Handle with Care (Saddler Cove)

by Nina Croft

  Don’t go there.

  She took no notice of the inner voice, and her mind filled with a flashback of his blond head between her thighs. It had been the most erotic thing she had ever seen.

  She hadn’t laid eyes on Tanner since, except for a brief glimpse one evening as he’d driven past her. He hadn’t stopped. Of course he hadn’t stopped. She’d never been his type, and that wasn’t about to change. And guess what—she didn’t want to be.

  Susanne nudged her in the side. “You’re staring,” she said. “I do believe you’ve got the hots for the O’Connors.”

  “I have not,” she said with as much dignity as she could muster, considering her panties were soaking from the memory of Tanner’s mouth just there.

  “Hmm, but which one?” Susanne mused. “Maybe all of them. What would that be like?” She fanned herself. “Shit, I think I just came at the thought.”

  “Susanne!”

  “Come on. Can’t you imagine it? Just for a night. One hot night of super-hot sex.”

  “You know you’re treating them as sex objects. If it was the other way around, you’d be screaming about sexism.”

  She sighed. “You’re right. I suppose we could talk first. Perhaps we could ask them about the serial killer in our midst.”

  Emily remembered why she had liked Susanne so much. She’d never taken anything seriously. And it looked like her marriage hadn’t changed that. It would be nice to have her friend back. Most of her circle had gone to college and moved away. She hadn’t really clicked with anyone in the three years since she’d been back from college. She was friendly with a couple of the other teachers, but not close. Not close enough to talk about…say…screwing the town bad boy.

  Susanne sighed. “Okay, maybe all three is more than I could handle. I’d probably spontaneously combust. If I had to pick it would be…” She studied them, head cocked to one side. Emily couldn’t believe they were oblivious to the weight of her hungry stare. “…Aiden.”

  “Why Aiden?” Not that he wasn’t hot, but no more than the others, and obviously she was biased.

  “Tanner’s sexy as hell, but I prefer my men tall, dark, and handsome.”

  “What about Reese?”

  “Reese is nice, but he’s also a single daddy, and I ain’t looking to be no surrogate mother.”

  Reese’s daughter was in Emily’s class this year. Keira was a sweet child, though overly quiet. Not surprising when she had lost her mother so recently.

  Susanne was beautiful, with long chestnut curls and a killer body, tall and slender, exactly what Emily had always wanted to be. She reckoned Susanne could get any man if she set her mind to it. Emily was beyond relieved she wasn’t going after Tanner. She presumed he was with some nameless, faceless woman—she could live with that. But not Susanne.

  “Oh my God,” Susanne gasped. “They’re heading this way.”

  They were. Led by Reese. And now she looked down and saw Keira was clinging to his hand. The little girl had been hidden behind a sea of jean-clad legs. Emily’s gaze flashed to Tanner behind them. She wasn’t ready for this. In fact, she could already feel heat washing over her skin, her throat locking up.

  “Hey, teacher lady,” Reese said, coming to a halt in front of her. “Keira wanted to say hi.”

  Emily shook herself, did her best to ignore the looming, brooding figure of Tanner behind him. She stepped closer and held out her hand. Keira shook it, her expression solemn.

  “Hi, Ms. Towson.”

  She cleared her throat. “Hi, Keira. Did you enjoy the parade?”

  She nodded. “I sat on Uncle Tanner’s shoulders and saw everything.”

  Her gaze flicked to Tanner. He had nice shoulders. He returned the look, his face expressionless as he took another gulp from his beer bottle. Obviously, he’d been telling the truth when he said they should forget that night. Clearly he’d had no trouble forgetting it. A little niggle of irritation poked her in the belly. She did her best to ignore it, but at least it cut through the worst of her nerves.

  “That was very nice of Uncle Tanner.”

  “He didn’t want to come, but I made him.”

  “Don’t you like parades, Uncle Tanner?” she asked, holding his gaze and willing him to make some sort of response. Though she had no clue why.

  “No.”

  God, he was surly.

  “Tanner’s a miserable bastard,” Aiden said. “Ignore him. Me and Reese here are much better company.”

  Susanne nudged her in the side.

  “Do you remember Susanne? She was in our year in high school. She’s just moved back from Richmond.”

  “I do.” Aiden said, his gaze wandering over her. “Didn’t we have a thing in school?”

  Obviously, he had about as much charm as Tanner. Emily was pretty sure they hadn’t. Susanne would have told her back then if she’d bagged an O’Connor. Before Susanne could answer, Lanie approached, Sawyer at her side. “We’re all going for some supper,” she said. “Ryan insisted we wait for you, Emily.”

  She opened her mouth to snap something—probably that Ryan could wait forever, but Sawyer spoke before she could get the words out.

  “Perhaps you would all like to join us,” he said.

  A complete silence followed the invitation. As though the words had been spoken in a foreign language. Then Tanner snorted. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” He was glaring at Sawyer, and something dark passed between the two men.

  Aiden stepped forward, closer to Sawyer than was polite, and any hint of amusement was gone from his face. “I think we’ll take a rain check on dinner. Another time, perhaps. Or maybe never.”

  Sawyer opened his mouth to answer, but Lanie glared at him, with something close to desperation in her eyes. She grabbed hold of her husband’s arm and tugged. “Come on, Sawyer. We need to get back to the others.”

  For a moment, Emily thought he was going to resist. Then the tension went out of him and he allowed himself to be dragged away. It occurred to Emily, for the first time, that if she was right about Tanner’s innocence, and she was sure she was, then likely Lanie had her suspicions as well. How could she not? Had she known what had really happened? Emily didn’t think so, Lanie wasn’t a bad person, but the other woman must have had doubts over the years. They would have eaten away at her, goading her every time she set eyes on Tanner, every time Sawyer drank.

  She glanced at Tanner. His jaw was clenched, his fists balled at his side. He caught her watching him and snarled. “Why don’t you go with your nice friends, Ms. Towson. Ryan is waiting for you.”

  The atmosphere had changed, and a chill ran through her despite the warm night. “I think I will. Goodnight,” she said to the group, not looking at Tanner—she had a feeling it wouldn’t take much for him to act like a complete ass.

  “See you around, teacher lady,” Reese said.

  “Bye, Ms. Towson.”

  “Bye, Keira.”

  She nodded to the group in general, turned on her heel, and walked away, tugging Susanne with her.

  “Aw, damn,” Susanne muttered. “We should have stayed. I was making progress.”

  Emily snorted in disbelief. “He couldn’t even remember if you had a thing in high school. That is not progress.”

  …

  Tanner tried not to watch her go, but for some reason he couldn’t take his eyes off the sway of her ass. She was wearing a blue-and-white striped dress that covered her from neck to knees. About as far from sexy as you could get. But he’d seen beneath the clothes. He knew what she looked like sprawled out across his work bench, thighs open, breasts… Shit, he’d told himself so many times…forget Emily Towson. But he was pretty sure she hadn’t forgotten; she’d gone all pink and wide-eyed when she’d seen him.

  “I like Ms. Towson,” Keira piped up. She was a nice kid and clearly had good taste. “Maybe you should ask Ms. Towson on a date, Daddy.”

  That finally dragged Tanner’s attention from Emily’s disappearing ass.<
br />
  “Maybe I should,” Reese answered.

  Not in this fucking lifetime.

  As far as Tanner was aware, Reese wasn’t looking for a mother for Keira. But what did he know? It would certainly make life easier. Reese was spending a small fortune on nannies and babysitters. He insisted on the best for Keira, and Tanner couldn’t blame him. And it must be hard on Keira in a household with three guys. So yeah, it would make sense. But no way was he marrying Emily.

  “Don’t even think about it,” he growled in a low voice.

  Reese shrugged. “Why not? She’s young, pretty. She obviously loves kids, and I think she was giving me the eye back there.”

  “No, she wasn’t.” Had she been? She’d better not have been. It was Tanner she’d been fantasizing about for years. Not Reese. He rubbed a hand through his hair. She wouldn’t fantasize about two men. That wasn’t like her…was it?

  He shut off the thoughts. She was making him crazy. He glanced up to find his brothers and Keira all regarding him with expressions from amusement to curiosity. Yeah, he was so goddamn funny.

  “You staking a claim?” Reese asked. They’d always had an agreement they wouldn’t go after the same girl. But he wasn’t going after Emily. And neither was Reese.

  “No. You heard. She’s going out with Ryan Forrester.”

  Reese shrugged. “I could get her away from Forrester.”

  Tanner narrowed his eyes, took a step closer, and poked Reese in the chest. “Don’t go near Emily Towson.” Then he spun around and stalked away. He suspected he heard a chuckle follow him—yeah, he was so funny.

  He went back to the truck and pulled another Bud from the cooler, popped the top, and stood for a moment. He didn’t know what to do. He should go back to the garage and do some work. That would take his mind off stuff. And by stuff, he meant Emily. Instead, he wandered around the outside of the square, perfectly aware of the people shifting out of his way, avoiding contact, and he felt his face falling into its normal truculent lines.

  The weird thing was, he loved this town, its proximity to the sea, the wide open grassy plains, the creeks, the mountains in the distance. But also, the town itself. It had a sense of age and permanence. It fitted into the land as though it belonged. It hadn’t been designed but had grown organically, weathered and aged, until it was almost part of the landscape itself.

  It was just a pity the town didn’t love him. Christ, he was maudlin.

  He was deep in his miserable thoughts when he almost crashed into someone who didn’t get out of his way.

  Shit, I do not need this right now.

  Jed Forrester. The most influential man in the town, head of the school board, council member. And Dwain’s father. Until Dwain had been killed. Thrown out of an open-top car, straight into an oak tree head first. He hadn’t stood a chance. They’d been celebrating graduation and freedom. That had turned out to be an ironic joke.

  Tanner never blamed Dwain’s father for what had happened to Tanner. He blamed himself, mostly, and Sawyer partly. Forrester had been so stricken by grief that he’d had to lash out at something. Tanner had been the obvious choice. That didn’t mean Tanner forgave him. He wasn’t the forgiving sort. Or liked him. The man was an uptight asshole. He was also Sawyer’s father-in-law. Maybe there was some justice in the world.

  They stared at each other for long moments. Tanner suspected that Forrester made every bit as much effort to avoid these encounters as he did. They did not raise happy memories for either one. He could guess what Forrester wanted to talk about, and he needed to keep his temper.

  “Can you guarantee this man will not be a danger to the people here?”

  Straight to business. He obviously didn’t want to waste time chatting. He became aware they had an audience. “Which man?” Okay, he was being an ass, but it sort of came naturally after so much practice.

  Forrester was tall, lean, ascetic looking. His lips thin, his eyes cold. It must have been hard losing your only son, so Tanner tried to cut him some slack. He’d known bringing Josh here would cause ripples, and he’d done it anyway. As Josh was on parole, it had to be registered with the town hall. Luckily, Gracie, the mayor’s secretary, had put the paperwork through for him. She’d been a girlfriend way back in high school and still held a soft spot for him.

  He blew out his breath. “He’s a good man who made a mistake over forty years ago. He’s nearly seventy—he’s not a danger to anyone.”

  It was…probably true. If Josh was a danger to anyone, it was likely himself. He was struggling to adjust to the outside. But hell, Tanner had struggled and he’d only been inside for two years. He couldn’t even begin to imagine what forty would be like. So far, Josh had been working, keeping to himself, and taking long walks on the beach.

  Forrester nodded once, then turned and walked away. Tanner glanced around, glared at a few obviously nosy bastards, and then shoved his hands in his pockets and moved on.

  Tables had been set up at one side of the square, and the local diner was doing good business. He caught sight of Sawyer and searched his table. Emily had her back to him. She was seated beside Ryan Forrester, and something dark uncoiled in his gut. Early on in prison, they’d sent him for anger management therapy. Hell, he’d needed it. He’d been spitting mad at everything and everyone, including himself. They’d taught him to breathe through his rage. They’d also taught him the piano. There would be a few startled expressions if he got up on the podium and started banging out a Mozart concerto. He was totally tempted.

  Now he breathed slowly and forced the anger back down. She wasn’t his. He had no right to any say in who she had dinner with. Except when he looked closely, he could tell instantly that she was not happy. Her shoulders were rigid, and she was leaning away from her companion as she spoke. Ryan placed a hand on her arm, and she immediately swiped it off. Tanner took a step forward. How dare the bastard touch her when she clearly didn’t want to be touched? But before he could take another step, she got to her feet and dropped her napkin on the table. She said something to the group in general, he couldn’t hear the words, then pushed her chair back, grabbed her bag, and weaved her way out through the crowd of tables.

  Tanner waited for a moment, then followed her, like a goddamn stalker, but his legs seemed to be moving of their own accord. Once away from the square, she paused on the sidewalk, pulled her phone out of her bag, and made a call. She continued on her way, and he continued right after her. He was just making sure she didn’t come to any harm, get into any trouble—not that there was a lot of trouble to get into on the main street of Saddler Cove. Finally, she came to a halt outside the Ocean View—the nicest restaurant in town. Not that Tanner had ever been in there. It was a suit-and-tie sort of place. If she went in, he’d have to give up his stalker activities for the night.

  He took a swig of beer. Drinking on the sidewalk was prohibited in Saddler Cove, but they made an exception for holidays, so he was probably safe. Though they might make an exception to the exception for him.

  But she didn’t go in, just moved to the edge of the sidewalk and leaned against the wall as if she was waiting for someone.

  No one was going to touch her here. He should go. Instead, he tossed his empty bottle in the trash can and swaggered over. Across town, he heard the band start up—maybe he should ask her for a dance.

  She’d been reading something on her phone, and she glanced up as he stopped in front of her. Her eyes widened, and she glanced behind him, presumably to check if he was alone. The streets were quiet—almost everyone was in the town square having what passed for fun in their tiny town.

  “Tanner.”

  Just the way she said his name, sort of breathless, made him hard. He nodded. “Emily.”

  “What are you doing here?” Her eyes narrowed. “Did you follow me?”

  “You looked a little upset. I was just making sure no one else followed you.”

  “You mean Ryan? He’s being a total pain in the…”

&nb
sp; “Ass?”

  “Yes.” She pressed her finger to the spot between her brows. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’m usually so…” She took a couple of deep breaths. “He was making me so angry.”

  “I thought he was your boyfriend?”

  “Not anymore. It’s over between me and Ryan. It was over before that night you and I…”

  He decided to help her out. “Had hot, dirty sex on top of the work bench in my garage. Then up against the wall in my garage.”

  She gritted her teeth but gave a quick nod.

  “Why was it over with Mr. Perfect? Did he finish with you?” Maybe she’d needed some sort of affirmation of herself as a sexy woman. He wanted to beat Ryan for that, though he had ultimately benefited from it.

  “None of your business.”

  “Come on, Em. I’m curious.”

  Her face took on a mutinous expression, lips pursed. “He said I was sensible and then he asked me to marry him.”

  Tanner managed to choke back the laugh, but she must have seen it on his face.

  “It’s not funny.”

  He’d proposed? That made Tanner want to growl. But she had a point. It sounded as though Ryan had fucked up on the proposal. Tanner certainly wasn’t sorry. Ryan’s loss, his gain. “Let me get this straight. If he hadn’t called you sensible, you would have said yes?”

  “Probably not. He told me he’d decided it was time to settle down, and I was a nice, sensible woman, and would make him a suitable wife. Or something like that. I sort of stopped listening at ‘sensible.’ What sort of man starts a proposal by saying you’re sensible?”

  “An asshole?”

  “Yes. Exactly. I said I didn’t think we were suited and walked out. Then when I got home, Mimi told me she’d bought a bike from you, and then she more than hinted that I was sensible, too. So when you said it as well, I just…sort of blew.”

  “Actually, you kissed me, then you stripped, then you threw yourself at me. I didn’t stand a chance.” He had an image of her standing naked in front of him, challenging him to do something, and almost groaned.