He nudged her with his shoulder.“How about you, anybody special in high school or college?”
She wondered what he would say if he knew she’d never finished high school, much less gone to college, but that she had an IQ higher than ninety-nine percent of the world’s population.
Yet another thing that made her abnormal.
“No, I pretty much kept to myself.”
Fortunately, before he could dig into that information, they arrived at the apartment.Risk Peak wasn’t that big, even walking.
“Thanks for your help.You know you don’t have to do this every day, right?I mean, what are the chances of something happening between here and the diner?It’s probably not necessary.”
She took Beth’s carrier and handed him the key, as had become their habit, and waited as he checked out the tiny apartment for possible intruders.A moment later he was back.Her apartment wasn’t that big.
“All clear?”she asked.
“Yep.”He took Christian’s carrier this time, the baby thankfully asleep, and followed her inside.
“I just feel like I’m wasting your time.I know you have a lot of responsibilities, and walking me from one safe place to another safe place down a perfectly safe street seems like a waste of taxpayers’ money.”
Tanner set Christian’s carrier down on the table and gently unbuckled him.“Playpen?”
“Yes, please.”So far, Tanner had been the only one who had the magic touch with Christian, able to soothe him and, more importantly, move him from the carrier to the playpen that served as his crib without waking him up.
Watching Tanner’s big hands carry the baby so tenderly and securely, his attention entirely focused on the tiny body in his care...
Her breath caught.If Bree had ever let herself dream about what the perfect future would look like, this would’ve been it.A strong, gorgeous man, holding a child with such care and concern.
But these weren’t her children.And he definitely wasn’t her man.
And letting herself dream was only going to make all of this so much worse when she finally woke up.
Bree moved Beth into the playpen next to her brother.That little angel never made a peep, even though her big eyes blinked open once before closing again.
She closed the door to the bedroom and walked with him toward the kitchen.
“Like I was saying, it’s not a good idea for you to walk me home.”
He raised an eyebrow.“We’ve gone from ‘probably not necessary’ to ‘not a good idea’ in under a minute.”
“I just...”She let out a sigh.“You’ve just got to have better things to do than to walk here with me every day.Dan could do it, or that other deputy...”
“Ronnie.”
“Yeah, Ronnie.He could make sure I was okay.”Her voice was getting a little loud and higher pitched, so she forced herself to rein it in.Why was she getting upset when making this simple request?
Tanner leaned against the wall with one shoulder and crossed his arms over his chest.His head tilted to the side as he studied her.“Do you lie when we talk, Bree?”
“What?”
He shrugged with one shoulder.“Just wondering if you tell me the truth when we talk.I know there’s stuff you don’t tell me, and while I don’t like it, I do understand.Like today, when I asked if you have brothers or sisters and you said no, was that the truth?”
“Yes.”
“So you tell me the truth when you can?”
Her eyes narrowed.“Yes.But I don’t understand what you’re getting at.”
“Twenty-four.Teal.Strawberry.Venice.A Wrinkle in Time.Security gate guard.The Matrix.”
