Bri’s eyes widen and she opens her mouth, but Tenn cuts her off. “And if I hear you say anything disrespectful about Casey outside of my presence—say to our daughter, for example—you can expect the same misery. Are we clear?”
The woman wisely holds her tongue but refuses to give him any acknowledgment.
“You need to know that Casey is in my life. I’m looking at permanently relocating to this area and I expect you will be seeing Casey over and over again as you and I attempt to parent our daughter. This is non-negotiable, Bri. I mean it… do not fuck with me on this.”
I can actually hear the woman gritting her teeth in anger, but again, wisely, she keeps her mouth shut. She gives a jerk of her head at Tenn, and then spins on her foot to head toward the diner. “I’ll say goodbye to Zoey in there.”
When she walks through the door, I let out a huge, pent-up breath of relief. “Wow. She’s just… um… wow.”
“But Zoey’s great, right?” Tenn says with a playful grin before leaning down to kiss me on the side of my neck.
“She’s fantastic. She’s a miniature you,” I say reverently. “And you’ve obviously raised her right… to be open and kind to people. I’m kind of guessing that comes solely from you.”
“You’re nice to say that,” Tenn says humbly. “My parents spent a lot of time with her as well, so I think she gets it from them too.”
“How come you’ve never told me about your family?” I ask suddenly.
Tenn’s body stiffens slightly, but he tries for a casual shrug of the shoulders. “Guess we’ve been busy doing other things.”
I snort, because I know exactly where we’ve been spending our time and most of it has only led to dirty talk and touches. Which now that I think about it, makes me a little apprehensive. What if this thing with Tenn is no different from my other flings?
“We should talk about your family,” I say with desperation. “It’s what people in relationships do, right? They talk about things that are… you know… non-sex related.”
Tenn pulls me to the front of his body and wraps his arms around me. Leaning down, he kisses the top of my head and says, “Relax, Goldie. Those are all details we’ll continue to learn about each other. Things are fine.”
“But… I don’t want this to just be about sex,” I insist as I push away from him. I know my voice sounds desperate when I say, “Damn it… if I’m going to change my ways, I want this to be different with us.”
Tenn’s eyes soften in empathy and a hand comes up to stroke my hair. “It is different with us. You know that deep down, right? You feel it? And while the sex is fucking phenomenal, it’s also pretty fucking phenomenal to just hold you like this.”
“God, you’re really good at this,” I say with a dreamy sigh and rest my head on his chest.
“But you feel it?” Tenn asks again, and although he’s asking me a question, it’s almost a foregone conclusion in his mind.
“I know I feel something I’ve never felt before,” I tell him shakily. “Scaring the shit out of me half the time and making me paranoid the other half.”
He gives a hearty laugh. Pulling me away from his chest, his eyes twinkle at me with humor. He kisses me… hard… swift… possessively. “Well, I think you’re very brave, Goldie, to give it a shot.”
“Okay, I’m ready,” Zoey yells from behind us as she comes running. “Mom and Kip are going to stay in there and eat a late breakfast.”
Tenn releases me, turns to Zoey, and holds his arm up so she gets the message that he wants to tuck her into his side. She slams herself against him, her arms going around his waist, and he squeezes her in close.
God, that right there. That is so freakin’ sexy to me.
Tenn turns toward my Jeep, guiding Zoey along with him. He reaches his hand back, palm open toward me in a silent indication he wants my digits locked with his. I slip my hand into his grasp and we all walk back to my car, with Zoey now babbling a hundred miles an hour.
“I cannot wait to get on the beach. Oh, and I read online that they have wild horses up in Corolla. Can we go see those? And I’d like to try to surf… that looks really cool, and Dad said your brother was a professional surfer, right Casey? So maybe he can teach me. And Dad… I’m kind of hungry. Can we go somewhere for something to eat first? Then maybe the beach.”
Tenn shakes his head with a smirk on his face. He looks over at me and mouths the word, “Teenagers” at me.
“I bet there are a ton of cute boys on the beach, right Casey?” Zoey asks as her dad opens up the passenger door.
“And, that’s my cue to go back and get her suitcase,” Tenn mutters as Zoey hops in the back. He turns and gives me a grave look, “and you better tell her there aren’t any cute boys on the beach.”
Leaning in to him, I give a whisper, “I think she’s going to figure out on her own that there will indeed be cute boys. And trust me… she’s so pretty that she’s going to have them surrounding her.”
Tenn looks perplexed a moment before giving a confident shake of his head. “Nah… those boys will be too busy ogling you in your bikini and too busy being intimidated by her big biker dad to come anywhere near her. She’s safe.”
Sweeping his hand up to the passenger seat, Tenn says, “Hop in. I’ll drive.”
“Alpha man,” I quip as I jump into the passenger seat.
“Your man,” I barely hear Tenn say before he closes the door on me and heads toward Zoey’s suitcase.
“I’m so glad you’re dating my dad,” Zoey says from the backseat. “He really likes you.”
“Oh yeah?” I twist in my seat so I can see her.
“Yup,” she says with a grin as she leans forward over the center console to get closer to me. “Talked about you a lot. He wanted to make sure I was cool with him spending time with you while I was visiting, and also that we’d be staying at your house.”
“Um… yeah, about that,” I stumble a bit. “Your dad and I… we um… that’s to say, he’ll be sleeping on the couch.”
I have no clue if that’s true or not. Tenn and I didn’t discuss it much other than to agree that we’d have to be very discreet when we had sex, and we’d also have to be a whole lot quieter than we normally were.
Zoey rolls her eyes and gives me an admonishing look. “Puh-leeze. I know you’re having sex. It’s what adults do when they’re together. Plus, I heard my mom say that Dad was probably only interested in you for the sex.”
I blink at Zoey hard, trying to figure her out. My head spins a little. Did her mom really say that about me? Does Zoey believe that?
“But I think my mom’s full of horse shit,” she continues rambling on just as Tenn opens the back tailgate to put her suitcase in there. Zoey leans in a little bit closer to me and whispers, “I can see the way my dad looks at you. He’s never looked like that with any other women he’s dated. Oh, and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t mention to Dad I cussed just now.”
Wow. Just wow. She’s like a little supercharged dynamo.
Tenn throws the suitcase in and slams the tailgate shut, walking toward the driver’s side. I quickly whisper to Zoey. “I want to hear all about the women your dad dated in the past, okay? In return, I won’t tell him you cussed. Deal?”
I reach my hand back and hold my pinky out. She grins and loops her pinky with mine. “Pinky swear,” she giggles as Tenn opens the driver’s side door.
“What’s so funny?” he asks as he pushes my seat back and climbs in. He’s in uncharacteristic shorts today since he’s not on the bike and his powerful legs look magnificent as he folds into my Jeep.
“Nothing,” Zoey says coyly, shooting me a wink before sitting back in her seat.