This Love's Not for Sale by Ella Dominguez Page B

apart and it wasn’t necessarily a good trait and he knew that. 
    Trying to figure out how to make up for Darren’s big mouth, Tucker decided it was best to let Lilliana cool down before he approached her again.
    During their time-out , Tucker had been hit with inspiration and had instructed his assistant to call any and all local and outlying animal shelters. Lilliana and how much they seemed to have in common kept seeping into his thoughts, day and night. Tucker was determined to keep their venture business only but Lilliana had somehow managed to get under his skin.
    By day four of not having any contact with Lilliana, he was itching to get in contact with her. He even felt the creepy urge to drive past her house to see if he coul d spy a look at her. He talked himself out of it, knowing full well it was a disgusting thing to do let alone think about, but no woman had ever caused such chaos with his emotions and impeded his ability to think logically.
    At the end of a long painful week, Tucker had heard back from several shelters and mustered up the courage to venture out to her place again for a little butt-kissing session.
    Before he even got out of his car, Lilliana was on him, pointing toward the road.
    “Off my property!”
    “Just hear me out.”
    “No, thanks. I was warned twice about you from two people who seem genuinely sincere, and I’m not waiting for lightening to strike me down in order for me to open my eyes about you.”
    Two? Tucker wondered who the first was and then he remembered Lilliana’s overly long conversation with Ariel.  No doubt it was Ariel after the way she had rebuffed his advances before he knew she, too, was married.
    “Just let me show you I’m not like the rest, Lilly,” Tucker responded calmly. “I want to take you somewhere.”
    “Yeah, I’m sure, right to bed so you can royally fuck me,” she said with glossy, enraged eyes.
    Tucker couldn’ t help but smile at Lilliana’s sharp come back. She was more temperamental than any woman he had ever encountered, and he had come across far too many females to even recollect.
    “There’s an animal shelter in the next county over that’s actively looking to lease land for their outreach animal program. I thought maybe you could go and speak with them.”
     

Chapter 8
    Lilliana wanted to believe Tucker, but there was something nagging at her about him, and the man who had approached her in the restaurant put a seed of doubt in her mind about Tucker’s motives. She had the same troublesome feeling about her ex, but instead of listening to her gut instincts, she ended up with an STD, a divorce and a small-town scandal. She promised herself she would be more vigilant this time, despite Tucker’s smooth way and warm caress, and in spite of the fact that his smile had been invading her dreams since she last saw him.
    Lilliana thought she had seen the last of Tucker the week previously and that he wouldn’t show his face again, but she knew that was wishful thinking. If everyone was to be believed, Tucker would stop at nothing until he had gotten her to sign over the deed to her land. She hated to admit it, but seeing him again was almost a relief.  Even if he was smug as hell and untrustworthy, he was pretty to look at and she knew Tucker was attracted to her so there was at least that.
    Feeling embarrassed at h er outburst, she wiped her eyes of the angry tears that threatened to burst forth and avoided Tucker’s gaze.
    “Let me lock up the house,” she replied, finally giving in.
    It wouldn’t hurt to at least speak with the animal shelter and she swore to herself that she would keep her guard up and her eyes open at all times around him.
    After grabbing a light jacket and locking the house, she settled into the passenger seat, and Tucker buckled her seatbelt for her like he had before. It was a peculiar gesture that no man had ever done before, let alone twice in a weeks’ time. Still leaning over her, Tucker’s large