Nick Of Time (Blue Ridge Romance 2) Read Online Free PDF

flinch.
    Seeing her reaction reminded him why he’d always let her talk to him the way she did and never got really nasty with her. Cooper had never said anything for sure, but Tucker was pretty certain Nichole’s mother had been more than just verbally and emotionally abusive.
    He remembered a time when he was eight and Nichole came to stay with them for a few days. Her lip had been cut, and his mother told him not to mention it.
    “Be nice to Nichole, Tucker. She’s having a rough time right now,” his mother had warned him before rushing off to the spare room with a washcloth and the first-aid kit.
    Tucker knew what that was like. Their mother had remarried after their father left. The new guy seemed great at first, like an insta-dad, but he’d soon shown his true colors and started knocking them around. Cooper got the brunt of it, but there were times when his big brother couldn’t save him or his mother.
    Nichole had stayed with them only a few days before Mrs. Roth had shown up to take her back home. It wasn’t until he saw the way Nic flinched away from her mother that he’d put it together.
    It didn’t seem possible that someone would hurt Nichole. She’d always worn fancy clothes and had the newest toys. She lived in a big house and had a horse, for crying out loud. He hadn’t known rich people could be assholes until he saw the way Mrs. Roth grabbed Nichole’s arm and ripped her out of the house.
    “Sorry,” he said as he backed away.
    “It’s fine; I’ve got it.” She hated to show any kind of weakness. He knew her well enough to be aware of that.
    Now that he was older and had seen his own weaknesses up close and personal, he understood. It was a horrible way to feel.
    “Can we maybe make a truce for the day?” he asked while they sat at the stop sign at the end of the road.
    “What do you propose?”
    “Let’s say for the sake of today that both of us are equally intelligent and capable people. That way neither of us will feel the need to one-up the other or be defensive.”
    She narrowed her eyes at him and nodded before holding out her hand.
    “You might be smarter than I remember,” she allowed.
    “A wise person once told me, people only remember what they want to remember,” he repeated her words back to her.
    “This might not be so bad after all.” She laughed, and he pulled out toward the highway.
    Fifteen minutes into the trip, he was thinking things weren’t going too badly. Then one of his songs came on the radio. A song from his other life.
    “How are the Limp Dicks doing?” she asked.
    “It’s Wilted Lilies, and we broke up last year. You might be the only person on the planet who doesn’t know that.” He shook his head.
    “Oh. That’s too bad. I like this song.”
    “Really?” He glanced over at her with a skeptical look.
    “What?”
    “I thought you listened to Mozart and Bach.”
    “I do sometimes. But I like living people, too.” She leaned closer to him and whispered conspiratorially, “And I know you also listen to Mozart and Bach.”
    “Shut up!” he said in mock horror. “Don’t let anyone know! It will ruin my bad-boy rocker image.”
    “As if anyone would ever believe you’re not as shallow as you seem.”
    “Surely Dr. Atherton wields a lot of credibility.”
    “Don’t call me that,” she said quickly. Great. He’d hit another mine in the vast minefield that was Nichole Atherton.
    He changed the station, not liking to hear himself on the radio, and they rode on in silence.
    The rain never let up, and it was even colder when they got to the cabin at the top of the mountain. They’d made good time and were there a half hour early, so Tucker got his guitar out of the back so he’d have something to do besides terrorize Nichole.
    “You’ve upgraded from that silver bear you used to carry around everywhere?” she asked with a brow raised.
    “I don’t sleep with my guitar. I haven’t thought about that bear in a while.” He smiled at