Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 103356 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 517(@200wpm)___ 413(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103356 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 517(@200wpm)___ 413(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
“Why not?” he asked, genuinely confused.
“B-because it’s something personal. I don’t talk about things like that. Not with . . . not with you.” She glanced away, blushing.
Was she . . . embarrassed?
Nope. He wasn’t having that.
Picking her up, he carried her to the sofa and sat with her on his lap.
“Tanner,” she said with a sigh.
“If you’re about to complain about me picking you up and carrying you around, then just stop.”
“Just stop?”
“Yep. I want to do it and you look like you barely have the energy to blink, let alone walk. So just . . . let me take care of you, okay?” He tried to keep the frustration out of his voice but didn’t think he fully managed it.
“You don’t have to take care of me. We’re not . . . you and I aren’t . . .”
“Did you forget the conversation we just had about me claiming you?”
She buried her face into his chest with a groan. “I don’t have the energy to argue with you.”
“Good. Then don’t.”
“Tanner, I don’t know what’s happening here.”
“Yes, you do. You’re just in denial. We’ll work on that. As well as your inability to ask for help, your tendency to work too hard, and the fact that you don’t seem to be eating.”
She tensed in his arms.
Fuck. What if she’d grown so thin because she was ill? Or had an eating disorder?
He drew her back so he could stare down at her. “I know I’m not the most sensitive guy and I should likely handle this differently. But you need to know this. I am not going to let you hurt yourself.”
“I-I’m not.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” he replied, unsure it was true. “But if you were, you can tell me. I’ll hear you out. I’ll listen and I won’t judge.”
“Uh-huh. And then what will you do?” She gave him a skeptical look.
“I’ll do whatever I think is in your best interests.”
She sighed. “Even if I don’t like what you choose to do?”
He grinned. “You know me so well. I should have known you couldn’t stay away from me, that you’d turn up eventually. I mean, I am freaking irresistible.”
Lilac groaned. “You’re impossible, is what you are.”
“Impossible to resist.” He winked at her and lifted her off him before standing. “I want you to have a rest. I’ll bring back dinner too.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“If you’re mine, I take care of you. So yes, I do.”
“Well, just don’t go overboard, all right?”
“Who me?” He put his hand to his chest. “I will be restrained like always.”
He grinned as he left, listening to her groan.
21
“What’s all this?” Opal walked out of the room, carrying Kye. She stared around at the food in amazement.
“This is Tanner restraining himself, apparently,” Lilac replied dryly as she put away another bag of groceries.
“There’s enough food here to feed an army for a month.”
“Really?” Tanner said, eyeing the bags of food skeptically. “This is as much as Mia used to get when we were all living on the Ranch.”
“How many brothers do you have?” Opal asked.
“A lot. I’ve lost track.”
Whatever.
He was such a liar.
She reached down to put the milk in the bottom of the fridge. As she stood up, the room spun slightly.
“Lilac? You okay?” His arm went around her.
Okay? No, she didn’t think she was at all. Ryleigh was sick and not with them. Lilac had gone over to see her before, but Linc had told her that she was sleeping.
He’d been kind of cold and standoffish, which had hurt. Because she’d been starting to think of him as a friend.
She’d likely been fired from her job at the diner. And she didn’t know how she was going to earn the extra money they needed to fix Sugar.
Oh, and Tanner thought he was claiming her. God only knew what that meant exactly, but she had a feeling her life was about to change.
“I’m all right. Just stood up too quickly.”
“Right. Sit down. I’ve got pizza.” He ushered her over to the table.
“Pizza!” Opal put Kye down on his blanket on the floor, before digging into the pizza.
Lilac wished they could get him more things—stuff that other babies had. But they needed every cent at the moment.
However, she knew what the polite thing to do was. Even if she’d never have bought all these name brand items. What was Tanner thinking?
“How much do I owe you for the groceries?” she asked as Tanner grabbed a piece of pizza. “And for Ryleigh’s visit to the doctor?”
He froze.
That was a strange reaction.
“What did I say?” she asked.
“You’re not paying for the groceries,” Tanner said in a low growl. “Or the medical bill.”
“But . . . you can’t just buy us all this stuff and pay for the doctor.”
“I can. And we already had this conversation.”
They had?