Chapter 35
Aisling
Present day
Fifteen minutes later Tanner is easing his G-wagon to a stop outside of a large white house with two giant garages and a wrap-around porch. I blink up at it in confusion before flicking my eyes back to Tanner.
He puts the car in park, unbuckles our seatbelts, and spreads his quads, waiting for me to say something.
“Is that…” I breathe out a shaky exhale, eyes flickering between him and the house. It literally has a white picket fence, unironically.
With the exception of the lake house that I’ve spent the summer working on, I’ve never seen a home so perfect before.
He jerks his thumb toward the porch, knees bouncing as he grunts, “That’s us.”
I stare at him for a long moment before turning my eyes back toward the house.
“Oh my God,” I whisper. “You’re not just six-foot-four and gorgeous. You’re rich six-foot-four and gorgeous.”
Tanner breathes out a laugh and grips firmly at the back of his neck. Then he reaches over to me and gently sets my rose on the dash, before removing my khaki cap, wrapping his hands beneath my jaw, and leaning down to chastely kiss me.
“That’s my parents’ cash, baby,” he murmurs. “That’s nothing to do with me.”
I pull back and shake my head up at him, my arms tight around his neck.
“That’s not what I meant,” I whisper. “I didn’t mean, like, ‘yay, he’s rich’. I meant more like… I can’t believe that you’re rich… while also being so kind and sweet and humble.”
When he just smiles and shakes his head I say, “Seriously, Tanner, that’s super rare.”
I grew up around people who had a lot of money, and absolutely none of those guys behaved the way that Tanner does.
He lifts my face up to his, shoulders swelling as he kisses me deeply.
“Maybe it’s ’cause this is still the holler,” he murmurs.
“What d’you mean?” I ask.
“We’re raised a different way.”
I wrap my arms tighter around his neck, urging him closer as he grips my waist. He strokes his tongue into my mouth and grunts quietly, squeezing harder.
Suddenly the sound of a door opening behind us punctuates our haze, and Tanner reluctantly removes his mouth from mine, blocking me from view as he scopes out the scene over his shoulder.
“Shit,” he grunts.
I hear a loud excited bark and immediately understand why.
I lean up to peek over his shoulder and yelp with fear. A giant caramel brown Alsatian is hurtling towards us at a billion miles per hour.
Tanner turns back to face me and brackets my chin with his large palm. Then he leans down and presses a hungry kiss to my lips.
“Just stay beside me,” he rumbles when he pulls back. “I’ve got this under control.”
In the next second Tanner dips out of the vehicle, closes his door and orders, “Cobe! Heel!”
The dog skids to an immediate stop.
It chases circles around itself a few times before letting out a happy woof and settling quickly into a sitting position. It’s large round eyes flick between the palm of Tanner’s hand and me .
“Oh my God,” I squeal, shoving a hand over my mouth.
Tanner glances at me through the driver’s window, palm still outstretched toward the dog.
“I’m coming to get you out now, okay?” he says gently. “Cobie’s not going to do anything, I promise.”
I glance back toward the Alsatian and it’s set its chin on its front paws, its giant tail thumping frantically up and down against the grass. It catches me looking and suddenly the tail is thumping harder.
I let out a little whimper as Tanner rounds the SUV and opens my door.
He grips one hand over the roof and murmurs, “He’s not gonna touch you.”
“Tanner,” I whisper nervously, fists gripping into the material of my dress.
He leans in to kiss me gently and then pulls back and jerks his chin. “Look at him, baby.”
I reluctantly turn back to look out of the windshield, breathing out a small laugh of surprise when I see the dog belly-up on the lawn. It wiggles around on its back before rolling those big round eyes our way again.
“He’s excited to meet you,” Tanner says, but I don’t miss the way that his whole body is blocking me in right now, keeping me away from his dog in case I suddenly decide that I’m too scared to approach it.
I pick up my rose and the cap, and then I finally nod up at him.
“You’re coming in?” he asks, smile creases appearing in his cheeks.
“Yeah,” I swallow, although I’m nervous as hell.
I take his hand when he offers it, feeling unsteady as I step down from the SUV.
Once I’m out Tanner grabs the sunflowers from the backseat, pockets his keys, and pushes his fingers firmly through mine.
“You got this, baby,” he says quietly, squeezing my hand as we make our way up the driveway.
The dog is instantly on its belly, eyes bouncing between us.
“Cobe,” Tanner warns, jerking his chin toward the front door. The dog glances over toward the house, seemingly weighing up its options. Then it rolls over again and lets out another happy woof .
“I think that must mean ‘no’,” I whisper. Tanner breathes out a laugh, rubbing his thumb over mine.
“He probably… really wants to smell you,” he murmurs, his eyes unblinking, trained on the dog.
“Would that be a good thing?” I ask, swallowing when Cobie’s ears prick up at the sound of my voice.
“If you’re okay with it, yeah,” Tanner murmurs, only looking away from the dog when it finally blinks away from him.
When we finally reach Cobie on the grass, Tanner looks down at me, his expression confident and reassuring.
“It’s up to you, baby,” he rumbles. “D’you want him to take your scent?”
And in this moment, I realise how many fears Tanner has helped me conquer this summer – being the strong hand to guide me through it when no-one else has ever noticed, let alone tried.
That’s probably why I reach up on my tip-toes and give him a gentle grateful kiss. He immediately compresses me against his chest with his forearms, grunting quietly as he licks his tongue against mine.
A small yipping breaks through the moment and we both turn to face the white porch steps. A tiny three-legged pom-pom hurtles towards us, yapping happily before yelping and tumbling over itself. When it gets back to its feet it starts running laps around our legs.
Tanner presses his forearm against his eyes, laughing quietly and looking embarrassed.
“Okay,” he chuckles, flashing me an apologetic smile as he tucks the sunflowers he bought for his parents under his biceps. Then he tucks two digits under Cobie’s collar and gently tugs him into a sitting position.
Tanner gives my hand another squeeze.
“Okay, baby. If you’re ready we can hold our hands out for him now.”
I look down at our joined hands and Tanner presses a reassuring kiss against my temple. Cookie runs a figure of eight between Tanner’s strong legs, squeaking in delight when he glances down at her with a smile.
Me and you both, Cookie.
“Okay,” I whisper, tentatively holding our joined hands in front of Cobie’s nose.
The Alsatian glances quickly at Tanner before cautiously getting to its feet, tail wagging furiously as it finally looks up into my eyes.
It shoves its nose against my hand, stumbles backwards, and instantly pees.
“Cobe!” Tanner exclaims. “What the fuck, man?!”
I can’t help but laugh as he tugs the dog’s collar, immediately ceasing its excited trickle.
“Calm that shit, man,” Tanner orders, before jerking his chin at the front door again. “For real, go in there and think about what you just did,” he says, laughing with me as I giggle into his shoulder.
Tanner presses another kiss to my cheek and murmurs, “You smell so good that my dog pissed himself.”
My chest shakes with laughter, smiling uncontrollably as Tanner squishes me closer.
Because that’s what being with Tanner is like.
It’s like all of my fears are forgotten, and I immediately feel at home.
Cobie shoots me a longing glance before dipping his head and racing back inside. Cookie immediately attempts to follow him but she’s stuck bouncing at the bottom step.
Tanner holds my hand tighter, looking a little embarrassed as he picks Cookie up by the belly.
“She’s, uh… she’s good for running down the steps, but she kinda struggles to get back up,” Tanner says, carrying her with us like a little football.
When she starts wriggling in his grip, he places her gently on the top of the porch, allowing her to bolt through the front door and chase after the easygoing Alsatian.
As soon as we’re about four steps away from the front door a gorgeous blonde woman steps out onto the porch, her skin tan and rosy, her hair a soft blown-out pouf.
The second that she sees Tanner she squeals and raises her arms.
“There’s my boy!” she exclaims, her voice a gentle husky American, barely accented by her original European roots.
She spots the explosion of sunflowers and ooh s excitedly.
“Mace, they’re gorgeous!” she giggles. “Are those for us?”
I pause on an inhale, suddenly too stunned to breathe.
Mace.
They call him Mace.
My heart clenches, feeling so unbearably lucky to have this inside look into Tanner’s private life.
Tanner glances down at me, his eyes bright, trying to gauge my reaction before smiling back at his mom.
“Yeah, Mom, they’re for you and Dad,” he says, before adding teasingly, “if you grab them from me I’ll have an arm to hug you with.”
Tanner and his mom both laugh as she takes the flowers, and he presses a sweet kiss to my cheek when she turns momentarily away. Then he steps back so that I can head through the front door first.
I send him a slightly nervous look over my shoulder and he dips down to nuzzle into my neck.
“Don’t worry, baby,” he murmurs. “They’re gonna love you, I swear.”
His mom comes back into the hallway, brushing her palms over her hips before reaching up to give her youngest son a big happy hug.
When she pulls away she turns her attention to me, offering me a dimple-popping smile as she says, “And you must be Aisling.”
My heart stutters in my chest.
She knows my name.
I feel Tanner’s shoulders swell, brushing firmly against my own, and I nod my head at her, almost too nervous to speak.
I’ve done the ‘meet the parents’ thing before but it has honest to God never felt like this – like this isn’t the last time that I’ll ever see them.
“Yeah, I’m Aisling,” I squeak, feeling a little dazed.
She offers me a comforting squeeze of my shoulder, trying to help me relieve my nerves.
“We’re making food in the kitchen, if you want to say hello before Mace gives you the tour? Oh, and also ,” she adds, giving a pointed look to Tanner, “I would love to know why my lovely dog is urinating all over the hardwood flooring?”
Tanner breathes out a nervous laugh, gripping the back of his neck with his hand as his mom turns around and heads down to their kitchen.
When she’s out of sight he grabs my waist and hauls me against him, swallowing my happy squeak as he crushes his mouth down on mine.
“Feelin’ okay so far?” he asks, pulling back to search my eyes.
I nod. “Yeah,” I breathe, “but I didn’t know that they knew I was coming.”
Tanner looks me straight in the eyes before saying, “They didn’t.”
He drops his gaze as he kicks off his boots and then instantly kneels down so that he can un-lace mine.
“But…” I swallow hard. “Your mom knows my name.”
Tanner eases off both of my shoes, neck heating up as he gets to his feet.
“Yeah,” he says, entwining our fingers and avoiding my eyes. He tugs me gently after him as we begin making our way down the hall.
He doesn’t say anything else.
My lips fall open as understanding truly dawns.
His mom knew exactly who Tanner would be bringing home without him having to even mention it.
Tanner has talked to his mom about me.
Before I can say anything to him about it we’re crossing the threshold of the large cream and white ranch-style kitchen, and the room is erupting into deep male laughter as Tanner slaps his palm roughly against his dad’s back.
The two are laughing and grinning as they share a gruff father-son embrace, and when his dad pulls back he flicks his eyes over to me.
He has dark hair and the beginnings of a beard that I presume he doesn’t have when he’s on base. He’s at least two-hundred-and-sixty pounds of pure muscle, standing at around the same height as his son but with a number of battle scars on his neck and arms, as well as deeper marks over his large tan hands.
“Dad, this is Aisling,” Tanner says, his voice deep and proud. He drops his forearm heavily over my shoulders, hauling me in firmly against his side. He lowers his voice and murmurs, “Ash, baby, this is my dad, Linc.”
The volume of testosterone radiating from the large male bodies around me has my breathing turning shaky as I tentatively offer him my hand.
“Hi,” I say, a little breathlessly. “Thank you both for, um… letting me come inside your home.”
Tanner’s dad takes my hand and gives it a hard warm squeeze, which is surprisingly more comforting than I would have been expecting.
Also, I’m not going to deny it. Tanner’s dad is freaking hot.
“Welcome,” he grunts, before looking behind me through the doorway. His mouth lifts into a smirk and, confused, Tanner glances behind us.
“No fuckin’ way!” Tanner suddenly shouts, clutching me tighter as another guy steps into the room. He grabs him with his free arm and chuckles in disbelief.
The other guy pounds his palm down on his back, still dressed in army fatigues.
“Are you fuckin’ kidding me?” Tanner laughs, shoving his hand through his hair. He turns to face his mom and grins, “You hid this from me on purpose, huh? I can’t believe you didn’t tell me that Wyatt was back.”
“I thought it would be a lovely surprise,” she rasps, smiling all cute and smug. Her husband grunts in agreement as he pulls her into his side.
Tanner looks down at me, eyes alight, and says, “Baby, this is my brother Wyatt.”
I glance up at Wyatt as he runs both palms over his dark buzz-cut, smirking down at me before hitting me with a wink.
I think I wheeze a little. “Hey,” I whisper, as Tanner rubs his palm lovingly down my arm.
Wyatt gives me a once-over that has his brother clearing his throat. Then Wyatt smirks at his dad and says, “Well that explains why Cobe’s pissing all over the furniture.”
“Alright, enough swearing for one afternoon, don’t you think, boys?” Tanner’s mom says lightly, with a pointed look at her middle son. Then she gives me a happy smile and asks, “Aisling, will you be staying for lunch? Dinner? Mason’s room is obviously available if you would both like to stay over tonight?”
“Jeez, Mom,” Wyatt laughs. “You tryna scare her away or something? Although,” he adds, flashing me a grin, “my room is right next door to Mason’s.”
“Wyatt!” their mom exclaims.
Linc leans back against the kitchen counter and tugs her more tightly into his side.
Tanner smirks at his brother. “Man, I would love to punch you in that mouth you’re always running, but my hands are too preoccupied loving on my beautiful girlfriend right now.”
“Mason!” their mom shouts again, this time shooting me a flushed I am so sorry about my boys kind of look.
I’m too stunned to react, completely hung up on one detail in particular.
The fact that Tanner just referred to me in front of his family as his girlfriend .
Tanner grins at her over his shoulder and rumbles, “Sorry, Mom.”
Then he presses a kiss to my temple and murmurs, “Sorry, baby.”
Wyatt grins, leaning a large shoulder against the archway. “And what about a ‘sorry, Wyatt’?”
Tanner smirks, wrapping his arms around my shoulders from behind. “In your dreams, man.”