Page 47 of Shelter for Tanna

“Quit lying! You know you would! Say goodnight and go take care of yourself, babe. I love you.”

“I love you too, but you’re exasperating,” she snarled into the phone.

“I’m just a horny guy, doll. Go get yourself off and I’ll talk to you sometime tomorrow. By the way, I’ve got a friend who got into town today. I invited him to dinner tomorrow evening so you can meet him. Hope that’s okay.”

“That’s fine. I want to meet your friends.”Especially if they’re as hunky as you!she wanted to say.

“Good. You’ll really like him. Now, sleep. Love you, beautiful.”

“Love you too. Night.” She ended the call and dropped the phone on the bed. Dear god. He was a mess, that man?a gorgeous, sexy mess.

And fuck it all, shewashorny. It had been a long time since she’d touched herself that way. She’d quit years before. It seemed like doing that only made her want a man worse, and there wasn’t one. There wouldn’t be one. At least that’s how it had been. But now?

Now there was Braden, and even if she wasn’t getting laid that night, she knew she probably would in the next few nights as soon as they could spend the night together. Maybe it would be okay. Slipping her hand down her belly and into her underwear, she found the right spot with only a little trouble and stroked it gently. In seconds, her hips were churning and she was aching for him. A few more flicks and her belly knotted, her pelvis rocking upward and her head thrown back.

She lay there for a few minutes, panting slightly, her eyes closed and visions of Braden’s strong, broad chest above her filling her mind. He was so fucking sexy and he was hers.

Hers. He was hers. After a trip to the bathroom to pee and wash her hands, she settled back into bed and began to weep, but they were tears of happiness. Braden was hers. He was committed to her and he showed her his commitment in everything he said and did. He was serious about building a relationship with her. Braden was a great guy. His mom had said she could do worse.

She certainly couldn’t do better. That wasn’t possible. There was no man alive who was better than BradenNichols. Not a single one.

* * *

“Damn it!” Tanna struggled with the winch cable. It got hung up occasionally, but she usually didn’t have quite so much trouble getting it freed. After ten minutes of fiddling with it, it finally unrolled and she hooked it to the underside of the car she was picking up. Didn’t matter that it would be dragged up onto the flatbed. It was a junker, destined for the scrap heap. After sitting in pieces at the curb in front of the owner’s house for far too long, the city had given the order for it to be removed. Tanna was fairly certain the neighbors had complained. She knew if it had been sitting in her neighborhood, she sure would’ve called it in.

Once the bed was leveled out, she went about securing it even though she was fairly certain it wouldn’t move. She was almost ready to pull away when she heard a voice say, “‘Scuse me.”

Wheeling to find the source of the voice, she came face to face with the two men who’d been in the office on Friday. Panic flooded her system and she felt her heart begin to slam against her ribs. “Can I help you with something?”

The dark-haired man spoke. “Yeah. We was wonderin’?‘bout a week ago you picked up a car from the interstate. Red car. Where did you take it?”

Think fast, Tanna, she told herself. “I don’t remember the car.”

“Sure you do. Ford. You dragged it away and done somethin’ with it. Where is it?”

“If it was picked up off the interstate, then the sheriff’s department would know.”

“You should know. You picked it up,” the red-haired man insisted.

“I’m not sure I?”

“Hey, everything okay here?” a voice called out and Tanna looked up to see Kip sitting across the street in his cruiser.Thank god for small favors and good timing, Tanna’s mind whispered.

“Uh, yeah. I’m just getting ready to take this away. Thanks for asking. Can I help you, officer?” The longer he sat there, the more nervous the two men looked, and that more than pleased Tanna.

“Actually, I was wondering if I could talk to you about the tags on that truck. I ran the plate and I think there’s a little problem.”

Tanna turned to the two men. “I’m sorry. I need to talk to the officer. Just call the sheriff’s department. I’m sure they can help you.” She sauntered away, trying to look casual, and prayed they’d leave. “So what’s up with the plate, sir?” she asked Kip when she’d reached the cruiser.

“You looked tense. You okay? They bothering you?” Kip asked.

“Actually, they’re creeping me out. They showed up at the office Friday, asking about a car I towed on a county pickup order, and now they’ve found me out on the street. Where are they now?”

Kip glanced past her. “Walking down the street. If they have a car, I don’t see it.”

“Huh. Well, I guess there’s really nothing I can do. It’s not like they did anything wrong. It’s just unusual for anybody to come around three times and?”

She could hear the alarm in Kip’s voice when he asked, “Three times?”

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