Chapter Three #2
“Oh, I’m sure you’ve tasted plenty of other lasagnas.
Mine can’t possibly hold a candle to others that I’ve noticed around town.
” Torren did a double-take, and Tana looked back down at her plate.
Fuck. She was in town long enough to hear about his reputation.
Plenty of people were betting against him, waiting for him to fall into his old ways.
Every day, he fielded calls from scores of old flames, hoping that he was back on the dating scene and ready to take them up on their offers of a night he’d never forget.
But he didn’t back down—he had come too far to fall into his old ways.
Besides, he liked the way things were progressing with Tana, and he wanted to see where they would end up.
They ate the rest of their dinner in silence until Tana stood and cleared her plate.
“Girls, finish up and take Tucker out to the yard to go potty. The poor little guy can’t last too long without having an accident in his crate.
” Torren didn’t like the way Tana was shutting him out.
One minute, she was handing him a plate, asking him to stay for dinner, and the next, she was pretending that he was public enemy number one.
The twins did as their mother asked, grabbing Tuck and heading out the back door.
Tana set to work washing dishes, and Torren sighed.
He stood, letting his chair scrape across the hardwood floor, and crossed the tiny kitchen to put his plate in the sink.
“I’ll dry,” he offered. Tana nodded and handed him a towel.
“I’m sorry that you’ve heard rumors about me.
I’m guessing that is what has you all worked up.
” He took a plate from her, and Tana huffed out her breath.
“I’m not all worked up, Tor. I’m upset that I let myself believe that you wanted to take me on a date.
Was I always going to be just another conquest for you?
Am I another notch in your bedpost?” Torren wanted to laugh at the way she was asking him if he wanted to have sex with her, but he knew better.
He threw the towel onto her counter and pulled her into his arms, soapy hands and all.
She squealed in protest, but then let herself melt against him.
“You have to understand that’s the old me, Tana,” Torren whispered. She met his gaze, and he felt dizzy with need for her, but now was not the time to act like a giant caveman and haul her up to her bedroom to have his way with her. For one, her daughters were just out the back door.
“So, everything I’ve heard in town is true?
Because if it is, I just don’t know that I can be involved with you.
I can’t let my bad decisions affect my girls.
” He hated that she thought of him as a bad decision.
Sure, he wasn’t as pure as the driven snow, but he guessed that she wasn’t either.
Although she was probably the sweetest damn woman that he had ever met, and he’d do just about anything not to hurt her.
Maybe she was right—maybe he needed to just walk away from Tana and her girls, let them move on with their lives, and pretend he never met them.
Could he just forget her, though? Probably not. Torren shook his head.
“I’m so sorry, Tana. I should have warned you about what people would tell you once they found out that we are going to Aaron and Sunny’s wedding together.
To answer your question—probably.” She looked up at him, confusion covered her beautiful face, and he wanted to kiss the adorable little lines that crossed the bridge of her nose between her eyes.
“I’m not following you. Probably what?” Torren nodded again, stroking one of his hands up and down her back. He didn’t want their conversation to end for fear that she would make him release her. Especially when she felt so right in his arms.
“Yeah, the things that they said about me are probably true. I’m assuming you heard people call me a man whore, and they wouldn’t be wrong. But that was the old me,” he said.
She nodded, “Go on,” she coaxed.
“When Tag and Pipe told everyone earlier this year that they were expecting a baby, I decided that I needed to make some changes myself. I purchased the house and fixed it up and—well, I stopped seeing women,” Torren admitted.
“What do you mean by stopped seeing them?” Tana questioned.
“I just stopped—no contact whatsoever. I didn’t call anyone to come over or hook up with someone when I went out to a bar. I decided that I wanted to settle down, make changes, and find what my brother and all my friends have found.” Tana looked at him as if she didn’t trust a word he was saying.
“I want to believe you, really, I do. But I learned the hard way that people just don’t change, Torren.
I was married to a man who promised me that he would change over and over, but he never did.
The girls and I paid the price. I’m not sure that I can go through that again.
” Torren wanted to push her to tell him what happened with her ex, but he didn’t want to seem as if he was trying to take the focus off himself.
She was right—what guarantee could he give her that he was a different man than what the local townspeople painted him to be?
“I get it, honey. I do. It takes a lot for me to trust people, too. I’m shitty at letting people get close to me. All I’m asking for is a chance here. If I fuck up, you can send me packing, and I won’t even ask you to watch Tuck anymore,” he teased.
Tana giggled, “Wow, Tor, that’s big of you. If you screw up, I get to kick you to the curb and your little puppy, too?” Torren laughed and wrapped his arms around Tana, loving that she let him. She sighed against his chest, and they stood like that for what seemed like forever.
“I’m willing to give you a chance, Torren.
But I don’t want to drag my girls into this.
What happens between us can’t touch them.
They can’t even know that we are dating or whatever it is that we are going to call this.
” Tana leaned back to look him in the eyes.
“You’re going to have to be good at sneaking around—can you handle that? ” Tana asked.
Torren nodded, “I used to want to be a spy like James Bond when I was a kid. This will be fun.” Tana shook her head at his analogy.
“This will be nothing like a James Bond movie, Tor. I’m serious—I won’t let my daughters get caught up in any of this.
As far as they are concerned, you are just the neighbor who lets us play with his puppy and sometimes eats over.
” Torren took a step back from her and held out his hand. She shook it and smiled up at him.
“Deal,” he agreed. “But just so we’re on the same page, I do get to kiss you when they aren’t looking?
” Suddenly, shy Tana was back. She nodded, looking down at the floor.
Torren checked the back door and pulled her into his arms again, sealing his mouth over hers and dammit if she didn’t still taste like honey and sunshine all rolled into one delicious woman.
Tana wasn’t sure if she was making a good or bad decision, but at the moment, she didn’t care.
Being in Torren’s arms, having him kiss her mouth like a man starving for her taste, was probably the hottest thing she had ever experienced.
No one, not even her ex-husband, ever kissed her like Torren Harrison did.
“So, you made me cookies?” He gasped as he ended their kiss. She knew she looked as though she had just run a marathon, but she couldn’t help it. Torren made her crazy with lust and need, leaving her panting for more every time he kissed her like that.
Tana shrugged, “It’s no big deal. I made chocolate chip cookies for the girls and had a few extras.” Torren grabbed the container from the table and opened it, inhaling the sugary goodness that filled the air.
“Wow, they smell good. You really baked these?” Tana wasn’t sure where Torren was going with his questions.
“Yes, I really baked them with my own two hands,” she said with a little heat, wiggling her fingers in his face. “What’s with all the questions, Torren?” He replaced the lid and set the container on the counter.
“No one has ever made me cookies.” Torren shrugged, grabbed another plate, and started drying it.
“No one? Not even your mom? Geez, I thought it was in the mom handbook that we had to make our kids cookies, at least once.” Tana laughed and noticed that Torren’s expression darkened—not the reaction she was hoping for.
“My mom died when Tag and I were six. She was sick for so long, I guess baking cookies wasn’t something she thought about doing.
” Tana took the plate from Torren’s hands and put it away in her cabinet.
She felt like a complete ass for prying into his personal life—they weren’t to that point in their relationship.
Heck, she wasn’t sure if they even had a relationship.
She just agreed to go to a wedding with him.
“I’m sorry, Tor. I didn’t mean to bring up such a painful memory for you. It wasn’t my place.” Torren dropped the wet towel on the counter and wrapped her in his arms.
“You didn’t know, and I don’t mind talking about her.
She was a great mom until she got sick, and then she was just gone.
” Tana leaned into Torren’s hold, resting her chin on his muscled chest. “What happened to you and Tag after she died?” Torren’s smile turned sad, and she felt guilty for pushing him for answers.