*****
Tanner was just stepping onto the front porch of the house when the sound of a car coming down his drive caught his attention. He turned and rested one hip against the porch railing as Zoey Carson parked and threw open her car door. The melodic sounds of Kenny Chesney singing about addiction in his song “Demons” drifted on the breeze. A pang of hurt zipped through his heart for Zoey and the heartache he figured her mother’s problems had brought into her life. He didn’t know the details, but he did understand how hard the battle with addiction could be.
He waited patiently as she climbed out of her twenty-year-old car, and took a few measured steps toward him. Her eyes darted around for a few seconds without meeting his, and he bit his tongue to keep from smiling. It was good to know that he kept her as off balance as she did him.
“Hi, Tanner.”
“Well. Well. Well. What brings you all the way out to the Triple T?”
She cleared her throat, and took a deep breath. Her knuckles were white where she gripped her tiny purse at her hip, and she shoved her other hand into her hair in a nervous gesture. “Actually, um, do you mind if we go inside? It’s awfully hot out here.”
Tanner stepped back and held his arm out gallantly for her to lead the way. As she brushed past him, her long black hair swished against his arm and sent a spiral of need straight to his groin. It was like silk against his skin, and he could just imagine what it would feel like draped over his chest as she rode him to a screaming orgasm.
Her round hips swayed as she stepped up inside the front door, and he saw her shoulders droop slightly when the chill of the air-conditioned house hit her. She moved over to the sofa and perched her lush ass daintily on the edge of the tufted suede with that miniature purse in her lap.
Tanner turned and dropped his hat on the table next to the door before bending to tug his boots off with his back to her. For a moment he thought he might cut his own cock in half when he bent over, but by the time he was in his socks and comfortable, he felt under control again. Until he turned around and caught Zoey’s eyes on his backside. Instantly he was hard as stone again. This time he spread his thighs and narrowed his eyes on her.
Zoey’s gaze landed on the bulge beneath his zipper for just a breath in time before she blushed and turned away. So that was the way of it. Well good, at least this time she wasn’t half drunk and begging him to take her to bed.
A picture of her spread out on his bed with her dark hair on his crisp white pillow and her pretty pink lips open and gasping for air hit him hard, and he grunted, startling her. “Did you need something, Zoey, or did you just come here to sit on my sofa in silence?”
Her jaw clenched in irritation but she seemed resolved to whatever she had to say. “I need a favor, Tanner.”
Tanner felt his eyebrow lift and he let his eyes run over her stiffened spine and knees clenched tightly together. This might get more interesting after all.
“Okay, is this a whiskey kind of favor or a beer kind of favor?” He turned and moved toward the kitchen that opened up on the other side of the living room.
“What?”
“Just trying to determine how strong of a beverage I’m going to need for this chat. What’s the favor?”
“I need to know if I can stay with you for a couple of weeks. I mean, in Dalton’s apartment. Can I rent it for a couple of weeks?” She held her breath when she was nervous, and there went her hand running through her hair again. When she let loose, it fell in a gentle wavy pattern that looked downright sexy on her.
“Why?” Tanner tugged the fridge open and pulled out a bottle of beer, holding up with a questioning look to Zoey. When she shook her head no, he grabbed her a bottle of water and moved back into the living room.
“If you recall my place was bought by the new developer who moved to town, and I only had thirty days to move. Unfortunately, some things have happened and the house that I put a deposit on…well it fell through. Rachel would take me in, but her mom is staying with her for a couple of weeks while Sawyer recovers from his surgery, so it leaves me without a place to stay.”
Tanner took a seat on the sofa next to her, even though he knew he should probably keep his distance. She looked so nervous he reached out and patted her arm. “Come on, it didn’t hurt that much to ask me, did it?”
Her lips curled up in a small smile, “You would be surprised.”
“Normally, it would be no big deal for you to use the apartment, but I just got word that Dalton will be home this weekend.”
Her gorgeous blue eyes widened and she looked as stunned as Tanner had felt when he picked up the phone the evening before. Dalton hadn’t been home since their Dad’s heart attack, and Tanner had begun to believe the next time he would see his younger brother would be for a funeral.
“Dalton? But, I thought he was in Africa doing charity work with Borders for Doctors?” Zoey’s hands twisted the cap on the bottle of water as though tightening it would help hold her spine straight while she asked for his help.
“Doctors without Borders. Yeah, he has been. For nearly a decade. However, the MSF organization is pulling out of Somalia. It has something to do with the safety of the workers. He called yesterday and asked me to pick him up at the airport Friday. Shocked the shit out of me too.”
“So he’s just going to move back here and live in Stone River after all this time?”
He shrugged and took a drink of his beer. He had been asking himself the same questions and still hadn’t come up with any answers. There was a small clinic in Stone River, but the closest hospital was in Austin. It didn’t make sense for a qualified doctor to settle in a small town unless he was opening his own practice, and Dalton had never wanted a private practice before.
“I don’t know. We didn’t have much time to discuss his plans. I guess I will find out when he gets here.”
For several moments they sat in silence as Zoey chewed on the new information. Tanner waited her out because he wasn’t sure she would accept the alternative anyways. When her chin quivered and her blue eyes filled with tears, his heart lurched in his chest and he inhaled sharply like he had been sucker punched.
She started to stand up, and pull her purse strap over her shoulder, “Okay, well thanks anyways.”
Unable to control his own hand he reached out to grab her wrist. “Wait a second. I didn’t say no.”
Zoey looked down at his fingers wrapped around her tiny wrist. It felt as thin as a twig under his callused skin, and he had the distinct urge to wrap her up and protect her.
Clearing his throat, he continued, “I just said you can’t stay in the apartment. This house has another unoccupied bedroom, and you’re welcome to use it. Free of rent.”
Her pretty face went pale and then pink spots appeared on her cheeks. “Stay here, in the main house, with you?”
“I’m not going to molest you, Jesus. What kind of a man do you think I am?” Tanner dropped her wrist and surged to his feet, stomping to the front door. “You know what, never mind. I wouldn’t want someone here who is scared of me anyways.”
“No! I’m not scared of you! I just—look, the truth is, I’m kind of having a really shitty day. My mom took off sometime last night with all of my money and my groceries, and I started my new job today, only to find out that I’m a glorified secretary for the real school counselor. I get to bring her coffee and pick up her dry cleaning, all the while filing and typing up her letters. I only have seven days to figure out where to live or I will be living in my car, and my best friend has the perfect life with her perfect family and no room to help me out right now. I need the place to stay, and before I have a nervous breakdown let me say, yes. I will gladly accept it with the free rent, as long as you let me do something to help out around here.”
Tanner stood back watching her fall to pieces and then pick herself right back up again. She was absolutely amazing. Not only had her mother betrayed her and stolen from her, but she had left her to clean up the shambles that were left behind. Somehow, Zoey was managing to hold herself together when Tanner wasn’t sure he would have been able to do the same. For being so young, she certainly had a strong backbone. Another clue that she was not the submissive woman he needed for his lifemate.
He knew that he should probably ask her about her mother, but the strain on her face had him backing off, and instead he gave her a smile to break the tension. “Are you any good at mucking stalls?”
She snorted out a laugh in an unladylike way, and he chuckled. “No, and I’m not an expert at riding a horse either, but you know that I can cook, and I can clean. You’re a bachelor, so surely that means something to you?”
He groaned, “Sweet Jesus, if you’ll cook for me you can live here forever.”
Realizing what he said, he grimaced, but Zoey only smiled brighter. “It’s only for a few weeks. I’ll either find another place, or move in with Rachel as soon as her mom leaves. Thank you, Tanner!”
He forced himself to shrug nonchalantly. “Do you need a hand moving? Like I said, Dalton will be back sometime Friday night. I’m sure we can come over to your place to help move boxes Saturday.”
She looked surprised but pleased, and he felt a funny warmth in his chest at her happiness. “That would be amazing! I’m going to have to cook my ass off to repay you.”
“That’s not necessary, just a home cooked dinner every now and then will suffice.” She reached out and gave him a quick hug, her breasts pressing against his ribcage, and her hair brushing his chin. His cock was instantly trying to burst out of his jeans, and he barely resisted wrapping his arms around her and drawing her closer. What would it be like to reach around and grab that perfect ass, pulling her off her feet so she had to wrap her legs around his hips…a rush of heat shot from his brain to his balls and he cleared his throat again, stepping back. She released him, and her teary eyes looked up at him as if he had just rescued her from a nightmarish dragon.
“Well I better get home. I have to be up early for work, and I haven’t packed yet. Thank you again, Tanner. I don’t know what I would have done…well, just thank you.”
“You’re welcome, Zoey. That’s what friends are for.” He shifted his stance, trying to give his throbbing cock room in his jeans, and held the front door open as she stepped into the doorway. She paused and glanced back.
“Friends? Is that what we are?”
“Well I hope so, it would be mighty awkward to have an enemy living in my own house.”
He relished her husky laughter as she made her way to her car. There was a bounce in her steps that hadn’t been there before, and he was ridiculously pleased to have helped her obtain it.
Once she had disappeared down the road, Tanner realized what he had just agreed to. The one woman who seemed to be his Kryptonite was not only going to be sharing his house but, would also be sleeping on the other side of a thin wall, and sharing his bathroom. Yeah, sure, there was no way this could go wrong.
He slammed the door shut, and immediately popped the buttons on his jeans open allowing his cock to jut out. The dark purple head stared back at him with a pearly drop oozing out of it. Leaning his back against the door, he fisted it while the smell of Zoey hung heavy in the air, and he could still feel her full breasts against his body.
It took only a half dozen strokes before he filled his own fist with cum, and let out a loud groan that echoed through the empty house. He had no doubt it would be the first of many lonely encounters over the next month or so.
If he’d had a choice, he would have pushed her to her knees and asked her to thank him in a more intimate way, but it would have started an avalanche of problems that Tanner didn’t need right now. Instead, he would most likely spend the next couple of weeks walking and working with a hard-on from hell.
Only a fool would agree to live with a woman who boiled his blood, and was completely and utterly off limits to him. A quick glance in the hallway mirror as he headed for the bathroom to clean up proved the fool was present and accounted for and was asking for trouble.