Chapter 18

Eighteen

Tanner

Jesus. I shouldn't have come tonight. Why did I let Kate talk me into it? Not that it took a whole lot of arm twisting to get me to agree. If Maeve is afraid, I want to be there for her. But I do know she desperately wants to stand on her own two feet, and with me here, I could easily be sending the message that I don't believe she can. I'm sure that wasn't Kate's intention, but still…

When Maeve turned and saw me coming through the door, I thought she was happy at first, but then Kate said something to her and a strange kind of darkness crossed her face. I should walk right over there and tell her I know about the note, and that Kate asked me to come. I don't want to keep secrets from her. I won't. If Kate gets mad about it, I'll deal with the consequences of that later.

I'm about to push off my stool and deal with this straight on, when Kate and her friends jump up and start toward the stage. Maeve remains seated, and when Kate realizes her friend isn't sharing in the enthusiasm, she runs back and grabs her, dragging her to her feet.

What the fuck?

I'm beginning to believe Kate has no idea what Maeve needs, considering she's dragging her up on stage, when Maeve is pulling back and resisting. Someone hands her a drink, and she takes a mouthful—liquid courage, I guess. I sit on my stool beside my friends, who are cheering the women on. Why wouldn't they want a show? They have no idea how much Maeve is panicking right now. I guess all they see is her pretty face, like most others.

I sit at the ready, as a microphone is thrust into her hands, and a Taylor Swift song comes on. They jump around like the Swiftie fans they are, and Maeve forces a smile trying to have fun. My heart hurts as it pounds a bit faster. I want her to have fun, but I don't think it can be forced on her. Not like this. It has to come from her, when she's ready.

She starts singing and she's off beat at first, which makes her laugh then relax a bit. She tries again, and after a few minutes, she gets into it and I relax a bit and take a swig of my beer. Her hips sway, and I glance around the place, noting an awful lot of the men in the room are staring at her. Jealousy and worry zing through me. Will anyone recognize her? Are any of them her number one fan?

The song ends, and I think they're going to go back to their table, but no. They refresh their drinks and start in on another song, this time with Kate taking the lead. I catch Maeve's glance and she smiles. Okay, maybe Kate does know what she needs, because I like that smile Maeve is aiming my way, like that she's relaxed and enjoying herself. After about twenty more minutes of singing, Maeve taking the backstage and just dancing along, Brady nudges me with his elbow.

He puts his bottle to his lips and takes a long pull. "Kate's going to be our new physiotherapist, huh?"

"Not exactly our new one," I correct. "She'll be helping out Maeve."

He frowns and sets his bottle on the bar. "Oh, I thought she said she was taking over."

"When did she say that?" I ask, my gaze going to Kate as she shakes her ass at my buddies.

"She did some work on my back last week." He rubs the back of his neck. "She said something about it."

"I'm sure you misunderstood. Maeve isn't going anywhere." If she's not going anywhere, why do I suddenly have a sick feeling in my gut? "She loves her job with the club." She does, right?

"Okay." He backs down and rolls his shoulder, not caring one way or the other. Then he gives me a wry grin. "I'm happy with either of them working on me."

"Keep your hands off Maeve," I grumble.

He laughs. "Yeah, I figured that out already, Mitts." I stare at the women on stage, but all I can see is Kate shaking it, and blocking Maeve from my view. I shift wanting to see her. The second I do, and find her standing completely still, her gaze on someone or something in the corner of the room, I turn to look in that direction.

My gaze lands on a big man, all dressed in dark clothes with his hood pulled up, obscuring his identity. I can't see his face, but from the way his head is angled, it's clear he's watching Maeve and she's completely horrified.

I jump from my chair and while I want to confront the guy, Maeve needs me. "Hey," I say, and hold my hand out to her.

Her gaze flies to mine, and there's relief in her eyes as she takes my hand and lets me lead her off the stage. I cup her cheeks and search her face. "Are you okay?"

She swallows, her brow pinched as she goes silent, like she's trying to get past the fear, and work through this. "Did you see that guy?"

I nod. "I'm going to go talk to him."

She grips my coat. "I don't want you to get in any kind of trouble."

"I'm just going to talk to him, Maeve."

"What if it's…Jack?"

"Then we need to find out, okay?" I lead her to my stool, and seat her beside my friends. I switch directions and come to a complete stop when my gaze lands on an empty chair at the table in the corner. He's gone. You'd think that would relax me, but it winds me up a bit more. I head down the hallway and check the men's room, only to find it empty.

"Fuck," I curse under my breath and walk back to Maeve. I note the way Kate is frowning at her from the stage.

"Do you want to get out of here?" Her nod is fast as she jumps off the stool and I lean into my friends. "I'm going to take Maeve home. I'll catch up with you guys later, okay?"

They nod, but they're definitely distracted as Kate and her friends come down from the stage and sidle up to them.

"Where are you going?" Kate asks.

"I'm just not feeling great. Tanner is going to take me home. Do you want to ride back with us?"

Brady hands her a drink, and she smiles up at him. "I think I'll stay and have some fun. I'll get an Uber back later."

"Okay," Kate murmurs quietly as she tugs her coat on. We head outside, only to be greeted with cameras in our faces.

"What the fuck," I burst out, and try to shield Maeve behind me. She puts her face against my back and clings to me. "What do you want?" I bark out as I guide her down the street to my truck.

"We wanted to find out who your mystery lady was. Now we know. You're Maeve Carter, daughter of Felix Carter, and former model, right?"

"No, it's not her," I answer as cameras go off, and this time I know we've been photographed. I never thought about disguises. We came here separately, and Maeve was upset when we were leaving. I fucking had other things on my mind. Anger courses through me. Anger at the paparazzi and anger that I hadn't predicted this could happen again. I'm supposed to be protecting her and I even let that guy get away earlier.

She pulls her hood up, shielding her face as we hurry down the sidewalk, and I get her into my dark truck. She turns from the cameras, quiet this whole time and I can't imagine the storm going on inside her. Maybe I shouldn't be around her. I'm such a selfish bastard I am. This happened because of me.

I start the truck and peel out of my parking spot, leaving the reporters in my rearview mirror. It's only when we round a corner and they're out of sight that she sucks in a breath.

"What the hell was that?" she asks.

"I have no idea. I don't know why they're following me around."

"Maybe it's because the team's most eligible bachelor has been spotted with someone."

I'd heard them call me that a few times, and I'm not a guy to go out and party. Not anymore. I got that out of my system back in college. "Do you think that's it?"

She rolls one shoulder. "What other reason could there be?"

"How would they have known I was going anywhere tonight?"

I glance at her and she arches a brow and asks, "Did you tell anyone?"

Shaking my head, I reach out and take her cold hand in mine. I clench down on my teeth and grip the steering wheel harder. I don't want her to be upset with Kate or me, but I'm not going to lie, so I tell her, "There were four people who knew I was going to be here tonight."

"Who?"

"Brady, Sean, Gunther and…Kate."

Her body stiffens. "Kate? What are you talking about? How did Kate know?"

I steal a fast glance at her and find her watching me with big, confused eyes. "She told me about the note." I go quiet for a moment as her mouth opens and closes. "You didn't want me to know." I work to keep the hurt from my voice.

"It's not that, Tanner. I wanted you to go out tonight and have a good time. I just didn't want you to worry." A beat of silence. "She told you we were going to The Dome?"

I nod.

She hugs herself. "She told me we were going to Juniper's and forgot to tell me about the change."

"Does she usually do things like that?"

"No, she was chatting with her friends, and they changed their minds. I assumed it was a coincidence when you showed up, considering I told you I was going to Juniper's." She gives a humorless laugh. "Either that or you were stalking me."

"Or Kate told me." As soon as the words leave my mouth, her laugh dies.

"Why didn't she tell me that she knew you'd be coming? She acted surprised."

I grip the steering wheel tighter, a bad feeling taking up residence in my gut. "I guess that's something you're going to have to ask her."

"She told her friends she wanted to bang you," she whispers quietly.

"Fuck. I'm never going to bang her, Maeve. It's you I want, and only you."

She grips the strap of her purse and nods, and I can't help but worry that I'm frightening her with my possessive words. She hasn't healed from her trauma, and needs to learn to live in the world by herself before she can learn to live in it with someone else.

Twenty minutes later, I pull into her driveway and stare at her house. A part of me thinks I should flee. I'm bringing trouble to her life and I swore I'd never do that. Yet a part of me doesn't want to walk away from her tonight.

"Do you want to come in?" she asks quietly.

I groan. "Maeve, I do. I really do. I'm just…really fucking sorry, I couldn't protect you tonight." I pound the steering wheel. "Maybe you're better off without me in your life."

Without a word, she gets out of my truck, and my heart sinks into my stomach as she walks toward her house, and away from me. I guess that's it then. It's over between us. My breath stalls as she turns to circle the front of the truck and walks over to my side. She opens my door and holds her hand out.

I suddenly can't breathe. "What are you doing, Maeve?"

"I honestly don't know what is going on with Kate. One minute she's saying things about…" Her voice falls off, but she doesn't have to finish the sentence for me to know Kate has been talking about me, and I'm not sure I'd like whatever it is she's saying. "Then she's asking you to come along to protect me, which is really nice, only to act surprised that you're there. It's all so confusing. I don't know what I'm supposed to believe and I really hope Kate is okay."

I stare straight into her eyes. "I'm telling you the truth."

She nods. "Come with me," she says softly, and I take her hand and follow her to her front door. Inside, she reaches for my coat zipper and peels it down. She's quiet, her movements slow and I slip out of my coat and unzip hers.

After we undress and kick off our shoes, she takes my hand again, and leads me upstairs to her bedroom. She closes her door, peels her big sweater off and tosses it aside.

"What if Kate comes home?" I ask, knowing she hasn't told her friend the whole truth about us.

"She thinks you're fair game. Maybe this will prove you're not." I grin, liking that very much. "I know I told her we were pretending," she continues. "And in a way, her thinking it's okay to go after you is sort of my fault. I agreed you were fair game. I don't want to do that anymore, Tanner." She frowns. "But I don't want to take something that was hers. You know, we have a history."

I walk up to her and put my hands on her waist. "I was never hers. I'm never going to be hers. Just because she claimed dibs on me doesn't mean she gets to have me. It doesn't work like that." With that, she reaches behind her back and unhooks her bra. I groan and my dick thickens as she frees her gorgeous breasts. "I missed you this week."

"I missed you more," she teases.

"Try to prove that to him." I push my thick cock against her and she laughs.

"Let's call it a tie." She reaches down and pops the button on her jeans and peels them from her body. A moment later, she's naked and needy before me, and I'm so mesmerized by her, I haven't even undressed myself. I rectify that quickly as she pulls her sheets back and climbs inside, going up on one elbow to watch me.

Her gaze moves over my body, a grin on her face as she studies my impressive erection. I climb in beside her and take her mouth with mine, a long, deep passionate kiss that rouses everything I feel for her.

She widens her legs for me and we cling to one another as I enter her body, taking her slowly and gently, giving her inch after inch, yet unable to get deep enough. I lift my head, and she puts her hands on my face as I fill her.

"I…I…love…this," she murmurs and my heart jumps. Was she going to say something else or was that wishful thinking on my part? I don't know, but our lovemaking is different tonight. Everything is different tonight. Was it the scare at the pub, the paparazzi? They say when you go through a scary event together, it can build a stronger bond. What do they call that? Trauma bonding? I have no idea if that's it. I only know we're both giving more of ourselves, and even though this is less rushed, less frenzied or hurried, everything in the way we need each other is profound, and moving…doing crazy things to my heart.

I lift my head and glance into her eyes. "Sweetness…I…I've missed you." Goddammit, I want to tell her how I really feel, that I fucking love her, but I'm just not sure now is the time.

What if I tell her and it scares her off because she's just not ready for it?

What if she is?

Then again, am I really proving that I can take care of her?