by Elise Faber
But he was gone, the stink. She frowned and picked the plate back up, shoving a huge, and not ladylike in the least, bite of pie into her mouth. “I had Park Place and Boardwalk,” she grumbled. “Plus, a hotel.”
Tan whistled. “Totally gonna win.”
Kels glanced at him and couldn’t hold back her smile. “Yes,” she said. “I was.”
He picked up a plate, started drying it. Amongst the many projects on her dad’s to-do list in this fixer-upper was replacing the dishwasher that had died. But for right now, her mom had grunt work, and that meant Kels should get down to business. With a sad look at the pie, but a high five to her self-control, she dumped the rest of the slice in the trash then went back to rinsing. Tan stayed, and she washed and he dried in contented silence for a few minutes, time during which she felt her shoulders relax, the tension that had been making them ache ever since she’d learned the news of Tanner’s return dissipating.
Maybe they could do this. Find a happy medium. Be friends—just friends—again.
“Tanner—”
“I fucked up, baby.”
Baby.
She dropped the glass she’d been washing, and it hit the bottom of the sink, shattering. But she’d barely registered the sound of it break, the shards glittering in the bright lights of the kitchen. Because . . . baby.
His hand dropped onto her nape, and she startled.
“Careful,” he murmured, sliding his fingers down her arm, slipping them around her wrist. He picked up one hand, lifting it away from the shards that she’d been absentmindedly reaching for, reeling from the contact, from his tone.
And she couldn’t move.
Because the way he’d called her baby.
“Hey.” Tan tugged, turning her so she faced him, so they were toe-to-toe, chests only a hairsbreadth apart.
“You—”
“I’ve spent too long running,” he murmured.
“Tan—”
“I want you, Kelsey.”
Her breath caught. “I—”
He kissed her.
Then Bas came into the kitchen. “Hey, the game’s—”
All hell broke loose.
Twelve
Tanner
Okay, so he’d broken his promise not to touch her until she asked, but that was because she’d been about to cut herself.
He’d needed to do it.
Yeah, keep telling yourself that.
Frankly, it was easy to do that, the delusions of grandeur, when Kelsey’s mouth was on his, her breasts pillowed against his chest, roses in his nose.
“Hey, the game’s—”
Kelsey jumped, tearing her mouth from his and all but leaping back. Her hands flailed, and concerned one of them was going to land in the sink, Tanner nudged her out of the way. Which also meant that she ended up cuddled to his side, but as far as he was concerned, that was a good byproduct.
Even if Kelsey’s face said she felt differently.
“I knew it!”
Bas was grinning as Devon popped his head in the doorway behind him. “Knew what?”
Tanner’s gut sank, but he sucked it up. Choosing option three meant he knew this was eventually going to happen—that he’d have to lay it out there for all the Scotts, including Kels’ brothers, and that they might want to kick his ass for even considering touching her.
She was worth it.
He’d figured that out earlier, too.
Tanner wasn’t twenty-one years old, thinking he was a man when really, he was still a boy who didn’t know his ass from a hand grenade.
He’d prove he was worth the risk. To Kelsey. And he’d tell her brothers to go fuck themselves if they had a problem with it.
In a nice way, of course.
But the point was Kelsey was his, and while the exposé al la Scotts had happened a lot sooner than he’d planned—mainly because his plan had included some wooing and maybe getting her to not hate him before he shared his feelings with the whole clan—this was also always going to happen.
So he had to roll with it.
“Kelsey has a thing for Tanner.”
She gasped.
“Well, duh,” Devon said.
“What?” Her ponytail flicked as she glanced from brother to brother. “You knew that?”
Bas rolled his eyes. “Hard to miss, Kels, when you were drooling after him every chance you got.”
“I was—”
“Were, too,” Tanner murmured.
Mouth agape, she stared up at him. “You knew?” she whispered, horror laced through the question.
His nod in response made her cheeks flush, and she tried to pull away. Since he liked her right where she was, he slipped an arm around her waist to keep her in place. “I knew because I had it bad, too,” he said softly.
“How long?” she asked, relaxing against him.
Tanner’s mouth tipped up. “Probably want to have that conversation without prying ears.”
Kels jumped again, and he liked that she’d forgotten about her brothers in the room, liked that she’d leaned against him.
He just liked her.
Head swiveling, she glared at her brothers. “You two are horrible brothers.”
“No,” Bas said. “Horrible brothers would be horrified that my best friend is interested in seeing our sister.”
“What?” Tanner asked.
Bas snorted. “Dude,” he said. “You were as obvious as Kelsey, always asking about her, what she was doing for work, if she was seeing anyone serious.”
Fuck.
He had.
His gut twisted. “Was that why you asked me to come back for the wedding?”
Sebastian sighed and rolled his eyes. “Seriously, man? I’ve stayed in touch with one person from high school, and that was you. Even when you were on the opposite side of the globe, we made an effort to talk,” he said. “You’re more than a friend. You’re a brother.”
“A brother who wants to see your sister.”
Bas wrinkled his nose. “Well, when you put it like that, I can’t condone it.” A beat. “But if I think about my best friend, a man I’ve known my whole life, a good man watching out for my sister, then I can’t think of anyone better.”
Fuck.
Out there. Just like that.
And also the moment that Kelsey had had enough.
She shoved out of Tanner’s arms, plunked her hands on her hips, and glared at each of them in turn. “First, I don’t need anyone watching out for me. Second, I don’t even know what the hell Tanner and I have—”
“So figure it out,” Devon said, interrupting her before she went full rant.
“I—”
Dev slipped by Bas and crossed over to Tanner, toes almost touching, leaning down so his nose was mere inches away. “I’m going to say this one time—”
“Dev—”
They both ignored her.
“You hurt Kelsey,” Dev said. “And I hurt you.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything less,” Tanner said.
Devon straightened, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. “But good luck trying to pin that one down. She’s wily.”
If they knew he’d had the chance to do it—twice—and had fucked up—twice—Tanner had the feeling that Dev wouldn’t be quite so cavalier. Still, he kept that information to himself and nodded. “Thanks for the advice.”
“You’ll need all the help you can get.”
Kels sighed loudly. “I’m right here.”
“Also,” Dev said, grin slipping free. “She hates when you talk about her like she’s not in the room.”
“I’m starting to remember that.”
She huffed and turned back to the sink, picking up the shards of glass and tossing them into the trash.
“Careful,” he, Bas, and Dev all said at once.
To which she shot them a glare that should have turned their dicks to popsicles.
Okay, not the best analogy, because now he was thinking about Kels sucking h
is cock and doing it in front of her brothers, and the last thing he wanted to be doing was popping a boner in the vicinity of her family.
Bas lifted his palms in surrender and slipped from the room. “I’ll tell mom and dad that we’ll be rescheduling Monopoly,” he said over his shoulder.
Having dealt with his fair share of scary peeps in the NHL and not cowed by her glare in the least, Dev put one large hand on Kels’s stomach and nudged her back from the sink. “Seems you have a long drive ahead of you. Probably should hit the road.”
The last he said to Tanner, while looking over Kelsey’s head.
Tan nodded. “I’ll go say my goodbyes. Kels, you coming?”
Frosty brown eyes jumped to his face, and he was surprised when she nodded without argument. She rose on tiptoe and kissed her brother’s cheek. “Bye.” Then she walked out of the kitchen.
“Tan?”
He turned his gaze back to Dev, saw his friend had stuck his hand out.
“Be careful with her,” Dev said when Tanner’s palm met his. “She’s a lot more than the tough, smart chick that shows on the surface.”
“I know.” And Tan kept his eyes on Devon’s so Kels’s brother would understand he knew exactly how precious she was. “She’s it, Dev.”
Dev’s fingers tightened on Tanner’s before letting go. “I know. Glad you finally got around to accepting it.”
“You both knew?”
Dev released him. “Yeah.” He started plucking up the remaining glass.
“Then, why?”
Why hadn’t he said something sooner? Why hadn’t they told him to come back? Given their blessing? Hell, just done something?
“You weren’t ready.”
Quiet words. Truthful words.
Tanner acknowledged them with a nod. Then he left the kitchen and went to find his woman.
They had lost time to make up for.
Thirteen
Kelsey
Silent car rides were the best.
Yes, that was sarcasm.
No, it wasn’t the good version.
Sighing, she pulled her phone from her purse and plugged in the cord, cueing up her playlist. Anything to ease the pressing silence, anything to erase the knowing looks on her brothers’ faces, the dawning glee on her parents' when Tanner had come up behind her and dropped a kiss to the top of her head.
She would have given anything for that at eighteen.
Nine years later, she just felt conflicted.
Tanner didn’t say a word as she filled her car with the cheerful pop gloriousness, just as he hadn’t said a word as he’d helped her into the car, or buckled her seat belt again.
Chivalry she shouldn’t have accepted.
And yet she had.
Part of her knew it was because of what he’d said in the kitchen.
But could she trust it?
Should she?
How much of an idiot did it make her to sign up for a triple dose of potential heartbreak?
Tanner hit pause on the stereo.
“Hey!”
His lips curved, and Kels’s heart skipped a beat. He had such a great smile. She remembered when they were teenagers and getting that smile pointed in her direction had been the best feeling in the world.
Even just seeing the edge of it now felt damned good.
Which was part of the problem.
Groaning, she pressed her fingers to her temples. This was the problem with her. She’d keep going in circles until she’d exhausted every potential avenue and outcome. The positive with that was she thought things through. The negative was that it took her away from living her own life.
It was safer in her own head.
But also probably why she hadn’t had a boyfriend since Tan.
Crap or get off the pot, she imagined Cora telling her. And her friend would be right. She couldn’t keep living like this, frozen in time. Not just with Tanner, but with every man she’d had in her life—
Fingers on her cheek startled her.
Kels realized Tanner had pulled the car over onto the shoulder. “Baby, what’s wrong?”
Her life was a mess and her eyes were stinging, that was what was wrong.
She shook her head.
He made a noise of frustration and then the car shook as he shoved back his seat. “What—?” But she didn’t get the chance to finish the sentence because the next thing she knew, her seat belt was undone, and she was in Tan’s lap.
And tears.
Because she was a giant, swirling stress hurricane, her thoughts spinning in circles while the outcome seemed destined to bring devastation.
“Sweetheart,” he murmured, hand cupping the back of her head, fingers stroking through her hair. “What’s wrong?”
She sniffed, pushed against his hold so she could glare down at him. Her eyes were probably a puffy mess because she wasn’t the type of girl who cried pretty. But dammit, how could he possibly ask her that question?
“What’s wrong?” she growled, shoving harder against his chest. “Seriously? Fucking seriously?”
His eyes flashed, hands clenching on her waist. “Yes, seriously,” he said quietly.
“Fine. You want to know?” she asked. “Here goes, little man. You’d better hang on to your hat. You’re what’s wrong with me,” she snapped. “You. You and your walking away from me nine years ago. You leaving me on Wednesday. You pushing the ride today and then all but telling my family we were together.” Kels threw her hands in the air. “You skipped over about a dozen steps, including apologizing to me for all of the crap you pulled.”
“I apologized,” he said.
Frustration made her back teeth ache. Well, that was probably because she was grinding them so tightly.
See? Her giant brain was useful for something.
And look at her go with the sarcasm, the good version this time.
Tanner shifted, drawing her focus back to the present. Namely, the fact that they were on the shoulder of a highway, rolling brown hills on either side of them, and cars whizzing by. Oh, and there was also the fact that she was still in Tan’s lap.
But when she went to pull away, he held her in place again.
“I apologized,” he said again. “When you called, I said I was sorry.”
“Did you?” she asked, voice soft. “Or did you take the 'we were young and stupid line' I was throwing you and agree that we each took an equal share of the blame for that?” She jabbed him in the chest. “Also, this just in, you haven’t apologized for leaving me naked and wanting on Wednesday, have you? Hmm?”
Calloused fingers wrapped around her wrist, brushing gently back and forth, back and forth.
But Tan’s eyes were unfocused, as though he were reliving the conversation they’d had more than a year ago. Then his gaze snapped to hers, and regret crossed his expression. “You’re right,” he said. “Fuck. I’m so sorry, sweetheart. For then. For now. For being such a fucking idiot.”
“Words a woman lives to hear,” she joked because the words calmed that hurt inside her.
He shook his head, chocolate eyes sad. “I know I said it before, but I fucked up.”
Kelsey sighed. “It’s not all your fault, Tan. I—”
“No,” he snapped. “You don’t get to own my fuckups, Kels. I’m the one who ended things. I’m the one that stayed away. I’m the one who finally figured out that I can’t keep my distance from you any longer, and that I want you in my life—”
“For how long?”
He froze. “What?”
“For how long?” she asked. “How long until you leave again?”
“I’m not.”
She sighed again. “Tanner, your work takes you all over the world. It’s just—”
“I quit.”
Her jaw dropped open. “What?”
His face took on a mulish expression. “I’m burned out,” he said. “I finished my contracts, and I’m taking a hiatus.”
Hiatus. Right. And he’d fill it with her
until he panicked and ran off again and left her behind, brokenhearted . . . or maybe just broken. She shifted, and this time, Tanner let her slip back into her seat.
But he turned to face her, eyes earnest. “I’ve seen more of the world than I ever could have dreamed of,” he said. “What I want now is to be home.”
“You didn’t grow up here.”
“But here is with you,” he said. “And so that means my home is here.”
Her heart was pounding, her eyes stinging again. God, how many times had she dreamed about hearing those words? The only trouble now was Tanner had hurt her enough that she didn’t believe them.
She also didn’t know how to tell him that.
But Tanner knew. Of course he did.
“I know it’ll take time for you to trust me.”
And with that huge understatement, he tugged his seat forward and turned on the music. Then he checked for traffic and got them back onto the freeway.
Another long, uncomfortable drive.
Her favorite.
At least this time, Taylor Swift was filling the silence.
Monday morning meant she was due at work.
The only problem was that she was sick. Miserably, horribly sick with a fever and a hacking cough. So. Much. Fun.
She texted Bas to let him know she’d come down with a bug but to stay far, far away because his wedding was in less than a week, and the last thing she needed to do was be responsible for being patient zero that took out the groom and then the bride. But just typing the message: Sick. Stay away. Contagious. Had taken all of her energy, and so she collapsed back on the couch wearing a nice blouse and pajama pants.
The blouse because for a brief moment, she’d thought if she could just get out of bed and get dressed, she’d feel better. The pajama pants because that notion had clearly failed.
Then she spent the next hour wallowing in her misery, trying to summon the energy to get up and shower, if only to slip back into fresh pajamas. In the end, she decided to just try and sleep it off. A shower could come later.
Therefore, the knock on the door that came as she was just dozing off was wholly unwelcome.
So, she let her eyes slide shut and ignored it.
The knock came again.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” she muttered, shoving to her feet, wavering for a minute, then stomping to the door.
