Page 93 of Clean Sweep
“Please,” he said, still as silky as ever, “don’t apologize. You were a concerned mother and I hated every moment of that secret. But—”
“—it was the right thing to do,” I finished softly.
Tanner drew in a deep breath, his shoulders expanding. Snow collected in tiny piles, and I wanted to step forward and sweep the flurries off. Wanted to get one step closer to the broad shoulders that had held me so closely and effortlessly at the same time only a few short days ago. My lips burned with the memory.
“I did want to tell you,” he said quickly, as if afraid I wouldn’t give him a chance to say it when all this finally landed. “I just . . . I also wanted to respect Landon’s position. I know how it feels to be a young man with a wife that you want to take care of, and a world you feel like you have to answer to.”
My eyebrows lifted, a vague sign of the shock that still permeated my mind. My oldest son was about to be married. He had shucked off his planned path to tread on a totally new one. In comparison, the other kids seemed more stable. Never thought that would happen. Then again, life threw curveballs all the time.
Wonderful curveballs.
Tanner reached out and trapped my wrist in his hand. The gentle pressure of his fingers against the sensitive skin sent a little thrill through me. I forced myself to look back into his eyes.
“I am sorry, Leslie, even if you don’t think I need to apologize.”
My lips twitched. “Unnecessary forgiveness given.”
He smiled. With a tug, he pulled me a little closer. We only touched where his fingers encircled my wrist, but the breathless feeling of being near him went all the way through my lungs.
“If nothing else, we’ve proven that wecanfight,” he murmured.
I drew closer to him on my own, pulled by a musky scent. The heat of his arms. The emptiness of the days without him that reverberated through the air between us. I pulled in a little breath.
“Fighting isn’t always a bad thing,” I murmured.
The subtle reminder of our previous conversation sent me for a whirl. Not only did it feelso goodto be heard again, but to understand the truth in what he said. Yes, we had a fight. A short one, and hardly a fight. More a strong disagreement. Those weren’t the worst thing.
Coming back together?
The best.
He closed the distance between us. His arms wrapped around me as I tilted my head back to stare into his eyes. The feeling of his thumb tracing along the back of my rib cage sent a shiver through me.
Snow drifted lazily around us. The sound of Christmas music pealed from inside, along with laughter. The Frolicking Moose was packed with all the people I cared the most about. All of Pineville had come to show their love and support. Yet now that Tanner and I had reconciled, I couldn’t wait for all of it to be over.
“It’s New Year’s Eve tonight,” I whispered. My gaze dropped to his lips, then back to his eyes. A stormy look had grown there, and I felt giddy at his hunger.
“Oh?” he drawled.
“I hear that it’s really bad luck to start a new year out without a kiss.”
“I’ve heard that too.”
His arms tightened around me. I tamped down the rush of near-giggly-hysteria. “Max and Nicholas have friends in town. Apparently, they’re going to go meet up with them to celebrate the new year and Blake is tagging along. Seems like I’ll be all alone tonight.”
“Well.” He leaned back a little. “We can’t have that, can we? The mother of the groom shouldn’t celebrate her son’s nuptials alone.”
I smiled. “Not at all.”
He lowered until our faces were so close our breath mingled. A moment away from my lips, he stopped.
“Before we do anything else,” he murmured, his breath a warm caress on my cheek. “May I ask you something I’ve wanted to ask you since we first started this whole adventure?”
“What’s that?”
“Leslie Hill, will you go on a date with me?”
“I don’t know,” I drawled, my hands finding their way to his neck. “What do you have planned?”
