Read Make a Right for Free Online

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    “Ms. Nell, thanks, but maybe a rain check?” Tuck asked, opening the door. He made it about halfway before he—stopped—and God help him if he could have budged an inch.
    Cade stood outside, hands stuffed in the pockets of an old pair of washed-soft jeans, his shoulders hunched, saying nothing but that didn’t matter when he was there . Home.
    Time ceased and space closed in, leaving nothing but Cade in Tuck’s world.
    Until Suzie-Q barked.
    The shock back to reality wasn’t a pleasant one. Traces of spaghetti sauce tasted thick and sticky in Tuck’s mouth. He couldn’t swallow the bitter flavor down. “What are you doing here?”
    Did Cade laugh? Not quite. Almost. “You have tomato all over your face.”
    “I what? Oh, hell. Shit.” Tuck raised his arm to his mouth to use his long-sleeved T-shirt as an impromptu napkin. “Cade, seriously, what are you—”
    “Maybe you should let her lick it off.” Cade looked down at Suzie-Q, happier than if she’d been let loose in a generous meat shop, both paws planted on his legs and panting up at him for attention. There he faltered. Tuck could tell—anyone would have been able to—that he itched to reach down and pet her. He’d been the one who wanted a pet. Always had. “Since when do you have a dog?”
    “Couple of weeks?” Tuck had forgotten he had a dishtowel tucked through one belt loop. He wiped his face good and clean, glad of the second it gave him to get his bearings.
    Not quite enough to be on an even keel when Cade asked, halfway between looking at him and looking at Suzie-Q, the mat, his feet, “Can I come in?”
    There wouldn’t ever be enough time to process that and come out swinging witty. “Why?”
    “Ten years,” Cade said. “I owe you ten minutes.”
    God. Okay. Last thing Tuck had been prepared for, but he’d take it. Now if his heart could stop hammering like cannon fire so he could hear himself think . Sure, that’d happen. He gave up and let the door swing open wide. “Okay. Don’t trip on the mutt.”
    Tuck turned his back on Cade, not to give him the cold shoulder but to give Cade a second of his own, the one he knew Cade would need before he set foot in the apartment he’d left with a bang.
    He heard Cade take a deep breath and waited for the shuffle of Cade’s step from outside to in before he asked casually, “Have you eaten yet? Spaghetti’s halfway to done.” Halfway done getting crispy, he meant. He could smell tomatoes beginning to scorch.
    “Not hungry.”
    “You sure? I can hear your stomach grumbling.”
    “Not hungry,” Cade said. Above the rumbling noise.
    Tuck let that one go for now. Cade never could eat when he was worked up, and after seeing him today—now—he’d buy a ball cap to eat for himself with no salt if Cade had done more than nibble for a few days.
    “So, uh.” Fuck but he was smooth. Tuck waved as casually as he could toward the den-slash-everything-but-the-bedroom room and swore at the need to rush to the kitchenette. “I’ve got to tend to this before it burns.” Tuck wished he’d ordered pizza instead of cooking. Then he could have tossed a delivery boy a twenty at the door and not wasted one spare second of the unexpected time he had now with Cade. “Sit down. I’ll be with you fast as I can, promise.”
    Easy does it. No one’s going to hurt you.
    Cade made a noncommittal noise. Curious, Tuck watched his man out of the corner of his eye. Cade didn’t take a seat but circled the room in a few paces. Really, the place was almost too small for two with everything jammed into the front room. He stopped here and there to brush a framed photo or the edge of a bookshelf.
    Suzie-Q followed in his every step. She’d hate it when—if—Cade left again. Talk about love at first sight.
    “Looking for something in particular?” Tuck asked, just to have something to say.
    “Memories,” Cade replied. He crouched to pet Suzie-Q. “Why did you get a dog?”
    Tuck cleared