Preacher waved.
“Hold on, son. I’ll walk out with you,” Conroy called from across the room.
Tank waited by the door, watching his burly father close the distance between them. “What’s up?”
“I just want to catch up with you. We haven’t talked in a few days.” They stepped into the brisk evening air, and his father walked with him toward his bike. “How are Leah and the girls?”
“You know, getting there.” Tank pulled out his keys.
His father crossed his arms and lowered his chin, scrutinizing Tank. “And you?”
“I’m good.” He said it too fast, and his father flinched.
“When you were seven, you’d say you were good and you meant it. After we lost Ash, you didn’t even try to pretend you were okay.” His father lowered his hands. “I couldn’t be prouder of the man you’ve become, son. You’re loyal, compassionate, and successful, but you can’t lie worth shit.”
They both laughed.
“Want to talk about it?” his father asked.
“It’s not any one thing. I said something to the girls that I don’t feel good about.”
His father’s brow furrowed. “Did you lose your temper? That’s not like you.”
“Nah, nothing like that. They wanted to come to the club, and instead of telling them the truth about why they couldn’t, I told them they’d be bored.”
“That’s not so bad, Tank. They’re young, and boredom is something they can understand.”
“That’s what Leah said, but it’s not sitting right with me. I gave them an easy answer to appease their curiosity, but that’s not how I want to be with them, giving them answers that carry the wrong messages. You didn’t bring us up like that. There’s value in learning the reasons behind things, even if a kid doesn’t like hearing it. I want them to understand the importance of the brotherhood and to teach them that life comes with commitments that they might think are boring but that isn’t a reason to avoid them. I think I gotta set them straight over breakfast tomorrow.”
His father cocked a grin.
“What?”
“I’m just so damn proud of you.”
Tank scoffed. “For fucking up? Taking the easy way out?”
“For knowing you fucked up and wanting to fix it.” His father held his gaze. “Thinking about the lessons you’re teaching is how you know you’ve turned the corner from a guy who wants to hang out having beers and getting laid to a man who’s ready to take care of a family.”
His father’s words hit him hard, and the truth came easily. “I’ve never thought about what comes out of my mouth as much as I did around Leah this summer, when she was skittish around me, and even more so around her and the girls these past couple of weeks. Hell, Dad, I’ve never felt so much, either.”
“That accident didn’t just change their lives, son. It changed you. We were all worried that we’d lose you again when River didn’t make it. But those feelings you have for Leah have been growing for a long time, and I think they pulled you through, gave you a bigger purpose. The question is, does Leah feel the same?”
Tank shrugged. “I think so, but this is new territory for me. You know how I am. I usually like my space, and I like it quiet. But everything is different with Leah and the girls. I don’t want that space anymore, and I sure as hell don’t want quiet. When I’m with Leah, even when we’re just texting or talking on the phone, there’s this magnetic connection, an energy, that draws us together. It’s stronger than anything I’ve ever felt before, and it’s not just sexual. We haven’t even crossed that line yet. What we have feels deeper and more powerful than anything else.” He searched for a valid comparison. “Even family and my connection to the club. That’s fucked up, right? To feel so much so fast?”
“You’re asking the wrong guy. That’s how I’ve felt about your mother since day one. I was walking down the sidewalk with my long hair and my helmet under my arm, wearing my leather jacket and boots, as cocky as Gunny, and she walked out of a café with a suit-and-tie guy. I swear to you, I saw her in slow motion, tossing her long hair over her shoulder and laughing. She was wearing a forest-green sweaterdress that showed off her long legs, and damn, son, I was all kinds of turned on. Our eyes connected for only a split second, but the earth moved.”
Tank chuckled, having heard the story before. “For you.”
“It did for her, too. She was just playing hard to get.”
“You stalked her.”
“No, I wooed her. There’s a difference.”
“Come on, old man. You went to the café every day for two weeks until you saw her again. That’s the very definition of stalking.”
“That’s called determination, son.” His father laughed. “And I’d do it all over again, because your mother is one of a kind. She’s the leather to my ride, the buckles on my boots, and the other half of my heart, and she always will be.”
Tank scrubbed a hand down his face. “So you don’t think I’m nuts?”
“Hell no. You’re an all-or-nothing guy, always have been. Ever since we lost Ash, you’ve been going through the motions of living your life. Now you’ve met a beautiful, smart woman and two very special little girls who have completely stolen your heart and made you want to get back in the game. That’s not nuts, son. That’s fate.”
Chapter Twelve
TANK THOUGHT ABOUT fate all the way to Leah’s cottage. Was it fate that had taken Ashley and River away? If so, fate was a nasty bitch. Or were there different types of fate? Good and bad? Any way he cut it, he didn’t want the very thing that had brought him and Leah together to be connected to the deaths of their loved ones. But as he climbed the porch steps, he knew separating them was an impossibility. He’d be a different man if he hadn’t lost Ashley. Would Leah have given him a second look if she hadn’t felt his suffocation? Would they have come together sooner? Spent the summer falling for each other, with their families inclusive of River and Ashley?
He leaned his forearm against the doorframe, taking a second to push those wonders away. He knew better than anyone that there was no changing the past. But when he closed his eyes, he saw Leah front and center, just as he had for the past several months, and he knew in his gut that even if they’d been on two separate continents, they’d eventually have found each other, because soul-deep connections were once in a lifetime.
The door opened before he knocked, and his body ignited at the sight of Leah in a sexy plaid miniskirt and one of his faded Wicked Ink shirts. The short sleeves hung to her elbows, and she’d knotted the shirt just below her waist. Her wild curls billowed around her beautiful face. She tilted her head to the side, rolling her bottom lip between her teeth the way she did when she was nervous, and licked her lips.
Fuuck.
She gazed up at him through her long, dark lashes, blushing, innocent and sexy as hell as she said, “Hi,” just above a whisper. “The girls are sleeping.”
He lowered his arm from the doorframe, his heart hammering against his ribs as he pulled her close and touched his forehead to hers, breathing her in. He struggled to gain control of his raging desires, but it was like holding back a bike with an open throttle, and the truth growled out. “How am I supposed to keep my hands off you when you’re dressed like that?”