Moments in Time (15 page)

The what? “Nut house?”

Tanner chuckled. “Their last name is Nutley, so this is officially the Nut House.”

“The nuttier the better” came a deep, melodic voice behind me.

“Bryan.” Tanner reached out a hand, and the guy took it and pulled him into a one-armed hug.

He had blue eyes that matched the woman’s, except that his were rimmed with guy-liner and half-covered with spikes of dyed black bangs. I’d never met anyone I’d describe as stunning—until then. His sister had a natural beauty, high cheekbones, slender nose, no makeup or jewelry—just her. Bryan had all the same features, but amplified. More sculpted, thicker brows, redder lips, squarer jaw, ears lined in small rings, arms covered in tats.

His eyes narrowed as he looked at me, turning the bright blue smoky. “You must be the boyfriend.”

My cheeks heated before I could answer. Tanner’s hand lightly brushed over my back. Even that brief second of contact reassured me. He gestured between us. “Bryan, this is Collin. Collin, this is Suzie’s wayward brother.”

Bryan laughed and shook my hand. “Welcome.”

“Thanks.” I forced myself to breathe normally.

“Nice,” he muttered, throwing Tanner a wink as he walked past us.

My face burned hotter.

Tanner stepped closer, his breath soft against my ear. “Relax,” he whispered, “you’re doing great.”

I love you.
I thought the words so hard, I was sure he was receiving them telepathically. And it was true. I loved him more than I could say. More than I’d ever loved anyone. Which still scared the crap out of me.

“A little help here?” The sliding glass door banged open as two guys struggled in, carrying an enormous ice chest with a milk crate balanced on top of it.

I was closest to the door, so I grabbed the crate off the top. It was full of groceries. Maple syrup, bags of flour and sugar, boxes of pasta. No wonder they were struggling—it weighed at least thirty pounds on its own. God knows how much the two-handled cooler weighed.

“Thanks, dude,” the older guy said.

“No problem.”

The guy who’d thanked me was Bill, Suzanne’s husband. He seemed as down-to-earth and friendly as she was, casually dressed in board shorts and a worn T-shirt. He kissed her hello in a sweet, natural way that somehow announced to the entire room how totally in love they were. I smiled just watching them together.

The other one had to be Dex. I’d heard Wendy talk about him so many times I’d constructed a mental image without even realizing it, and the short-haired Tommy Hilfiger-wearing guy I was looking at didn’t even remotely match what I’d expected. Wendy was so bubbly and free-spirited, wild hair flowing in every direction, gigantic purse always one item away from bursting at its seams. This guy looked like he wouldn’t have a hair out of place even if he were in the middle of a monsoon. He could easily have been on the cover of anything from
GQ
to a J. Crew catalog. Everything from his haircut to his shoes screamed money.

Suzanne made the introductions this time, then everyone got busy unpacking the cooler and filling the pitchers to make lemonade and iced tea. Everyone except Dex. He gave a cool nod hello, then flopped onto the window seat scrolling through something on his phone.

“Hey, no lifting.” Bill took the box Suzanne had hoisted off the floor.

She rolled her eyes, then smiled. I recognized the look that passed between them. I’d seen it on Sean’s face every time his wife Laura had been pregnant—protective, concerned, proud. My stomach twinged. This would be the first summer of their lives that I wouldn’t be seeing my nieces and nephew.

The last time Sean and I had spoken, we’d argued. He wanted me to talk to my mom. To “make things right.” And he didn’t want to talk about my relationship with Tanner. He wasn’t all fire and brimstone like Quinn had been. Hadn’t told me I was wrong or condemned me to hell or even disowned me. But he hadn’t listened either. He just wanted to make peace where peace couldn’t be made. Not unless I was willing to forget about Tanner, forget what I wanted, and change who I was. Three things I was in no way willing to do. I’d spent too long doing all of that. I was done. Even if that meant not having a family anymore.

“Okay, everyone, listen up,” Bill said, wrapping his arms around Suzanne from behind. “We have a little announcement to make, and it affects all of you.”

Tanner stopped stacking cereal boxes in the pantry, Maggie stopped stirring her pitcher, and Dex looked up from his phone for the first time since he’d entered the house.

Suzanne’s face flushed a rosy pink as she rubbed Bill’s hands and hugged her stomach. “We’re pregnant.”

The room buzzed with everyone offering congratulations. I knew it. As much as it made me miss home, it warmed me to be included in this announcement. They looked so insanely happy, beaming at each other.

Bryan grinned at his sister. “I’m so glad you’re finally making me an aunt.”

She grabbed the dishtowel off the counter and smacked him with it. “Freeloader. You owe me years of babysitting.”

“Gladly. I’ll get junior his first earring.”

“What if it’s a girl?”

“Then I’ll get her her first tattoo.”

Suzanne growled at him, but it was obvious how close they were. My stomach pangs returned.

“Anyway,” Bill said. “This changes our plans for the summer a little. We won’t be out here quite as much because we’re going to be getting our place ready for the baby. And we’re going to need you guys to pitch in a little more than usual with the cooking and cleaning.”

“No, we don’t,” Suzanne said. “We’ll do the schedule just like last summer. Everyone takes turns. We’ll just be here a little less, so you’ll have to factor that in.”

Tanner had already gotten busy drawing lines down the huge chalkboard on the wall behind the long picnic bench-style kitchen table. He wrote breakfast, lunch, and dinner down the side and the days of the week across the top. Whatever meals you were signed up for meant you had to make sure the food for that meal was in the house—even if you wouldn’t be there for that meal—meaning if you were responsible for breakfast on a day you were working in the morning, you had to make sure there were donuts or muffins or something for everyone else to eat. Seemed reasonable.

I hadn’t said more than two words the whole time we’d been in the kitchen, so I asked something I’d been wondering since we’d gotten off the ferry and dragged our luggage the half mile or so to our house.

“How do you grocery shop here?”

“I’ll show you,” Tanner said, pointing to the schedule. “We’re on dinner duty tonight, so we’ll go get stuff now.”

“Perfect,” Suzanne said. “Just no chicken, okay? That’s the only thing I can’t deal with. Apparently this baby can’t stand poultry, not even the smell of it cooking.”

“Got it.” Tanner nodded. “You ready?”

“Sure thing, Tan-Man.”

He snorted and tried to look annoyed, but I saw the smile tugging at his lips. “Shut up.”

I grinned and followed him out the door. I had no idea where we were heading, but I’d have followed Tanner anywhere.

W
ALKING INTO Dylan’s General Store was like stepping back in time. The wooden floors were old and bare. Half the customers were wearing flip-flops, while the other half remained barefoot. Sand had been tracked everywhere. For a tiny shop, they had an amazing stock of food. Baskets of fresh fruits and veggies, artisan bread, every herb I could name. Deli case full of cheeses and smoked meat plus a butcher case.

“What are you thinking for dinner?” I asked.

Tanner shrugged. “You know me, I’ll eat anything.”

I scanned the shelves. “Okay, how about pasta with meatballs? And maybe some of those pies over there for dessert. French toast for breakfast? Everyone should like french toast, right?”

“Who do you think is going to do all this cooking?”

“Me.” The stunned look on Tanner’s face amused the hell out of me.

“You can make all that?”

“And plenty more. Gino lets me cook a lot. I know my way around a kitchen.”

“Awesome.” Tanner reached for a jar of ready-made tomato sauce, but I shook my head.

“We can do way better than jarred.” I tossed fresh garlic and a bunch of basil into my basket along with cans of crushed tomatoes and a package of ground beef. I’d seen plenty of pasta in the pantry at the house. We picked up several loaves of fresh crusty bread, milk and eggs, brown sugar, enough butter for the french toast, and some homemade garlic bread.

The produce looked amazing so I picked out some tomatoes and cucumbers for salad along with some mixed baby greens, and raspberries and blueberries to go with the french toast.

“What kind of pie did you get?”

Tanner had four pie boxes in his hands. “Mixed berry, apple, strawberry rhubarb, and peach. I think we need some vanilla ice cream too.”

“Good thinking.”

I couldn’t wait for dinner. Tanner hadn’t ever seen me cook before. I was looking forward to it. I hoped like hell I got stuff right and he liked the food.

After we paid we shoved all the perishable stuff into the big cooler and wheeled the wagon home, making it into the house just in time to miss an afternoon thunderstorm. Huge raindrops poured down, turning the deck from light to dark gray as we unpacked the food. I went to work cooking. Chopping garlic nice and small for the tomato sauce, cutting up the cucumbers so they could marinate in some vinegar. I wanted everything perfect.

I put half the garlic in the big stockpot with some olive oil, sautéed it until it was fragrant, then added in the tomato paste, stirring just until it started taking on a deeper color. The crushed tomatoes went in last with a canful of water, a half dozen fresh basil leaves ripped into pieces, and the lid so it could all simmer until the flavors merged and formed one new, better one.

I cut the tips off the other heads of garlic, put them in a small ceramic dish, covered them in olive oil, then wrapped them tightly in foil and set them to roast in a hot oven. While they were cooking, I made the meatballs.

Tanner came in and sat at the table, watching. “Jesus, you actually know what you’re doing.”

I grinned. “Imagine that.”

“You know what I mean. I’ve lived with you a whole year, and I had no clue you could cook. How’d that happen?”

“If we’d had a kitchen, you’d know. Trust me. I’d have cooked for you all the time.”

“Sex and cooking all in one place? I’d never leave the house.”

I laughed, knowing he was serious. “Then my plan’s working, because I don’t want you leaving the house tonight.”

“Good, because I’d kinda planned to spend the whole night in our room.” That smile. Jesus, that smile of his was enough to make my knees weak and give the rest of my body ideas that involved pressing up against him or dragging him into the pantry. If there weren’t so many other people home, I would have done one or both of those. I wanted to slam him down onto the kitchen table and blow him within an inch of his sanity.

“Can I at least help with some of this?”

“Sure.” I was wrist-deep in ground beef, starting to shape meatballs. “You can slice the bread. Two loaves longways for garlic bread and the other two into one-inch slices for tomorrow morning’s french toast.”

“Cutting bread I can handle.”

I loved watching his arms as he worked. The way they flexed caused a corresponding flex inside my jeans. Jesus, he had a strong effect on me. I’d never been this unstoppably drawn to someone before. Ever. And now I had him for the whole summer. It seemed too good to be true.

Worries popped into my head without warning. What would happen back at school? We’d managed to stay under the radar, but people were bound to find out eventually. Wendy was our only ally. My mother could arrive and make a scene at any moment. Gino could fire me. I shook those images out of my mind.
That’s three months away. Focus on the here and now. This is paradise. Enjoy it.

I planned to try.

D
INNER WAS a huge hit. Tanner declared my sauce better than Gino’s, and Maggie proposed having me take over all the cooking shifts. We strolled down the beach, watching the moon rise over the water, then ate pie out on the deck under the stars. I couldn’t remember a time I’d laughed more or felt more at home.

Since Tanner and I had shopped and cooked, it was everyone else’s responsibility to clean up, so we finally got to head upstairs. Alone.

Tanner climbed the stairs to our room so slowly, I was tempted to try to fireman’s carry him just to get us there faster.

He meandered at the second floor landing, stopping to look at me with that damned smirk on his face. “Need to brush your teeth or anything?”

He pointed at the bathroom, all innocent, like he was the maître d’ at a restaurant asking if I wanted to check my coat before being shown to my table.

“I’m good, thanks.”

His smile twitched as he started up the next staircase. The last one. The one that led to our room and nowhere else. My heart hammered hard and fast, and not from stair climbing. I needed to touch Tanner, soon, or every part of my body from my brain to my balls was going to simultaneously combust.

Tanner pushed our door open with exaggerated care and stepped inside.
Jesus, is he trying to make me crazy? All I want is to….

My back slammed against the wall, and before I could complete my thought, Tanner’s mouth was on mine. The kiss was savage, tongue hot and heavy against mine. Even through our shorts, I could feel how ready he was. My head swam.

Desperate for more, I grabbed on to him, rolling us toward the door and kicking it shut. Tanner let out a grunt as I pressed him against the hard wood. Could anyone hear us? I didn’t care. I just needed this. Tanner. Now.

As soon as I shoved his T-shirt up his ribs, he yanked it off and tossed it aside. Warm smooth skin greeted my fingertips, filling my nose with his scent. God, I missed this. My mouth returned to his, tongues dueling as my hands fumbled with his fly. I couldn’t stop rubbing against him enough to get the zipper down. Tanner grabbed my ass, crushing his cock alongside mine, humping against me with enough intensity I had to force myself not to come.