Chapter 6
Tanner
Present day
They’re playing “Kill Shit Till I Die” at the bar and I could take a good guess who picked it, mainly because she looked me dead in the eyes while she requested it, the little psycho.
“What’s the deal?” I ask Fallon as I jerk my chin towards Aisling, where she’s currently being twirled on the dance floor by both Tristan and Hughes. They’re making her giggle and blush, their bodies way too close for comfort.
Fallon blinks at her friend and then looks up at me. “She’s dancing.”
I give Fallon a look as she wiggles further into Hunter’s lap. His hands quickly shoot to her hips, stilling her ass before he nuts.
“I meant, what’s the deal with you and Aisling staying up at the lake house,” I clarify. “Hunter said you’re renovating it, so I want to know the score. Seems to me as though we’re about to be neighbours for the summer.”
Fallon thinks for a moment and then she gives me a nervous frown.
“Aisling told me that you bought an axe,” she mumbles anxiously.
I turn fully around to face her, smirking at that one. “She told you that, huh?”
Fallon gives me a rough little slap across the pecs.
“Yes, you crazy person! That isn’t something to be proud of!”
I turn back around so that I can continue watching Aisling; Fallon doesn’t need to know that I bought an axe so that I could chop the wood for Aisling’s fireplace.
Fallon hums woefully until I glance down at her again.
I stare into her big eyes. “Yeah? What now?”
Hunter kicks my boot under the table and rumbles, “Dude, change the tone.”
My eyes flash to his and he gives me that watch the attitude with my little woman death stare.
“Yeah, yeah,” I say to him, before dropping my eyes back to Fallon’s. “What now, Your Highness?”
“Um, we are renovating the lake house,” she admits, eyes on her lilac nail polish. “It’s one of Aisling’s parents’ properties and they wanted to knock it down, but Ash thinks that it has small town charm or something, so she wants to give it a second chance and convince them that it should be kept – for the business, I mean – but then we also have this summer bucket list that she thought would be perfect to do while we’re staying in Larch Peak–”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” I say, taken aback by the amount of information that she’s piling into that long-ass sentence. “Slow down a minute. What do you mean it’s her parents’ lake house?”
My eyes momentarily flash to Hunter’s because my parents also have a lake house here in Larch Peak. It’s the summer house that Hunter is literally buying off of them.
Even though it’s just a coincidence, it feels like another binding of fate, secretly tying me to Aisling.
“Maybe she should be the one to tell you the finer details. But the gist of it is, we’re staying in Larch Peak until we’ve completed the renovation. And, while we do the house flip we’re going to have our… wild senior year summer.”
I stare down at Fallon, unblinking.
“Wild senior year summer,” I repeat.
Fallon glances up at Hunter and he gives her a reassuring squeeze. When she looks back at me she says, “You know, the bucket list…?”
Damn straight I know about the bucket list. I’ve spent all day imagining exactly what kind of things Aisling O’Malley might have put on there.
I clear my throat hard and stare at my clasped fists on the booth’s table.
“Yeah, what about it?” I ask quietly.
“Well… it involves doing stuff, obviously. Going out… having fun…” Her voice drops to an almost inaudible mumble when she quickly adds on, “Kissing boys.”
One blink and my vision goes red.
“What did you just say?”
“Oh, come on, Tanner.” Fallon rolls her pretty eyes. “She’s single and cute and she deserves an amazing boyfriend–”
I can’t hear the rest of her sentence over the sound of my blood ringing in my ears.
There’s no question in my mind: Aisling O’Malley is drop dead gorgeous. As if her face wasn’t perfect enough she had to have a killer body too.
And now, even worse, she’s actively looking for a dude to hook up with?
I’m suddenly very interested in the idea of helping Aisling and Fallon renovate the lake house. Screw shooting the shit with the guys – I’m going to ensure that Aisling has everything that she could possibly need for this renovation, anything to keep her distracted from her bucket list of sin, which I’m one-billion percent sure the guys would love to help her fulfil.
I flick my gaze over to the dance floor, raking my eyes over Aisling’s outfit.
I brace my forearms on the table and wait for her to look my way, not much caring for how Tristan is whispering in her ear right now, one big hand on her shoulder, the other brushing over her waist.
Aisling’s eyes meet mine and my knee begins pounding dangerously under the table.
She laughs at something that Tristan whispers to her and I shove my body up to my feet.
“I’m going over there,” I rumble, pushing back my hair as I clear the booth.
I begin slowly making my way through the crowd, neither of us able to tear our eyes off each other. She gives the guys a two minutes signal and satisfaction clenches deep in my abdomen.
But she doesn’t start walking my way – she waits until I’m close, and when there’s barely two feet between us, she legs it.
I curse like a trucker, using my biceps to clear the path that she’s slinking through.
“Aisling,” I bark, my tone a clear warning.
The second that she glances around at me over her shoulder I hook my forearm around her belly, bringing her gorgeous body abruptly up against mine.
“Aisling, Jesus Christ,” I growl as she spins around in my hold, our fronts mashing together as the crowd heaves all around us. I mean, I was mainly coming to see her so that I could prize Tristan’s hands off her body, but I was also coming to see her so that I could offer up some free labour for her reno.
But now that we’re chest to chest, her baby pink stiletto heel stabbing purposefully into my boot, the only thing that I can think of is pulling her in tighter. Maybe ticking off the kissing section on her summer bucket list.
She might still be digging her nails into my chest like she wants to rip me limb from limb but she surprises the hell out of me when she purrs, “Thanks for the wood.”
She’s talking about the lumber that I chopped for her fireplace, but it sure as shit doesn’t feel like that’s what she’s referring to right now.
I grunt and shift my boots wider, well aware that she can feel what’s happening in my jeans.
“Plenty more where that came from,” I rumble.
“You spoil me,” she teases, using that husky voice to toy with me.
My eyes flash back to hers and I murmur, “I wish.”
“Whatever.” She rolls her eyes. “Why were you at the booth watching me like a stalker?”
“Good question, Aisling. Why were you grindin’ on my teammates?”
She leans up and whispers, “Maybe they’re on my bucket list.”
I smirk down at her, fired up. “Is watching me murder them also on your bucket list?”
But there’s something about the moment – her smiling mischievously up at me and me smirking down at her, my biceps caging around her body so that no-one steps into her space – that makes the air between us change. It’s one of those what could have been moments, where it’s just Aisling and me, hands all over each other, looking into each other’s eyes like we’re sharing a secret that no-one else is in on.
She’s breathing in quick little pants, making her chest pump rapidly against mine, and it’s so soft and sexy that I just stand there in silence. Blinking down at her in awe, taking in how beautiful she is.
“Aisling,” I murmur, my palm on her back sliding up so that I can hold her more securely.
I swallow hard, refusing to drop her gaze, and I steel my jaw as I build up the nerve to tell her how perfect she looks tonight. And not just because she’s wearing a bad-girl dress that I want to rip clean off her body, but because, for the briefest moment, I can see that sweet girl-next-door blush, showing me that she feels this too. This chemical pull that made us reckless from the start.
I look down at her mouth and instinctively pull her closer. Then my eyes flick to one of her baby pink straps, draping down her arm, and I hook my fingers underneath it so that I can tug it back up into place.
“Goddamn,” I grunt, frowning down at the strap. “Damn thing won’t move.”
“It’s made that way,” she whispers back to me, her eyes flickering with intrigue and panic.
I keep my focus on the strap so that I can’t get lost in her beautiful eyes. “Been driving me insane all night.”
“The dress or the girl wearing it?”
I breathe out a humourless laugh. “Both.”
“Would it help if I took it off?” she breathes quietly and my eyes flash down to hers.
I walk her back a step. “Don’t say it if you don’t mean it,” I rumble. My voice is so deep that I watch her nipples stiffen beneath the baby pink fabric.
I swipe my tongue over my bottom lip, feeling my cock grow even heavier.
“That’s also on my bucket list,” Aisling pants, her knees knocking against mine.
“What?” I rasp, my eyes raking over her tits.
“That,” she breathes, pointing to her right.
I take a quick glance at the stripper pole, grunt, and then look down again.
Then I do a double-take at the stripper pole.
She shoves at the large muscles of my chest, freeing herself from the intimacy of our embrace.
“Hold the fuck on,” I say quickly as she squeals and starts racing back through the bar. “You’re not going up there,” I tell her, right on her tail as she teeters precariously through the patrons.
She eyes the pole deviously over her shoulder before throwing me a sly little look. “We’ll see.”
I shove my fingers through my hair, keeping pace with her as I look over my shoulder. I’m not sure if seeing Aisling wrap a leg around that pole would be a dream or a goddamn nightmare.
When I turn back around I see that Aisling has led us to the guys, their arms already open and ready to take her in the centre of the huddle.
We stare at each other in heated silence as she squeezes herself into the middle of the group.
“I’m heading,” I say, clasping hands with Austin. I keep my stare locked on Aisling though, a silent invitation for her to come with me – to put the past behind us and show her that I could give her the future that she’s always wanted.
Instead she places her hand on her heart and mock-gasps. “Oh no, please stay.”
I huff out a laugh and slide my eyes over to Tristan. He looks a little worse for wear now that there’s a bruise forming on his jaw, so that perks me up a little. We give each other a quick shove on the shoulder anyway.
Even though we’re both pining for the same chick, we’re still solid friends. It’s just something that we’re going to be mature about and deal with.
Unless of course he actually starts dating her, in which case I’m going to have to kill him.
When I finish up with the goodbye punches I drop my gaze back to Aisling.
She leans back against the bar and starts sucking my soul out with her eyes.
I jerk my chin at her. “You coming with me or what?”
She lifts a limp wrist and begins inspecting her nails. “No, thanks.”
Heat climbs up my neck, every piece of primal instinct telling me to take her with me.
“Aisling.”
She flicks her gaze up to meet mine.
“Let me walk you home.”
She wafts that limp little wrist delicately around. “I’m in safe hands, don’t you think?”
I inhale, sharp and deep, and finally call it a fucking night.
“Fine,” I grunt. Then I tip my head at Austin. “See y’all.”
When I get back to the cabins it’s fucking beautiful. The air is warm and quiet, and the moonlight reflects off the lake’s gentle undulations.
But the moment isn’t perfect, because she isn’t here.
Caden and his girlfriend are wrapped up on a blanket on the water’s edge, and he gives me a subtle nod when he hears my boots breaking through the brush.
I nod back at him, neither of us saying a word, because for Caden and Winter the moment is perfect. I trudge quietly up to the cabin I’m sharing with Hunter, open the door, and then stare down at the bed.
My eyes slide down to the carry-on on the floor as I think back on something that Aisling told me earlier.
I glance out of the window toward the lake house and frown. I mean, it’s not cold out, but that doesn’t mean that the girl shouldn’t have a pair of pyjamas.
I place the bag on the bed, unzip the fastening, and start flicking through the shirts that I brought here with me. I find my favourite – the perfect XL fit for my chest, in solid military khaki – and then I stuff the rest of the clothes back inside before heading out the door again.
I trudge quietly around the head of the lake, keeping my eyes on my boots as I mount the porch steps.
When I get to the front door I take a long deep breath. Then I give it a gentle shove, opening it.
Goddammit Aisling . My chest heaves because I’m pissed off that she didn’t get around to fixing in a new lock yet, but I push that thought to the back of my mind for now as I walk toward the kitchen counter.
Feeling like an idiot, I stare down at the shirt in my fist, my cheeks turning red even though I’m the only person in here. I gently shake out the shirt, fold it in half, and then place it on top of one of Aisling’s bags.
Just in case when she gets home she wishes that she’d brought some pyjamas.