“You’re leaving?” He looked down at her, and she thought for just a moment that he seemed hurt. “I hope that my friends didn’t upset you,” he growled.
“No, not at all. Your friends are lovely, Torren. I just need to get the girls home for baths and bed. We have an early start in the morning.” Torren released his pent-up breath and suddenly seemed nervous. In the handful of times that she talked to him, she never saw him be anything but completely confident. She reached out to gently lay her hand on his arm, not expecting the almost tangible electric current that ran back through her fingers and up her body.
“We had a lovely time,” Tana whispered, looking over to where her girls were chasing lightning bugs again. “Thank you for inviting us.”
“You’re welcome, I’m glad that you three could make it. I’ll return your bowl tomorrow,” he offered.
“It’s not a rush.” Tana removed her hand from Torren’s big arm and turned to leave.
“Aaron and Sunny are getting married,” he shouted. Tana turned and stared at Torren, not knowing what to say. She already heard all about the wedding from Sunny and found it odd that Torren would just shout that news at her while she was leaving.
“I know,” Tana said.
“It’s in a few weeks,” Torren shouted back. She decided to walk back over to where he was trying to corral the puppy back into his yard. Shouting their conversation wasn’t working for her since she tried not to shout unless the girls were misbehaving. Come to think of it, she shouted quite a bit, but showing that side of herself to people she had just met wasn’t going to happen.
“Yes, Torren, I’ve already had this conversation with Sunny.” She wanted to ask him if he had a point with all his random comments, but she didn’t want to seem rude. Tana decided to wait him out, and maybe they could get to the bottom of this discussion. She wanted to get the girls in bed and settle in for the night.
“Go with me—to the wedding? The girls are welcome too. I’d like for the three of you to be my date,” Torren whispered. He looked around the yard, and she did the same. Torren groaned when he realized that everyone was watching them. “Great, now they’re going to give me some shit.” The girls giggled, and Tana sighed.
“Language, Torren.” Tana knew that scolding him for saying the same words that she did in front of her daughters was hypocritical, but she was trying to buy herself a few minutes to think about his question. Did she want to go to Sunny’s wedding with Torren, or was saying yes to the most delicious man she ever met a stupid idea? She was guessing that the latter was true, but she didn’t care. A night out sounded like a dream, and a night out with Torren was more than she ever thought possible. She knew that people would talk, but she didn’t care. Tana was jumping on the gossip train with both feet.
“Yes, I’d love to. I will see if I can find a sitter for the girls. I could use an adult night out if that’s okay with you?” Torren gifted her with his sexy smile, and she couldn’t help but return it.
“Really?” Torren seemed surprised that she said yes, and she found his reaction endearing.
“Yep, really.” She turned to leave again, calling the girls along with her. She knew that it was cliché, but she turned and shot Torren a look back over her shoulder and smiled when she caught him watching her walk away. Yeah, going on a date with Torren was a bad idea. Fun—but a bad idea.
Torren wasn’t sure if he was overstepping, but he couldn’t resist saying yes to a free playhouse when his friend asked him if he knew of anyone who wanted one for their kids. He jumped on the offer and immediately thought of Tana’s twins playing in the little pink house, or at least he thought of it as pink. Right now, it was more of a washed-out, faded red. He picked up a gallon of paint, and with a little elbow grease, they would have a cute little pink castle to play in.
He hoped that just showing up at Tana’s home with the playhouse strapped to the back of his pickup truck wouldn’t piss her off too much. They only knew each other for a short time, and he didn’t want to push her into something that she wasn’t ready for. Still, he couldn’t believe how completely out of control Tana made him feel—she caught him off guard. He pulled up to the front of her little house, and by the time he got out of his truck, Beth and Sarah were out in the front yard, squealing with delight about the playhouse. He looked up from where the twins were hugging his legs and found Tana smiling at him from the front door.
He waved. “I brought the girls a little something.” He was hoping that her smile would stay in place and breathed a little sigh of relief when she nodded.
“That’s so nice of you, Tor. But we can’t accept it—it’s just too much.” The twins booed and hissed their displeasure at their mother, almost like they were heckling a comedy performance.
“Well,” he said, clearing his throat to quiet the girls, “it didn’t cost me anything. So, it’s technically not too much since it was free. A friend of mine was getting rid of it, and I thought that thegirls would like to have it.” He smiled down at the twins as they danced and cheered around him.
“Oh, well then, I guess we should say thank you,” Tana said. The girls looked up at Torren and started thanking him, still dancing around him.
“It does come with one catch. It needs to be cleaned up and to get a coat of paint. I figured pink was going to be the color of choice, so I went ahead and picked that up.” Tana’s smile was back in place, and she went up on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. He could feel his skin heat and was pretty sure that he was blushing.
“I know exactly where we can put it, thank you.” Tana grabbed his hand and led him to her little fenced-in backyard to show him just where it could go. Torren called Tag and Aaron over to give him a hand with unloading the playhouse, and they stuck around to help him. Tana and the girls spruce it up. By the time they finished and the guys headed out, he found himself sitting on Tana’s cozy patio with her, watching as the girls chase Tucker around her yard. The damn puppy spent the better part of the evening trying to eat rocks and rubbing against the wet, pink paint. Tucker had a pink streak running down most of his left half, but the little troublemaker didn’t seem fazed. He was currently trying to run away from the twins while carrying a stick that was four times his size. Tana giggled, pulling his attention back to her.
“They love him, but he is a whole lot of trouble.” She seemed mesmerized by the chaotic scene, but he couldn’t take his eyes off her. She was so fucking beautiful; he found it hard to breathe when he was around her. He knew that he was acting like a love-sick schoolboy, but he didn’t care. He wanted Tana—that was obvious by the erection that he sported most of the time she was near him. But the fact that he liked hanging out with her and her daughters threw him off guard. He usually ran the other waywhen women wanted to spend any time with him outside of bed. Torren wasn’t sure what to think about this new side of himself, but he was willing to figure it out. One thing he did know was that every time he was away from Tana, he couldn’t wait to see her again. He found himself even trying to come up with excuses to see her and her girls.
“Thanks for tonight, Tor.” Tana smiled sweetly at him, causing his heart to stutter. Torren didn’t trust his words; he just nodded at her. He wondered if he ever had a chance of resisting his beautiful neighbor, but it didn’t matter now. He wanted Tana; he just needed to persuade her to give him a chance, and taking her to Sunny and Aaron’s wedding was turning out to be the best idea he had had in a long time. Sooner or later, he’d have his chance with her. Torren just hoped he wouldn’t blow it.
CHAPTER THREE
Torren spent the next few days taking out groups and manning the store. Tag took Piper on a last-minute trip that he was calling a “babymoon”. The whole thing seemed ridiculous, but Torren was happy that his brother seemed so happy. Before they knew it, Tag and Piper’s baby would be there, and they would all need to make some adjustments. He was going to be an uncle, and that thought terrified him. He was never any good around kids, but he was excited to try his hand at being the cool uncle. He took Tucker over to Tana two days ago, before he left on a little hiking trip with a group. He was going to stop by the grocery store on his way home and then pick the puppy up. Just the thought of seeing Tana made his stomach flip-flop, and fuck, that made him feel like a complete wuss. The wedding was a little more than a week away, and he couldn’t wait to pick Tana up for their “adult” date. He was happy for just the two of them to spend some time together, but he was serious about taking the girls with them to the wedding. Tana’s girls were starting to grow on him, and he was pretty sure that Tucker was completely in love with them both.
Torren finally made it back to his house and felt just about ready to collapse. He threw his gear in the mudroom and hit the shower. By the time he got over to Tana’s to pick up his puppy, it was dinner time. He felt a little guilty about interrupting their dinner, but he wanted to grab Tucker and head home to bed. Torren rang the doorbell and smiled to himself when he heard Tucker’s yap followed by a chorus of groans and the girls crying that they wanted his puppy to stay longer. Tana pulled her front door open and smiled at him, chaos raining down behind her.
“Tell me that it hasn’t been like this for the past two days,” Torren asked, following her into her little house and back to her kitchen. Tana told him that she was only renting the house, but she made it feel like a home with all her quirky art. His personal favorites were the girls’ artwork that she framed and hung in the kitchen.
“Well, life with twin four-year-olds and a puppy isn’t boring, let’s just leave it at that.” Tana handed him a dinner plate and smiled up at him. “You are just in time for dinner. We were about to put Tucker in his crate and sit down to eat,” Tana said. Torren looked down at his hand holding the brightly colored plate and back at Tana as if he didn’t understand. Honestly, he felt a little slow on the uptake.
“You’re inviting me to dinner?” he questioned. The girls were shouting Tucker’s name, trying to corral him into his crate that sat in the corner of Tana’s kitchen.
