“We could just leave now,” she whispered against his neck. Torren sucked in his breath, and she smiled against his skin, liking the effect that she seemed to have on him. Most of the night, she felt as though they had a million sets of eyes on them— mostly female. But now it felt like it was just the two of them alone in their perfect world.
“The girls will kill us if we make them leave without cake,” Torren said. She couldn’t help her groan, but he was right. Her twins loved their sweets, and if they came out of Sunny’s Buns Bakery, they were all in. “Soon, though, baby. Soon.” Torren promised. Tag and Piper sat out the next few dances, allowing her to prop her feet up. Tana and Torren joined them at the table, and she was happy for the chance to talk to them. She didn’t have the time to get to know Torren’s friends or brothervery well yet. She saw Tag whenever she visited the store, but she was looking forward to getting to know Piper.
“Any day now?” Tana rubbed Piper’s ginormous belly, and Piper laughed.
“God, I hope so,” she moaned. “I’ve been ready to have this baby for weeks now. But, when your child is half-giant, they tend to come out a little on the big side.” Piper shot Tag a dirty look, and he and Torren laughed. “My mom gave birth to two of us at the same time—I think you’ll be fine,” Tag teased, leaning in to kiss his wife. They seemed perfect together, as if they were made for each other, and Tana felt a pang of jealousy. She wondered how it would feel to be pregnant with Torren’s baby or if he even wanted kids. She already had the twins—what if he didn’t want any more kids? The thought of not having a baby with him made her sad, and she realized just how ridiculous she was being. They weren’t in a committed relationship, the ink hadn’t even dried on her divorce papers yet, and she was imagining herself pregnant with Torren’s baby. Tana realized that she had spaced out of their conversation—Tag and Torren were discussing something in a hushed whisper while Piper was talking about the nursery.
“Are you all right, Tana?” Piper asked, drawing her back to their conversation. Tana nodded and smiled, not wanting to admit what she was daydreaming about. “Please don’t take this the wrong way, but you seem a little out of sorts,” Piper said. Piper’s concern was touching, but Tana was just dealing with a lot. She was hoping to have some alone time with Torren tonight to tell him that she was in love with him. Ever since he told her how he felt, she was being a chicken and hadn’t said it back. It was time to tell him that she felt the same way about him.
“I’ve just got a lot going on right now. I’m feeling a little distracted, sorry.” Torren smiled and slapped his twin brother on the back.
“Thanks for the offer, man. I’ll let you know.” Torren stood and took Tana’s hand, pulling her up into his arms.
“We need to talk,” he said. Her heart sank. Isn’t that what men said when they were about to break up with a woman? Torren chuckled, “Don’t even think that, honey.” Tana gasped.
“I didn’t say anything, did I?” Torren smiled and led her back onto the dance floor for the slow song that the DJ started playing. He pulled her snug against his body, and she could feel his every muscle. He smiled down at her and winked when she gasped at the feeling of his erection pushing into her belly.
“You didn’t need to say anything, baby. I could tell exactly what you were thinking. Your facial expressions give you away every time. We need to talk, it doesn’t mean let’s break up. Hell, you’ll never hear anything close to those words come out of my mouth. I told you, honey, I’m in love with you.” Tana opened her mouth, wanting to say it back, but then pressed her lips together. “It’s okay, honey. You’ll get there. I know you have been through a hell of a lot lately, but I won’t hide the way I feel about you.” He dipped his head and kissed her mouth, working her lips open to find her tongue with his. She knew that people were watching them, but she didn’t care. If Torren wanted to show the whole town that they were a couple, who was she to stop him? He broke the kiss, leaving her breathless.
“I wanted to talk to you about the girls spending the night at Tag’s cabin with him and Piper tonight. They will also have Sadie and the twins love her.” Tana looked over to find Beth and Sarah making faces at Sadie as her grandmother tried to feed her in her highchair. She was quite distracted by the girls, and Tana almost felt bad for Sadie’s grandma.
“I don’t know,” she hesitated. “What if Matt—” Torren held his big hand up to her mouth, effectively stopping her next words.
“He won’t,” Torren barked. “I would never send them somewhere that they would be in danger. Sawyer will be guarding Piper and Tag’s cabin. He’s Piper’s head of security as well as the town’s sheriff. He won’t leave her side until she has that baby, since paparazzi from New York have resurfaced trying to get a shot of the heiress’s baby for Page Six.” Torren shook his head, seeming disgusted by the whole thing. “The twins will be safe, and we can have a night to ourselves.” He bobbed his eyebrows, causing her to giggle. It did sound kind of nice, a whole night to themselves. She and Torren never had that. They snuck around and locked their doors, being extra careful about making sure the girls didn’t walk in on them. She looked back over to where her daughters were playing with Sadie and nodded.
“All right,” she agreed. “I’ll let them spend the night at Tag and Piper’s.” She looked back up at Torren and smiled.
“Thank you, honey.” He pulled her up his body, kissing her mouth. Now she was certain that others were watching, her daughters included.
“Mommy, can I dance with Mr. Torren?” Sarah asked shyly. Tana couldn’t say no to sharing her favorite guy with her daughter. Watching him spin first Sarah and then Elizabeth around the dance floor melted her heart. She stood in the corner of the dance floor, not able to stop smiling at her daughters’ giggles and claps at every silly thing Torren did.
“You know, I’ve never seen my brother so happy,” Tag said, startling her.
“Well, I have to say that your brother makes me pretty happy, too. My girls adore him, and I—” She caught herself before she told Tag that she was in love with Torren. Tag looked so much like Torren, yet they were very different. Torren was less reserved than Tag, even a little goofy compared to Tag’s controlled persona. She looked back over to Torren dancingaround with both girls and giggled. She liked the way he wasn’t embarrassed to be seen playing and being silly with her twins. They could use a little silly—they had both been through so much already.
“I know that you are going through a tough time right now, Tana. I just hope you’ll give him a chance.” Tag nodded in Torren’s direction. “He’s head over heels for you, and that’s truly something. My brother has never stayed with one woman for very long. Hell, I’m sure you’ve heard the rumors around town—he was a player.”
Tana barked out her laugh. “He was a man whore,” she said. Tag held up his hands as if in defeat. “I won’t argue with you on that point— he was. But he’s changed, and I believe you changed him. I just don’t want to see him get hurt.” Tana knew that Tag meant well, but she felt awkward talking about her and Torren’s relationship with him.
“The last thing I would ever want to do is hurt him, Tag.” He nodded and bent to kiss her cheek. “Thank you, Tana.” She felt her blush.
“Lips off my woman,” Torren growled from behind Tana, and she turned to find her girls in Torren’s arms, their arms strewn around his neck. From the smile on his face, she could tell that he was just giving his brother a hard time.
“Yeah, yeah. You have no worries in that department—she only seems to have eyes for you, man.” Tag took Sarah from Torren, and she willingly went to him, wrapping her arms around his neck. “The twins and I were talking, and they would love to come over to stay with you and Pipe and Sadie if that is still okay with you guys.” Torren looked back and forth between Tag and her, and Tana nodded. Tag high-fived both girls and told them how much fun they were going to have. Tana didn’t have the heart to break it to him that they would probably be asleep before they even reached Tag’s cabin up on the mountain.
Piper joined them and rubbed her belly. “The kid and I are ready to head home whenever you are. Sunny understands that I’m done in, and she and Aaron are leaving soon anyway. You want to grab Sadie and her bag?” Piper asked. Tag handed Sarah back to Torren, and both girls lay their heads on his shoulder. Tana smiled as he gently kissed both of their little heads.
“Oh, what about pajamas?” Tana worried.
Piper giggled, “They can sleep in one of my pre-maternity T-shirts if that is okay with you? I always have extra toothbrushes, and I’m sure we can figure out the rest. When they wake up in the morning, Tag can make us all his famous chocolate chip pancakes, and then you guys can come up whenever you are ready.” Piper winked at Torren, causing him to bark out his laugh.
“Subtle Pipe, thanks,” Torren said.
“Thank you, Piper. I appreciate the night off. I haven’t had one of those in ages. Hopefully, we can return the favor soon.” Tana rubbed Piper’s belly, feeling that same longing from earlier. She shook her head, trying to clear the image of herself pregnant with Torren’s baby from her mind.
They loaded the kids into Piper’s SUV. Sawyer and Lorna followed in their vehicle with little Henry in the back seat, already asleep in his car seat. “They are going to have their hands full tonight,” Torren chuckled. “Serves Tag right for getting me a puppy.” Tana shook her head at the way the two seemed to like to poke at each other.
“Speaking of puppies, what do you say we head back home and let Tucker do his business, and then I have a little surprise planned for you,” Torren said. Tana liked the way Torren’s eyes flared when he got excited. He was like a kid on Christmas morning, especially when it came to surprising Tana. They said their goodbyes to the bride and groom and dashed Torren’s pickup truck. He couldn’t seem to whisk her out of the receptionfast enough. He helped her up into the cab of his truck and slid in next to her on the driver’s side.
