Chapter 40
Tanner
One week later
I grip my fist tighter around the wheel as the Polaris lurches up the incline, mud shooting up on either side of the cage as I push the vehicle harder, getting us to the top of the mound.
The tall forest trees around the mud trail are dense and emerald green, canopying over the UTV as I get us into position for a messy slide down.
And for an off-road track that’s thick with wet dirt and slippery as hell, we’re going fast .
“Tanner!” Aisling squeals, laughing as she squeezes her hands around one of my biceps.
She’s wearing a mudding wetsuit that I bought just after we picked the UTV from the rental, meaning that she’s in a dirt-covered black thermal, topped with a pair of khaki waterproof overalls. Her rain boots are packed with fresh brown mud, because the vehicle is open-sided and the track couldn’t be more slick if we’d wanted it to be.
I flash her a grin as I begin tipping the front of the UTV over the mud mound, removing one hand from the wheel so that I can give her mud-splattered thigh a rough squeeze.
“You ready?” I ask her, knowing that her answer is going to be simultaneously a yes and a no.
Regardless of how I felt about the contents of Aisling’s summer bucket list, I hadn’t forgotten about the final point on her checklist.
One of the first things that she said to me at the start of this summer was the fact that, once she and Fallon had finished up on her lake house renovation, she wanted to go mudding – an adrenaline rush that would also work to blow off some steam.
But I know that it was also on her list for a few other reasons.
One, because being raised as a city girl means that Aisling never had these country experiences, and her heart has been beating for the small town life for as long as she knew it existed.
And two, I’m pretty sure that this summer was secretly Aisling’s way of ripping off the Band-Aid and facing a fuck-tonne of her fears.
She might not be scared of driving but as soon as she scooched into the UTV I could tell that she was feeling tentative. I mean, who the hell wouldn’t be? Mudding is goddamn reckless, not to mention dangerous. But from the resolute set to her pretty brow I knew that this experience was about conquering a fear, exposing herself to a situation and then coming out of the other side better for it.
That being said, we were less than three minutes into her tearing up the dirt before she was half-laughing, half-whimpering, and begging for me to take over. Which, I can’t deny, was probably the biggest honour of my life – Ash trusting me so fucking much that she was happy to put her life in my hands during something like this.
So now I’m handling the wheel and Ash is free to take in the thrill of the ride, feeling the heavy pull of the tires through the wet dirt as we race up and down over every slope of the dense terrain.
She nods her head at me, her bright eyes sparkling behind the headgear, and I grin as I nudge the top of my helmet against hers, closing my eyes for a moment and soaking up the feeling of how grateful I am.
She giggles and gives my biceps a rough squeeze, and after flashing her another grin I get us racing down the mud mound.
The dirt flies past the cage, wheels going hard as we jerk over the terrain, and I keep my eyes focused on the steering as Aisling squeals with laughter and delight. We hit the bottom of the slope, the UTV bouncing as I propel us forward even faster, and the air – scented like a downpour waiting to happen – lashes like a whip through the open windshield, wheels ploughing the dirt as we race toward a turn.
I keep the pace fast and the moves smooth, laser focused on the turn because I want to impress Aisling’s sexy little panties off. We whip the turn with barely any over-steering and Ash giggles with happiness as we hit a long stretch of straight forest – just us, the dirt track, and the thick trees canopying us overhead.
Since there are no more turns on this stretch, I move my right hand down to her thigh, squeezing her hungrily over the overalls. In the next second she’s leaning over to cuddle up to me, breasts pressed against my biceps as I keep us flying down the track.
“You good?” I ask gruffly, my hand inching higher.
It’s only us on the dirt track right now and it would take at least ten minutes for anyone else to reach us, so we’re safe to get handsy under the dark shelter of the green trees.
“So good,” she sighs, one of her own palms caressing over my abdomen.
I steel my jaw and try not to get too excited as I keep the vehicle bouncing fast over the undulating peaks and valleys.
We gun the trail until we reach another turn, and then I pull up the UTV, wanting a moment to just be with my girl.
I unfasten my helmet and pull off my gloves, dropping them down to the dirt-soaked interior. Then I get my hands on the headgear that Aisling is wearing and ease it carefully over her beautiful face.
She blinks fast when she’s free of the helmet, those long black lashes so dark and intense against the incredible brightness of her stunning irises.
She pulls out her hair-tie to free her bouncy ponytail and I immediately scoop it back up, winding it around my fist.
I wrap it until it’s tight and then I give it a little tug, helping her climb up over onto my lap and settling back in my seat as she straddles me. I palm my free hand over her behind, massaging it gently as I dip down to kiss her.
“Hey, baby,” I murmur, my heart warm and full as she digs her fingers into the sides of my neck.
“Hey,” she whispers back to me, the little mud flecks on her cheeks making me grin because they remind me of her love-heart freckle.
I fist her hair tighter around my hand and kiss her again, longer and deeper. Her hands slide over the large swells of my chest and she grinds her lap against mine, whimpering in gratitude.
Gratitude because she knows that I’m kind of distracting her right now.
Because even though she’s so excited to officially have the green-light from her parents when it comes to starting up the beginning of a house-flipping section of the company, she’s been more than a little sad about the prospect of letting the lake house go.
Maybe it’s because she’s had her sights set on the house ever since she first saw it in her parents’ folder of acquisitions.
Maybe it’s because it’s the first flip that she ever did.
Or maybe it’s because it’s the place where she allowed herself to fall in love, and the thought of having someone else living there, whether it’s as a rental or as a permanent thing, feels like letting someone take a little piece of her heart.
Whatever the reason, she’s had mixed feelings about her mom saying that the lake house is so perfect that they can immediately put it up on the market. Even more so seeing as this morning her mom told her that a buyer put an offer in, matching their asking price.
And with that information she knows that it’s about to sell.
With a sum like that, it’s an offer that they won’t refuse.
So I’m distracting her. First with the mudding, now with my mouth on hers. I keep her hips grinding back and forth with my palm enveloping her ass, quickening her momentum as I deepen the kiss.
“I love you,” I rumble, gripping her hair harder as she rides me.
She drops her forehead against my heaving chest, arms around my neck as we move our bodies together.
We’ve been staying at the lake house this whole past week and, even though it was bittersweet seeing all of our friends leave on the morning that her mom was arriving, it’s been the best part of the summer so far. Just Aisling and me, taking it slow for once.
Making out while I hold her in the lake, with the sun warming the muscles of my back and my shoulders. Slow-hiking through the forest beyond the back porch, and then piggy-backing her down the hill, just to make her laugh. Having my hands massaging her waist as we stand on her balcony after midnight, murmuring the names of the constellations in her ear while she giggles and pretends not to care.
Fucking her in every room of the house, and having no-one in those cabins to stop me.
And fucking her outside of the house too, because the couch on the back porch – enveloped by the larch forest beyond – has turned out to be the perfect place to run to when the summer rain hits and we can’t fumble fast enough for the house keys.
So instead we jump the steps, race to the back, and then I’m bunching her dress around her waist, shoving down my pants, and pushing slowly inside of her. Murmuring how much I love her with every rough thrust.
She’ll be officially starting work for her parents – partially remotely – in the next couple of weeks. I’ll be beginning my official training for Larch Peak’s NHL season.
The only thing left is for us to find a place to live.
After we take the UTV back to the rental point and change back into our jeans and shirts, I grab her by the hips before she can get onto the passenger seat, crushing my mouth down on hers as I shove her up against the side of my car.
She giggles and slaps at my chest, pulling back with flushed cheeks as she quickly checks that the guys who own the UTVs aren’t looking.
“They can’t see you behind my shoulders,” I tell her, hunching back down so that I can kiss her again.
I rub my palms over her muddy cheeks and she laughs uncontrollably as I move one hand down so that I can grip and spank her ass.
“Tanner,” she laughs, hiding her face in the warm crook of my neck.
“I need you,” I murmur back to her, laughing with her as she play-fights me off of her.
She turns around in my arms and I all but shove her under the roof and into the passenger seat, not releasing her from my arms until she’s squealing with giddy fear.
When she’s finally sitting upright in her seat I grip her chin and meet her big sparkling eyes with mine.
“You had a good time?” I ask her, wanting her to have had a fucking amazing time on the mud tracks with me.
She nods up at me, her cheeks dimpling as I rub my thumb up her jaw.
“Yeah,” she whispers, grinning happily as I nudge our foreheads together.
“Think you might want us to come back here? Come mudding again?” I ask.
She nods again, whispers another, “Yeah.”
I slide my hand down to her throat, giving her a gentle squeeze.
“Good girl,” I rumble. “Now I’ve got something to show you.”
I close up her door and make my way to the drivers’ side, hunching in and punching the G-wagon to life, the wheels gliding on the road like my hockey blades on the ice, the feeling so damn smooth after our session on the dirt track.
“What are you going to show me?” she asks, eyes flicking between my face and the road ahead.
I swipe my tongue over my lower lip, trying to gauge the best way to say this.
“I, uh…” I clear my throat and gently squeeze her thigh. “I found a house,” I tell her.
The air leaves her lungs in a quiet rush and I feel her gaze on my face as I keep my eyes on the road.
“Here?” she asks gently. Her voice is a little nervous. To Aisling, there’s no property that could compare to the one she just renovated. “Here in Larch Peak?”
“Yeah, here in Larch Peak,” I reply, giving her knee a firm rub before replacing my hand on the wheel. We cruise around the bend, Aisling’s eyes on me the whole time.
I feel my cheeks heat up, nervous for her reaction.
“Have you… have you bought it already?” she asks breathlessly, her voice a little surprised.
“No,” I rasp, my shoulders swelling as I shift on the seat. “No way. You know I want your seal of approval before I buy it.”
“I’ll obviously pay half–” she begins to say, but I grip my right hand around her cheeks, making her laugh as I shut her up.
She might be a multi-million dollar heiress but that doesn’t mean that I’m not about to spoil the shit out of her.
“Baby, you know what my entry level contract salary is,” I rumble, moving my hand to the nape of her neck before resettling it on her thigh. “You won’t be paying for shit. It’s the rules.”
“The rules of what?” she says, smiling despite her little eye roll.
“The rules of being a guy who is head-over-heels in love.”
Her breathing catches in her throat and I lock my fingers through hers, squeezing tight.
“You’re my dream girl, Ash,” I tell her, “and I want to treat you right. Please let me.”
She releases a shaky exhale. After a quiet moment she whispers, “Okay.”
A smile tugs at the corner of my mouth and, seeing as the road is pretty much empty, I glance down to meet her eyes.
“I love you so much,” I tell her, chuckling quietly as she reaches up to press a cute kiss to the smile crease in my cheek. “Now I need you to close your eyes so that you can have the full impact of seeing this house for the first time. Hands over your eyes, baby – no peeking.”
I can tell that she’s still feeling a little sad but she nods her head as she places her hands over her eyes.
I glance down at her a few times to check that she really isn’t peeking, and then I do a U-turn on the road, heading back from the climb we were just making on the mountain.
I’m not sure if she feels it but, if she does, she doesn’t say anything. She just breathes gently in and out, like she’s calming herself down from her inner turmoil.
It takes barely ten minutes until we’re where we need to be, and then the G-wagon is crunching slowly over the gravel, undulating gently side to side.
She swallows quietly beside me, a tinkle of nervous laughter rising up her throat.
“You’re not taking me back to the UTV place are you?” she says teasingly. “Like, I enjoyed mudding – sure – but I don’t want to live in the Polaris.”
I breathe out a laugh, rounding the gentle curve and then pulling to a stop.
“Open your eyes, baby,” I tell her.
With slightly shaking fingers she moves her hands to her lap.
It takes all but one second for her to burst into tears.
Needles prick at the back of my eyes as I take in the depth of her emotion, her shoulders shaking violently as she tries to swipe her cascading tears from her cheeks, and I immediately yank the seatbelt from over my lap so that I can move closer to her, tucking her under my arm.
She buries her face in my neck and I stroke my palms down her hair, pressing hard kisses against her forehead as her body shakes with the intensity of her tears.
She pulls back after a moment, her eyes sparkling as she looks up into mine.
“You bought the lake house?” she whispers, her voice cracking and full of hope.
I brush my thumb over her cheruby cheek, stroking away her tears as I hold her against me.
“Yeah, baby,” I tell her. “If you’re okay with it, I’m buying the lake house.”
She drops her forehead against my chest, sobbing uncontrollably as I try to console her. I laugh gently as she shakes her head, mumbling embarrassed apologies over her crying.
I just hold her tighter, letting her get it all out.
We listen to the lake lapping against the shore, soft and peaceful, as her tears subside.
Then she’s wrapping her arms around my neck and kissing me, and a smile tugs at my mouth as I bring her over the centre console, settling her down over my lap.
“You’re the buyer who matched the asking price?” she whispers, her chest pumping quickly against my own.
I glance down at her body, held flush against mine, and I shove a hand through my hair as my cock grows heavier under her lap.
“Yeah,” I rumble. “I matched the asking price.”
“That’s a lot of money,” she breathes out.
I press a rough kiss against her lips. “I would have paid triple that for you. I’ll do anything to make you happy.”
She wheezes out a laugh, looking all loved-up and lightheaded as I hold her more firmly against my abdomen.
“Is this okay?” I ask, jerking my chin at her. “Us living here? Us living in the lake house?”
“Yeah,” she breathes out. Then she gives me a naughty smile and says, “ Our lake house.”
I grin down at her, laughing as she lunges up to kiss me.
“I love you so much,” she whispers, arms around my neck as I nudge our foreheads together.
“I love you so much, too,” I rumble, kissing at her cheeks as she starts squeezing at my biceps. They flex and swell under her touch, making her giggle as I tug my shirt off over my head.
“Never believed I could be this lucky in my life – this blessed,” I rasp, ducking down to kiss her again, and smirking when she ooooh s over how big all of my muscles are.
She clutches herself tighter against me, all signs of her tears officially gone.
She’s beaming. My happy, sparkling, beautiful girl.
“Is it everything that you ever imagined?” she whispers, smiling contentedly up at me.
I grin back down at her and cup her perfect face in the palms of my hands.
“It’s better, baby,” I murmur back to her. “It’s better than my wildest dreams.”