Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
Tanner
“Ha ha! Full house, assholes. Read ’em and weep.” Zach slapped his cards on the table and reached for the pile of chips in the center of the table.
“Not so fast.” Conner laid his cards on the table slowly, fanning them out for added effect. “Sorry buddy,” he said with an unrepentant smile. “Straight flush.”
My head fell back on a deep belly laugh as the rest of the table erupted into laughter. Everyone except Zach, that was. I’d mentioned the threat his wife passed on through me at One More Chapter earlier that day, and from the queasy look on his face, I was starting to think she’d actually meant it.
“Don’t worry, man. You’ll get him the next hand,” I assured him, reaching over to smack him on the back before taking a pull from my beer bottle.
The rest of the guys rounding out the table were Connor, the local vet, Hardin, Detective Tristan Fanning, and Rhodes and Raylan Bradbury.
It would have been a lie if I claimed I hadn’t been a little nervous when I first showed up at Zach’s place to play poker with him and some of his friends.
Two of those friends just so happened to be Holly’s older brothers, after all.
This was my first time meeting Rhodes, but I’d been friendly with Raylan on my first trip to Hope Valley.
While I stayed at the Lodge, he’d been the guide who took me out hiking and fishing and introduced me to some amazing spots that only the locals knew about.
But with word of my date with Holly, I wasn’t sure if that friendliness was still on the table.
So far, they’d both been friendly enough.
It helped that I’d willingly lost a shitload of cash to them so far, but I couldn’t shake the sensation that there was another shoe lingering nearby, and it was dangerously close to dropping.
“I better,” Zach grumbled, scrubbing a hand over his weary expression, “’cause Rae isn’t playin’ around. She’ll really make my ass sleep out in the barn.” He took a pull from his beer, then grumbled, “She’s done it before,” under his breath.
Connor slapped the table on a loud bark of laughter. “Oh man! Was that the morning the other week I caught you climbing out of the hayloft before dawn?”
Zach scooped up the cards and began to shuffle aggressively as the rest of us cracked up. “Laugh it up, assholes. But you’re each one step away from saying or doing the wrong thing and ending up right where I was.”
“Hey, she’s building a whole-ass human being from scratch with just her body,” Connor said.
“Far as I’m concerned, women have earned the right to be moody and not want to put up with our shit while they’re pregnant.
” He took the cards Zach dealt and flipped them up to see.
“I look at Silvie every morning and still can’t believe the woman I love managed to make this perfect little thing that owns my heart and soul. ”
That twinge I felt when I bumped into the happy family at Muffin Top the other day came rushing right back.
I never had any kind of paternal urge before.
I couldn’t see beyond hockey to even consider a family.
But hearing Connor describe how he felt for his wife and daughter tugged at some invisible string that made my chest uncomfortably tight.
Hell, listening to all of them talk about the lives they were building with their women made me, well, envious.
That was a new experience for me, to say the least.
We played another couple hands, and between the beers, the laughs, and the comradery, my guard was down. That was when it happened. Like they’d been planning it all along.
“So, Tanner Fine . . .” I glanced over at Rhodes as he looked me up and down like a person might stare at a bug through a microscope. “What are your intensions with my baby sister?”
“Our baby sister,” Raylan stressed, leaning forward to brace his elbows. He crushed the empty can in front of him with his fist in an effort to look intimidating, and it took everything I had not to laugh.
“Dude, what are you trying to do?” Hardin asked, arching a brow and looking at his buddy like he’d just lost his mind.
“I’m trying to come off threatening,” Raylan explained, waving his hand at him. “Shut up and let me do my brotherly duty, asshole.”
I couldn’t stop my grin from overtaking my face.
Truth was, despite the height and weight I had on each of them, I loved that they didn’t hesitate to defend their sister.
I liked that Holly was surrounded by so many good people, people who looked out for her and would clearly stand between her and danger if necessary.
“My intentions,” I started, thinking through my words to make sure I said the right thing, because I was pretty sure that if I told them one of my intentions was to give her as many orgasms as possible, they’d both deck me right in the face.
“We’ve only been on one date, but as of right now, my intentions are to treat your sister with kindness and respect, to spoil her as much as she’ll let me, and to make her laugh, because she looks beautiful whenever she does it and it’s the prettiest sound I’ve ever heard. ”
Tristan’s sharp whistle carried through Zach’s large dining room, bouncing off the walls. “Damn, man. You can’t say shit like that out loud.”
My head tipped to the side in question. “Why not?”
“Because you’ll make the rest of us look bad,” Hardin declared. “You can’t hog all the romance for yourself. The rest of us need some too.”
Zach snorted and gave his head a shake. “Man, no amount of romantic gestures is gonna save your ass. Not with that face of yours.”
In response, Hardin grabbed a handful of pretzels from the bowl beside him and chucked them at Zach’s head. “If your ugly ass can land a woman like Rae, I think there’s still hope for me.”
When I shifted my attention back to Holly’s brothers, my shoulders sank with relief at their expressions. They might not like their baby sister dating, but they were trusting me to do right by her. And I planned to do that very thing.
The game wrapped up about an hour later with Zach winning enough of his money back to save him from the barn, at least for one night.
I said my goodbyes, and as I stepped out of Zach’s house, the foundation under my feet felt a little steadier, like I was building something here, in this town.
Climbing behind the wheel of my Range Rover, I grabbed my cell from the cupholder where it had been stashed and tapped the screen to check my notifications.
There were two from my agent, the tone of each getting progressively more anxious as more time passed. I ignored those and scrolled to the one that made me smile.
Sunshine:
Hope you had fun tonight and didn’t lose that hockey fortune.
I let out a chuckle and typed back a response.
Me:
Have no fear, the fortune is safe. What are you up to?
Those three dots immediately popped onto the screen and started hopping up and down as she typed.
A few seconds later my phone dinged with a picture.
Holly wore the biggest, brightest smile that I felt in my chest and in my dick all at once.
Half her face was squished up against her cat’s as she posed them both for a selfie.
Another message came through right after.
Sunshine:
Just hanging out with my best guy.
Me:
Your best guy, huh? Should I be jealous?
Sunshine:
Oh for sure. Yoda’s my one and only.
My face started to ache from how hard I was smiling.
Me:
You realize his head’s shaped like a triangle, right?
Sunshine:
How dare you! I’ll have you know that triangle heads are a sign of genius.
The urge to be with her, to see that smile in person, to touch her. To feel her wrapped around me as I slid deep inside her. It was too great to ignore.
Me:
Can I see you?
There was a pause before her next message came through, and for a moment I thought that maybe I’d pushed too fast.
Sunshine:
Now?
Me:
Only if it’s okay with you.
Those bubbles came and went, like she was typing and deleting over and over. I hadn’t even realized I was holding my breath until she replied with one simple word. Yes.
It took everything in me to keep from slamming the pedal all the way to the floor so I could get to her faster. The last thing I needed was to take longer because I got my ass pulled over for speeding.
The closer I got to her apartment, the faster my heart raced.
Eagerness thrummed inside me, making my skin feel like it was stretched extra tight over my bones.
By the time I parked beside her SUV in the alley behind One More Chapter my blood was rushing through my veins and I could hear my heart beating like a pounding drum in my ears.
I hit the button on the intercom system and the door immediately unlocked with a loud buzz.
I heard the creak of her door opening as I took the stairs two at a time. As soon as I hit the landing, she was there, standing in the open doorway, backlit by the lights from her apartment. The smile she was wearing was so brilliant, so goddamn beautiful, it stole my breath.
“Hi,” she chirped brightly. “How was—”
I swallowed down the rest of her question, taking her face in my hands as soon as she was within reach and crashing my lips down on hers. That was what she did to me, I had no control over the way my body reacted.
Her mouth opened on a gasp of surprise, and I thrust my tongue inside, tangling it with hers. She tasted like honey and sunshine, and a tiny voice in the back of my head kept telling me I was never going to get enough.
The need for air forced me to break away, but I didn’t go far. With one hand on her hip and the other cradling the back of her neck, I rested my forehead against hers and breathed her in.
She blinked up at me, and the glassy, dazed look in her eyes caused my dick to stir.
“Hi,” I returned, my words moving between us in a quiet rumble.
I felt the brush of her lips as they curved up into another stunning smile. “Hi back. That was quite the hello.”
A low hum rattled in my throat. “Couldn’t help myself. Not when you smile at me the way you were.”
The smile in question grew even bigger. “How was I smiling at you?”
I sifted my fingers into her hair. “Like you were really happy to see me.”
Her hands came up to my chest. Her fingers curved and her nails dug gently into my skin through my shirt.
A tremor worked its way over my body as she lightly scratched her way up my chest to my shoulders before locking her fingers together at the back of my neck.
It was like she was scratching an itch I didn’t even realize I had.
“I am happy to see you.” Her expression gentled. “I’m really glad you texted.”
Hell, if that was all it took, I’d text her all damn day.
Actually, I was quickly coming to realize I’d do just about anything to see that smile and hear her say she was happy.