Page 25 of Protecting Tiffani

“Yeah, but not too damn early. I’m exhausted and still have to talk to Tiffani before I go to sleep.” I yawn, unlocking the car door.

“Don’t you think showing up or calling her at,” he pulls out his phone, “one in the morning is rude, little brother?”

“Damn, how did it get so late? And she’s waiting for me at home, probably asleep somewhere beside where she’s supposed to be.” I say like it isn’t a big deal even though it is.

“What did you just say? Tiffani is at Mom’s?” Even though it’s dark, his truck’s headlights give me plenty of light to see his shocked expression.

I laugh, “Yeah, I’ll explain everything later, but for now, I’m going home.”

“Oh fuck no, you can’t just drop that bomb on me and then leave. How am I supposed to wait until you show up in the morning?”

“You are worse than our sister. You’ll manage. Go home to your wife. She might have a way of distracting you.” Sliding into the car, I shut the door, cutting off anything else he says. I need to talk to my girl before I chicken out like she tried to earlier. I haven’t decided whether to tell her the truth about what happened or the version I told Emilee. I know the right thing to do would be to tell her everything, lay it all on the table, and let her decide what to do with it. But as someone with shitty biological parents, I don’t want to do that to someone else. Her relationship with her parents was never fucking perfect. They put too high of an expectation on her, and clearly, something happened while I was gone. But still, that doesn’t make telling her that her dad tried to bribe me to leave, and threaten to take away her future, easy. I guess I need to find out why she lives above the laundry mat, barely making it, before I tell her either version. The only thing I do know for sure is that, come morning, she will be back where she always fucking belonged, beside me forever.

The only light on in the house when I pull up is the dining room, meaning that one of them is asleep. The door isn’t locked, so I walk right in. Mom is sitting at the table with a cup of tea in her hands. “Everyone okay in town?” she asks instantly.

“Yeah, what are you doing up so late?” I take off my muddy boots, placing them back outside before locking the door for the night.

“I couldn’t rest with my two sons playing hero. Now that Adam has called saying he made it home, and I see you have, I’ll take myself to bed.” After depositing her cup in the sink, she comes over, placing a kiss on my cheek. “I don’t know how Tiffani ended up with you tonight, and I don’t want to know. Be easy with her baby. I can see she’s hurting, something fierce, and it will take her some time to trust us again. You never said what happened between you two…” she holds her hand up to stop me from interjecting, “and you don’t have to. Just tread lightly with her.” With that, she leaves me speechless.

After turning off the dining room light, I head toward my room, hoping Tiffani is in my bed so I don’t have to look for her. Opening my door, the closet light is on, but the door is shut almost all the way. “Mom,” I whisper into the quiet knowing that she left the light on for Tiffani. My beautiful girl is in the middle of my small bed, sound asleep. Her face is fully relaxed, and she looks peaceful for the first time since I’ve been home. Stripping out of my wet clothes, I pile them in the corner before crossing the room to my bed. Picking her up, I scoot her toward the wall, crawling in behind her. She mummers, turning toward me. My heart flips in my chest, and nerves skate through my stomach.

“Levi?”

“Shh, Cupcake. I got you,” I say, pulling her closer to me.

“Why are you naked?” she asks, her words muffled from her face being squished to my chest.

“I hate sleeping in clothes.” I kiss her forehead and try to keep my dick from making his intentions known. I love the feel of her little body pressed against me, but I won’t make another move until we talk. “Go back to sleep, baby girl.”

“Thought we were going to talk?” She turns her face up, barely cracking her eyes.

Bending my head down, I kiss her. “We will after we sleep,” I reassure her. Nothing more is said, as her body relaxes again and soft snores come from her. I follow quickly behind her. For the first time since I came home, I’m glad I haven’t gotten a new bed.

The sound of crying pulls me from my sleep. Ever since I enlisted, I’ve become a light sleeper, no matter how tired I am when I go to bed. Another whimper comes from the girl curled into my chest as a cold tear lands on my bare skin. “Tiffani.” I roll onto my side, pushing my hands into her hair to pull her head back. Her eyes are still shut, but more tears rush out.

“No, no,” she whispers. Fuck, she’s having a bad dream.

“Tiffani,” I say louder, and her eyes fly open this time. Her hands come up to my chest and she pushes with all her strength. I’m not expecting it, so I slide off the mattress and land on the floor. “For fuck’s sake, what was that for?” I jump up, completely forgetting that I’m naked. The sun is rising, making the room not as dark as it once was. Tiffani’s eyes go straight to my erection, and a blush stains her cheeks.

“Oh my god, Levi. I’m so sorry. I forgot where I was for a second and got scared when I felt someone holding me.” Her hands cover her face, hiding her embarrassment.

Pulling back the cover, I slide beside her. “It’s okay, hey…” I pull her hands away. “It’s okay, baby girl. You had a bad dream. I was just trying to get you to wake up.” I try to pull her closer to me, but she moves in the opposite direction. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m fucking embarrassed, Levi, and you have a…” She waves her hand toward the covers that aren’t hiding that I’m hard right now.

I laugh, “It happens, baby. You never had a problem with this before. Why now?”

“Don’t be a smart ass, Levi Dane. We’re at your parent’s house. Make it go away.” She turns to hide her face in the pillows.

“That used to turn you on,” I say to the back of her head. Tiffany kicks my leg hard and groans my name into the pillow. “Okay I’ll work on making it go away. Why don’t you tell me what you were dreaming about? That might help.” I laugh again, which makes her smack my chest hard. “Fuck. Hitting me won’t help the problem here, baby girl.” All she does is groan at me. Going over the proper way to instruct a plane to land helps my dick forget Tiffani is close by. Once I’m not rocking a raging boner, I pull her face from the pillows. “It’s all clear. You can come out now.”

“Not funny, Levi.” She rolls her eyes at me.

“What were you dreaming about?” A slight look of panic crosses her face, but it’s gone so fast I think I might have imagined it.

“You leaving me,” she whispers. “Can we talk now? I have to get to work.” Now it’s my turn to groan, I know we need to do this, but I don’t want to do it first thing this morning.

“Sure, but only if you answer a couple of questions first. And I want the truth, Tiffani, no fucking lies.”

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