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My brain hurt when my thoughts drifted to Mom. I wanted to say I couldn’t believe she would do something so vile, but as easygoing as Dad could be, she was the total opposite. Never relaxed. Had to be forced on vacation. Thought she was the one keeping the Earth in its orbit.
Shaking my head, I smiled at Tav. “Right now, you have one job, and it isn’t driving me.”
“Oh, it’s not? I’m pretty sure it’s illegal to pay someone to do all the rest of what I’ve been up to with you.” He winked at me, and there was something different about him now, too. He’d always been a jokester, but he seemed more like his old self. Less on edge.
“You do it well enough that you would deserve every penny.” I brought his hand up and nipped his wrist, and he shook his head at me, still wearing that smile I adored. “But no, your job right now is to decide how to get out of your lease for that trailer.” I tried not to sound condescending, still worried he would think I was judging him, but like hell he was staying in that piece of crap. I was pretty sure I’d seen nicer sewer drains than that hell hole he was living in.
Tav’s hand stiffened against mine, and I held my breath, but he only covered my hand with his other one. “I can’t do that,” he murmured.
“You’re not going to be using it.” I left the implication hanging in the air. He would be in my bed instead. In my house. Living his life beside me.
Traffic started moving again, and this time we were puttering along at a steady crawl. Ahead I saw flashing lights, so an accident must be holding things up. I sighed. This was karma for the trouble we’d caused the other day.
Tav cleared his throat. “One thing, I’ve always managed to keep a roof over my head. Even during the bad times.” He slipped his bracelet down his hand and plucked at the shells, and it was the first hint of nerves I’d seen from him.
I shot him a quick look. His mouth was in a firm line. Fuck, had I stepped on his toes? “This isn’t a pride thing. I know you can take care of yourself, but I want you to stay with me. I want you as close as I can get you. I missed twenty fucking years. I don’t want to lose another second. This isn’t about money.”
“Today that’s what you want,” he said quietly, then cleared his throat. “Eventually, we’ll work some of the lust out of our systems and settle down. You’ll want space.” He tapped his fingers on the back of my hand.
As we passed the accident, we both stared. A delivery truck that must’ve been carrying dish soap had been T-boned by a motorcycle and the results were horrific. The motorcycle was on its side, smashed all to hell. A helmet lay forgotten in the hole that had been ripped in the side of the truck. An ambulance pulled into traffic ahead of us, and I had to assume the rider was inside. Bottles of dish soap were scattered across the road in every color of the rainbow and a lot of them had burst open. Tiny bubbles drifted up into the air and sparkled in the sun.
“That’s a bad scene,” Tav murmured, nodding at the bike. “Hope they made it.”
“Yeah. I like you in your truck. That Ford could take a nuclear explosion.”
He snorted. “It’s steel. Made back when they did it up right.”
For a few minutes, I had to concentrate because the traffic was nasty, but when we stopped at another light, I tugged on his hand until he looked me in the eye. “It isn’t only today. I want you with me, Tav,” I murmured, giving his hand another squeeze.
I was feeling emotional and it was weird. My eyes wanted to water and my nose tingled. I’d spent a lot of years avoiding any sort of entanglement that went beyond my dick, and I wasn’t used to this. My body felt fizzy with all the adrenaline coursing through it from simply holding his hand. I was a wreck. Hell, I felt like a teenager all over again with him, and all he had to do was smile at me.
I had to focus on the road, even though I was driving slowly, and when Tav brought my hand up to his mouth, he lingered over it, his lips a warm, firm press against my skin. My insides twisted and his breath had me struggling not to find a nice place to pull over and maul him in my car. I’d been on a hair trigger since I’d sunk into the tight squeeze of his hot body in my office. Instead of feeling satisfied, I wanted more, needed more.
Fuck, I’d missed him so much.
“Don’t you trust me?” he asked, placing soft kisses along my knuckles. “I don’t blame you after everything. I’m sorry. I did what I thought?—”
“Stop apologizing. I do trust you. I just....”
He rested his prickly chin on my skin, then settled my hand on his right thigh, still held tightly between his. “It’s not just me. I have Ellis to consider.”
My stomach tied itself in knots. “It’s perfect, then. You can just let the kid have the trailer. Hell, I’ll even make the payments if that’s an issue.” A petty excitement squirmed all through me. “I’ll buy his groceries, and he’ll be good.”
Tav gave me a long look that made me feel about an inch high. “He’s a kid. He shouldn’t be all alone. Besides, one of his good friends was literally kidnapped from the trailer park. Forcibly removed. He’s a little scared, I think, even if he doesn’t mention it. With good reason.”
“What? A crime was committed? Did anyone call the cops?” I cut Tav a glance.
“The trailer park doesn’t involve the law,” he said quietly.
I frowned at him. “It isn’t another country. What do you mean they don’t involve the cops? What if someone needs to call them?”
Tav shook his head. “If you don’t get it, I can’t explain it. Ellis’s parents seemed to write him off, but I don’t want to put him in a spot where something bad happens to him. It wouldn’t be right.”
“Jesus, fine. The original plan is good. We’ll just bring him to my house.”
Tav grinned and rolled his eyes. “Jesus is the problem.”
“Sounds to me like stupid people are the problem and we should leave Jesus out of it.”
