ll see if I can find a buddy to fill my place here, someone with enough experience to continue investigating your problem.”
Bill frowned again. “Why would you do that? You’ll catch the guy. I have every confidence in you.”
“It’s not that, sir. I just don’t want to draw unwanted attention to your bar. It was thoughtless of me.”
Bill’s face changed and he chuckled. “Tucker, there is no such thing as unwanted attention in a bar—except maybe a drug dealer. If your celebrity status brings in more customers, I call that a win. Don’t you dare quit.” He shoved off the door frame.