On the verge of succumbing once again to his undeniable charm and persuasive kisses, Emma dug deep for a smidgeon of sanity, grasped it, and held on. She ducked under his arm and out of his reach.
“We can’t do this again,” she said with more conviction than she felt.
Frowning, Tanner took a step or two back. His arms fell to his sides; pure puzzlement creased his brow and put a grim frown on his face. If she didn’t know better, she’d almost think her rejection bothered him. Most likely it wounded his relatively large ego. Emma might be a romantic, and she might have romantic fantasies about Tanner, but she was also practical and careful.
“I—I thought you wanted this, too?” He rubbed his hands over his face, a now familiar sign of frustration.
“I do, but I can’t. If I give in, I’ll lose all self-respect. I have a—a vow—to myself.” And she was telling him this why?
Tanner frowned and narrowed his gaze. “A vow?”
“Yes, a vow,” Emma hedged, reluctant to explain something so personal.
“Like a marriage vow?” He threw back his head and laughed.
“Exactly like that.” Emma didn’t laugh. She pursed her lips and glared at him, humiliated and irritated.
“What?” He stopped laughing and levelled a dissecting glare at her.
She turned to the car and reached for the door handle. He covered her hand with his, his body pressed against hers, his lips inches from her cheek. Emma’s breath hitched, and she fought to keep her sanity. Tanner knew what he was doing. Thinking of all those times she’d been teased unmercifully by friends and family for her old-fashioned ideals and romantic tendencies, she gathered her indignance around her, knowing Tanner was paying for everyone else’s good-natured ribbing.
“Yes, marriage. I’m saving myself for marriage.”
If Tanner had been told he’d just been traded to New England in exchange for Tom Brady, he couldn’t have looked more shocked. “Are—are you a—a—”
“Virgin?” He couldn’t seem to say the word so she finished the sentence for him.
“Are you?” Removing his hand from hers, he swallowed and backed away, as if she had a fatally contagious disease.
“No, I am not, but the man I slept with said he loved me and wanted to marry me, so why wait? I believed him. He took what he wanted—the same thing he was taking from other women I found out later—and left.”
“So now you’re not going to get involved with a guy unless you’re married to him?”
“That’s correct. So you’re wasting your time. I’m staying sober, and I’m staying celibate.” Emma opened the door. He didn’t stop her. A glance over her shoulder revealed a man in shock, his mouth hanging open while he made gurgling sounds as if he couldn’t find the right words.
Satisfaction and regret raced through her in equal doses, while doubt assailed her, even as she drove away and into the darkness.
Was one night with Tanner worth betraying herself and her staunch beliefs?
And if it was, how would one night ever be enough?
* * * *
As expected, the video of Tanner and Emma crooning “Picture” followed by Tanner’s chaste kiss went viral. The views hit the millions before Tanner got out of bed the next morning. Twitter blew up with speculation on Tanner’s relationship with the daughter of rock’s two-hit-wonders.
Sitting on the side of the bed, Tanner didn’t touch his phone on the nightstand, dreading what he might find there. He could already guess his messages would be from the usual suspects and a few new ones. His phone vibrated again. It was Beed. His agent wouldn’t stop calling so he finally answered just to find out if he’d been cut by the Steelheads.
“What?” Tanner grouched, knowing he sounded extra grumpy.
“Please don’t tell me you’re sleeping off a drunk,” said his ruthless bastard agent.
“I’m not. I had a few beers last night, that’s all.” Tanner growled into the phone.
“Saw the vid. Brilliant marketing tactic on your part, Tan. I have to hand it to you, and with a sweet thing like that all dressed up for church instead of your usual women who look like hookers.”
Tanner tapped the phone to make sure he’d heard correctly. “You think that was brilliant?”
“Oh, yeah, that little girl and you have incredible chemistry. If I didn’t know you for the consummate actor and selfish bastard you are, I’d swear you were in love with her.”
Tanner ignored his agent’s uncomfortably perceptive observations. “Have you heard from the team?”
“Oh, yeah. They’ve been trying to reach you. Carson wanted to know what your intentions were.”
“What did you tell him?”
“What do you think? That the two of you are in love and have been trying to keep a low profile.”
Tanner blanched and choked on his own tongue. “What did he say to that?”
“He said, good because a good woman like her is exactly who Tanner needs to get his head on straight and refocus his priorities. So listen to me, kid, you’d better make nice to that sweet thing until your stellar performance on the field cancels out any bullshit off the field, or you’ll be lucky to play arena football for a lingerie team. Stay away from the reality princesses, Hollywood drama queens, and the aspiring models. Pretend like you only have eyes for this girl.”
“Emma, her name is Emma, and she’s not a girl.” Weird thing was, currently Tanner only had eyes for Emma. At least until the newness of being with a woman like Emma wore off, and he needed a bad girl’s special brand of naughty.
“We really aren’t an item,” he admitted.
“I don’t give a fuck if she’s secretly a nun, you need to pretend you’re an item. Besides, the way you two sang that song together, I don’t believe it’ll be a tough task.”
It wouldn’t, but staying out of her pants would, and she’d already told him no with more conviction that any woman had ever expressed since he was a freshman in high school hitting on his English teacher.
“Look, Beed, we’re just friends, and I doubt she’ll go along with anything more than that.”
“I have faith in you, my boy.” And just like that, Beed ended the call.
Tanner dropped his phone on the nightstand and shoved his hand through his unruly hair, pushing it off his forehead. What a mess. Not that he’d mind pretending he had a thing going with Emma if it meant she’d relax her stance of no sex before marriage, and it’d get her family—and his brother—off his case for a while longer.
Only it wouldn’t. Being with her would make things worse in more ways than he could imagine.
Shit.
Time to hit the water and forget this mess for a few hours with nothing but a cooler of beer and a fishing pole. Tanner’s answer to most of life’s problems revolved around denial and fishing.
Except—
The pounding on the door accentuated the pounding in his head, and he didn’t even have a hangover. Resigned to his fate, he pulled on a pair of jeans and walked to the door. Scratching his chest and yawning, he slipped into his patented devil-may-care persona and yanked open the door, half-expecting to be confronted by reporters or nosy friends. He got neither.
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 famil
y 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 f
ront 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.
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