Because I never, ever wanted anyone to ever see me out of control. Especially the skittish, cautious woman that made me laugh.
My bed vibrated again with a phone alert. Raking a hand through my hair, I stood and began searching for my cell phone. After walking through the house, I finally found it in the pocket of my jeans, which, apparently, I’d stripped off by the front door.
Two messages. The most recent from my sister.
Tyler: Just checking on you. My twin tingle is going haywire.
The last thing I wanted to do was worry Tyler. She needed to keep her focus on Brock and Emma, her family. Yes, I too was her family, but I was a grown man who needed to nut-up and deal with my own issues. So, I did what I hated doing. I lied to my sister.
Me: Radar must be off. I’m fine.
I hit send, poured myself a glass of Maker’s, then clicked the next message.
G: Do you plan to come get your dog anytime soon?
Shit. I swallowed the swig. The timestamp on that was over thirty minutes ago. I probably looked like an irresponsible, piss-poor pet owner leaving him over there as long as I had. As I went to reply back to her, though, my FaceTime lit up with my sister’s image.
Fuck.
I debated for a few moments not answering it, but that would send Tyler into a tizzy. Propping the phone on the counter, I reluctantly pressed the green button.
“I’ve been trying to call you all damn day.” Her signs were sharp, fast, and angry.
“We had a snowstorm. Cell tower has been down.”
“No wonder you’re not alright. I’ve been nauseated all afternoon.”
“Maybe you’re pregnant again.” I fucked with her, knowing damn well she had no plans for another kid until Emma was at least four.
“Why must you bullshit me?” Her expressive brows were moving so rapidly, they were almost like two caterpillars with a life of their own.
Even in my foul mood, I couldn’t help but let out a dry chuckle.
“I just realized the date, and that’s when I started to worry.”
I rubbed my face. “I told you, sis. I’m getting through it just fine. I’ve got it under control.” Lies. All lies.
“Tanner, you look like hell. Worse than last night.”
“Gee, thanks.” I’d actually cleaned up. In fact, I thought I’d looked pretty good during the day. “I trimmed my beard. Thanks for noticing.”
“Tanner, don’t forget I’m older than you by ten minutes, and I know every time you lie.” There went her brows again.
I’d never been a good liar. It was kinda hard to be when you wore your emotions on your face. Which was why I always stuffed them down. Kept them in constant control. Never showed weakness.
“Fine.” I sighed. “I’ve been a little upset.”
“How upset?” Her entire face fell. She knew what would happen when I’d truly get upset. Typically, I’d end up hurting myself by putting my fist through a wall, just to release the pent-up emotions.
“It could have been worse,” I answered honestly, with a shrug.
Her chest rose and fell with a heavy breath. “That’s it. I’m booking a flight.” Obviously, sis wasn’t buying any of the shit I was shoveling her.
“I’m not a fucking child.” Nothing pissed me off more than being treated like I was fucking weak and couldn’t hold my shit together. She turned to her side and I could tell she was now on her laptop, already looking up flights. When she finally glanced back in my direction, I began my protest. “I told you, we’re in the middle of a snowstorm. Roads are impassable.”
“Good thing I know how to drive really well in the snow.” It was true. Tyler was probably an even better driver than me. She grew up in New England and learned to drive on all the same windy backroads that I did. Dad taught us well.
“I’m telling you, do not come.” Just then, my motion sensor lights flashed red, alerting me to someone or something on my property. Shit. I had it set to red when anything larger than a dog would come in the few hundred square feet of my home. Mainly to keep Archie safe from potential predators. Wolves, bears, bobcats, etcetera. “Do not come up here.” I went and glanced out my back windows. The backyard was empty, but I could see two small sets of footprints in the snow next to four smaller animal tracks. “Tyler, I gotta go. There’s a wild animal on the property.” Judging by the tracks, this wild animal was about five foot two with secretive, brown eyes, a long, wavy, chestnut mane and frightened quicker than a baby deer.
My motion sensor lights then flashed blue, alerting me to the doorbell.
And I knew exactly who I’d find on the other side.
After a ten-minute trudge through the snow, I came upon the most beautiful cabin I’d ever laid eyes on.
Archie had led me right to it, no problem. My jaw dropped. Tanner built this? Granted, he’d told me he hired contractors, but he seemed pretty proud of the fact that he’d designed this place himself.
And he deserved to be.
The two-story log home was absolutely breathtaking. The foundation was about five feet above the snow-covered ground, encased in beautiful stone. From what I could see, a porch wrapped around nearly the entire perimeter, except for the middle which jutted out into a center point with floor to ceiling windows on both sides. I suspected that it must be the living area.
Since there was no front door, I assumed that I’d come up on the back of his property, so I followed Archie’s lead around to the front of the house, past a very large and very sexy charcoal, Ford truck parked in the driveway. Yeah, that thing sure as hell looked like Tanner. I took the stairs up to the covered porch noting the two rocking chairs on the deck with a small table between them, all dusted in a light layer of snow.
Such a large home for one man. I could hardly believe it. Sure, it wasn’t as grandiose as my Long Island sprawling estate had been, but still it was beautiful. I guess I’d just expected something like the smaller cabin that I was occupying. All this felt like too much for only Tanner. From what I could gather from the very little I knew, he seemed like a much simpler man.
Maybe I wasn’t as good at reading people as I thought.
As I went to raise my hand to knock, I saw a sign above the bell. Do not knock. Ring bell only. I could only assume that it was because of his deafness and the doorbell must have had some sort of visual signal for him. As I pressed the buzzer, I noticed it had a camera above it. Not uncommon. Angelo and I had one at home, although I’m certain ours had been for very different reasons.
Eventually, I heard footsteps on the other side of the door and, finally, it opened.
Oh, dear lord. My mouth went dry. Tanner was one hell of a man.
He stood there in nothing but a pair of sweatpants and I took a few seconds to soak in the sight. He had the kind of muscular body that was earned by a hard day’s work in the outdoors, not in the gym. His chiseled chest was mostly hairless except for a fine line of darker hair leading from his belly button all the way down between the v-line of his abs, disappearing into the waistband of his pants.
And now I was staring at his groin. Shit. I quickly blinked and lifted my gaze, looking him in the eye. A few lines covered his face, like marks from his pillow, and from the looks of his tousled tresses I suspected that I woke him. Not to mention his brow was set into a deep scowl that gave him such a sexy smolder. If I would have Googled tortured hero, Tanner’s image could easily have been top search.