Blindsided (8 page)

He was one lucky bastard.

“Oh,” Emma said, wearing her usual blush.

He grinned his best wolfish grin, and leaned his hand on the upper door frame. “Change your mind, baby, because I could use a little entertainment.”

She opened her mouth, snapped it shut, and opened it again, adorably flustered. He reached out and toyed with a lock of her hair, winding it around his finger and giving it a little tug to pull her closer. This time his touch had the opposite effect.

“They want to meet with me. Now.” She said as she backed away, her gaze slipping downward to his bare chest. At his chuckle, she snapped her head up.

“They?” he said, playing stupid.

“Avery, Isaac, Coop, and Izzy.”

“I see.” Actually he didn’t. This family crap had nothing to do with him, even if one of the aforementioned lynch mob happened to be his brother. If they didn’t like Emma singing with or without him, it wasn’t his problem.

“I need you to go with me. Explain this to them.”

“And what exactly is
this
that I’m supposed to explain.”

“You. And me.” She glared at him and tapped a fingernail on his bare chest to show her impatience. Realizing what she was doing, she snatched it away. He grabbed her hand—he’d been doing a lot of that lately—and held it against his chest right over his heart.

Her lips parted softly, and the wolf he was in name and in behavior grinned in triumph. The good girl wanted the bad boy, and he’d eventually get his way just like he always did when it came to women.

Yet, instead of minding his own business, he jumped in the middle of this mess with his next words. “Is it important to you that I be there?”

“Please?” She sucked her lower lip between her teeth, drawing his gaze to her luscious mouth, the one he’d dreamed about all night, along with her other luscious parts.

“Yeah, I’ll go with you.” And just like that she obliterated his pledge to never get deeply involved with anyone, especially her. Hell, even the hospitals he visited regularly were just for show and to assuage his guilty conscience that maybe he wasn’t a good person worthy of anyone’s admiration or respect. He’d perpetuated this false perception that he cared, and now she’d roped him into this. Of course, it didn’t help that he wanted in her pants in the worst way.

Her face lit up and the creases in her brow eased. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Let me take a shower and get dressed.” He still held her hand to his chest. Her fingers curled into his chest hair, and she drew in a sharp breath. “You could join me if you’d like,” he added with a hopeful grin.

“Oh, no. No, I couldn’t.” She yanked her hand away from his chest, but her gaze locked somewhere in the vicinity of his nipples.

He moved a step closer, expecting her to back off. She didn’t.

“My agent says we should pretend to be dating. It’d be good for my rep to be seen with a nice girl.” Once he’d spoken the words, he found he liked the idea.

She stared up at him. Her mouth formed an “O.” “That would be dishonest.”

“Not if we really date.”

“I won’t sleep with you.”

“We’ll see about that. I’m damned irresistible.”

“And incorrigible.”

“That too, baby. That too.” He stepped into her space, caught her around the waist, and lowered his head. She didn’t struggle in his arms, but she did stiffen. He knew how to relax a woman, even one as uptight as this one. He nibbled and licked his way from her earlobe down to her collarbone, while she sighed and sank against him. His dick ached at her closeness, as her hot female body pressed against his hard male one.

She lifted her head and met his gaze. Her eyes darkened with desire, and he had her where he wanted her. He tilted his head and brushed his lips across hers. Her mouth parted, and he slid his tongue along her plump lower lip. She made one of those adorably hot whimpers he’d gotten too used to hearing in a very short time. Her hands slid up his forearms, along his biceps, and rested on his shoulders.

“Emmie, sweet, sweet Emmie,” he whispered into her mouth. “You want me. I want you. It’s inevitable.” He cupped her gorgeous ass in his big hands and pulled her hard against him, sliding her up and down his body. Every nerve tingled with anticipation. Every slide against his cock aroused him until he ached all over with the most exquisite pain. He imagined her hot, wet body tight around his dick, taking him to heights he’d never scaled in sex or life.

“No,” she begged, as he wore down her resistance with deep, searing kisses, branding her mouth as his and wanting to mark her body as well. The urge to ruin her for any other man hit him hard, because if he ruined her, she would surely ruin him as well.

It wouldn’t take much to convince her to shower with him or get vertical. He had supreme confidence in his talents. Yet, a long buried, decent part of him held back. Emma was different. She was special. She deserved her fairy tale, even if he couldn’t be her prince.

Pulling away, even though it killed him, Tanner held her at arm’s length. She gazed at him through heavily lidded eyes, and he read the confusion there.

“I’d better take a shower,” he said and hurried to the bathroom before she could answer and break his brittle resistance. Tanner locked the door, stripped off his clothes, and stepped into the tiled shower. He turned on brutally freezing water and leaned his head against the cold tile, praying for relief.

Emma, the good girl, was every bit a match for Tanner the bad boy.

* * * *

Emma paced the floor waiting for Tanner, alternating between imagining the altercation she’d have with Izzy to imagining Tanner’s fine body with water running down all the hard, taut muscles. Both images were enough to drive her crazy.

Finally Tanner came out, his hair still wet and tousled in that sexy way which scored a touchdown with her heart every time.

“Hey.” He grinned at her, showing his perfect white teeth.

She gaped at him for a long moment and finally managed to squeak out one word, “Ready?”

“Yeah, don’t want to keep them waiting. Coop has no patience, and Ice is even worse.”

Emma paused in the open doorway, and he bumped into her. She hesitated and drove straight ahead into no man’s land, ignoring all the warning signs. “Whatever Isaac did, you should forgive him, you know? You’re hurting yourself more than you’re hurting him.” The second she spoke the words, she knew she’d stepped into a minefield littered with emotional bombs. One false move, and he’d detonate, taking her with him.

“That’s between Ice and me.” Tanner’s smile disappeared and his face froze into cold, hard marble.

“You accused him once of murdering your sister. Isaac isn’t a murderer.” Emma held strong, not believing for a minute Isaac had committed murder or that Avery would stand by him if he had.

“He set the wheels in motion which led to her death and his girlfriend’s. How can a guy forgive something like that?” Tanner rubbed the back of his neck and stared over her shoulder, avoiding her gaze.

Since he’d asked, Emma decided to answer, “He’s very sorry. Can’t you see that?”

“You don’t know him like I do,” Tanner insisted stubbornly, obviously clinging to his beliefs and refusing to listen to reason. Despite how infuriating he might be at this moment, she felt sorry for him, and the personal hell to which he’d sentenced himself because of his unwillingness to forgive and move on.

“You don’t know him at all—not anymore. The brother you knew has changed. He’s a different man,” Emma pressed.

“I’m not going to stand around here and discuss Ice. I have my reasons; you need to accept them or move on.” He fisted his hands, and his eyes darkened dangerously.

Emma blinked a few times at his rudeness. Tanner was never rude except when it came to his brother. She couldn’t conceal her disappointment. “I thought you were a better person than that.”

“You thought wrong,” Tanner groused, mumbling curses under his breath.

“Fine.”

In complete silence, they drove to Izzy and Cooper’s house overlooking Puget Sound, a great way to start a meeting where they both needed to be on the same page and in each other’s corner.

Emma started to jump out when Tanner parked his big pickup truck in the driveway, but Tanner reached out and put a hand on her arm. “Wait.”

“What?”

“I’m sorry,” he said, his green eyes softened with regret, and she wallowed at his feet like a stupid, lovesick Cocker Spaniel.

“I’ll try to avoid that subject from now on.” She sniffed, still hurt by his harsh attitude.

“It’d be appreciated.” He smiled to ease the blow, but she turned away. “We have to present a united front or else we’ll be cat food for Coop’s obnoxious cat.”

“I love cats.”

“Oh.” He seemed at a loss for words. Tanner got out and offered her his elbow. Emma considered ignoring the chivalrous gesture. The man was only buttering her up so she’d be on his side and make things go easy on him. In the end, he was too tempting, and she wrapped her fingers around his arm.

“Have I ever told you how beautiful you look?” He grinned down at her, pausing to give her a good look.

“Have I ever told you that you’re full of BS?”

“BS? Are you kidding? Emma, my sweet one, you shouldn’t even be using the initials since you’d never say the words.”

She looked him straight in his green eyes and said, “Bullshit.”

Tanner threw back his head and laughed. His laughter was so contagious Emma couldn’t help but join him. They were still laughing as they mounted the front steps, and the door flew open to reveal Izzy and Cooper standing side by side wearing twin scowls.

“Hi, sis. Hi, Coop,” Emma said sweetly as she breezed past them with Tanner in tow. He shrugged at the couple as she dragged him along. Emma glanced over her shoulder, noting with satisfaction the confusion on their faces. She’d caught them off guard.

“Good job, score one for Emmie,” Tanner said, looking at her with pride in his eyes. His very approval stiffened her resolve. Together they’d get through this.

Emma tossed her hair over her shoulder in a careless gesture. She walked ahead of Tanner through the living room onto the deck where Isaac and Avery sat. Emma hugged them both. Tanner, too, hugged Avery and grunted at Isaac, who grunted back. So far they were playing nice, better than taking off the gloves and beating the snot out of each other.

Emma sat next to Avery with Tanner on her other side. She chattered with her sister about nothing just to keep her mind off the inquisition to come. She snuck a glance at Tanner. He stared straight ahead at the view, looking completely unconcerned, but a muscle jerked in his jaw betraying his nervousness, and he kept rubbing his temples as if he had a headache.

Avery patted Emma’s hand. “Hang in there. They don’t own you. Just set them straight and leave.”

“Does Isaac agree with that?”

“Isaac isn’t happy because he cares about you, and he doesn’t trust Tanner, but all in all, he agrees with me. This is your life.”

Emma nodded, shored up by Avery and Isaac’s support and Tanner’s presence.

Izzy strode onto the deck with a pitcher of margaritas, while Cooper followed with the glasses. Isaac who didn’t drink, declined and sipped on water instead. Everybody else grabbed the drinks as if they were lifelines. Emma caught Isaac studying Tanner as he downed his margarita in a few large gulps and grabbed another. Tanner ignored his brother.

Rather than sitting down, Cooper and Izzy leaned against the railing taking the strategic place of power by looking down on the others. Izzy appeared to be running the show, because Cooper said nothing and waited for her to speak.

“Would you like to explain yourself?” Izzy glared down at Emma in her usual straightforward manner.

“There’s not much to explain. I’ve been singing karaoke on Wednesday nights at the casino for months.” Emma forced her tone to be neutral and calm. Inside she was quaking.

Izzy pinched the bridge of her nose and groaned. “Emma, why? Why would you do that?”

“I love to sing. I want to be a singer, but I’m about to be an elementary school teacher instead because of some stupid pact we made as kids.” Unable to hold back, Emma spat out the truth and braced herself for the backlash. Tanner squeezed her thigh right about the knee in silent support for which Emma was grateful. She caught Izzy’s quick glance downward and her narrowed eyes said it all. She was getting wound up.

“We agreed our parents’ life is not the life for us. You know what a crappy life they have. You know what it takes to get to the top, and even more, to stay there.”

“Maybe I want the chance to try—with or without your blessing.” Emma drew in a deep breath waiting for Izzy to detonate, but she didn’t, despite the tension thick in the air.

“What about him?” Cooper asked, jerking his head in Tanner’s direction. Caught staring at Emma, Tanner gave a guilty start and moved his hand off Emma’s thigh.

Emma jumped to the rescue before Tanner could open his mouth. “I ran into Tanner a few weeks ago at karaoke, and we’ve been keeping each other company.”

“What kind of company?” Isaac spoke up, and Tanner shot his brother a warning glare.

“None of your fucking business.” Tanner narrowed his eyes at his brother, and the animosity reflected there broke Emma’s heart.

“You’re dead, you know. If Cooper doesn’t kill you, I will,” Isaac growled. “Emma isn’t the type of girl a guy like you should be stringing along.”

“The same could be said for Avery,” Tanner shot back.

Isaac looked ready to come after Tanner, but Avery steadied him with a hand on his shoulder and a whisper in his ear. Isaac leaned back against the railing, but he didn’t look happy.

Izzy picked up the baton and continued her inquisition. This time she leveled her accusing glare at Tanner. “We’re friends. Close friends. How could you treat my sister like one of your nameless women? You know she’s inexperienced and vulnerable.”

“It’s not like that,” Tanner insisted, even though not one person on the deck believed him. Not even Emma, even though she wished he were telling the truth. Tanner could lie with the best of them, and it’d take a stellar performance to get off this deck with his balls and Emma’s convictions intact.