“You can kiss me if you want,” Tana whispered. Torren ducked his head down and gently ran his lips over hers, not wanting to push her too much. When she gasped into his mouth and parted her lips, he took that as a sign that he could take things a little further, deepening the kiss and allowing his tongue to find hers. Kissing Tana felt right, like finding his home. Tag laughed and cleared his throat, letting them both know that they had company.
“Sorry to interrupt, guys, but I have a whole train of people coming in behind me.” Tana squealed and hid behind Torren, causing Tag another chuckle. Torren found the whole scene a lot less funny, and from Tana’s position, hiding behind his big body, she wasn’t amused either. “You want to introduce me to your girl?” Tag asked. Tag’s smug smile felt like a challenge, andTorren found himself wanting to punch the smirk right off his brother’s face.
“I’m not his girl, I’m Tana. I live across the street,” she squeaked.
Tag held his hand out. “I’m Tag Harrison, Torren’s twin brother.” Tana hesitated, then eventually shook Tag’s hand and retreated to Torren’s side. He liked the way she sought him out for comfort. Piper waddled into the kitchen and introduced herself, and Tana seemed to relax a little. Tag and Piper introduced her around the room, and Torren loved the way his friends accepted Tana and her girls being there with their core group. The women swept her off into the backyard to talk about God only knew what because they always seemed to mystify Torren.
“So, you’ve been holding out on me. You’re seeing someone and didn’t tell me?” Tag questioned. Torren sighed, knowing that Tag, Aaron, and Sawyer were all going to ride his ass about Tana being there. Tag walking in during their steamy kiss was going to give his brother material to work with for days. Torren wouldn’t take that kiss back for anything, though, even with all the shit his brother was going to give him.
“We just met a few days ago. She watched the puppy for me, and she seems nice,” Torren said. Aaron clapped him on the back, and Torren shot him a dirty look.
“Well, it’s good to see you back in the saddle, Tor,” he joked.
“Shut the fuck up, Aaron. There’s no saddle, and I’m not back in anything. You three need to mind your own fucking business,” he barked. When he noticed all four women looking over at them, standing by the grill, he realized that he was being a little louder than he wanted. “Tana is a nice woman, and you three need to leave her the fuck alone,” he whispered.
Sawyer held up his hands in surrender. “I didn’t say a word.”
“No, but I can bet that you were next. It was just a kiss.” Torren knew that he was lying because that kiss wasn’t just anything. Kissing Tana felt like magic, but he wasn’t about to admit that to his brother and two best friends.
“All we’re saying is that it’s good to see you with such a nice woman. She’s not your usual type,” Aaron said. He flipped the burgers and shot Torren a smile. “It’s about time that you got knocked off your ass by a hot woman. We’ll go easy on you when you join our little club. We promise—not too much hazing or crazy antics. Our women won’t allow it.” Aaron looked over to where Sunny sat holding Sadie and smiled. His friend seemed so happy, it was almost painful to witness. “Speaking of weddings,” Tag said, nudging Torren, “you bringing Tana?”
Torren shrugged. “I haven’t given it much thought. Until our kiss in the kitchen just now, I wasn’t sure how Tana felt about me. I thought she was afraid of me.” Tag laughed again, slapping his brother’s back.
“From what I saw, Tor, she didn’t look too afraid of anything while you were kissing her,” Tag teased. Torren shook his head, still pissed that he was caught kissing Tana. It was his fault for not being able to control himself, even knowing that the whole gang was on their way over. “Well, you should think about bringing her, she seems nice,” Tag sobered, and Torren snuck another look in Tana’s direction. She was holding Henry, laughing at something Sunny said, and God, she took his breath away.
“Yeah, I’ll think about it,” Torren grumbled.
Tana loved the way the group of women seemed to accept her so easily. They were sitting in the back of Torren’syard, where the trees from the forest met his fence, watching the lightning bugs as her girls danced around trying to catch them. Tucker chased the twins, yapping and jumping, making them both giggle. It was perfect and made Tana feel an odd sense of sadness because this wasn’t her life. These weren’t her friends, and Torren wasn’t hers either, despite a scorching kiss in his kitchen earlier. If Tana allowed herself to close her eyes for two minutes and dream about what she hoped her life would look like, tonight would be it.
“So, Tana, I hear that you took over one of my jobs at the library,” Lorna said. Lorna was holding her newborn son, Henry, and Tana suddenly felt the spotlight on her, and she squirmed uncomfortably. The three women were so busy talking about babies and stretch marks that she just allowed herself to sit quietly and listen. She wasn’t much of a talker, and that was probably why being a librarian was such a good fit for her. She nodded, hoping that would be enough to move the conversation onto the next topic and away from her.
“It’s a wonderful place to work. I was a librarian there until they had cutbacks a little over a year ago. I try to volunteer there still, but with the new baby and the ice cream shop, I’m swamped.” Lorna rocked little Henry, and Tana couldn’t help but think about her girls being that tiny. She missed that stage even with all its chaos—they were growing so fast.
“Sarah and Beth love your ice cream place and the bakery,” Tana said, smiling at Sunny, knowing that she owned the town’s bakery.
“How long have you been in town?” Piper asked. She sat across from her, and judging from the size of her belly, she was due any minute. Tana knew that she wasn’t going to get away with just a head nod for this one.
“The girls and I moved here a few months ago. I found the ad for a children’s librarian, and we needed a fresh start, so herewe are.” She tried to plaster her best smile on her face, but knew that she fell short, judging by the other women’s expressions.
“Do you like it here?” Sunny asked, standing to pass her baby off to Piper. The baby squealed and patted Piper’s face, making them all laugh.
“I like it well enough. The girls are settling in and love their preschool and dance class. It’s just hard making friends in a new town. We don’t know anyone here.” Tana scanned the yard to find the girls still playing with Tucker. She didn’t miss the fact that Torren and the other guys were watching the group of women, laughing and going on about something. They all seemed to be giving him a hard time; his expression soured until his eyes landed on hers, and he gifted her with the most beautiful smile she had ever seen. She wanted to hide—his stare felt personal, and the other women were watching her. Tana cleared her throat and turned her attention back to the ladies.
“Well, now you know us,” Sunny said. “We’d love to hang out and get to know you and the girls more.” Tana nodded again, not knowing how she felt about getting to know Torren’s friends. She knew that he made her feel things that she hadn’t felt for so long, but falling for someone like Torren Harrison wasn’t a good idea. He had quite a reputation in town for being a serial dater. Heck, she wasn’t sure she would call what he did with women “dating”. Being quiet and observant kept her out of trouble and out of the spotlight—so far. Matt finding her wasn’t an option. The last thing she wanted to do was draw undue attention to herself or her daughters. And she was pretty sure that dating Torren would earn her a ticket onto the gossip express that seemed to run through town.
“Are you seeing anyone?” Piper asked, handing Sadie back to Sunny and readjusting herself in the lawn chair. Tana shook her head, and Lorna giggled.
“We’re asking too many questions. Sorry, Tana, you’ll learn that we ask very personal questions that aren’t our business,” Lorna said. She shot Piper a dirty look, and Tana jumped to her defense. “No, it’s fine.” Tana fidgeted in her seat. “I don’t mind, I’m just not used to holding conversations with adults. The girls have been great with the move and settling into our new life here, but they can’t take the place of the friends and family that I left behind. I miss my mother.” Tana wanted to kick herself for sharing that last bit. She was usually careful about oversharing.
“Are the two of you close?” Sunny asked.
“Yes,” Tana said. “We were, but it’s not a good idea for me to contact her for the time being. It’s a long story.” Tana stood, smoothing her hands down her skirt. “I’m going to need to get the girls home. I have work in the morning, and they still need a bath before bed.” Tana tried her best smile again and turned to round up the twins. She wanted to run the rest of the way out of Torren’s house and back across the street to her own, but she didn’t want to seem rude.
The girls were less than happy about leaving the party and the puppy. She promised them that they would be able to play with Tucker soon enough since she caved and told Torren that she would keep the puppy when he took his next overnight group out. She just about got them out of the side gate when Torren stopped her.
“Hey, Tana,” he shouted. Torren jogged towards her, and every ounce of her wanted to run towards him and jump into his arms. She reached out and grabbed the fence post, steadying herself against the onslaught of hormones coursing through her overheated body.
“Yeah?” Her voice cracked, killing her chances of sounding casual. He stood so close to her that she wanted to take a step back, but didn’t. Instead, she leaned into his big body and God help her smelled him. Torren smelled like pine needlesand sunshine with a hint of cologne that she was guessing he splashed on that morning.
