Page 145 of Wildest Dreams

“And you’re in my cave, baby,” he rumbles, smothering me with kisses.

He rolls on a condom and positions himself behind me, giving me that handsome grin when I can’t stop laughing.

Then he presses a kiss to my dimpled cheek and murmurs, “Again.”

Chapter 34

Aisling

Present day

I tug the brim of Tanner’s khaki cap a little lower over my eyes, glancing out of the G-wagon’s passenger window at the emerald larch trees towering over us, enveloping the long stretch of lower-mountain road.

I rub my palms down my thighs, over the baby pink cotton of my long sundress. I didn’t have a huge array of meet-the-parents clothes options with me, but seeing as this dress covers me from neck to ankle I’m hoping that it’ll suffice.

Tanner takes one of his hands off the wheel, eyes remaining on the road as he stills my twiddling fingers and gives them a loving squeeze.

I take a deep breath and shake out my hair, trying to psych myself up as we approach the edge of Larch Peak.

“Maybe you should, like, tell me what to expect,” I say to him, my voice breathless and a little more high pitched than usual.

I shoot my eyes up to Tanner and there’s a hint of a smirk on his handsome face. His hair is pushed back from his tan forehead, the sides buzzed in that neat military-fade cut, and he’s wearing a cotton pull-over with sleeves for probably the first time ever – most likely some attempt at male modesty, to hide the thick biceps and forearms beneath.

I keep one hand entwined with his and use the other to gently squeeze his pumped muscles.

He grunts quietly and flashes me a smirk.

“Why the sleeves?” I ask him, because, sure it’s a little cloudy and overcast, but it’s still crazy summer degrees out here.

He grins down at me. “Can’t go into a military household with guns blazing, baby.”

I cover my eyes with one of my hands, laughing out loud. Tanner squeezes my hand tighter with his, a smile crease in his cheek when I peek back up at him.

“So what are they like?” I ask him, a tiny bit more at ease than I was a second ago.

“My mom and dad?” he asks me, his voice still low with morning gravel. “Probably exactly what you’re imagining when you picture the people who raised me.”

“All I’ve imagined so far is, like, a total DILF.”

Tanner breathes out a laugh, releasing my hand from his so that he can playfully squish my cheeks.

“Okay, naughty girl. What d’you wanna know?”

I purse my lips, considering. “Maybe, like… how they met?”

Tanner nods his head, quiet for a moment as he manoeuvres his giant SUV through a tight exit.

“Yeah, okay,” he rumbles. “So my dad’s military – a higher-up – and maybe a couple of years after he was fully enlisted there was some kind of… dinner, I guess. Black tie. You know just before we graduated and Carter U had that sports gala? I guess it was something like that, but more serious. More intense.

“My dad’s always been a quiet guy – straight-laced, no nonsense. And uh… he also didn’t… date around,” Tanner continues, putting a little more emphasis on the worddateso that I can catch his meaning without him having to say it. “But then he’s at this dinner celebrating all of these incrediblemilitary men and women, and it’s winter so they decided to have… winter entertainment.”

He rolls his shoulders and takes my hand with his again.

“That’s, uh… where my mom comes in.”

I wrap my free hand around his wrist, massaging his flexing forearm and silently asking him to continue.

“The main reason why I play hockey?” he says quietly, his voice rasping as if he’s nervous. “It’s because of my mom. She was an Olympic figure skater. And with a house full of military guys, doing all of these dangerous missions, I wanted to continue her legacy, while also giving her one less person to ever have to worry about.”

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