23. Chapter 22
Chapter 22
Tanner
A s is usually the case, I’m awake before Vic the next morning. I’m all packed for our trip, and even dressed, when I head into the kitchen to make coffee and breakfast. I decided on jeans and a t-shirt today since I want to be comfortable, but a bit more presentable than my sweats. Of course, when Vic comes out of her bedroom as I’m finishing cooking, she’s dressed in her usual clothes.
Gone are the sweats and messy bun of yesterday. Returned are the slacks and blouse, hair neatly done in a high ponytail. I want to let her hair down, see what she looks like with it soft around her face. I want to see her loosen the rigid control she holds on herself and her world.
“All ready?” she asks.
“Yep.” I set a steaming omelette on the counter at the pass through as she takes her usual seat. I pour a coffee next, doctoring it the way she likes and give that to her as well. The smile she offers me in thanks is worth every second I spent preparing the meal.
“It’s nice to be able to eat solid food,” she says. “I will never take it for granted again.”
I laugh as I turn back to the stove where I put my own omelette on a plate and move to sit next to her.
“You’re feeling better, then?” I ask as we eat.
She nods. “I’m fine, but a little tired. Do you mind driving today?”
“Sure.”
We head out after we’ve eaten and done the dishes. It’s a rare sunny day for the beginning of October, and I take it as a good omen for the trip. The drive up the Sea-to-Sky Highway is gorgeous and we talk the whole way. I tell her about what Richard said yesterday, and she shrugs it off.
“I looked at the contract as well, remember? There’s nothing about names. Only that you had to marry me, which you’ve done. All legal and everything. He’s dragging his feet because he doesn’t really want to retire. Give it another few weeks.”
“You don’t think he’ll try to back out?” I ask, surprised at how unconcerned she seems.
She shakes her head. “If he does, there’s nothing we can do about it. Mom has been pressuring him to retire for a while, though. I don’t think he can back out.”
The conversation turns to what we’ll be doing for the next couple of months with the holidays around the corner. Thanksgiving is coming up next weekend, then a Halloween party at Blue Vista at the end of the month, and Christmas in two and a half months.
I mention my family’s Secret Santa gift exchange. “We started it because there are so many of us. Siblings, in-laws, adult kids. They get gifts as kids until they’re seventeen. When they turn eighteen, they can choose to go in on the gift exchange or not get anything from the wider family.”
“Is it completely secret?” Vic asks.
I glance at her. “It’s supposed to be. Why?”
“I don’t know many of your family members well yet. I might need help picking something out.”
“You mean you’ll do it?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
I shrug. “I guess, when I proposed this marriage, I didn’t really expect you to go all in on my family. We’re kind of a lot.”
“You are. And I admit, if I get Keith, I’ll be hard pressed to get him more than a lump of coal, but…” It’s her turn to shrug. “If we married for the usual reasons, I’d be all in on your family. Besides, except for your one brother, I like everyone else. It’s kind of nice to be part of a big group of chaos every once in a while.”
I laugh. “Every once in a while. Try being part of it all day, every day. I’m actually glad you made me move to Vancouver. And don’t worry about Keith. Mom rigs the draw so she or Dad get his name every year. He gets either her or Dad.”
“Why?”
I blow out a long breath. “One year, Keith got Skylar’s name. It was her first year in the draw. She’s the oldest of my nieces and nephews, so it was kind of exciting, you know? Well, Christmas came, and he didn’t get her anything. She cried when she saw there was nothing for her.”
Vic makes a sound of distress, but I don’t look over.
“She went into the bathroom, and everyone pretended we didn’t notice. There wasn’t really anything anyone could do. If we’d tried to give her one of our presents, she would know. I took her out after Christmas and said she could get whatever she wanted. Ever since, Skylar is the only one who doesn’t take part in the gift exchange and Mom rigs it so no one else gets Keith and he doesn’t get anyone other than Mom or Dad.”
“He should have been banned.”
“That’s what Brooke, Wyatt, and I said.” I grimace. “Harper has a soft spot for him. So do Mom and Dad. Since the vote was split, we went with the current situation.”
“So Skylar doesn’t get any presents at Christmas anymore?”
“She does. Brooke and Gerry always get her something. They’re her parents, after all. I’m not sure what they do between her and her siblings. That’s separate from the family one. And there’s always a present for her under the tree. No one knows where it comes from. No one claims to have put it there. It just shows up at some point before Christmas.”
Vic snorts, and I glance at her again. She’s grinning at me. “Tanner Marcus, I am your wife, so you are going to tell me the truth. You put that present under the tree, don’t you?”
I grin at her accusation, irrationally happy that she guessed correctly. I give her a wink, but don’t admit it out loud. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Mrs. Marcus. Everyone assumes Mom or Brooke puts it there.”
“Tell me something, Mr. Marcus .” She places her hand on my knee and my whole body heats at the simple touch. “Are your insides made of strictly marshmallow?”
And so I’m laughing when we pull into the hotel’s valet parking.
Because she had started it by putting her hand on my knee, when we get out of the car, I put my arm around her waist to go inside to check in. The easy camaraderie continues right up until the moment we open our hotel room door and see the one king-sized bed. I swallow hard as I look at it, thinking of Vic lying in that bed next to me tonight.
We’d discussed it already and—because it’s a king, there’s a mile of space, and we’re both adults—we’re going to share the bed. There doesn’t need to be anything sexual about it. But I’d be lying if I said I haven’t been thinking about it.
“You want to go for a walk around the village?” Vic asks, clearly not as affected by the single bed as I am.
“Sure,” I say, pushing up my glasses and running a hand through my hair, trying to reset my thoughts. “Give me a couple minutes to get organized. You want to go shopping?”
“I was thinking about it. Just looking in some stores.” She meets my eyes. “Unless you’re tired. That was kind of a long drive. You don’t have to come if you don’t want to.”
I shake my head. “It was only a couple hours. I’ll come. We’re supposed to be on our honeymoon. What would people think if we weren’t together?”
Vic pats my arm. “No one is here. They won’t know. Besides that, no one would hold it against you if my husband decides to nap instead of coming shopping with me.”
I grab her hand before she can move away. “I would. Let me get my coat and wallet.”
The smile she gives me makes me want to pull her closer, maybe steal a kiss. That’s what I would do if she were really mine.
But she isn’t.
A fact I must keep reminding myself throughout the day as we wander the shops in Whistler Village, laughing, talking, touching. I don’t really think about it when we left the room with my arm around her waist again. I let her go in the first shop, and when we’re done in there, she links her arm through mine. She doesn’t hesitate to take my hand when she wants to show me something, which I take as permission to pull her close when we’re waiting for our lattes at a café. To anyone watching, we’d look like a real couple, and I can’t stop my heart from wondering if maybe we could be.
We have dinner reservations, courtesy of Richard and Karen. The dim light of the restaurant is supposed to create ambiance, but I kind of wish I could see her better. She’s wearing a navy blue dress that brings out the colour of her eyes. Her black hair is styled up, but with a few locks falling down, curling around her face. She looks stunning and I want to be able to drink her in.
I pick up the menu and set it back down almost immediately. It doesn’t matter how much money is in my bank account or how many times I come to fancy restaurants, prices like these always make me anxious.
“Remember,” Vic says without looking at me. “Tonight’s on Dad. He’s already given them his credit card information and told them to refuse if we try to pay.”
I appreciate that she says it like a reminder, but I know she noticed my reaction.
“So you’re saying I should order the most expensive thing on the menu?” I ask, trying to make a joke, but I’m not sure how it lands.
She meets my eyes over the top of her menu, a smirk on those gorgeous lips. “I’m going to.” She looks back down. “Hm. Actually, I think I’ll go with the tuna.”
I pick up the menu as well, trying to see the items and not the prices. Of course, it doesn’t work, and I end up ordering the striped bass, which is on the lower end of the price range, but not the cheapest thing.
After we order, we talk about what we want to do tomorrow. There are a few things that sound interesting. Vic had intended to schedule some activities, but since she was sick, she never got around to it.
“It’ll be more fun this way,” I tell her as she sips her wine.
“I’m not a spontaneous person, Tanner. You should know this by now.”
“I do. But let’s re-frame this. You’re not being spontaneous. Why don’t you let me make the decisions tomorrow? If it goes horribly, we still have one more day and you can schedule the whole thing if you want.”
She raises her glass, and I clink mine against it. “Deal,” she says.
The food arrives, and it is amazing. Even more amazing is when Vic takes a bite, humming softly and closing her eyes.
“This is good,” she says. “You should try some.”
Then she cuts off a piece of the tuna and holds it out to me on her fork. My heart is hammering in my chest as I meet her eyes and take it in my mouth. The whole interaction has me adjusting my pants as my cock hardens, first from the sounds she made, then because of the glimmer of desire I see reflected in her eyes.
We talk about all the things she had been considering doing while we’re here so I can make an informed decision tomorrow. When the waiter returns to ask if we want dessert, I decline, but Vic orders the tiramisu.
It arrives, and she takes the first bite, making that humming noise again that causes my cock to stir some more.
“Did you decline dessert because you don’t want it, or because you don’t want to add more to the bill?” she asks, before taking her second bite.
I take a moment, sipping my wine, before I say, “I think you already know the answer.”
She holds out her fork to me again, loaded with tiramisu, offering it without a word. I lean forward and meet her eyes as she feeds me the cake.
“What can I do to help you, Tanner?” She takes another bite herself, offering me the next.
I consider the question as I take the cake from her fork. “I’m not sure anything that can be done about it. I’m set in my ways.”
“Have you considered talking to a counselor or therapist?”
She keeps alternating, taking a bite herself, then offering me one.
“I guess I’ve never really seen it as a problem.”
“Are you happy?” she asks abruptly.
I blink, trying to really consider her question before I answer. I promised her I wouldn’t lie to her, and other than downplaying my worry when she was sick, I haven’t. “Sometimes,” I say after a while.
“Would ordering your own dessert have made you happy?” She takes her next bite, then loads the fork with the last of the cake.
“Possibly, though sharing with you has also been fun.”
She smiles. “If you would’ve been happy to have your own dessert, then your issues with spending money on yourself are a problem.” She eats the last bite herself, raising her eyebrows.
“The biggest problem here is that was supposed to be my bite,” I say.
“You should have ordered your own.” She smirks. “We could have shared them both.”
The waiter returns and asks if we need anything else. When we’ve assured him we’re done, we leave. It feels weird to walk out without even seeing the bill, but Richard knows how to pull strings and he’d made sure I couldn’t pay even if I’d wanted to.
Vic holds my arm as we walk back to our hotel. The night is clear and crisp, the village lit up with sparkling lights and the trees covered in a rich display of fall colours. It’s incredibly romantic. If only that were the kind of relationship we had.
“What are we going to do tomorrow?” Vic asks as we reach the front doors of the hotel.
I chuckle. “Oh, I have a few ideas. You’ll just have to trust me.”
She pulls me to a stop, and I face her.
“I do trust you, Tanner. I want you to know that.”
I search her eyes, finding nothing but sincerity in them, and I’m overwhelmed with the idea that this strong, independent woman has faith in me. She sees me in a way no one else really has. I’ve always been good at pretending, at being the person everyone wants me to be—the shrewd businessman, the doting son, the reliable brother. The only ones I’ve ever truly been myself around are Wyatt and Vic. She’s always made it easy for me to just be me.
My hand cups her face and her eyes drift closed at my touch. I lower my head and brush a soft kiss against her lips, asking permission, asking if I can please kiss her for real.
She hesitates, moving away a fraction, and the moment is lost.
“Tanner, I—”
I shake my head, cutting her off. “It’s okay, Vic. You’re right. It’s a bad idea.”
“That’s not…”
I wait for her to finish, but she looks away.
I take a step back. “You head on up. I’m going to go for a walk.”
“Tanner—”
I hold up a hand and give her a smile. It’s as close to a lie as I have ever given her. “It’s really okay, Vic. I just want to stretch my legs a bit. I’ll be back soon.”
I walk away then because I’ve fucked up and I need a few minutes to myself to figure out where we go from here. I have fallen in love with my wife, and I need some time to remind myself that, after Richard gives me the business, it’s all going to end.