Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 108124 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 541(@200wpm)___ 432(@250wpm)___ 360(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108124 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 541(@200wpm)___ 432(@250wpm)___ 360(@300wpm)
“Okay, Mom!”
As Alex ran off, Tanner walked up behind Presley at the sink. He put his hands on her shoulders, and I felt heat rise from my toes to the top of my forehead. “Levi and I will take care of all this, babe. You did all the cooking.”
Presley turned around, effectively forcing his hands from her shoulders. “Tanner, please stop calling me that.”
“Sorry. I guess it just feels so good to be living with you again, I forget we have a ways to go.”
Presley shook her head. “We’re not living together. You’re staying in one of the rooms—same as any stranger might be doing once the inn is open again.” She lowered her voice. “You need to stop giving Alex the wrong impression, Tanner.”
He wrinkled his forehead. “What, that I love his mother? That’s not a wrong impression. It’s a fact.”
“You’re making him think we’re a couple.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Yes, you are.”
“He’s a smart kid. Maybe he just sees what’s meant to be.”
Presley shook her head again. “I’m going to take Alex to the store. Do you need anything else for tonight while I’m out?”
“Nope.”
She glanced over at me before grabbing her keys and yelling for Alex.
Once it was just Tanner and me, another shot of scotch was necessary. I poured to the brim and sucked it back, enjoying the burn as it washed down my pipes.
Tanner rinsed a plate and loaded it into the dishwasher. “You drink more these days than I remember…”
“Not usually.”
“Something bothering you?”
“Nothing I feel like talking about.”
Tanner chuckled. “Woman problems, huh?”
I said nothing, which made my brother assume he’d hit the nail on the head.
“It was easier when we were eighteen, wasn’t it? Now a Ouija board has more answers about what a woman wants than I do.”
I poured another shot. “It’s not that complicated.”
“For you, maybe. What are you pulling down? Twenty, thirty million a year? You just have to flash that Super Bowl ring, and the panties fall to the ground. Us working stiffs have to actually work for it.”
The muscle in my jaw ticked. “You might want to pull out your Ouija board and have a heart to heart if you think all women only give a shit about money.”
Tanner turned off the water. He leaned a hip against the counter and folded his arms across his chest, facing me. “Alright, big brother. If you know so much about women, tell me what Presley wants.”
I looked back and forth between my brother’s eyes. “Trust, loyalty, and dependability are important to Presley.”
Tanner shrugged. “I can give her all those things.”
I wanted to say ‘Now you can give them to her? Where the hell were you seven years ago?’ But instead I just gritted my teeth and motioned to the sink with my eyes. “You got this? I have something I have to do.”
“Yeah, sure. Go do whatever you need to.” Tanner smirked. “Or whoever you need to.”
I probably should’ve walked to the bar a few blocks away and finished getting shitfaced, but instead I went to my room, unable to bring myself to leave the inn. Since my room was at the far end of the hall, away from the common areas of the house, I couldn’t hear when Presley came back. Which was probably just as well.
But an hour or so later, there was a light knock at my door. I opened it to find Presley.
She glanced back over her shoulder. “Can I come in?”
I debated saying no for about two whole seconds, but who the hell was I kidding? I was incapable of turning this woman away.
So I stepped aside and held my hand out.
Inside, she stared down at the floor. “This is such a mess. I don’t know what to do.”
“I do. We need to tell him.”
Presley’s eyes flared as she looked up. “No, we can’t!”
I raked a hand through my hair. “If I have to watch him put his hands on you or listen to him call you babe one more time, I’m going to lose it.”
She shook her head. “I’m sorry. But I don’t know how to make him stop. You’ve heard me tell him to knock it off. I’m not doing anything to encourage him.”
“No? You don’t think playing two-hand touch with a man who has made it known he wants to touch you all over is encouraging him? Or making his favorite meal for dinner in the house you invited him to stay with you in?”
“I made you your favorite dinner.”
I scoffed. “That’s not what he thinks.”
“I don’t care what he thinks.”
“Good.” I put my hands on my hips. “Then we’re in agreement. If you don’t give a shit what he thinks, we’ll tell him.”
“Levi, don’t twist my words. You’re not being fair.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Fair? You know what’s not fair? Having to answer my brother when he asks me for advice on how to get you back.”