They spent the next hours talking about everything and nothing. And when he drove her home, he walked her to the door. She hadn’t been walked to her front door in ages. This was a unique front door, but it still counted. She decided on the spot.
“You’re not messing with me?” he asked. “You seriously live here?”
She slid her card against the security reader and waited for the door to click open. Then she opened it and let him in.
“Uh-huh. The commute is great.” The joke was stupid, but she gathered Tanner wouldn’t hold that against her.
He grinned. “I think I’m gonna kiss you now.”
“Well, you better.” She turned to him, stepping into his arms.
“Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah,” she murmured, lifting on her toes and brushing the tip of her nose against his.
With a gentle movement, he moved his mouth to the air above hers, brushing his lips lightly against the rose petal softness of her mouth. He sighed, and that was the end of the gentle. There was heat and passion as his mouth moved against hers.
She’d expected a lot of things from a Tanner lip lock, but the intensity was not one of them. The way he owned every bit of that kiss. And with it, every bit of her. She opened for him, let him move his tongue into her mouth. Encouraged it with her own as she gripped his shoulders and held him tight. He moved his hands to her hair, and she was nothing but putty he could mold.
When he was through and had his fill, he gave her a quick nose kiss before pulling away.
“I’m gonna be in the studio all week with the guys. It’ll be stupid intense. But next week we’re gonna have a little concert at Brek’s Bar. It’ll be small. Nothing big. I’d like it if you came.” He grinned a sly grin. “Bring Ashley. You can introduce her to the band.”
“I know what you did just there.”
“What’s that?”
“Well, now I have to come, because Ashley will figure out someday that I got an invitation and if I don’t go, then she can’t go and then she’ll never forgive me.” Hold up. “Unless she can come without me?”
“Package deal.” He touched the edge of her lips with the pad of his thumb. “You’ll need a wingman, and she gets you, yeah?”
“Yes,” she agreed.
How he understood that was precisely what she needed was a tad unsettling.
Nearly as unsettling as the quick glimpse of Babushka and Great Aunt Etta slipping off into the darkness of the hallway.
“I think we had an audience.”
“Let ’em watch,” he said. “It’s just us here.”
For the first time in a long time, Sam didn’t feel alone. And the safety net of Tanner felt like home.
Chapter Ten
TANNER
Studio weeks kickedhis ass and drug him like an emotional tumbleweed. He helped Bax and Knox with their lyrics. And since he was the guy who knew how to play bass, keyboard and drums, he became the catch-all in the studio for sound checks.
This was on a week without Sam. With Sam? He was still all of that, but also distracted by his cell.
He texted her nonstop.
She texted him right back.
They talked all the time about everything and absolutely nothing.
Flirty phone calls and even a few FaceTime sessions so she could tell him a joke, or he could sing her some of the lyrics he’d been working out with the guys. She helped him work out a few of the issues, but always humming. Never singing.
