Chapter 16 Tanner #2
He couldn’t stop sneaking glances at her.
The curve of her neck drew his attention like a magnet, although he tried not to look too often.
The freckle on the tip of her left ear was just too tempting.
Even her fingers, delicate on her cutlery, made him want to hold and examine them.
She smelled of something feminine he couldn’t identify. He just knew it fucking turned him on.
Avery turned him on.
Even knocking elbows at a too-small table and surrounded by family, she turned him on.
But she was skittish and had already stated her lack of interest in a relationship. And somehow the idea of a casual hook-up with her felt scratchy against his skin.
It left Tanner at a bit of a loss.
Arlo would die laughing to hear that Avery Delgado, girl and woman, was the only person Tanner had ever wanted who hadn’t thrown herself at him. He’d never hear the last of it.
“Did you know you’ve got a smashed taillight, Reid?” Henry took another scoop of potatoes.
Tanner’s brother grunted. “My own stupid fault. I backed into a parking spot and clipped a metal post. Didn’t see it.” He raised teasing eyes to Avery and, before Reid could open his mouth again, Tanner guessed what was coming. “Bet you can relate.”
“Reid.” His mom’s reprimand wasn’t enough to shut his brother’s mouth.
“Been jumped by any floodlights recently, Avery?” Reid grinned. There was a wicked light in his eyes.
“That’s enough,” Tanner growled. He’d never told his mom or his brothers the truth about the crash. Even with his family, he was ashamed of what he’d let Avery do on his behalf. For their benefit.
She raised her chin, caught his eye. “No more floodlights, but a mailbox swerved into my lane the other day.” When Avery smiled, he felt the jolt right through to his core. It humbled him that she still had his back after all these years. “I hate when that happens.”
Reid snickered and, for want of the opportunity to pummel him or express his gratitude to Avery, Tanner flicked a pea at his brother’s face.
His mom gave them both that look as she changed the subject. “How was training this morning, Tan?”
“Uh, it was cool. Went well.” He wished she hadn’t asked. The memory of how his shoulder had crunched and popped like Rice Krispies as he’d pushed it through a brutal workout made him antsy.
“So the new coach is happy with your fitness?” his mom pressed, waiting on his reply with keen interest.
Tanner snapped the catch on his watch a couple times. “I’ll be having a full physical in the next couple weeks, but it’s just routine.” Downplaying the situation to his family was his go-to response.
Shuffling a forkful of chicken around his plate, he tried to stop his knee bouncing.
He couldn’t admit to any of them how anxious he was, how panicked he felt at the possibility of losing his ability to provide.
He’d taken on that responsibility willingly and his family counted on him.
They needed him at peak fitness; anything less and he’d be letting them down.
And that, Tanner refused to do, even if he had to push his body past screaming point.
Feeling Avery’s eyes on the side of his face, he flashed her an easy smile, shoving the worries and doubts deep down in his belly. When a frown flickered briefly across her brow, he wondered if she’d seen more than he meant to reveal.
“What do you do for work, Avery?” his mom asked, offering her the salad bowl.
“I’m an upholsterer and I do a bit of bar work in between.”
“What fun to have such a mix—creative by day and social by night.” She gave Avery a keen look. “I’ve got an old button back chair I’ve been meaning to get re-covered. Is that the sort of thing you do?”
“Exactly the sort of thing,” Avery said, flushing a little as she promised to take a look at it while she was there.
She looked so delighted by his mom’s interest that Tanner’s fingers crept to her thigh and gave it a brief squeeze.
He would have loved to leave his hand there, but he made himself pull back.
“Tanner says you live near the fire station.” Taking off his glasses, Henry cleaned them on the front of his shirt.
“I do. On Ellen Street.”
“With a friend, you said?” His mom again, chipping back in like she was finishing a tic-tac-toe passing play.
“Yes, I rent with Bel for now, although I’m not sure her boyfriend will let me keep her for long.” Avery placed her knife and fork neatly on her plate. “She’s a corporate lawyer.”
“Impressive.” His mother reached over to smooth Reid’s hair. “Just look at you all! So grown-up now, even my baby. It makes me proud. I feel old, but I’m proud.”
His brother ribbed his mom for her sentimentality and Avery’s lips tilted. That small, half-smile packed a punch, and Tanner shifted in his chair as her bare arm brushed his elbow, her skin pale against his ink. Why did she mess him up like this?
He wanted to trace a finger from shoulder to thumb and see if she broke out in goosebumps.
He wanted to press his mouth to the blue veins at her wrist and make her pulse leap, pull her hand back onto his thigh and trail it higher . . .
He needed to stop thinking things that were going to get him in trouble at a family lunch.