Chapter 19 Avery
Avery
She watched him while they worked. It was impossible not to. Tanner burned brighter than everyone else. He might be a celebrity, but he didn’t act like one—he got stuck in, lifted the mood, teased, hummed, and buzzed with energy.
He might look a little different these days, but from everything she’d seen since they’d reconnected, the old Tanner was still very much there on the inside—the goofy kid she’d first gotten to know with his shoes falling apart. Kind, funny, sweet. Boundless charisma.
But now he had muscles, too.
And though Avery was pretty sure she wasn’t a shallow person, she couldn’t take her eyes off them. Or his tattoos. Or his face.
She secretly wanted back on that couch so badly it was hard to concentrate on the clean-up.
Tanner made her forget things like trashed workshops and self-imposed dating bans. He brought the sunshine and the sex appeal. And Avery cursed that she had been too tired, too worn down, to make the most of their embrace on the couch before good sense kicked back in.
She didn’t want to be sensible.
Hold me again.
Let me breathe you in.
Could I maybe, possibly, nibble on your neck?
She suspected the shambles of the past twenty-four hours had made her delirious.
Bel caught her staring as Tanner hefted the heaviest of the storage boxes against his stomach, forearms corded and shoulders bunching. The ink of his tattoos rippled over his biceps.
“That guy could cause a global heatwave,” Bel muttered out of the corner of her mouth. “You should let him melt you like a popsicle.”
Avery could feel it happening already.
“Do you know how many germs are exchanged with every kiss?” she murmured in response. “Eighty million. Eighty. No one needs to take that kind of risk on the regular.”
Sniggering openly, Bel patted her shoulder. “You keep telling yourself that, hon. One of these times it’ll sound convincing.”
“Where do you want this?” Tanner asked as he passed them in the doorway.
“It can be stacked in the living room for now,” Avery told him.
Leo followed with the chair from her workbench.
The space was nearly empty. Opening her desktop filing cabinet, Avery started to remove her folders of invoices, orders, and receipts, but Tanner stopped her with a hand on her arm having returned from the house.
“Leave it as it is and I’ll take the whole thing out,” he said. “It’ll be easier for you.”
“Let Leo help—” she began to protest but he brushed her off.
“It’s just another workout, Stretch. I’m all good.” There was a clipped edge to his reassurance that had Avery frowning, but he lifted the filing cabinet without so much as a grunt and turned for the doorway.
“I was thinking of putting it in my car rather than the house. There’s so much stuff everywhere already.”
Following her out to the driveway, he waited patiently while she unlocked the battered Honda and shunted the cabinet into the trunk. Once his arms were empty again, Tanner shot her a sideways glance.
“Have you got anywhere else you can work? Maybe your mom’s house or something?”
Avery shook her head. “She doesn’t have the room. I’ll look for somewhere to rent tomorrow. I have to track down a replacement armchair for Mrs. Alberty as soon as possible.”
And re-cover it for free. She almost groaned at the thought of the lost hours, the dip in her earnings, the setback to her plans for tailing off her shifts at the Rusty Barrel.
Tanner blocked out the sun, a halo of light surrounding his frame like a nimbus, and there was a smile on his face when he shrugged. “Lucky for you I’m moving into a big-ass farmhouse this week with way more space than I need.”
She opened her mouth but his eyes begged her to hear him out.
“There’s an outbuilding I’m not planning to use and, since your workshop’s all packed up as it is, we can easily move everything—lock, stock, and barrel—over to my place.
It’ll give you time to get something sorted here.
” Tanner leaned a hip against her car and crossed his arms. “Training camp doesn’t start until September so I can help you set everything up, but I swear I won’t get under your feet. ”
“I’d get under yours.” Avery scrubbed a dusty hand across her forehead. “It’s very kind of you, but I’ll work something else out.”
“You don’t need to.” He shrugged. “Let me help.”
Damn, she was tempted to accept, knowing she couldn’t afford to fall too far behind with the orders she had and how much a rental unit was likely to set her back.
But it went against the grain to let someone else solve her problems. She’d learned that relying on someone else was a fast track to disappointment.
Avery shook her head. “I really appreciate the offer—”
Tanner lifted a hand to tug at her ponytail—such a schoolyard gesture, it had the frown sliding from her face.
“Not only do I not need the outbuilding right now, but I also wouldn’t have my new house without you.
I wouldn’t have gotten into college. I wouldn’t have a place on the team or a fuck-ton of money without you.
So, for Chrissake, let me pay back some of that unbearable burden. It’s driving me crazy.”
His words teased but Tanner’s eyes were serious, and Avery was struck by the strange novelty of having any man offer her just what was needed at the moment she needed it.
“Please.” He pulled on her hair again. “It’ll be fun to have you around. I don’t know many people around here anymore.”
A ragged laugh escaped her throat, and relief was a rising bubble of air that made her head spin. Avery couldn’t bring herself to say no when his offer would solve her biggest worry right now.
“Plus, having you on the property will help keep me safe from all the ladies. I could do with a bodyguard.” Tanner pushed with the humor, a grin spreading slowly over his lips. Dammit, he knew he had her.
But who will keep me safe from you? This arrangement could prove to be a double-edged sword and Avery sensed she might be the one in danger.
She rolled her eyes. “I suppose I could help fend them off. I’ll tell them you collect Barbies.”
“You’re mixing me up with Sam.” Slinging a casual arm around Avery’s shoulders, Tanner squeezed. The weight and the warmth were more intoxicating than anything else she could remember. “And they’ll never believe you anyway. I’m too much of a catch.”
When Drew joined them, they got stuck into Mexican takeout in the living room, with a Marvel movie Bel bullied them into watching in the background. The warmth and spice hit the spot, filling Avery’s stomach and making everything seem less desperate. The nap hadn’t hurt either.
She’d showered and pulled on clean shorts and a fresh t-shirt. Over the top, Avery layered the hoodie Tanner had given her and his mouth ticked upward when he saw it.
He’d taken a spot on the floor, circling Avery’s ankle with a casual loop of his fingers when her foot trailed by his side from her position on the sofa, his fidgety hands needing something to toy with.
The light scrape of his thumb over her ankle bone was both soothing and unreasonably sensual.
It felt irresistibly intimate, though she wasn’t even sure he knew he was touching her.
Drew and Bel snuggled on the single armchair and tried to explain the purpose of an Infinity Stone to Gemma.
“But why don’t they just teleport?”
“Different stone, babe. This one doesn’t open portals.” Bel gave a lazy stretch.
“I’d give it back,” Tanner murmured. “Who wants a stone that won’t open a portal?”
It was strange and yet not strange having him here with her friends. Content to blend into the group without any flexing of his ego, Tanner was undemanding company, more like a long-time acquaintance than a popular figure in the public eye.
A similar thought must have crossed Bel’s mind because she suddenly said, “So, fame’s a weird thing. How do you cope with it?”
He shrugged. “I’m not that well known outside of the hockey world so I have it easier than most. I’ve got the money and opportunities without too many restrictions.”
“You make it sound simple.” Bel smiled.
“Money makes everything simple.” Drumming his fingers on his thigh, Tanner’s mouth tensed and Avery wondered why.
“I’ve had none and things were shit. Now I have loads and they’re better.
I can spoil my mom and my brothers, buy whatever I need, travel wherever I want.
People respect people with money. It greases all the wheels. ”
“But it can’t buy happiness,” chipped in Gemma, wafting a quesadilla.
“It can buy a lot of the things that make people happy,” he countered.
“But is it the things that make people happy?” Avery mused aloud. “Or is it all the intangibles? The feelings, good friends, freedom. Support.”
When he tilted his head to look up, Tanner’s eyes locked on hers and she felt the impact of them ripple through her bones.
“So deep, Stretch,” he said with a grin, “but misguided. It’s definitely the things.”
Avery flicked his ear. She disagreed, but she could understand why he thought the way he did.
Turning to Drew, Bel asked, “If you had all the money in the world, what would you buy, babe?”
“Probably a garage full of supercars. I’m a sucker for something flashy.”
“Don’t I know it.” Bel rubbed her nose against his cheek. “That’s how I landed you in the first place. Leo?”
He thought for a moment. “I’m not sure. Concert tickets, I guess. With VIP seating.”
“I’d have a slide put in to replace the stairs.”
They all turned to eye Gemma.
“You live in a bungalow,” Avery pointed out.
“But I wouldn’t if I was rich. I’d have a four-story brownstone and I’d need that slide.” Gemma drained her can of Coke.
“If you kept the stairs and got in your step count, you’d have glutes of steel instead of a wobbly butt from sliding and too much good living,” Bel suggested.
“That’ll be my personal trainer’s problem, not mine.”
“I think it might involve you, too,” Avery countered.
Tanner tugged on her foot. “What would you buy, Stretch?”
Snuggling deeper into her hoodie, she considered the matter. “Right now, a new workshop sounds good. With a roof.”
“That’s boring! Be creative,” Bel urged. “How can I rest easy in my haunted Scottish castle if you’re being all frugal and restrained?”
Avery laughed but the question was too big.
She could think of a ton of things she wanted and not a single one of them involved money.
She’d like her mom to be happy. She’d like her to have other people in her life other than just Avery.
She’d like her parents to act like parents.
She’d like someone to take on just a little of the strain of keeping everything running smoothly.
She’d like someone to share some of the responsibility.
“I’d like a pair of Red Wing boots with a stacked heel and laces. They’re really pretty.” It was all she could think of. “And a cloak of invisibility, obviously—because imagine how useful that would be for avoiding Paige.”
They came up with more and more outlandish suggestions until the movie came to an end and everyone began to talk about heading home. Avery’s cell rang as she gathered up the takeout boxes.
“Hey, Dad.” Hands full, Avery tucked her phone under her chin but Tanner swept the cardboard from her grasp.
“Avery.” As he did most other things, Joseph Delgado spoke unhurriedly with smoothness and grace. “How are things?”
“Oh, not so bad. Pretty standard.” She caught the twitch of Tanner’s eyebrow in her peripheral vision.
“Work OK?”
“Um—” So maybe she should tell him. “Well, not the best, to be honest. A branch from the beech tree wiped out my workshop yesterday.”
“Do you need money?” She could hear the frown in her dad’s voice.
Avery pushed down a sigh, told herself it was a kind offer. “No, thanks. I’m alright for money,” she lied, as Tanner followed her out to the kitchen with the trash.
Her dad grunted. “We’re going to bed now, but come for dinner on Friday and we can talk more.”
She hesitated but couldn’t think of a good excuse. “OK. I’ll see you then.”
“Great. Bye, sweetie.” He hung up without waiting for a reply.
Avery dropped her phone onto the countertop.
“Good chat, huh?” Tanner cracked a smile.
“The best.”
“He’s making time to see you, though.” The tilt of his head recognized her lack of enthusiasm at the prospect.
“Yeah. Dinner on Friday at his place. He’ll call again on Thursday and either change it to a restaurant or cancel.”
Lounging against the narrow breakfast bar, Tanner shoved his hands deep into his jean pockets and his teeth flashed. “Lucky for you, I’m free on Friday.”
She stepped around his legs. “Like I said, it probably won’t happen.”
He shrugged. “I’ll come if it does and we can do something else if it doesn’t.”
“You don’t want to have dinner with my father.”
“Who says I don’t?” Tanner grinned again. “Always a pleasure to catch up with the mayor.”
Avery forced the pizza boxes into the recycling. “He hasn’t been mayor for years.”
“Ah, come on. It’ll be fun.”
“It most certainly won’t be fun. Even Bel limits herself to a few dinners a year with my father for the sake of her blood pressure.”
Tanner bumped her arm. “Sounds like you could use some company then.”
She had to admit he had a point. “Come if you want, but it won’t be as chilled as lunch at your mom’s house. I’m not going to hold you to it if something better crops up.”
Well-used to empty words and unmet promises, Avery pushed Tanner’s offer to the back of her mind, steeling herself for another awkward dinner in the brief time slot her father would allocate. It was usually best to suck it up and go alone anyway. Who else wanted to put up with her family drama?