Chapter Seven
At the sound of Tana’s bedroom doorknob jiggling, Torren woke up tangled up with a sexy as fuck woman.
He jumped out of bed quietly, trying to wake her, but she wasn’t budging.
He kept her up most of the night making love, so he was sure that she was dead to the world.
Otherwise, she would be freaking out that the twins were trying to get into her bedroom while Torren was still there.
He knew that both girls were smart enough to see how he felt about their mother, so he refused to lie to either of them.
After last night, he was sure that he was falling in love with Tana, but he needed to proceed with caution.
He didn’t want to confuse the girls, but he also wasn’t going to pretend that he and their mom were just two friends hanging out together.
He finished pulling on his clothes and quietly opened the door, not letting either of the girls into Tana’s bedroom.
“Hey, you guys are early risers. Ready to help me take Tucker out?” Elizabeth eyed him suspiciously and then smiled at the mention of helping with the puppy.
Sarah wrapped her arms around Torren’s thigh and hugged him close.
“We all had a sleepover,” she whispered.
“Beth and me got to sleep with Tucker, and you sleeped with Mommy.” He wasn’t sure whether to laugh or correct Sarah’s grammar.
He decided to keep things light, tousling her hair and picking her up to carry her down the stairs.
Beth grabbed his hand, calling Tucker to follow them.
“What should I make us for breakfast?” Torren asked, hoping that the subject of his sleeping in Tana’s bed was forgotten.
“Donuts,” the girls shouted in unison. Torren chuckled, putting Sarah down on the kitchen floor.
“You two little con artists got me yesterday, but we aren’t having donuts again today.
” Torren helped the girls with their shoes.
“How about pancakes and fruit?” Sarah clapped her hands, seeming to agree with his breakfast choice.
“Only if we don’t have to eat the fruit,” Elizabeth grumbled.
“Fruit is part of the deal, kiddo. Besides being good for you, I make it extra special, so it tastes really good too.” After Beth pulled on her shoes, Torren handed Tucker back to her, and the girls both went running out the back door into Tana’s little fenced-in yard.
Tucker was yapping and jumping around, taking a few seconds to do his business while the girls laughed and played.
Torren watched them for a moment, mesmerized by how carefree and resilient they both were.
They didn’t care that their mother had a sleepover with him.
Hell, they almost seemed to welcome the extra house guests that they had last night.
He was pretty sure that had nothing to do with him and everything to do with Tucker.
Torren made a pot of coffee and rummaged around Tana’s small pantry for the ingredients that he needed to make breakfast. He kept an eye on the girls, but they were so loud that they probably woke up the whole block.
He laughed to himself when he heard a chorus of “eww” and assumed that Tucker had done his business.
Torren even found himself whistling while he set to work whipping up the batter and flipping pancakes on the griddle.
He was surprised at how well he was taking the whole settling down thing, not that being with Tana was settling for anything less than what he wanted.
She was exactly what he was looking for; he just wondered what took him so long to catch on.
It was probably his stupid rules and that pesky one about dating a single mom.
Yeah, that little rule sure flew out the window fast.
Torren heard the doorbell ring and ran to the front entrance to try to answer it before it woke up Tana. The guy looked like a deliveryman, but Torren never saw the uniform he was wearing. “Can I help you?” he asked, swinging the front door open.
“Sure, buddy.” The guy’s southern accent was thick, throwing him off.
Not many people in Harvest Ridge had accents that sounded like that besides Tana and the twins.
“I have a delivery for Mrs. Cahoon.” He handed Torren a big envelope and a box that he assumed contained flowers.
He nodded and took the delivery, signing his name on the guy’s delivery form.
“You have a really nice day.” The delivery guy turned and made his way down Tana’s front steps, but Torren didn’t shut the door.
Something about the guy seemed off. He even looked familiar, and that made Torren pay attention.
The one thing that Dane taught him and Tag was to be aware of your surroundings and everyone around you.
His grandfather had many rules when it came to his and Tag’s safety, and Torren took every one of them to heart.
It was probably what kept him alive to this point, having quite a few close calls while out on the side of a mountain or barreling down a river on a raft.
He watched as the delivery guy walked around the corner to an unmarked vehicle and got into it.
All the alarms were going off in his head, telling him that something just wasn’t right.
The guy drove by in a beat-up old red Chevy Camaro that had seen better days.
He smiled at Torren and gave him a mocking salute, then sped off down the road.
Torren took note of the guy’s license tag number and wrote it on the flower box with a pen Tana kept on the table by the front door.
He went back to the kitchen to check on the twins, tossing the box on the table to finish up breakfast. A part of him wanted to open the box, but he also didn’t want Tana to think he was snooping.
From the story she told him about her ex, she had had enough of overbearing assholes to last her a lifetime.
He found the girls and was about to call them in when Tana came yawning into the kitchen.
Her hair was mussed, and it made him hard just remembering how she liked to have it pulled from behind.
“Hey, sleepyhead,” he growled, pulling her into his body. Tana yawned again, trying to swat him away.
“The first thing you need to know about me is that I need coffee before talking,” she grumbled.
“Duly noted, honey.” Torren pointed Tana to the nearest chair and crossed to the coffee pot to make her coffee. As soon as he handed it to her, she sipped it, closing her eyes and leaning back into the wooden seat. For a moment, he worried that he hadn’t made it right.
“Is it the way that you take it?” Tana nodded and pointed to her mug and then held her finger up to her lips, shushing him. He couldn’t help his chuckle.
“You take your morning Joe pretty seriously, baby.” She gave him a sideways glance and took another sip of her coffee. “Oh, before the girls come in with Tucker and all chaos explodes, you had a delivery this morning.” Tana sat up, putting her mug on the table, and pulled the box towards her.
“Who was it from?” She asked as she opened the envelope that was addressed to her and turned as white as a ghost while she read it. Torren couldn’t help himself—he looked over her shoulder
and read the note. It looked like something out of a horror film, as if someone sent her a ransom note. Tana gasped and covered her mouth with her shaking hand, passing the letter off to Torren as if it burned her skin.
“Oh my God, Tor—he’s found us,” she sobbed.
Torren looked over the letter, and a wave of panic washed over him.
He didn’t have to ask who—he was pretty sure that she was talking about her ex-husband.
All the alarm bells that sounded earlier were telling him that something wasn’t right.
He wished he had listened to his gut and stopped that guy from leaving because now he was pretty sure that asshole was Tana’s ex.
“Call my girls in. We need to pack and leave before he comes here.” Tana stood and started gathering random stuff from her kitchen cabinets.
Torren re-read the note out loud. “You can’t run.
You know what I will do to the three of you.
No one will have you, bitch.” He whispered the last word, not wanting to upset Tana any further, but he had a feeling he was too late.
Tana grabbed onto the countertop as if trying to steady herself through her sobs.
“Tana, why do you think it’s your ex?” He was guessing that she was right, but he needed to be sure before he called in the cavalry, getting Sawyer and the rest of the sheriff’s office involved.
There was no way that asshole was getting anywhere near Tana or the twins.
As far as Torren was concerned, they were his now.
“Open the box. The roses are dead, right?” Tana asked. Torren cautiously opened the long white box as if something was going to pop out at him.
He sighed at the sight of the dead roses and nodded. “Yeah, honey. They are all dead. Is this something that he usually does?”
Tana nodded, “It’s his calling card to let me know that he’s watching me and the girls. He told me that he was going to kill all three of us so that we couldn’t leave him.” Torren crossed the kitchen to where Tana stood sobbing and wrapped her in his arms.
“You aren’t running this time, baby. I’m not going to let him anywhere near you and the girls,” Torren growled.
Tana shook her head. “You can’t make me that promise, Tor. He’s sneaky and mean, and he always wins.”