Page 23 of Tanner (Dirty Misfits MC 5)
My eyes widened. “Fuck, I ruined it, didn’t I?”
Molly giggled as she placed her hand on my shoulder. “Not necessarily. We found out a couple of weeks ago. Things are a bit crazy with the crew right now, so we’ve been waiting to find a suitable time to talk about it with everyone.”
Tanner chuckled. “Well, congratulations to you both.”
I nodded. “Having a child is one of the hardest and most rewarding things you’ll ever do with your life.”
“Or so she says,” Tanner murmured.
The smile dropped from my face before Molly took my hand. “Why don't you come into the kitchen with me? When Tanner says ‘leftovers’, that means there’s still enough to feed an army.”
Tanner snickered. “Have you seen the size of these guys around here? We practically are an army.”
I was relieved when we made our way toward the kitchen, though, because I needed a bit of space after that word vomit with the father of my child.
“I know this is gonna sound really weird,” Molly said as she searched for bowls, “but I honestly feel really safe here while being pregnant. So, you don’t have anything to worry about, okay?”
I shook my head. “I-I-I’m not worried.”
She giggled. “Says the woman who can’t sleep or string a sentence together.”
I sat down at the kitchen table. “I just can’t help but think that I’d be safer with my sister in Santa Barbara. She’s a detective.”
She filled up our bowls and set them on the table. “Nah, here with the guys is much better. They’ve designed this place to be a fortress of defense. If anyone attempts to attack us here, it would take them ages to walk through all of these hallways and navigate their way through it. Then, there’s all of the traps that have been laid that are triggered once someone initiates emergency protocols.”
My eyebrows rose. “Where am I, Guantanamo?”
She barked with laughter before she sat down, passing me a bottle of water. “We might as well be, right? I’d take here over that clubhouse any day of the week, to be honest. It’s much, much safer here. I promise, you’ll be just fine. Okay?”
And if she was pregnant with those kinds of feelings, then maybe I didn’t have anything to worry about. Maybe staying here was safer than going to Sloane’s.
Because if Sloane got involved for any reason, she’d find out everything that happened at The Body Shop. And I sure as hell didn’t want her getting into all of that.
I need to talk to Tanner later.
Molly and I ate together and talked until our bowls were empty and our water ran dry. And as soon as my favorite childhood meal settled into my stomach, I excused myself so I could go take a nap. Sleep had finally found me, and I didn’t want to waste any time in getting some shut-eye before I had to make the final decision on what would happen with Cheyenne.
But I didn’t get past the living room before Tanner rushed up to my side.
“Where you headed?” he asked.
I yawned. “Back to bed. I’m a bit tired.”
“Let me walk you back, then. That way, you can crash into bed and leave the door-closing to me.”
I smiled. “Oh, my hero.”
He chuckled. “That’s all I ever wanted to be.”
It took all I had not to start crying before I tumbled into his arms. I needed to stay strong and stand as tall as possible, because the fate of my life as well as my daughter’s life sat on my ability to stay as strong as possible. But when we got to my room, the only thing I thought about was pulling Tanner into bed with me.
Especially when he scooped me into his arms and kissed me again.
“Mmmm, God,” I moaned down the back of his throat.
He growled down the back of my own, sending shivers up my spine. He pinned me against the doorframe, cupping my cheeks and sucking on my lower lip as my knees quivered with weakness. I wanted to straddle him. I wanted to lose myself in him. I wanted to make love to him until it was time to go get Cheyenne.
But before our clothes started coming off, Tanner pulled back. “Get some rest, beautiful. I’ll see you when you wake up.”
And as all of my feelings for him rushed back, I watched as he walked away. Back down the hallway toward his room like he didn’t just bring me back to life with his lips.
Which made me wonder if any of this was a good idea in the first place.
Eleven
Tanner
“Tan, you in there?”
Brooks’ voice woke me up before his fist connected with my door.
“Dude, it’s almost noon, and your girl’s out here starving.”
I rolled over onto my side. “First off, not my girl. Secondly, someone fix her something, damn.”
Then, Brooks opened my door. “Get your ass up and cook for her. Trust me, you’ll thank me later.”
