Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Holiday
It took my brain a few seconds to catch up to what he’d just said, but that was enough time for Tanner to assume my silence was a freakout. “Sunshine, I’m so sorry. I wasn’t thinking. I swear, this has never happened before.”
“So you’ve never had sex without a condom before?” I asked, for clarification.
He shook his head, running his hand down the back of my hair. “Never. I’m clean, if you’re worried about that. And besides that, I get regular physicals. If you want to see for yourself, I’m more than happy to show you.”
I probably should have been freaking out, or at the very least concerned, but for some reason—maybe the earth-shattering sex and orgasms—I was fine.
I believed him when he said he was clean, so instead of worrying about everything, I decided to just roll with things and enjoy this while it lasted.
I’d felt more alive the past several hours than I had in a long time, and I wasn’t ready to give that up.
“It’s okay.”
“I can’t believe I—wait. Did you just say it’s okay?”
I couldn’t help but smile. He was really cute when he was flustered. “I did. Because it is. I’m clean too, and I have an IUD, so you don’t have to worry about me getting pregnant either.”
He frowned for some reason, but before I could ask why, my stomach let out a rumble, pulling him back into the present. He smiled, wiping water droplets off my face with his middle and index fingers. “I guess I didn’t feed you enough at breakfast, huh?”
I lifted my shoulder in a shrug. “Well, you’ve given me quite the workout lately. More than I’m used to, that’s for damn sure.”
He chuckled, his smile unrepentant as he lifted me off his lap and placed me on my feet before standing from the bench. “Then let’s get you cleaned up and reheat what’s left from breakfast.”
He insisted on washing my hair and scrubbing my body, his touch so tender it created a burn on my nose and the backs of my eyes. I had to blink to fight back the tears that wanted to fall. He was so damn sweet. Unless he was being dirty, but even that was better than I could have imagined.
Once we were both clean, we climbed out and Tanner wrapped me in a plush, oversized white towel.
I dressed in my clothes from the day before and wrapped my damp hair into a bun on the top of my head before returning to the kitchen.
That time around, Tanner was dressed in a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved thermal that hugged his muscles perfectly.
He turned his head at the sound of my footsteps and grinned over the rim of his coffee mug. “Hey gorgeous.” He lifted the mug in his hand, asking, “Want another cup?”
“Yes, please,” I answered immediately. I lived on caffeine at all hours of the day.
As he worked on brewing a cup for me, I slid one of the stools out and took a seat.
He must have reheated the breakfast he made earlier, because there was already a plate sitting on the island, and I didn’t hesitate to dig right in.
The perfectly crisp bacon from earlier was now a little droopy, but it didn’t affect the taste at all. I crunched into a piece. I hadn’t been joking about Tanner giving me a workout. I’d probably burned more calories in the past twelve hours than I had in the last year.
A minute later Tanner slid a mug in my direction.
I lifted it to my lips and drank, my eyes widening in surprise that he remembered how I’d taken it earlier.
“Thank you for all of this. I think I can say with confidence that this is the best first date I’ve ever been on.
” Though it didn’t feel like a first date.
At least not anymore. All my usual hangups when it came to first dates were notably absent.
It felt like I’d known Tanner for years, not less than a handful of days.
“Glad I could be of service.” He bent forward, resting his forearms on the island across from me. His presence was as potent as ever, even with the large slab of marble between us. “But it was the least I could do.”
I arched a single brow. “Yeah, well, it’s more than someone besides my family has done for me in a really long time.” And how sad was that? “I’m feeling a little spoiled over here,” I confessed as I scooped up a bite of eggs and stuffed them into my mouth.
“Better get used to it, ’cause I plan to spoil you as much and as often as I can.”
For a few more weeks, I thought to myself, the reminder dulling some of my shine. I shook my head to clear it of that unhappy thought and pushed it to the darkest, deepest recesses to dredge up later. For now, I was choosing to stick my head in the sand so I could enjoy it while it lasted.
I moved the food around on my plate as a thought I had been curious about since earlier that morning came to me. “Um, so . . . can I ask you a question?”
“Sure,” he answered without hesitation before taking another drink of his coffee. “Anything you want to know, just ask.”
I slicked my tongue across my bottom lip before biting down on it.
“Hey.” he stretched his long arm across the island and placed his hand over mine to still the fork I’d been scraping over my plate. I hadn’t realized I was still doing it. “You don’t need to be nervous. I’m an open book.”
I released my lip and smiled. “I was wondering about your dad.” I didn’t miss the way his muscles tensed up before he forced his body to relax.
“I’m sorry if that subject is too personal.
I overheard you and your friend.” I realized how that sounded as soon as the words were out of my mouth.
My eyes bugged out and I immediately tried to backpedal.
“I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, I swear—”
“Holly, it’s okay.” His smile put me at ease instantly. “I know you weren’t eavesdropping. I wasn’t exactly keeping that call private.”
“Okay.” I let out a sigh. “It’s just that I overheard you and your friend—”
“Luke.”
“Right. Luke. He said something about wanting to punch your father in the face . . .”
Tanner pushed an audible exhale out of his nose as he rose to his full height.
I had the impression he was trying to prepare for whatever he was about to say as he finished off the last of his coffee and deposited the empty mug in the sink.
“My father,” he said in a tone I hadn’t heard from him yet.
Hard and cold in a way that made me shiver.
I waited, cupping my mug with both hands as he moved toward me. He pulled out the stool beside me and sat down, scrubbing a hand over his face on a weary sigh.
“Hey, you don’t have to talk about it if it’s too hard.”
“No, it’s fine. Honestly. Truth is, I don’t have much of a relationship with the man.
Never have. He wasn’t the kind of man who had any business having kids, really.
” I knew how true a statement like that could be, seeing as neither of my parents had any business having children.
“He bailed on me and my mom when I was a kid. Just walked out of the house one day and never came back.” He shook his head and massaged the bridge of his nose.
“I remember how worried she’d been. Frantic, really.
For days. She even called the police to file a missing person’s report. ”
“Oh, Tanner.” I reached out, my heart suddenly aching for him, and placed my hand on his arm.
“That was how we found out the truth,” he said bitterly, shaking his head on a sardonic laugh.
“We had to find out from the cops who went searching for him that he wasn’t lost or hurt, he was shacked up in some roadside motel with a hooker. My mom was scared to death that he was dead somewhere, when really he just didn’t want to be a dad or a husband anymore.”
My own parents were worthless wastes of oxygen, but at least they’d done us the courtesy of letting us know they weren’t coming back. I couldn’t imagine what his poor mom had suffered through.
“I wrote him off after that,” Tanner continued.
“Not that it really mattered. It wasn’t like he was going out of his way to have a relationship with me.
After that went down, life sort of moved on.
It wasn’t always easy. I mean, my mom had to work her ass off now that we were down to one income.
And hockey is expensive as hell. We even had to sell the house we were living in and move into something smaller.
But Mom,” he paused, his features softening and a warm smile tugging at his lips, “she was a freaking rockstar. She knew how much hockey meant to me because she never missed a game or a practice, and despite the cost, she made it work.”
“Tanner. That’s incredible. She sounds like an amazing woman.”
“She is,” he said, pride lighting his expression. “I couldn’t have asked for a better mother.”
“Is she in D.C. with you?”
He shook his head. “No, she lives down in Florida with my step-father.”
“I’m glad she was able to meet someone better.”
“Yeah.” He chuckled as he scratched the back of his neck.
“Funnily enough, he was my high school hockey coach.” I bugged my eyes out in shock, causing him to laugh harder.
“Yep. It was really weird for me at first. Apparently he’d been crushing on her for years.
He’d see her at all my games, all those booster meetings to raise money for the team.
I’d always liked the guy, and I when I saw how he treated my mom, how he made her smile, I decided I wasn’t going to stand in their way.
She spent years working her ass off after my dad bailed, then Andrew came in and did everything in his power to make her life easier. ”
I propped my chin in my palm, offering a genuine smile. “He sounds pretty terrific.”
“He is. And he’s a great step-dad. When they decided they wanted to retire somewhere warmer, I moved them to Florida and bought my mom her dream house.”
“You’re a great kid,” I said softly, that warmth blooming in my chest all over again.