Chapter 31 Avery
Avery
The music swept any restraint from Avery’s body that the alcohol hadn’t already diluted, the joy of the occasion and the easy pleasure of being surrounded by friends washing over her as she danced with Leo.
Safe, secure, and relaxed, she let herself go.
When she spun to find Tanner stalking onto the dance floor, an anticipatory tingle spread beneath her breastbone and a thread pulled taut from her belly to her throat. Every inch of her skin began to fizz.
“Mind if I cut in?” Tanner’s easy smile was aimed at Leo but his eyes were on Avery as he reached for her hand.
Pulling her into a loose embrace, his left arm slid possessively around her waist and . . . fuck, it felt good.
“This isn’t a slow dance.” Her protest lacked any conviction even to her own ears.
Tanner’s body pressed closer. One thigh sliding between hers, his fingers closed on her hip. When he lowered his head, Avery felt his reply against the shell of her ear. “I think you owe it to everyone else to make sure it is. I’m a liability with anything faster.”
She looked up into his face and there was the smile again that she’d missed this past week.
It was edible. However much she warned herself off, she wanted to lick it from his lips.
The scent of him, his heat and his bulk made her stomach pitch and tremble.
Avery’s arms stretched up to loop carefully around his neck without consulting her first. Her fingers curled into the hair that skimmed the back of his collar and Tanner pulled her even tighter against his body until they were plastered together from knee to chest, not so much dancing as undulating slowly and deliberately.
He was mouthwatering. Her kryptonite.
“Mind your arm,” she cautioned. It was all she could manage.
“I told you, it’s fine. I only wore the sling to keep Sam from pounding on me.” His right hand rested lightly on her hip.
Avery lost track of the music, the time, the people around them. There was only Tanner and his warmth and his eyes on her face. And she found it hard to remember any of the reasons why this thing between them scared her so much when it felt so right to be close to him.
He’ll chew you up and spit you out! her common sense tried to scream in her ear. He’ll turn your emotions into a weakness, fold your feelings into a paper airplane and toss them aside. The only person you can trust is yourself . . .
But, for once, the voice was muffled, drowned out by Tanner’s proximity and the thunder of her heart.
“You’re killing me, you know that?” His growl raised the hairs on her arms. “I dream about your body and the gorgeous fucking feel of you. I wake up every morning rock hard. I have to jerk off in the shower just so I can function. I only have to smell you and I can’t concentrate on anything else.
You calm me and rile me, both at the same time.
Knowing you’re working outside at home and not seeing you is agony—I have to fight myself to stay out of your way.
But the thought of you not working there, not coming in and out of the house, is worse. You’re going to ruin me, Stretch.”
The unfiltered need in his words went straight to Avery’s knees and she sagged against him, her lips parting on a strangled breath. She couldn’t answer.
Tanner lifted her chin with a rough finger. “If your intention is to torture me, it’s working.”
His body moved against hers, his shirt sliding over the silky material of her dress, and her nipples peaked. As his thumb traced her lower lip in a slow sweep from one corner of her mouth to the other, the gold light in his eyes was consuming.
“If it helps, I’m not finding it any easier,” Avery admitted painfully, torn by the battle raging in her chest. “But I don’t want to mess you around. You’ve got enough going on right now without me blowing hot and cold. I’m not trying to be a tease, Tanner. I just—”
His right hand flexed on her hip, shifting her even closer.
His hardness was impossible to ignore, and Tanner groaned.
“You made yourself very clear upfront. I haven’t been misled, Stretch.
” His smile was wicked, encouraging, daring.
“You can tease me whenever you like. I’ll take casual.
I’ll take anything you have to give me.”
Dipping his head, Tanner drew her lip between his teeth and sucked on it gently. His fingers twined in her hair. She opened up to him, greedy for more, her hands at the back of his neck tugging him down. He tasted of beer and lime, refreshing and addictive.
Her rules, her fears, her parents and all the ways in which they’d screwed her up, had no real substance in this moment. Those binds weren’t broken, but their hold was loosened enough to send a temporary rush of freedom to Avery’s brain.
She was just her. And he was just him. And today wasn’t tomorrow.
“But for Chrissake, decide quickly, because there’s every chance we’re about to cause a public display of indecency.” Tanner breathed the unashamed disclosure against her temple and Avery felt the thrill of it right through to her center.
Take a chance. The voice had lowered to a tempting hum inside her head and she wanted so badly to listen to it. One more night isn’t the same as a relationship.
“Wedding sex doesn’t really count, does it?” She grasped desperately at straws. “Like drunk texts or holiday calories. That’s a thing, right?”
“Pretty sure I read something like that somewhere.” Tanner’s voice was weighted with grit, gravel, and hope.
“Must be true then.” They both knew the reasoning was weak but Avery’s resolve had cracked down the middle, leaving a fissure that wouldn’t be mended tonight. “Tell me you have a room to yourself.”
Tanner’s sharp intake of air whistled by her mouth. His grip on her hair was the best kind of pain.
“You’ll have to walk in front of me,” he rasped and spun her 180 degrees, steering her off the dance floor, his left hand curled around her waist.
They whisked past Bel and Drew, Leo and Gemma. “See you at breakfast!” called Bel, laughter rippling in her voice.
Tanner pushed Avery faster and faster toward the doorway of the barn until they burst out onto the pathway leading to the lodge. He grasped her hand, tugging her into a run, and she laughed breathlessly as she struggled to keep up with him on unfamiliar high heels.
“I’m going to break an ankle!”
“I won’t let you, Stretch. I’ve got you.” Tanner clamped her to his side, eyes sparkling as he grinned down at her, his muscular legs eating up the ground.
They pulled open the main entrance to the lodge, spilling into a lobby that was quiet and classy, wall lights dimmed to a relaxing glow.
“I left my keycard at reception,” Tanner said as he made a beeline for the desk manned by a smiling gentleman in an immaculate suit.
Watching from a distance, Avery scrubbed at the goosebumps racing over her arms, smiling at the way Tanner crackled with energy, his feet shifting throughout the miniscule amount of time he was forced to wait. Perpetual motion in human form.
When he spun from the desk, pocketing the card, and grabbed for her hand again, she laughed.
This was madness.
The brakes were off and she was freewheeling out of control.
“My room. Now.”
Fortunately, the elevator door opened instantly. Pushing Avery inside, Tanner backed her up against the mirrored wall, his desperation matched by her own as she twisted her fingers into his shirt front to drag him closer. His mouth was on hers before the door slid shut.
“It’s only one floor up,” he said between kisses, stabbing at the elevator button.
His chest pinned Avery to the wall as he teased her with the hot swipe of his tongue and small bites to her lips. Tugging the hem of his shirt free from his pants, she curled her fingers into the waistband where his taut muscles jumped at her touch.
The elevator pinged and the doors opened.
Spinning on his heel, Tanner dragged her out into the corridor. They reached his room in moments and fell in through the door. Inside, Avery caught of a glimpse of a tidy and unfussy space. He hadn’t even unpacked the small overnight case which sat by the bed.
“Do you want a drink?” Tanner asked, his breath coming hard and fast.
She turned back to him and shook her head.
“Good.” His eyes never shifting from her face as he prowled toward her like a big cat, Tanner unfastened the strap of his sling and threw it aside.
His hands moved to the buttons on his shirt, unfastening each one so slowly that Avery’s mouth dried.
Slipping the cufflinks from his sleeves, he shrugged the crisp cotton from his shoulders until it slid to the floor in a heap.
His uncovered tattoos were like old friends that she’d missed.
With a sweeping gaze, Avery traced the three words on his collarbone, the tumbling Icarus on his ribs that rippled when Tanner bent to undo his shoes, strip off his socks.
She ran her tongue over parched lips, curling her hands into fists as his fingers went to his zipper.
She couldn’t move. Watching him undress was mesmerizing.
Each soft sound echoed in the still room, fueling the expectancy pulsing between them.
Pushing at his pants to send them pooling around his ankles, Tanner kicked them impatiently to one side and Avery’s center flushed with warmth, her thighs clenched and quivered. She couldn’t look away from his tented shorts, his ripped stomach, his thick quads.
Crossing the room, Tanner bent to pull his wallet from his bag and drew a foil packet out from its folds.
“On the bed, Stretch.” His voice was guttural, his smile rakish, as he threw the condom onto the covers.
“Can you undo the back of my dress?” she asked. It came out in a whisper.
“No.”
Avery blinked. She frowned and opened her mouth but he cut across her.
“Get on the bed.” His eyes burned like liquid gold.
Biting her lip, she kicked off her shoes and crawled onto the sheets.
“Nearer the edge.” The ragged instruction was raw.