She nodded her head, “Yeah, if you’d like. You probably didn’t plan on dinner since you just got home, and I made enough. It’s lasagna, by the way.” He looked over at her stove, where the pan of pasta covered in cheese sat cooling, and his stomach growled. Lasagna was one of his favorite meals, and spending time with Tana and her girls was a bonus. Since he asked her to go to the wedding, she distanced herself from him. Hell, maybe it was the scorching kiss that they shared in hiskitchen before his cookout that had her taking a step back. He knew that Tana didn’t have an easy relationship with her ex, but he was starting to wonder how tumultuous their marriage was. If he had to guess, her asshole ex-husband abused her, and that made him furious. He didn’t want to push her, but a part of him wished she would let him in—which was crazy. Six months ago, he wouldn’t have cared less about any of Tana’s past relationships—he was only looking for one thing. New Torren was a hell of a lot more caring than old Torren, and he wasn’t sure how to proceed in getting to know Tana or her girls. Old Torren would have already had her in his bed and would have moved on to his next conquest. New Torren was mapping out the whole dating scene, and he was finding himself a bit lost.
“It’s just dinner, Torren. If you already have plans, don’t worry about it.” She tried to take the plate back from him, and he tightened his hold.
“I’d like to stay, thank you.” Torren smiled and helped her finish setting the table. The girls came running into the kitchen, shouting that they had washed up.
“We made you cookies, Mr. Torren. But, you have to eat all of your dinner, including the salad.” Sarah made a disgusted face and then continued. “Mom won’t let you have dessert if you don’t eat your veggies.” Torren laughed at Sarah’s displeasure at eating vegetables.
“I love veggies, so no problem there. Thanks, Sarah.” Torren messed the girl’s hair, making her giggle. He helped her into her seat and then held out Beth’s seat, scooting her up to the kitchen table. He took the warm pan of lasagna from Tana and set it on the table, then pulled out her chair for her.
“You made me cookies?” Tana nodded and sat down in her seat, scooting herself into the table. Torren let his hand brush hers and didn’t miss her shiver at his touch. He rounded the little kitchen table and sat on the other end across from Tana.She helped the girls fill their plates, and Torren marveled at how normal the whole scene felt, reminding him of the family dinners that his grandfather insisted on when he and Tag were younger.
Dane was a stickler for spending time together at the beginning and end of each day, something that he missed the most after his grandpa died. Tag and he moved in together, but the two were a little lost without their grandfather’s guidance. They might have lived in the same condo, but they both led very different lives.
When Tag met Piper, Torren felt like he was spiraling out of control. He started bringing home women in pairs and then in groups, not caring about them or what they wanted from him. He only thought about forgetting his loneliness, if just for one night. But he never really found what he was looking for. When Piper and Tag announced that they were having a baby, he knew that if he didn’t change his ways sooner or later, he’d alienate himself from his brother and his family. He wanted to be a part of their lives, not find ways to push Tag and his new family away. That was when he decided to buy his house and take on the project of not only remodeling his home but also his life. He learned to work through his loneliness and find a new normal. Torren liked his alone time. Although having Tucker around kept him busy now, he was settling into being alone. Maybe he was growing up, but at almost thirty-one years old, it was about damn time. Beth smiled at Torren, flashing her dimples that mirrored her mother’s.
“I helped to make the cookies, Mr. Torren.” Her smile beamed at him just before she turned to stick her tongue out at Sarah, who immediately started squawking about her sister being mean until Tana put her foot down.
“Girls, do you need to go to your room without finishing dinner?” Both of her daughters shook their heads and kept theireyes on their plates. Torren couldn’t help his chuckle, and Tana mean-mugged him. He held his hands up, as if in defense.
“Hey, I just think they’re pretty darn cute, is all.” Tana pointed her fork at him. “You are encouraging bad behavior, Torren. I can’t have you laughing at my adorable daughters every time I discipline them.” The mention of Tana disciplining anyone had Torren’s cock standing at attention. He knew that wasn’t supposed to turn him on, but it did. He found that a good many things about Tana turned him on, and he wasn’t quite sure what to do about it. She seemed to be attracted to him—he noticed her little shivers every time his hand brushed her skin or the way her eyes darkened and she leaned into him when he got a little too close to her. His favorite was the way she responded to him when he kissed her in his kitchen. If he had to guess, it was a long time since anyone touched Tana that way, and that one, single thought kept him hard. He even spent the last few nights masturbating to the memories of the way she moaned into his mouth and let him stroke his tongue over hers. He thought of all the other places on her sexy little body that he wanted to run his tongue over. A groan escaped his chest, and he realized that all three of his dinner dates were watching him with renewed interest.
“You all right, Torren?” Tana smirked, and he knew that she could pretty much guess what he was thinking about.
“Yep, just thinking about how good your lasagna tastes,” he lied. “It’s probably the best I’ve ever had.” Tana barked out a laugh, letting him know that she didn’t believe him.
“Oh, I’m sure you’ve tasted plenty of other lasagnas. Mine can’t possibly hold a candle to others that I’ve noticed around town.” Torren did a double-take, and Tana looked back down at her plate.Fuck. She was in town long enough to hear about his reputation. Plenty of people were betting against him, waiting for him to fall into his old ways. Every day, he fielded calls fromscores of old flames, hoping that he was back on the dating scene and ready to take them up on their offers of a night he’d never forget. But he didn’t back down—he had come too far to fall into his old ways. Besides, he liked the way things were progressing with Tana, and he wanted to see where they would end up. They ate the rest of their dinner in silence until Tana stood and cleared her plate.
“Girls, finish up and take Tucker out to the yard to go potty. The poor little guy can’t last too long without having an accident in his crate.” Torren didn’t like the way Tana was shutting him out. One minute, she was handing him a plate, asking him to stay for dinner, and the next, she was pretending that he was public enemy number one. The twins did as their mother asked, grabbing Tuck and heading out the back door. Tana set to work washing dishes, and Torren sighed. He stood, letting his chair scrape across the hardwood floor, and crossed the tiny kitchen to put his plate in the sink. “I’ll dry,” he offered. Tana nodded and handed him a towel. “I’m sorry that you’ve heard rumors about me. I’m guessing that is what has you all worked up.” He took a plate from her, and Tana huffed out her breath.
“I’m not all worked up, Tor. I’m upset that I let myself believe that you wanted to take me on a date. Was I always going to be just another conquest for you? Am I another notch in your bedpost?” Torren wanted to laugh at the way she was asking him if he wanted to have sex with her, but he knew better. He threw the towel onto her counter and pulled her into his arms, soapy hands and all. She squealed in protest, but then let herself melt against him.
“You have to understand that’s the old me, Tana,” Torren whispered. She met his gaze, and he felt dizzy with need for her, but now was not the time to act like a giant caveman and haul her up to her bedroom to have his way with her. For one, her daughters were just out the back door.
“So, everything I’ve heard in town is true? Because if it is, I just don’t know that I can be involved with you. I can’t let my bad decisions affect my girls.” He hated that she thought of him as a bad decision. Sure, he wasn’t as pure as the driven snow, but he guessed that she wasn’t either. Although she was probably the sweetest damn woman that he had ever met, and he’d do just about anything not to hurt her. Maybe she was right—maybe he needed to just walk away from Tana and her girls, let them move on with their lives, and pretend he never met them. Could he just forget her, though? Probably not. Torren shook his head.
“I’m so sorry, Tana. I should have warned you about what people would tell you once they found out that we are going to Aaron and Sunny’s wedding together. To answer your question—probably.” She looked up at him, confusion covered her beautiful face, and he wanted to kiss the adorable little lines that crossed the bridge of her nose between her eyes.
“I’m not following you. Probably what?” Torren nodded again, stroking one of his hands up and down her back. He didn’t want their conversation to end for fear that she would make him release her. Especially when she felt so right in his arms.
“Yeah, the things that they said about me are probably true. I’m assuming you heard people call me a man whore, and they wouldn’t be wrong. But that was the old me,” he said.
She nodded, “Go on,” she coaxed.
“When Tag and Pipe told everyone earlier this year that they were expecting a baby, I decided that I needed to make some changes myself. I purchased the house and fixed it up and—well, I stopped seeing women,” Torren admitted.
“What do you mean by stopped seeing them?” Tana questioned.
“I just stopped—no contact whatsoever. I didn’t call anyone to come over or hook up with someone when I went out to a bar. I decided that I wanted to settle down, make changes, and findwhat my brother and all my friends have found.” Tana looked at him as if she didn’t trust a word he was saying.
“I want to believe you, really, I do. But I learned the hard way that people just don’t change, Torren. I was married to a man who promised me that he would change over and over, but he never did. The girls and I paid the price. I’m not sure that I can go through that again.” Torren wanted to push her to tell him what happened with her ex, but he didn’t want to seem as if he was trying to take the focus off himself. She was right—what guarantee could he give her that he was a different man than what the local townspeople painted him to be?
“I get it, honey. I do. It takes a lot for me to trust people, too. I’m shitty at letting people get close to me. All I’m asking for is a chance here. If I fuck up, you can send me packing, and I won’t even ask you to watch Tuck anymore,” he teased.
Tana giggled, “Wow, Tor, that’s big of you. If you screw up, I get to kick you to the curb and your little puppy, too?” Torren laughed and wrapped his arms around Tana, loving that she let him. She sighed against his chest, and they stood like that for what seemed like forever.
“I’m willing to give you a chance, Torren. But I don’t want to drag my girls into this. What happens between us can’t touch them. They can’t even know that we are dating or whatever it is that we are going to call this.” Tana leaned back to look him in the eyes. “You’re going to have to be good at sneaking around—can you handle that?” Tana asked.
Torren nodded, “I used to want to be a spy like James Bond when I was a kid. This will be fun.” Tana shook her head at his analogy.
