Oh God. She hadn’t looked yet today. Just as she thought that, her phone buzzed with an incoming text from the woman herself.
I put this up on Instagram. Thought I should mention it before someone else did. People agree that you and Tanner make a hot couple, and I agree—although it wouldn’t kill you to put on mascara and blush when you go out.
The pic was from the other morning at the bakery. She looked flushed and rather…anticipatory, and the reason for that was clear. Tanner stood behind her, hand on her shoulder, leaning over her, his intent gaze on her face.
If Callie hadn’t actually been there that day, if she didn’t know firsthand that Tanner was in the middle of pounding her back as she choked on a doughnut, she’d have said that she looked like she was halfway to orgasm and that Tanner was about to give it to her.
“Oh my God,” she muttered, and Troy looked over her shoulder.
“I guess you’re close neighbors, huh?”
Callie gritted her teeth. “I was choking on a doughnut and your dad was literally pounding me on the back.” She shook her head. “I’m going to have to hack into her account and set up some perimeters and blocks.”
This caught Troy’s interest. “You can do that too?”
She looked over at him. “Uh, no. No, that would be entirely unethical. And bad. Very, very bad.”
That got a grin out of Troy, and she saw that he was going to be a lady-killer in no time at all, if he wasn’t already.
“My grandma doesn’t get online but she’s pretty nosy too,” Troy said.
“Yes, but she’s a nice crazy,” Callie said. “Mine’s just crazy crazy. And I’m the one who sent her out into the world with my technology knowledge in the first place. I’ve created a monster.”
“Did you see what she’s been doing on Tumblr?”
“Oh, God,” Callie said. “I’m afraid to ask.”
“She’s blogging daily naughty autocorrects.”
Callie stared at him. “Okay, she clearly has way too much time on her hands. Her art gallery’s slow on weekday afternoons. I think that’s where she gets bored because she goes to bed early.” She tactfully left off the part of Lucille’s day where she boinked Mr. Wykowski right after Jeopardy. “I guess she needs an afternoon babysitter.”
“I babysit,” Troy said.
She slid him a look. “Yeah?”
“For cash.”
“Understood,” Callie said. “You think you could put some time in and keep her on the straight and narrow?”
“I don’t change diapers.”
“She’s old but not that old,” Callie said. “Aren’t you too busy for this with school and your work here on the boat?”
“I’m never too busy to make more cash.”
“What do you need cash for?” she asked, curious.
He shrugged, but she could tell he was holding back.
“A girl?” she asked.
“Maybe. Maybe just a neighbor.”
Smartass. She liked that. And him. She was still ribbing him when his dad showed up with Cole and Sam. Each moved in a way that commanded a woman’s attention. That they were all smart and self-made had a lot to do with that, but there was no denying that they were each gorgeous in their own way. And yet Callie’s gaze latched onto Tanner and held.
Around them the morning was gray, the weather was bordering on stormy. Temps hovered in the forties.
And yet the guys were in board shorts. In deference to the windchill, they also had on sweatshirts. Tanner’s hood was up and he wore dark sunglasses and some dark stubble.
GQ does Sports Illustrated.
As Callie took in the sight of him, her heart kicked hard. Her gaze shifted over his body but stuttered to a halt when it came to his left leg and the scar revealed there from the hem of his board shorts to midshin.
From the rig fire.
The sight of it drove home just how lethal and scary his life had been and how close he’d come to not making it back, which would have left a big hole in a lot of lives, including her own.
Tanner had picked up the provisions for the cruise they were chartering later. He and the guys had walked down the dock to the boat together, but when Tanner saw Callie on the boat looking like she belonged there, laughing with his son, he forgot about Sam and Cole, forgot his job entirely. Just seeing Troy smile at all felt like a gift. Add Callie to the mix and it was a lot to take in.
They both seemed to catch sight of him at the same time and their amusement died. Callie’s gaze held…affection? A lingering desire? Hell, that might be his imagination, but he’d like to think she was remembering the last time she’d seen him, when she’d had her tongue in his mouth.