Page 156 of Wildest Dreams

“Hat,” Linc orders. “Off.”

Tanner places the cobbler in the centre of the table before settling heavily into the seat beside me. Then he gently moves the cap from his head to mine.

“Tanner!” I hiss, which makes him smirk handsomely down at me.

My eyes fly over to his dad and I quickly reach up to take it off but after a long look at his son Linc glances down at me, subtly gesturing that I can leave it on.

“Where’d you find it anyway?” Wyatt asks, his voice rough. He flicks a glance at his brother as he helps him remove the foil covering from the cobbler.

“What?” Tanner asks.

“The cap.”

Tanner’s eyes flash to mine, our secret heating the air between us.

I didn’t know any significance to Tanner’s cap when I kept it as my Carter U hostage, but what I do know is that it was never lost – Tanner let me keep it.

Before Tanner can answer his mom leans toward me.

“Oh Aisling, he used to wear that thing all of the time. Military green, like army fatigues – it’s always been his favourite colour. It was too big for him at first but he’s a big guy now, so he grew into it.”

Wyatt smirks and says callously, “He does have a pretty big head now.”

Tanner flashes his eyes to his brother, smirking back at him as he slides his forearm over the back of my chair.

“You see who I brought to the dinner table? Of course I’ve got a big head,” Tanner replies, before turning his gaze back to me and giving me a handsome smile. He leans down to my cheek, brushing a gentle kiss over it before whispering, “You can see my other big head later.”

My eyes grow wide, cheeks heating, as I bite back my laughter and shove him off of me. It only encourages him to envelop his palm around my hip, clutching me tighter as his dad stands up to dish out dessert.

Tanner’s mom watches us in silence for a few beats before saying to Tanner with a curious lilt in her tone, “You know, I thought that maybe you had given it away.”

Tanner runs his fingers through his hair, knee bouncing up and down as he rumbles, “I kinda did.”

Linc scoops out large servings of cobbler while his wife grabs ice cream from the kitchen, setting it in the centre of the table before sitting back down into her seat.

Wyatt laughs at the serving size, borderline overflowing from the small lilac dessert plate.

“You tryna put me in a food coma?” he asks his dad.

Linc glances at him as he takes his seat. “You complaining?”

“No, sir,” Wyatt grins. “I plan on sleeping this whole week through anyway.”

Tanner looks up at his brother across the table. Half of Tanner’s cobbler has already magically disappeared. “Did you really just get back today?” he asks him.

Wyatt nods, shovelling in another mouthful, before gesturing toward his dad with his fork and looking up at Tanner. “We both did. But dad got changed and shit as soon as we came home, whereas I napped on the sofa for, like, two hours straight. Then Cobe almost pissed on my feet and I realised that you must’ve arrived. Although now,” he adds, flashing me a handsome grin, “I realise that your woman here is what all the excitement was about.”

Tanner pauses his chewing for a brief moment, scoping out whether or not he wants to retaliate to his brother’s comment. Then he feels my hand caress gently against his quad and he resumes his chewing, squeezing me back.

“We’re all going to have an early night tonight,” Linc rumbles quietly, slapping another scoop of ice cream on his plate before passing the tub back to Wyatt. “Like your mother said, y’all are welcome to stay over, for as long as you’d like.”

Tanner looks at me for confirmation and I nod up at him, wanting him to spend as much time with his family as possible.

He wraps his arm around me tighter and says, “Yeah, we’d love to stay over. Thought you guys would want to head out tonight though, celebrate with friends in town or something.”

Linc shakes his head. “Maybe in a couple days’ time. In the meantime, we’ve got about seven months worth of sleep to catch up on.”

“When are you seeing Jason?” his wife asks him, leaning down for a moment so that she can scoop Cookie up off the floor. The dog cuddles up to her in contentment, eyes closing as she smoothes down her fur.

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