Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 103356 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 517(@200wpm)___ 413(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103356 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 517(@200wpm)___ 413(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Fuck. He’d forgotten about Carlie. Turning, he gave her an apologetic look.
“Do you know her?” she asked.
“Uh, yeah. I met her about six months ago. But I wasn’t expecting to see her here.”
“I think she hurt herself,” Hannah said worriedly. “Maybe I should go check on her.”
“I’ll go,” he said sharply.
Both women stared at him in shock while Raid scowled at him.
“Watch your tone,” Raid warned, wrapping an arm around Hannah.
“Right. Sorry. Carlie, I’m really sorry—”
“Go. It’s all right.” Carlie smiled at him.
He felt rude, but he had to check on her.
“I’ll be back soon.” Turning, he rushed off out the back. Devon had already tidied up the glass and disappeared.
A sense of urgency filled Tanner. What if she disappeared on him again? What if she was badly hurt?
He heard some voices coming from farther down the hallway. A door was open, and he looked in to find Lilac standing at a sink, with fucking Devon standing next to her.
He was way too fucking close, and Tanner saw red. “Get away from her.”
Both of them turned to look at him. Lilac’s mouth dropped open as she gaped at him in shock.
Devon just folded his arms over his chest, glaring at him. “This is the staff area, Tanner. Last time I looked, you weren’t on my payroll.”
Tanner scowled. He didn’t give a fuck if this was the President’s private toilet; if Lilac was here so was he.
He strode over to her. “Let me see.”
“T-tanner,” she stuttered.
“Let. Me. See.” He couldn’t handle any bullshit right now.
“Obviously, the two of you know each other,” Devon said. “But, Lilac, if he’s making you uncomfortable, I will kick him out.”
“No, you won’t. Because she’s mine,” Tanner snapped.
Lilac sucked in a breath and Devon narrowed his gaze at him. “That’s news to me. Seems like it might be news to her too. Lilac, are you Tanner’s?”
“I . . . we met six months ago. Then I . . .”
“Disappeared without a word. Never even left me a message. Then you turn up in my town. I think that means you owe me an explanation.”
Before she could answer, someone called out for Devon.
“Shit. I need to get out there. Lilac, want me to get rid of Tanner?”
Tanner growled at Devon. Fuck, he’d never made a noise like that in his life, but he was unable to help himself.
He wasn’t going anywhere.
Lilac looked from Devon to Tanner. Devon would actually kick out Tanner for her? She assumed they knew each other. And Devon barely knew her.
But he was prepared to do what was needed to protect her?
That never happened. The only people to ever protect her were her friends.
“I’m all right with him,” she said quietly. “Tanner won’t hurt me.”
She hoped.
Devon seemed unsure but nodded. “There’s a First-Aid kit under the bench. Make sure you get her cleaned up. And if I hear that you’ve been mean to her, I will not be happy.”
She winced at Devon’s words as he left.
What was she doing? Why had she told him that she’d be all right with Tanner?
Tanner was mad, upset, and he had every right to be.
She couldn’t blame him for that. She knew that seeing him again would be hard. Why hadn’t she gone through all the possible scenarios?
Instead, she’d buried her head in the sand and just thought she’d figure it out when it happened.
But seeing him with another woman tonight . . . it had nearly broken her. Watching him touch her . . . she hadn’t been able to think, to act. Then the glass she’d just picked up had slipped from her hand and fell onto the floor.
She needed to offer to pay for that glass.
Lilac had known there was a chance he would have found someone else, but she guessed she’d been hoping that he might still want her.
You idiot.
You don’t deserve him.
She knew that. Just as she’d figured that he would want an explanation about why she’d disappeared.
You have to tell him something.
What she hadn’t expected was for him to chase her down like this.
“Show me your hand.” Tanner’s voice was low, quiet, but the command in it was clear.
She held her hand out to him; aware it was shaking. He took in a sharp breath.
“What were you thinking?” he demanded as he took hold of it, placing it under the tap before turning on the water.
Clearly, she hadn’t been.
Lilac wasn’t sure she’d been thinking all that well for a long, long time.
“It’s fine,” she whispered as the water cleared the blood away.
“No, it’s not fine. It’s bleeding. What were you doing picking up the glass like that? That was reckless. Have you got no sense of self-preservation?” he ranted as he let go of her hand to reach into the cupboard under the sink.
Lilac blinked at the words, barely able to comprehend them. He was angry over her cutting herself? She thought he was mad at her for leaving the way she had . . . then for reappearing without a word.