Chapter 30
Tanner
I t was after seven by the time I left my offices.
I went straight home, grabbed a few things from my house, and headed directly to Hannah’s apartment.
I was elated when I saw her text message, but she hadn’t answered any of the messages I’d sent after the meeting, and she wasn’t answering her phone.
Yeah, maybe she had wanted to get to bed early, but she’d never gone to bed this early.
I needed to check on her to make sure that she wasn’t sick.
The one and only time she’d told me she was going to stay home and go to bed early, she’d been sick with a stomach virus.
I hadn’t even known she was sick until the end of the following day.
That shit wasn’t happening again.
I’d had a key to her place for weeks, and I was going to use it.
If Hannah was sick, I was going to fucking be there this time to take care of her.
I thought about her message on the drive over to her apartment, and I wanted to kick myself for being such an idiot.
Hannah wants to marry me.
Hell, I’d take her to Vegas tomorrow and seal the deal, but Hannah deserved better than a hasty marriage at some Elvis chapel.
That was the only thing that would keep me from dragging her onto my jet and getting it done as quickly as possible.
Honestly, Hannah and I rarely had disagreements or misunderstandings. But I supposed it was going to happen in the years ahead of us.
I doubted there were very many couples who didn’t fight occasionally.
Hannah and I were both hardheaded at times.
Definitely me more than her. But I planned on being a lot quicker at resolving our issues in the future.
It had been hell sitting through that meeting, although it had ended up going well.
All I’d been able to think about was Hannah and her tear-streaked face when she’d hurried out of my office.
My gut had been urging me to go after her, but my damn pride had gotten in the way.
The conversation with Devon had helped me get my head on straight, but I would have come to my senses anyway.
I just wished that had happened before she’d gotten into that elevator.
I’d had flowers delivered to my office so I could take them to Hannah, and I planned to do some groveling if necessary.
I’d also made a quick stop at the market in Billings to get some deli food and soup in case she hadn’t eaten or in case she was sick.
I’d bought her favorite ice cream because it was the first thing she’d wanted after her stomach virus, and she didn’t keep it in the apartment very often.
I grinned because she’d mentioned that her butt wouldn’t fit into her jeans if she kept it in her freezer all the time.
When I’d mentioned that she could just buy a bigger pair of jeans, she’d shot me a glorious smile and told me that I didn’t understand women and their love/hate relationship with carbs.
After I’d read her text message, I’d devoured the rest of my Italian meal before I’d left the office, so I wasn’t really hungry myself.
I just really wanted to see Hannah and make sure that she was okay.
I turned into an available spot near her apartment, unloaded the stuff from the cargo area, and let myself into her apartment.
The place was dark, and everything was quiet.
I dumped the stuff I was carrying on the kitchen counter and went to her bedroom immediately.
I turned on a bedside lamp, and found her sleeping in her bed.
Fuck! She had gone to bed incredibly early.
I put the back of my hand to her forehead, and she stirred.
She didn’t feel like she had a temperature.
“Tanner?” she murmured, like she knew my touch.
“It’s me,” I confirmed immediately so I didn’t scare her. “I wanted to check on you and make sure you weren’t sick. You never crawl into bed this early. I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“I was just tired,” she said sleepily as she sat up. “I hit the bed as soon as I came home from work. I feel a little better now. Maybe I just needed a nap. I missed you.”
My gut had clenched tightly as she’d said those words.
Christ! I needed this woman, and I had no idea what I’d do if I didn’t ever hear those words again.
She slid over to make room for me, and I quickly shucked off my clothes and climbed into the bed beside her.
She snuggled up to me and I put my arms around her, relieved that she wasn’t sick.
Hannah usually slept naked when we were together, but she was wearing a thin pair of pajamas because she was sleeping alone.
“I missed you, too, sweetheart. Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine,” she reassured me. “How did the meeting go?”
I didn’t really want to talk about the meeting, but I answered, “It went well. I think we’re set for acquisition. Did you eat?”
“A little,” she informed me. “I really was tired. Can I say something before we talk about anything else?”
“Shoot,” I said, ready to listen to whatever she had to say.
“I love you, Tanner. I should have said it weeks ago, and I can’t go another minute without saying it anymore. Maybe if I had said it, we wouldn’t have had that misunderstanding today.”
I hadn’t realized how much I’d wanted to hear those words from her gorgeous lips again until this very moment.
It had been so damn long, and those words meant even more to me now than they had years ago.
I wrapped my arms around her even tighter. “I love you, too, Hannah. Always have. Always will. I could have said them, too, but I didn’t want to move too fast. That statement about marriage was a stupid move. The words popped out of my mouth before I had the chance to think about them. That wasn’t exactly a romantic way to propose, and I should have told you that I loved you first.”
“I didn’t mind,” she said softly. “It was just a shock to hear you mention marriage. I planned my dream wedding once, and it never happened. I know we’ve moved on, but it was an instinctive hesitation because of what happened before. It didn’t last long, but those thoughts crossed my mind for a split second. My brain froze for a moment. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to marry you. I just needed a minute to recover.”
“You’ll have that dream wedding,” I promised hoarsely. “And I’ll be involved every step of the way unless you kick me out of the planning.”
“I’ve changed,” she said thoughtfully. “I’m not sure I want to plan that dream wedding again. My business is busy, and I don’t really want to wait that long.”
Now she was telling me exactly what I wanted to hear.
“What do you want?”
“I’m not sure how to answer that because I have something else important to tell you.”
She sounded nervous, and I hated that.
Nothing Hannah could ever tell me would change the way that I felt about her.
“Tell me,” I urged. “There’s nothing we can’t talk about anymore.”
“I’m pregnant, Tanner,” she said in a rush, like she wanted to get that information out before she changed her mind. “I know the timing sucks, and it shouldn’t have happened this way, but we’re going to have a child.”
“You’re on birth control,” I said, my mind still not quite able to process the fact that Hannah was going to have a child.
Our child.
“When I had that stomach virus, I must have thrown up a few of those pills,” she explained. “I’m sorry. We probably should have used something else for a while. I was so busy with my business that I didn’t stop to think about that. I took a pregnancy test today. It was positive.”
“Christ, Hannah, don’t apologize. We made this child together. I should have thought about that, too,” I said hoarsely as I put a hand to her belly. “I’m not even sure what to say, but I’m happy. I feel like the luckiest guy in the world right now.”
I meant that. Hannah and I had always wanted to have a child. We just hadn’t planned exactly when that would happen.
She’d just given me everything I’d always wanted. She loved me. She wanted to marry me, and she was pregnant with my child.
“Are you okay with it?” I asked, concerned. “I know your business is just getting started, and it probably isn’t an ideal time for you right now.”
“I’m over the moon,” she said breathlessly. “Maybe it isn’t the ideal time, but I’m not getting any younger. I’ll work everything out with Glam Anywhere. I can be a businesswoman and a wife and mother, too. Women do it every day, and they don’t all have the support system that I do. I was just worried that you might not be ready to be a father.”
“I’m ready, sweetheart,” I assured her. “I’m not getting any younger, either. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I’m going to be a father, but I’m definitely ready. I want to get married as soon as possible if you don’t have your mind set on that dream wedding you planned. I can arrange almost anything you want in a very short period of time.”
“What are your thoughts about Vegas?” she asked hesitantly. “We could have an amazing wedding there if we have a little time to plan. Our entire family and our friends could all be there. I’ve never been there, but I had some friends who had extraordinary weddings there. No muss. No fuss. The wedding isn’t important to me anymore, Tanner. I just want to be married to you. I’d rather focus on our life together and our child.”
Hell, maybe we would be getting married in Vegas, which meant that wedding could happen soon.
“I’ll still make sure it’s something special,” I promised her.
“Knowing you, I’m sure you will,” Hannah said teasingly. “I’d really prefer not to be hugely pregnant at that wedding. I just want to be your wife.”
“I’ll make it happen so fast your head will spin,” I warned her. “We’ve waited forever for this, Hannah. I’m fucking tired of waiting. I need you to be mine.”
“Are you going to ask me again,” she said sleepily.
“I’m going to ask you for the first time,” I said as I sat us both up in bed, took her hands, and looked her directly in the eyes. “Will you marry me, Hannah? I’ll never be perfect, but I’ll try to make you happy every single day for as long as I live.”
Tears streaming down her beautiful face, she nodded. “Yes, I’ll marry you, Tanner Remington.”
“I should have a ring,” I grumbled. “But I don’t want to pick it out without you approving the design. If I’m not giving you the wedding of your dreams, I’m sure as hell giving you the engagement ring of your dreams. I’ll have a designer over at the house tomorrow.”
“Just like that?” she said with a huge yawn.
I snapped my fingers. “Just like that. There are some advantages to marrying a man who is obscenely wealthy.”
I gently pulled her back down to lay on the bed with me.
She needed sleep.
I was going to have to start reading up on pregnancy and what her needs would be, but it was obvious that she was exhausted.
She put her head on my shoulder and stroked her palm over my chest lovingly.
“There are a lot more advantages to marrying you than just your money,” she told me. “I happen to be in love with you, not your money.”
Fuck! I loved hearing those words.
“My body?” I teased hopefully.
She slapped me on the shoulder playfully. “Yes. But mostly your heart. You’re an amazing man with a very big heart.”
I reached up to turn off the light. “Don’t tell anyone that you think that,” I joked. “I like people to think I’m an asshole.”
“I know better,” she said sleepily.
“Sleep, Hannah,” I said as I stroked a hand over her hair, feeling even more protective than usual because she was pregnant with my child. “We’ll talk in the morning.”
Right now, the only thing I wanted was to sleep next to the woman who had just turned my world upside down in the best of ways.