Chapter 19
Tanner
My life felt like all the pieces were falling into place. I felt—complete? That sounded totally cheesy, but it was the best way to describe it. Lindsey completed me. I heart Lindsey. Shit. I have turned into a mushy girl.
After dinner with Lindsey’s parents, we had gone to visit my mom. She was thrilled to see me and Lindsey together. Everyone was on board with it except for Brian. Fuck Brian. We decided to stay at a hotel instead of driving back home. My mom and her parents both offered to put us up for the night, but that was a little too weird.
Plus, I wanted her all to myself, and what I had planned was not appropriate for doing under our parents’ roofs.
“You ready?”
She was sitting on the edge of the king-size hotel bed, tying her shoe.
“Yep. I feel like we should clean up a bit. We kind of trashed the place,” she said, standing and looking around the room.
“It was fun doing it, though. It’s not something I will ever forget,” I said, my voice dropping a couple of octaves.
Her face grew flushed, and I knew she was thinking back to the moment we’d broken the small table. That was going to cost me. The blankets were in a twisted mess on the floor. I looked around the room, but there wasn’t a surface we didn’t use. I had fucked her every which way possible until both of our bodies were completely spent. We had collapsed on the bare mattress and passed out. Both of us were overheated and didn’t require any blankets.
“I’m so glad I don’t have a meet this weekend or training.” She looked at me with a warning in her expression. “Don’t even think about trying to drag my ass into a pool today. I got a good enough workout yesterday.”
I wrapped my arms around her. “Yeah, you did. Maybe I’ll give you a workout tonight. Your place?”
She stood on her tippy toes, kissed my nose and then my lips. “We’ll see.”
I growled. “I want you right now.”
“It’s checkout time. We need to go. The last thing I want is the maid coming in and me having to look her in the eye when she sees this mess. That’ll be embarrassing.”
I laughed at the picture that put in my head. “All right. Let’s go.” I swatted her ass, and we headed out the door.
When we pulled into the parking lot of her apartment, she turned to me, her mouth agape.
“What?” I asked, glancing around, trying to see what had made her speechless.
“That’s Brian’s car,” she said, pointing to the little Nissan in the lot.
Sure enough, it was his. Had he been there all night?
We got out and started toward her apartment, where Brian was sitting on the steps. I warily looked at him, sizing him up, trying to get a read on his mood and figuring out whether I should protect my face.
“Hi,” he said with a sheepish smile.
Lindsey looked at me, took my hand, and smiled back at Brian.
“I’d like to talk,” Brian said, standing and brushing off his jeans.
“That would be great. Let’s go in,” she said, climbing the stairs.
I was slightly hesitant to walk past Brian, but he seemed cool. I eyed him as I went by. He seemed normal, but I couldn’t be sure.
Lindsey unlocked the door, holding it for Brian and me to pass by.
“Sit,” she ordered.
Brian and I sat on opposite ends of the couch.
“I wanted to apologize,” Brian started. “I shouldn’t have freaked out on you.”
“It’s okay,” Lindsey said.
I didn’t agree with her.
“I’m okay with your relationship, not that you need my permission, but I want you to know it’s cool. I’ll get better with it. You took me by surprise, Tanner, really. You can’t say you’re banging my little sister and not expect me to be a little pissed,” he reasoned.
“I never said that, and I would never speak that way about your sister, man. Never. Don’t put words in my mouth,” I growled, more than ready to knock him on his ass.
“Relax, Tanner,” Lindsey was saying. “I’m glad you’re okay with it, Brian. Please understand that neither of us thought this would happen. It just did. I know that sounds terrible, but, well, it did. I mean, come on, you had to know I was crushing on him for years.”
He laughed. “Gee, is that why you asked me a million questions about what he was doing and who he was dating?”
She shrugged, looking a little embarrassed. I smiled and winked.
“Whatever,” she shot back. “I know you were watching me too. Brittany and I used to parade around in our bikinis whenever you guys came home from school.”
Brian’s eyes grew wide in horror. “Oh my God. I don’t need to hear that. You were in high school, Lindsey. Like, underage. Illegal.”
“Stop, like you weren’t checking Brittany out,” she chided.
I took a deep breath. “I’m sorry you had to find out that way, but I’m not sorry that I’m with her, and I am with her. Like, all in. There is nobody else. There won’t be anybody else. I promise you I won’t hurt her, Brian.”
“That’s fine. It’s cool. It just caught me off guard. Tanner, I’ve known you a long time, and you can’t blame me for being a little worried. I can see you’ve changed. I believe you when you say you love her. I can see it. You’ve both changed—for the better. Maybe we can double date, sometime down the road. For now I’m going to keep my distance. I still can’t get my head around you guys kissing and whatever. It kind of creeps me out,” he said.
I wanted to be mad, but I couldn’t be. Brian had been looking out for Lindsey for a long time. I didn’t have a great past. I could be an ass, and I did have a long list of jilted women in my phone history. I had to prove myself to Brian, and I had to prove I was worthy of Lindsey. I could. I would.
“All right, well, I’m gonna go. Thank you for hearing me out. I hope this works out for you both, and hopefully we can all go out sometime.”
Lindsey walked him to the door while I waited in the living room. I wasn’t sure if I totally believed this sudden change of heart. I would still be watching my back when he was around. She came back into the living room and sat down on my lap.
“That was a surprise, huh?” she said, her arms going around my neck.
I nodded. “Do you think he’s for real? I mean, is it a setup so he can get close to me, wait for my guard to drop before he tries to kick the shit out of me?”
She threw her head back and laughed. “I doubt it. I think he’s genuine. He’ll come around all the way eventually. Give him some time.”
“I will. I will do whatever it takes to make him like me again if that’s what you want, but I won’t give you up, Lindsey. You’re mine, and that isn’t going to change,” I said, squeezing her thigh.
She buried her face into my neck, kissing a trail up to my ear, her tongue brushed over it before she nibbled on my lobe. My dick sprang to life under her.
“I thought we were taking the night off,” she murmured in my ear.
I wrapped an arm around her, ripping her off my lap and dropping her onto the couch before coming over the top of her. “I never agreed to that.”
She giggled. “Thank God. But Tanner?”
“Hmm?” I said, kissing her collar bone while running my fingertip up the inside of her arm.
“You cannot break my furniture. And remember, I eat on that table and prepare food on those counters.”
I chuckled. “You can clean them, which gives me an idea.” I leaned back, pulled her up to straddle me again before standing and walking to said counters. “Perfect,” I breathed, spreading her legs and standing between her.
She put her hands on my face and kissed me with such passion, I nearly exploded in my jeans.
No matter how many times we had sex, it was always like the first time. I was always ready and willing. I had a feeling there were going to be many nights in like this for us.