Meant to be Kept

by Amelia Foster

  He gave her a self-satisfied smirk and pulled a bouquet of Gerbera daisies from behind his back. “Don’t delivery guys usually ring?”

  She gathered her heartache around herself like a shield. “Tanner. Those are lovely, but I told you…”

  His eyes flickered with hurt at her words. “Not until tomorrow, Belle. No decisions until tomorrow.” He thrust the flowers towards her, and she grabbed them reflexively. “I’m sorry for coming over.”

  He turned and descended the stairs, his head hanging down and, in a feat she thought impossible, her heart ached even more. Izzy set the bouquet on the small table beside the door and flew down the steps behind him. She caught up to him just as he pulled open the door to his obnoxious yellow truck. Her hand shook as he touched his arm. “Wait.”

  When he spun around the look of utter desolation in the blue eyes she loved so much stole the breath from her body. “Th-thank you for the flowers, Tanner. They’re beautiful.”

  His lip curled back and he snorted. “Yeah, well, maybe if I hadn’t been such a selfish asshole and done that kind of stuff for the past three years, we wouldn’t be standing here.”

  Without another word, he climbed in his truck and sped away. Izzy just stood watching as the darkness of the night swallowed his taillights and fought the urge to run after him.

  Thirty minutes later, she picked her phone up for the fifth time, her finger hovering over his name, needing to talk to him and terrified she’d fall under his spell once again.

  Before she forced herself to make a decision, the doorbell rang out once again. “Lived in this house for five years,” she murmured under her breath as she walked to the door, “and now people decide to start using the doorbell.”

  As expected, her brother-in-law stood on her doorstep, dressed as if he’d just stepped off the cover of a western novel. “Are you ever going to drop the whole pseudo cowboy persona?” She gave a heavy sigh.

  He swiped his hat off his head and stepped across the threshold with a cocky grin. “As soon as you drop the whole actual hottest chick on the planet thing.”

  Izzy rolled her eyes at Wyatt’s blatantly disingenuous flirting. She turned a cheek up in his direction and he dropped a kiss on it. Her heart ached a little more. She loved Tanner’s family. Wyatt, Connor, and Dean quickly became the siblings she’d always wished for growing up. She was losing so much more than just her fairy tale ending.

  “So what was so important you had to rush over tonight?” She wrapped her arms around herself. She was so tired of hurting.

  Wyatt’s smile slipped, and he held his arm out. “How about we go sit down in the living room?”

  Izzy was far too tired to argue and nodded as she led the way, sliding down onto the couch gratefully. “I know you’re used to keeping late nights,” and corrupting your innocent brother, “but it’s after ten and I am exhausted so can you make this quick?”

  He pulled his phone out of the pocket of his shirt, and she felt her stomach roll. What was he thinking? She knew he could be insensitive and thoughtless, but this was a new low even for him.

  As soon as she opened her mouth, he held a hand up. “Izzy, I just need you to listen to me for a few minutes and trust me. I promise I’m not going to hurt you.”

  In the twelve years since she’d met Tanner’s family, she’d never seen a more earnest or humble expression on Wyatt’s face and that halted her protests more than his words. She simply nodded in response.

  “I-I didn’t realize what Tanner had told you until just yesterday. Iz, if I’d known, I would have set him straight weeks ago. And if I knew this picture existed, I absolutely would have shown you as soon as you saw those other damned things.”

  “Wyatt, I really don’t want to see another picture…”

  He put a calloused hand over hers, where they were fidgeting with the hem of her shirt. “Trust me,” he repeated with conviction. “I screwed up a helluva lot in my life, but this is one thing I think I can help fix.”

  Wyatt pulled his hand away and ran it down the side of his face. “Apparently my genius brother is slightly misinformed. He told me how much he appreciated me pulling him off that girl before he…well, you know.”

  The bile started to rise in the back of her throat. She knew Wyatt really believed he could help, but so far everything he was saying just made it worse. “Yeah, that’s what he said,” she confirmed in a hoarse voice.

  “That’s not what happened.”

  She clapped a hand over her mouth. No. Oh no. Wyatt didn’t stop him in time. Tanner actually…slept with her.

  Wyatt’s eyes widened to a comical size. “No, Iz, no. Whatever you’re thinking just…no.” He shook his head rapidly. “Tanner, he…” He rubbed his fingers up and down his temple with a sigh. “If this is the shit I’ve been putting him through for all these years, I don’t know how he didn’t kick my ass ages ago.”

  They were getting nowhere, and every little bit of her patience was gone. “Oh, for crying out loud, just tell me, Wyatt.” She jumped to her feet. “Or I swear I’ll be the one kicking your ass.”

  He stood with her. “Don’t you get it, Izzy? That girl, whoever the hell she was, the second she touched his fuc—” He stopped himself and rubbed the back of his neck. “Sorry, I mean the second she touched his hair, he pushed her away. He grabbed me and made me leave the bar. He sat on the floor of my hotel room all night throwing up, terrified that you couldn’t forgive him.”

  He tapped the screen of his phone and swiped several times. “I didn’t do a damn thing. I didn’t save the day.” He turned the screen towards her. “He did.”

  Swallowing past the tears that threatened to fall, Izzy reached out to take the phone. Amidst all the pictures from the night she’d already been subjected to there was one she hadn’t seen. Tanner’s hands locked around the woman’s wrists and pushing her away with a sick expression on his face.

  A nearly audible click echoed in Izzy’s brain. Tanner had ended it. Tanner had walked away. Tanner had come home and immediately went to work fixing things. A small smile fought its way onto her lips. He really was doing a fabulous job.

  And he wasn’t her father. More than anything, the realization that he wasn’t her father settled in her chest. He wasn’t running away. He wasn’t abandoning her. He was here and fighting for them.

  She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the image, still aching that it had ever happened, but feeling the warm stirring of hope in her chest.

  “Thank you, Wyatt,” she whispered, past the tears she couldn’t control any longer. She dropped the phone onto the couch and pressed her forehead against Wyatt’s chest.

  “Geez, Izzy, couldn’t you at least ruin one of the shirts I don’t like?” He wrapped his arms around her and let her sob all the pain and heartache she’d been holding onto for far too long.

  ***

  Izzy closed the bedroom door softly. Ava and Noah had been asleep for nearly three hours but she didn’t want to risk waking them. And there was no way she was simply going to let this slide without a fight. Maybe a loud one.

  And then there’d be making up.

  “You promised.” She turned to face him, trying to ignore the rumpled shirt begging to be taken off or the messy hair she so desperately wanted to play with.

  “But it’s just this once, Belle. I swear. I told them I didn’t do Friday morning meetings, but that was the only day they could meet me.”

  This was exactly what she’d feared when he said he was taking control of the company. Not that it was a surprise. She’d known since they were dating that Carlisle International was going to wind up in Tanner’s hands one day.

  But she had no idea it would be this soon. No idea it would create this many late nights or this many business trips.

  She pressed her lips together in a thin line and crossed her arms. “Fine. I’ll call Caroline this one time to tell her we can’t meet. But this is a first and last time thing.” She dropped her shoulders a little. “You’ve b
een working later, too.”

  Her voice sounded whiny to her own ears, but she couldn’t help it. Tanner wasn’t just her husband, he was her best friend, as much as Caroline.

  She missed the time they’d spend together after the kids went to bed. She’d stretch out on the couch to read, and Tanner would put a baseball game or stupid action movie on and rub her feet. And inevitably he’d wind up doing so much more.

  She missed sharing a bowl of ice cream with him across the kitchen island at midnight. And she really missed the times he’d ask his parents to watch Ava and Noah so that he could steal her away for a surprise dinner.

  But it had been nearly six months since any of that happened. He’d been staying later and later at the office, not coming home until long after the kids went to bed.

  Clients in different time zones, he’d explain any time she tried to bring it up. Part of her didn’t even see the point in mentioning it now except no matter how late he’d been working the night before he’d always managed to spend every Friday morning with the twins, until this week.

  “They are going to be really disappointed, Tanner.”

  He dropped on to the side of the bed and tugged his tie off. His shoulders sagged and he fixed his gaze on the carpet at his feet. “I’m sorry, Belle. I really am.”

  It hadn’t taken long after they met for her to see that Tanner took far more responsibility on than he needed to. He could be the poster child for the oldest sibling and every issue attached to it. He needed to fix everything for everyone, make sure the business and the family were running smoothly. And he never took a moment to do anything for himself.

  That’s what she was for. That was their balance. That was how they worked together.

  She put her arms around his neck and straddled his lap. “Just how sorry are you, baby?”

  His hands grasped her hips, and he swallowed. “Really, really sorry?”

  Izzy nodded slowly and grinned. “And can you think of any way possible to show your complete and utter remorse?”

  “Oh, you want ideas?” He gave her a smirk and turned so she was lying on her back and he hovered over her. “I love a good brainstorming session.”

  Her laughter dissolved into a moan as his hand slid under her nightgown. Just as his fingers dipped beneath the elastic waistband of her underwear, a soft tap came from the other side of the door.

  “Mommy, I had a bad dream. Can I come sleep with you?”

  Tanner’s forehead fell against her chest and Izzy couldn’t help but giggle. “Sure thing. Just give Mommy a minute.”

  “Daddy’s gonna need more than a minute,” Tanner grumbled, collecting his sweats and t-shirt from the bottom of the bed and retreating into the bathroom.

  Making sure her nightgown was in place and fanning the heat away from her cheeks, she opened to door to a sleepy Noah, holding his favorite stuffed dinosaur. “Come on, buddy, let’s see if we can chase those nightmares away.”

  He had just been tucked in the center of the bed and snuggled against Izzy’s side when Tanner reappeared.

  “Hey little man.”

  Noah’s eyes, nearly closed just moments earlier, popped open wide. “Daddy! You’re home!”

  Several long minutes later, Noah snored against Tanner’s bicep—which he had adamantly refused to let go of—and Izzy rolled her head to the right to look at Tanner. “Betcha wish you would’ve come home earlier now?” She threw him a wink and a saucy smile.

  Tanner simply groaned in response and Izzy laughed.

  Chapter Thirty

  Tanner

  “You had your hands on my wife.” Tanner bit the words out between clenched teeth, and for the second time in a week, he fought the urge to tackle Wyatt to the floor and lay a few well-deserved punches on that golden face of his. The idea gave Tanner all kinds of warm fuzzies. No way he’d land that sponsorship with a broken nose.

  Wyatt pushed away the hand that held a fistful of his still-wet shirt. “If you stop and think for one single moment, you’d realize I was trying to help you, you ungrateful bastard.”

  Tanner’s brows shot up. “Help me? Like you helped me when you harassed me almost every day for two weeks until I agreed to drive out to see you? Like you helped me when you challenged me to drink with you? Like you helped me when you put your filthy hands on my wife the first chance you had?”

  His brother laughed. “You’re ridiculous. I was giving her a hug. I hope like hell that she will forgive you because I’m fairly certain this is driving you crazy.”

  He hated to admit it, but Wyatt might be right. The very idea of a life without Belle. A life where they would have to be together at times because of the kids. Where he would have to see her moving on with someone better, someone smarter, someone who appreciated her. Yeah, that was enough to make him certifiably insane.

  “Why the hell did you go over there, Wyatt?” He ran his fingers through his hair, and the action made his stomach turn. They had been in such a good place until she saw those pictures. “I swear, if you did something, anything, that makes Belle change her mind and she doesn’t show up tomorrow—”

  “You know, every once in a while I am capable of doing something right.” His brother’s eyes held a tinge of hurt, and the corners of his mouth turned down. “I went there tonight because you screwed up more than just…that.”

  Tanner’s brows knitted together, and he shook his head. “What the hell else did I do wrong? I spent years practically ignoring Belle and the kids when I thought I was doing the right thing to keep the company successful and everyone happy. And since that wasn’t enough to drive her away, I decided to make out with some chick I don’t know and hope to never see again. Oh yeah, and let’s not forget there were pictures because she needed to actually see it rather than just hear about it.”

  Wyatt sighed and threw himself down in the armchair in Tanner’s old bedroom. Current bedroom. Temporary bedroom.

  “You got it all wrong, big brother.” The cocky smirk took up residence on his face again. “Well, not about being a workaholic asshole that neglected the hottest chick in the world. That part you got totally right.”

  Tanner’s nostrils flared. “Don’t you dare call her that again.”

  He straightened his posture and rested his forearms on his knees. “Listen, I’m going to impart the same gem of wisdom to you that I did to Iz. I didn’t pull you off that girl.”

  His mouth went dry and he swallowed a few times. No. No way in hell he had done anything more. No. He’d remember that and there wasn’t enough alcohol in the world to make him do that. No.

  Wyatt continued, oblivious to Tanner’s thoughts. “Iz always had a thing for your hair. It’s annoying as hell watching you two, ya know? But whatever that means to y’all, it was enough to flip the switch.” He stretched his legs out in front of him and crossed them at the ankles, locking his hands behind his head. “You pushed her away. You found me.”

  Tanner rubbed his temple and shook his head. This made no sense. “I don’t remember a lot, but I remember you dragging me away from the bar. I remember you pushing me into your truck.”

  Wyatt laughed. “I was dragging you because your sorry ass was so drunk you couldn’t walk. You were begging me to take you back to the hotel. We really need to do something about your alcohol tolerance, brother. That was damn near embarrassing.”

  He cued up the same picture he’d shown his sister-in-law. “See, you ended it. Hell, you wanted me to drive you back here that same night.”

  Tanner studied the picture on the screen, disgust with himself warred with pride that he’d come to his senses on his own. Hope surged, knowing Belle saw the same thing in this picture he did. “And you showed Belle this? What did she say? What did she do?”

  His brother shifted uncomfortably in the chair. “The same thing all girls do around me. She cried and ruined one of my favorite shirts.” He threw Tanner another arrogant grin, this time looking far more superficial. “After she said, ‘Oh Wyatt, thank y
ou, Wyatt,’ which is pretty standard too.”

  He rolled his eyes at his brother. “I think you just bought yourself a free pass on the ass kicking you so richly deserve.” He tossed the phone over to Wyatt. “Now get the hell out of this room. I need sleep.”

  ***

  Tanner closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair, rubbing the ache that was rapidly forming between his eyes. “Wyatt, I can’t come out. I told you that the past three times you called and asked last week and when I answered all the text messages.”

  “You never want to come watch me. Hell, you haven’t even come out the past couple of years when I’ve been close to home. Izzy and the kids came alone. Twice.” His brother let out a heavy sigh. “Come on, Tanner, Nashville is only a five-hour drive, and this is a really important for me.”

  When Wyatt had set out on this absurd “career path” after high school, he left in true Wyatt fashion with a lot of things undone, unsaid, and one completely devastated auburn-haired girl. But in spite of Tanner’s doubts, Wyatt had managed to build a rather lucrative empire through championship wins and sponsors.

  And now he actually wanted Tanner to come see his competition? Very un-Wyatt like, but hell, he’d never asked Tanner for anything before, much less this incessantly.

  He eyed the schedule on his computer screen and all the meetings, almost back to back, for the next three weeks.

  But Jack could handle most of this by himself.

  “Okay, but only for the final night,” he finally acquiesced.

  The relief in his brother’s voice was nearly palpable across the line. “Yeah?”

  Tanner chuckled. “Yeah. Just let me talk to Belle tonight.”

  Shit. As he drove home hours later, the sun falling from the sky in front of his truck, he realized he probably should have talked to her first. Tanner dismissed the thought quickly. His Belle was amazing. She took all his schedule changes in stride and handled everything at home. She was the one part of his life he never had to worry about.