Chapter 2
Two nights later . . .
“Hey,there, cowboy. What’re you doing in a joint like this?”
Happiness filled Tanner as Lilac slid into the chair next to him. “Well, I heard it has this really gorgeous, amazing, sweet . . . beer.”
“Beer! What?”
“Why? Were you expecting me to say something else?” he teased.
“Yeah. I thought you might’ve been talking about Harry.”
Tanner glanced over at the bartender, who had a huge beard that finished halfway down his chest and not a single hair on his head. He had that look of a man that had seen a lot, done a lot, and could only remember half of it. “Hmm, strangely, facial hair doesn’t do it for me.”
“No?” she said in surprise. “Darn. And here I was going to let mine grow out. I’m sick of shaving it every morning.” She touched her chin, giggling.
“For you, I’d make an exception.”
“Yeah?” She looked excited but also nervous. Slightly tense.
He felt like he was getting mixed signals. She seemed into him, but skittish.
Yeah, that was the word he’d use.
“Yep.” They’d spent all of last night chatting and flirting while she worked. She was easy to talk to. Tanner wished she had tonight off as he wanted to spend the entire night with her.
“What time are you working to tonight, darlin’?” he asked.
She wrinkled her nose, which might be the most adorable thing he’d ever seen. “Midnight.”
Fuck.
“When’s your next night off?”
“I finish early this Saturday and then I have Sunday off.”
“Yeah?” It was only Thursday, but it was something. “Well, save your Saturday night for me.”
“Your wish is my command, cowboy,” she teased.
“I’ll remember that.”
One of the waitresses walked past and shot her a dirty look. Lilac jumped to her feet. “What can I get you?”
“Nothing, darlin’. I have to go soon. I’m in the rodeo tomorrow.”
“I wish I could come watch.”
“Why don’t you? You’re not working in the morning, are you?”
“Oh no. Just . . . other things going on.” She moved off before he could question her.
Hmm. Something going on with her, but it wasn’t like he had the right to question her.
Someone else slid into her seat and he glanced over at Raid, who grinned at him.
He groaned. Fucking wonderful. “What are you doing here?”
“Came to look for my baby brother, of course. Three nights in a row, huh?”
“Maybe I just like the beer and atmosphere.”
“Right. The atmosphere. Yeah, the atmosphere is really, really nice.” Raid glanced over at Lilac.
“Don’t look at her.” Tanner scowled at him.
Raid held up his hands. “Whoa. Sorry. I didn’t mean anything bad.”
“I know . . . just . . . don’t.” He didn’t want anyone looking at her. Including his brother.
“Remember that you just met her,” Raid cautioned. “You don’t really know her.”
No. But he wanted to know her better. To spend time with her.
“We’re spending Saturday night and Sunday together.”
“We leave Sunday afternoon,” Raid pointed out.
“We can go on Monday. Right?”
“Sure,” Raid said slowly. “I mean, Alec is gonna want to know why and I don’t think you falling for the waitress is going to make him happy.”
“Her name is Lilac and she’s more than just the waitress. She’s the girl I’m going to marry.”
Partly, he said it to rile Raid up. But also . . . yeah, it didn’t feel wrong.
Raid groaned. “Are you kidding me?”
“Nope. She’s the one.”
Raid started muttering under his breath. “This is just fucking great. You’re not supposed to find ‘the one’ yet. I haven’t found mine! Butch hasn’t even found his.”
“It doesn’t have to go from oldest to youngest,” Tanner told him.
“It has so far. And I don’t want to find my ‘the one’.”
Tanner just rolled his eyes at Raid. No one said that he couldn’t find his girl first. Raid would just have to suck it up.
Because he was going to marry that girl.
“We have to head off soon,” Raid said. “It’s getting late.”
“Fine. I’ll just go say goodbye.”
“Okay, try not to trip up and, you know, get engaged or something.”
Tanner shook his head at his brother. Raid was such a drama queen. Tanner walked over to where Lilac was standing by one end of the bar.
“Lilac.” She jumped with a small scream as he put his hand on her arm.
When she turned to him, her face was white and the fear on her face floored him.
“Baby, hey, it’s just me.”
“Tanner.” She put her hand on her chest. “Sorry, I was away with the fairies.”
Was that it?
“You’re not scared of me, are you, Lilac?” he asked.
Her eyes widened and she swallowed heavily. “Of you? No.”
“But of someone?” Okay, now he was feeling even more protective. Who had frightened her?
“No one in particular.”
He frowned at her answer.
“I, um, I just had a bad experience once with a man.”
“Baby.” His heart was breaking for her. “Did he hurt you?”
“Not, um, sexually or anything. Just scared me.” She glanced around, looking embarrassed. “I’ve got a ten-minute break and I need some fresh air. Come with me?”
“You bet.” Raid could wait another ten minutes.
He followed her out the back. They used a staff door to head outside to a small staff parking lot.
“Where the hell are the security lights?” he demanded.
“Oh, there aren’t any.”
“What? But how do you see when you’re walking to your car? Do not tell me that you walk out to your car on your own.”
If she did, that was going to stop. Even if he had to be here every night when she finished work.
How are you going to manage that when you go home?
“Oh, no, I don’t walk out here by myself to my car,” she said.
The tension left his shoulders. “Good.”
Taking his hand, she led him to a couple of metal chairs where he guessed the bar staff took their break. Wasn’t the nicest place to sit down, but he figured it was more private than inside. They sat and she fiddled with her phone and turned on the flashlight.
“That’s better, now I can see your pretty little face!” Reaching up, she pinched his cheek.
Relief filled him that she was back to being sassy and relaxed around him. Although he hadn’t forgotten what she’d told him. Who the fuck could scare and hurt someone like Lilac?
“I need your phone number,” he told her.
“What? No please?”
“Nope. It wasn’t a request.”
“Fine. Here it is.” She rattled off her number as he put it into his phone.
She shivered and he realized she’d come out here without grabbing a jacket or sweater.
“Baby, you shouldn’t be out here dressed in just a T-shirt.”
“How dare you!” she said with mock horror. “I also have jeans on.”
“I’m going to pick you up,” he warned, pleased with himself for not just grabbing her.
Then he lifted her onto his lap. The chair creaked ominously beneath him, but he ignored it.
“Oh my God!” she cried.
He tensed, looking around. “What? What is it?”
“You are so warm.” Turning, she snuggled into him. “How did you get so warm? I need you to just follow me around all the time. You can be my personal heater-boy.”
“How well does it pay?”
“Not too well. But the benefits are excellent. Wink-wink. Nudge-nudge.”
He laughed. “I don’t think you’re meant to say the words, wink-wink, nudge-nudge, pretty girl.”
She grinned at him. “No? Silly me.”
“But still . . . those are some damn good benefits. I’m tempted to become your human heating-pad.”
“Yeah, it would be way better than being a cowboy,” she said. “I promise to remember to feed you every so often. And water you.”
He snorted. “So generous of you.”
“I thought so.”
They fell silent and he just held her.
“I don’t want to go back in,” she eventually said.
“Me neither, pretty girl.”
“Do you ever feel like your life is speeding by and you haven’t done any of the things that you wanted? As though you’re trapped with no way out?”
Fuck. Where had that come from? No, he guessed he hadn’t thought of his life like that. He was actually pretty happy with everything he had.
Especially now that he’d found her.
“Fuck, Lilac. Is that how you feel?”
She stiffened. “What? Of course not. It was just a . . . a question. I don’t feel that way. I’m happy as pie. Although I’ve often wondered how pie can be happy. It can make you feel happy. But it’s pie. It doesn’t have feelings, right?”
She was babbling, which was damn cute. However, he didn’t let it distract him. And when she tried to move from his lap, he tightened his hold on her hips, keeping her in place. He wasn’t having that.
“Tell me the truth.”
She huffed out a breath. “What makes you think I wasn’t telling the truth?”
“I know you weren’t.”
“What are you? A human lie detector? I wouldn’t tell people that. They might lock you up and use you.”
“Not a human lie-detector. Also, you’ve been watching too much TV. Is that the way you feel, Lilac?”
“Sometimes,” she whispered. “It’s hard not to feel that way.”
“Is there something you want to do with your life? Something that’s holding you back?”
Whatever she wanted to do . . . whatever she needed in order to do it . . . he’d give it to her.
“I want to be free.”
Tanner scowled.
“And that’s the end of my break.”
“Lilac, we’re not finished talking about this,” he told her. No way was she walking away.
“I just . . . I didn’t think my life was going to end up like this, you know? Figured I’d be doing more by now.”
“And what is it that you want to do?”
“Oh, I don’t know . . . so many things.”
“Lilac,” he said warningly.
“You don’t want to know what it is I really want. It’s . . . it’s boring and it sounds silly.”
“Nothing you say will seem silly.”
“I just want normalcy. A nice guy who treats me well. Family. Kids. I want to get married. I want a house that I can decorate for the holidays. I want to take Christmas photos with my husband and kids in ugly sweaters that I make them wear. I want coordinated Halloween costumes. To cry when I drop my kid off at their first day of school, and when they leave for their first day of college. I want it all.”
“Lilac, baby, you can have all that. You’re only twenty-three. Your life isn’t over.” He’d made certain to ask her age the second night they’d spend together.
“Yeah. You’re right. Don’t know what I’m stressing over.”
“Well, it’s probably because you hadn’t met Mr. Right. Luckily, he’s right here.”
“He is? Where? Can you see him?” She peered around.
“Brat!” He started tickling her until she was laughing so hard that she snorted.
“Oh my God. That’s embarrassing.” She slammed her hand over her mouth. “You did not just hear me do that.”
“What? I thought it was cute.”
“You have a thing for pigs, huh?”
“You did not sound like a pig!”
She snorted again, then groaned. “God, now I can’t stop. It’s an affliction.”
“It’s adorable. Just like you.”
Tanner stood and carried her to the back door.
“I don’t want to go back.”
“You could run away with me,” he suggested.
“Believe me, that’s tempting but not possible.”
One day, he’d make everything that she thought impossible possible.