Tucker was instantly on his feet to help her. “Hey, I like that sauce too much to waste it.” He picked up her hand and licked it clean.

Jolene’s breath came out in short gasps. Sparks danced around the room. Electricity flowed like a live current between his mouth and her palm. The chemistry was hot enough to curl her toes. She should do something, but she was frozen on the spot until he took the plate from her other hand and set it on the table. Keeping her hand in his, he led her to the sink and pumped a little liquid soap into her palm. Then he turned on the water and rubbed her hand with his.

Her eyes went to his mouth and then their gazes locked. Her breath came in short bursts like she’d jogged a mile. When he leaned forward and his eyes fluttered shut, leaving his dark lashes to float on his angular cheekbones, she tiptoed and met his kiss halfway.

It started sweet, but then it deepened into more, and by the time he pulled away, she was panting. All the voices in her head were screaming that she shouldn’t have let it happen, and she knew they were right.

“That might not have been such a good idea,” she whispered.

He brushed another kiss across her lips. “What if it was meant to be and we ignored it? What if this is what fate has in mind for us? What’s that old sayin’ about not fighting city hall?”

“That’s a pretty big basket of what-ifs to think about. We need to cool off for a few minutes.” She fanned herself with her hands.

“Maybe we should take a cold shower together.” He brushed another scorching kiss across her lips.

“I don’t think so,” she laughed.

“Well, then you should definitely mark this on the calendar—today’s the day we kissed for the first time.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Jolene dreamed about Tucker again that night. In this one, they were sitting on the porch swing together on a lovely spring evening. She realized that they’d both gotten old when she saw his gray hair, but it wasn’t until he told her that he loved the fifty years they’d had together that she realized they must be close to ninety. She moved closer, shifted so that she was sitting in his lap, and put her arms around him.

She awoke with her arms wrapped around a pillow. When she realized it wasn’t him, she slung it across the room. She threw on a pair of jeans and a shirt and headed toward the kitchen. A dirty plate on the floor testified that Sassy had eaten cold pizza for breakfast. Jolene poured a cup of coffee and opened the oven to find the last slice of pizza on a plate.

She’d planned on eating it, but Sassy jumped up on the cabinet and sent up something between a meow and a howl, so Jolene cut it up in small pieces. She could hear Tucker doing something upstairs, so she headed in that direction.

“Good mornin’.” Tucker motioned her into the empty bedroom. “I couldn’t sleep, so I carried all the lumber up the stairs to put up the bathroom walls. I tried to be quiet.”

She sat down on the floor and stared at him.

“What? Do I have a milk mustache? I had cookies and milk.” He wiped at his upper lip.

“No, I had a dream about you last night. You were pretty handsome at ninety years old,” she said.

He stared back at her. “I can’t imagine you at that age, but I’ll bet you are still beautiful then, too. So what were we doin’ in this dream? Were we sharing another hot kiss?” he teased.

“No, but we might have if I hadn’t woke up when I did,” she answered.

“Do you believe in dreams? Are we still going to be together at ninety?”

“I’d like that.”

He moved closer to her, tucked his fist under her chin, and tilted it up. Then his mouth covered hers in another kiss that had them both panting when it ended. She moved so that she was sitting in his lap like she’d done in the dream, wrapped her arms around his neck, and brought his mouth to hers for another passionate kiss.

His hands slipped under her shirt to touch her bare skin. Rough hands on her back, his lips moving from hers to that soft sensual place below her ear—the whole world disappeared and they were the only two people left in that moment.

But it ended abruptly with her blushing scarlet when he stood quickly and pulled her up with him. “I heard the door open. Someone is here.”

“Hey, anybody home?” A voice floated up the stairs.

“Sounds like Dotty is dropping in again,” Tucker said. “We’ve got to start locking that door.”

The voice carried up the stairs from the foyer. “Jolene, where are you?”

“That’s not Dotty. That’s . . .” Jolene ran to the top of the steps and went down in a rush. It really was her aunt and not just her imagination.

“There you are.” Sugar opened her arms, and Jolene met her hug.

“Is it really you? How long can you stay? Are you just passing through?”

Please think my cheeks are scarlet from running down the stairs to greet you and that I’m asking so many questions because I’m happy to see you.

“We came home for good,” Sugar said.

Uncle Jasper walked up behind her aunt. “We missed you. Now that you are here permanently, we want to be close.”

Jolene wrapped them both up in a three-way hug. “We’ve got rooms finished. One of us can move upstairs and give your old bedroom back to you. And—”