Unplugging the phone, she held it close to her face and saw it was a text from her mom.
“Who texts you at six a.m.?” Tank asked, his voice gruff from sleep and very, very sexy.
“My mother. I’m usually up by this time, getting ready for work. I forgot to text her last night.” McKenna quickly replied with a simple, “Good morning,” not bothering to read her mother’s messages.
“You text her every night?”
“Not every night, but she knew I was going to the pub with you to see Hunter perform. I’m guessing she expected me to call and give her all the details.”
“Is she a Hunter fan too?”
“I’m pretty sure every woman with eyes and ears is a Hunter fan, Tank.”
He shifted toward her, wrapping a strong arm around her waist so he could pull her flush against him. “If you wanted a morning quickie, Mouse, all you had to do was ask. No need to try to make me jealous.”
She laughed, trying—and failing—to swat him away. “You used all the condoms.”
Four. Of. Them.
In one night.
Tank had told her they would, but she hadn’t truly believed him. At least not until he’d roused from a deep and dreamless sleep. Tank’s fingers had been slowly sliding in and out of her soaking-wet pussy. She didn’t know how long he’d been playing with her, so she didn’t know if that arousal was the result or if drenched-and-ready-to-roll was just becoming her permanent state around him.
She had half-heartedly grumbled about being sleepy. Mercifully, he’d ignored her, slipping on the last condom and taking her hard and fast, both of them coming within minutes.
Her phone pinged again.
“Was she worried about you getting home okay?” he asked.
McKenna shook her head. “Nope. She’s got my location on Find My Friends, so she probably knew the second I got in last night.”
He chuckled. “Your mom stalks you?”
McKenna twisted to her back, loving the way Tank’s hand casually lifted, cupping her breast as if they’d been in this position a thousand times before. “I’m a twenty-four-year-old woman who lives alone in a big city. I prefer to think of it as she’s looking out for me. The same way I look out for her. Because I have her location, too.”
“Do you have to check up on your mom a lot?”
“Not really, but I miss her. So there’s some comfort in clicking on her location a few times a day, just to feel connected to her. Not that there’s ever any big surprises as far as where she is. During the day, she’s at work. On Thursday afternoons, she’s at a local pub for happy hour with the girls from her office. One Saturday a month, she’s at Melanie Johnson’s house for her monthly book club meeting, and then there are the times when she goes out on dates. Those nights I do stalk her, just to make sure she gets home okay.”
“That’s sweet,” he said, and she could tell he meant it. “It’s nice that you look out for each other.”
“Oh, I’m way easier to keep track of than her. Unlike me, my mom goes on dates all the time. She’s just got one of those personalities.”
Tank tucked his arm under the pillow, his hand drifting down to rest on her stomach. “What do you mean?”
McKenna placed her hand on top his, toying with his fingers. “Mom is vivacious, the life of every party. Men tend to flock around her because she’s intelligent, fun, and she’s got a wicked sense of humor.”
“And you think you don’t have that kind of personality?”
McKenna snorted. “You’ve been out with me, Tank. You know perfectly well I’m not the life of any party. I’m more likely to blend in with the wallpaper.”
Tank lifted his upper body, supporting it on his crooked elbow. “Mouse, we could be in a room with a thousand people right now, and you’d be the only person I’d see.”
She froze for a moment, searching for a response to that because…wow. Finally, she just gave him a grin. “Smooth,” she teased.
Tank didn’t smile, his expression too serious. “McKenna. I know you think I’m a player, and I get that you would assume every word from my mouth is just a line I use to get into a woman’s pants. But I’ve never said a thing to you that wasn’t true, and nothing I say is just because I want to take you to bed.”
McKenna bit her lower lip, the damn thing suddenly wobbly. Probably because that was the sweetest, most amazing thing anyone had ever said to her. He looked at her, waiting for some sort of reply, but all she could manage was a nod because her throat was suddenly tight.
