Be with Me (Return to Haven 2)

His mother had instilled loyalty and compassion in him at an early age. Tanner owed everything to that amazing woman and couldn’t wait to spend Thanksgiving with her, his stepdad, and Mel.

He headed back into the gym, where Cash was talking with another officer. When Cash glanced over, he shook the other guy’s hand and made his way to Tanner. With a quick nod of thanks to his coworker, Tanner stepped closer to Cash.

“Well, that’s done.”

Cash nodded and slapped Tanner on the back. “I owe you a beer, man.”

“A beer? Hell, you owe me a steak dinner.”

Cash smiled. “Consider it done.”

“I’m just glad we could wrap this up, and it was late, so the gym was empty.”

With the twenty-four-hour gym access for members, Tanner hadn’t been sure if anyone would be here, but thankfully no one was. The bust went off easily and quickly—which was not always the case.

“You think you’ll be able to get the other guy?” Cash asked.

Tanner nodded and leaned his arm against the wraparound check-in counter. “Positive. The force in Macon is already on it. Those guys had been shuttling pills up here for some time now.”

“Bastards get whatever is coming to them.” Cash raked a hand over his stubbled jaw and tugged the bill of his hat down. “You heading home now, or do you want to head on over to Taps?”

“I’m heading home.”

Tanner bit the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling. The image of Melanie waiting for him in his bed was all that was keeping him going right now.

Cash’s eyes narrowed. “Oh, I see how it is. I guess this has to do with Melanie?”

Tanner gave a slight shrug. “Perhaps.”

“Care to tell me what’s going on there? Besides the baby, I mean. You’re not hovering because of—”

“No.” Tanner wasn’t. Well, he was, sort of, but he also cared for Melanie. “Listen, I’m scared as hell, but there’s something about her that I just can’t resist. I want to get to know her more and she’s at my house now, so if we could put off the grilling until later, that would be great.”

Cash laughed and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Go on, man. Get home to your woman.”

His woman. Tanner wasn’t quite sure she was ready for that label, but that’s exactly how he thought of her. She was his. Not in the way that he wanted to possess her, but in the way that he wanted to cherish her and start something new and exciting with her.

Tanner let himself out of the gym and headed to his truck. Thankfully tomorrow, or really today, was Thanksgiving and he was taking Melanie to meet his mother. That thought alone had him looking forward to a future. There was only one other woman who had met his mother, so to say Melanie was special was a vast understatement.

Part of him wondered if he should tell his mother about the pregnancy before he arrived. He wasn’t sure how she’d take the news. She’d been just as devastated when he’d lost his fiancée and child so many years ago.

Springing something this monumental on her . . .

No. She would love this surprise. Tanner wanted Melanie to be part of the revealing. There was nothing his mother loved more than a joyful surprise, and Tanner had a good feeling his mother and Melanie would hit it off perfectly.

The closer he got to his house, the more anxious he became. He figured she’d be asleep, but he hoped like hell she wasn’t. It had been all he could do to concentrate on the case and not the fact that a naked woman was back at his house, soaking in his tub or lying in his bed.

Tanner pulled into his drive and on into the garage. He couldn’t deny he liked seeing Melanie’s car in the drive. Well, the car she was driving now. He still didn’t understand why she’d gotten rid of her Beemer in exchange for something that had clearly seen better days. She had money, that he was fairly certain of. If she’d blackmailed her husband so he’d let her leave, how had she not left with enough money to keep her going?

Added to that, she was an attorney. Granted, she wasn’t practicing here in Haven, but she had in the past. Her online blog and social media sites brought in sponsors and so much press that she’d become quite successful.

Which left him curious as to why she’d chosen a car that looked like something a sixteen-year-old would have if they were working a minimum wage job and paying for their own ride.

He let himself into the kitchen through the attached garage. A quietness settled over the house, but for the first time in years, he was coming home to someone. Tanner never thought he’d want to have someone to come home to again, never thought he’d let himself fall to such vulnerabilities again. But here he was, exposing the very part of his soul that could destroy him.

But the flip side of that fear was the fact that Melanie was just as fragile. Actually, she was likely more so. Which was just another reason he wanted her here. Call it that protective instinct he’d always had, but he wanted to shield her from everything, including and most importantly her past, which clearly still haunted her.

As he did every night, he double-checked all the locks and made sure his alarms were set. He pulled his shoulder holster off as he mounted the steps toward his room. The fresh aroma of his soap enveloped him as he hit the landing. He smiled, knowing Mel had used his things. Call him territorial or barbaric or whatever, but the idea of her rubbing his soap over her sweet body had him feeling exactly that. He was territorial.