Despite having a great weekend, and some much needed relaxation time, as soon as Tucker entered the office on Monday, the dreadful feeling came back. Once again, all he could think of was how he wouldn't be able to be the one to prosecute Garner.
Tucker furrowed his brows when he noticed that Aurora wasn't outside his office at her desk. She was always in the office before him, so this was new. But his doubts were cleared as soon as he walked in and saw her sitting in his office.
"Good morning." Tucker greeted, keeping his bag on his table before taking off his suit jacket.
"So," Aurora began, stretching the 'O', "How was your little vacation Mr. Forbes 30 under 30? Or should I call him America's number one bachelor?"
"What— Did Paige tell you?" Tucker asked. Aurora shook her head, to which Tucker raised a brow in question.
"Are you forgetting something called fan pages? Kaufman seems to have quite a few." Aurora stated.
"Oh, I know," Tucker sighed, "They're the reason I haven't logged into social media ever since the pictures from the wedding went viral."
"You should see how many people are fangirling over you both," Aurora laughed, "On a more serious note, I have about three million questions right now. I want to know everything."
"There's not much to tell," Tucker shrugged, "I went over to his place once Joe told me I was off the case. He asked me to go to San Francisco with him. I said yes. We both had fun. Now we're back and life resumes."
"Really? That's it? That's all you're going to give me?" Aurora pouted, "I'd find more details on those fan pages that what you've told me!"
"Jesus," Tucker rolled his eyes, "I'll tell you everything you want to know at lunch. Now, can you call Bill Kent's office for me, please? And book an appointment for tomorrow afternoon."
"Fine," Aurora groaned, "But I'm getting all my answers during lunch."
Tucker chuckled as Aurora made her way out of his office. Aurora always reminded Tucker of sunshine. She could light up anybody's day by simply being herself. Tucker remembered the first time he had met Aurora, it actually wasn't at work.
Tucker had known Aurora's partner, Jaime, ever since college. Jaime had dropped out after the first year to go to culinary school instead, but the two kept in touch and met occasionally. Jaime had introduced Tucker to Aurora a few years back during Pride, and the next week when Tucker went to work, there she was.
It was unexpected, but a very pleasant surprise nonetheless. The two became great friends over the years, and they never let their personal relationship interfere in their work.
Tucker had lunch with Aurora and Dan, telling them about his trip, even though he didn't go too much into detail. There were a few teasing comments, but both of his friends knew not to push it since they could see that being with Callum wasn't exactly the easiest decision that Tucker had made.
~~~
The next couple of days passed by in a blur, Tucker didn't have the time to talk to Callum a lot. When he wasn't working on the cases that were assigned to him, he was helping out Joe with the Garner case. Callum wasn't the most available person either, both the men had hectic work hours.
"Can you pick up Paige from work?" Dan asked, entering Tucker's office, "Her car's in the shop and I was supposed to pick her up but I need to head over to the police station for some new evidence that just came in."
"And why can't she just call a cab?" Tucker asked.
"Because," Dan paused, "She's your twin and you haven't seen her in a while and you should spend some quality time with her."
"And?"
"And I promised her I would go pick out furniture for the baby's room today but I can't get off work early now and you're my best option." Dan gave Tucker an awkward smile, making the man laugh.
"Okay," Tucker agreed, "It has been a while anyway."
"Awesome," Dan grinned, "I'm getting late now. Bye!"
Dan rushed out of the office the same way he entered. Tucker took a few more minutes to finish up his remaining work, and then decided to call it an early day to go pick up Paige.
Tucker called Paige once he reached her office to tell her about tbe change of plan, and she told him she had some work to finish so it would take her about half an hour more. Tucker was waiting for her in the parking lot, inside his car when he saw the elevator doors open and Callum walking in.
Tucker smirked, before pressing his car horn to get Callum's attention. Callum was startled for a second, before it turned towards the source of the noise with an angry look on his face. The anger died down as soon as he saw that it was Tucker.
Tucker got out of his car as Callum walked towards the lawyer. Both the men had a smile on their face, appreciating the pleasant surprise.
"Hey," Callum said, "What are you doing here?"
"Came to pick my Paige," Tucker answered, and Callum nodded, "Done with work so soon?"
"Just on my way to a dinner meeting with a client." Callum said.
"Busy guy." Tucker commented.
"You too," Callum replied, "I've missed you."
"So have I." Tucker smiled, extending his hand forward to hold Callum's arm before pulling him closer. Callum smiled wide as he leant forward to kiss Tucker.
Tucker felt like a teenager again, sneaking away in a dim basement to make out with his crush. It had only been three days since he last saw Callum but now that they were together Tucker wondered how he was able to stay away from the man for so long.
Callum wrapped his arms around Tucker's waist tightly, as he kissed him like his life depended on it. Callum pressed Tucker against his car, trapping the man. Tucker moaned in the kiss, his fingers entangled in Callum's hair that was no longer gelled and perfectly set anymore.
The sound of someone clearing their throat broke the two men from their trance. The two pulled back, but still remained in each other's arms as the turned to the side to look at Paige standing awkwardly with a couple other employees that looked extremely surprised and confused at the sight in front of them.
Callum pursed his lips, before bringing back his poker face expression and taking a couple of steps back. Tucker too, straightened up and passed an awkward smile at the spectators.
"Mr. Kaufman," Paige broke the silence, passing a polite smile to her boss before facing her brother, "Tucker. Let's go."
"Uh." Tucker paused, looking over at Callum who was now smirking at the lawyer. The billionaire mouthed 'I'll call you' and that was enough for Tucker to smile before getting inside the driver's seat. Tucker looked at Callum one more time, and then started his car.
The twins drove to the furniture store in silence, the only time they spoke was when Paige was telling him the directions. It was very unlike Paige to stay this quiet, and not ask a gazillion questions. This was one of the many similarities that Paige and Aurora had.
Once the two reached their store, they started talking casually about the baby and what Paige and Dan had been planning for the room. It didn't take long for Paige to finalise what all she wanted to get. She was quick to make her mind, and Tucker was grateful for that.
"Are you not going to say anything about.. you know?" Tucker finally said once they were on the way back to Paige's apartment.
"No, not really," Paige paused, she took a deep breath before continuing, "I really don't want to interfere in whatever it is that's going on between the two of you. You're my brother and he's my boss so it's a messy situation, but I trust you to take care of it."
"Wow," Tucker whistled lowly, "That's very mature of you."
"Yeah, my therapist thinks it's unhealthy for me to overthink and stress about your love life." Paige replied honestly, making Tucker laugh.
"I, um, I'm trying to make it work this time," Tucker admitted, "With him."
"I hope you know what you're doing."
"I hope so too."
***