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“It’s been claimed! He’s coming here with his wife tonight! Can you believe it?”
No. Nor do I particularly care now that I’m sure it’s not an emergency. “That’s awesome, Mrs. D. I know you’ll make them feel welcome. Tell me all about it in a few days?”
She chuckles with glee. “Tell you what, Tanner. I’ll dish on Mrs. Henderson’s grandson when you tell me all about Mika and your wedding plans.”
“Goodbye, Mrs. Donnelly.” I hang up without waiting for a response, but I’m smiling just like I know my pseudo grandmother is. And now she’ll be able to solve one of the big lodge mysteries of the last few years. Exactly what it takes to capture the interest of Destiny Bay’s police officer voted most likely to remain single forever.
11
Mika
I feel happy. And loved. You’d think that would be a good thing, and basically the end of the story. But I’m not used to it and it’s going to take some adjusting to this new way of being. And honestly, a big part of me is sure it can’t last.
Sinking into the bubbling water, I try to set the worry aside and simply relax. To live in the moment because, damn it, this present is worth savoring.
Tanner comes out so silently that the only clue to his presence is the soft clink of the shatter-free glasses on the tiled rim of the tub. I take the proffered glass of wine with a smile of appreciation.
“How are you feeling?” he finally asks me in his low, growly voice.
I scrunch my shoulders up. “Fine? I don’t feel sore.”
“Mmm,” is his only response, which I’m not sure how to read. I reach my hand over to grab a handful of the little cheese cubes he put on the plate along with some other goodies. I eat them and then take a bunch of fat green seedless grapes. By the time those are gone, Tanner seems lost in thought, staring into the middle distance and only occasionally taking a small sip of wine.
The silence is beginning to feel awkward when out of nowhere he plucks the glass from my hand, setting it to the side, and then tugs me onto his lap. When the waves subside from my sudden displacement, he wraps me tight against him and nuzzles my neck.
“That’s better. I was attempting to leave you alone, but it just doesn’t feel right.”
“Then don’t do it again. I like this better too,” I say softly, trying to read his expression. “Tanner, what happens now? That was special and amazing and I’m proud of my pseudo seduction powers,” I add wryly, knowing full well who was in charge up there and it wasn’t me.
“Told you we’re getting married.”
I brave poking the bear and pinch his side. “I got that. But that’s an hour at the most. Where are we living? Are you going to be traveling a lot? I don’t have a job or even a car!”
Tanner is staring down at me quizzically. “You just keeping getting more adorable, Mika. I’m telling you now, if I have to teach you how to spend my money the hard way, I will do it.”
He pulls me up higher on his lap with his hands cupped under my ass. “I tried to get you to tell me earlier what you wanted to be doing, but you were too busy seducing me to answer. So why don’t we start with your dreams, baby? I’ll fill in any necessary gaps.”
How can he be so perfect? I think that’s one of the things that makes me nervous, like there’s a giant shoe ready to fall and spoil everything. And maybe I just need to say that.
“First, what’s your secret flaw, Tanner?”
He looks amused, and then he sobers. “I take things way too personally too often. I started a company to save my baby sister and didn’t manage to do that. Sometimes it feels like I didn’t do anything more than make money with it. If anything ever happened to you…” His hands clench painfully on my hips like he’s going to keep something scary from stealing me. But now I can see it. He is human, an over-protective, not perfect man who would bend over backwards to put me first.
“In my ideal world, I would travel to interesting places for a year, not too fast but moving on when things got too familiar, and then go back to graduate school for cognitive psychology,” I muse.
Tanner leans down to kiss me just as thoughtfully. “That sounds perfect. So a year-long honeymoon? I assume I’m invited?”
I pretend to think about that for a long minute, making him growl.
“I suppose,” I sigh begrudgingly before laughing at his expression. “But only because I might want your cock here and there along the way. I don’t want you to get a swelled head.”
“Too late,” he mutters, pressing my hips tighter against him so my pussy comes into contact with his growing erection. He stops me from repositioning myself to sink down on him again. Instead, wrapping my hand with his around his stiffening length. “Not tonight, baby. You can touch all you want and when we go back upstairs, I’m planning to eat you out until you cum at least twice, but nothing more than my tongue is touching that pussy until tomorrow.”
I pout, but I’m also intrigued. He’s going to go there — with histongue?
“One more thing, sweetness,” Tanner waits until he has my full attention. I confess I’m trying to figure out if he has an unusually long tongue, but I still don’t have a clue. “We didn’t talk about birth control. I’m assuming you’re not on the pill?”
I nod, uncertain all over again. I should have thought of that, but I also wasn’t worried about it because a mini Tanner? My ovaries are exploding just at the thought.
