Flawless Surrender (The Surrender Trilogy, #2)(11)

“Oh no! The eviction! Oh shit, Zoey, I completely forgot you were on a time crunch!”

“Yeah, just another thing to add to the growing shit pile. Rach, I know it’s a lot to ask, but can I take you up on your offer of the guest room for a couple of weeks?” Zoey held her breath when Rachel hesitated. She felt the room start to spin and she sank to the floor of her bathroom with her eyes clenched shut.

“Zoey, my mom just got here yesterday and she’s in the guest room. She came down for a couple of weeks to help me take care of Jules while Sawyer is down from his surgery. I’m so sorry, if I had known…”

Zoey knew Rachel hadn’t planned it on purpose, but it sucked anyways. Rachel was Zoey’s plan B, and now that Plan A and Plan B were gone, she was royally screwed.

“That’s it then, I’ll be crashing in my car for a little bit. I might need to borrow your driveway to park in. I mean, I can’t imagine the school board will like it much if I’m parked in the parking lot every night, and I have no idea what kind of office I will have, so I can’t plan on sleeping there—”

“Stop it, Zoey! Right now!” Rachel broke through the panic that was growing in her chest, and Zoey inhaled deeply trying to calm her racing heart. “There is another option you know? I know it’s not ideal, but what if you rent Tanner’s apartment just for a couple of weeks and if you want to move here when Mom leaves, the offer is still open.”

Like a flash in her brain she could see Tanner sprawled out in the Brooks family living room asking her if she wanted to rent Dalton’s old apartment over the garage. Beautiful, dark, sexy Tanner. Could she live under the same roof with him and not make a fool out of herself? He had been kind enough to offer, and she was really desperate, but it seemed like the worst possible scenario for her heart.

“I don’t know.”

“Zoey, you don’t have a choice. You can’t live in your car and start a respectable career.”

Rachel was right, and at that moment Zoey hated her for it. Her brain was at war with her heart and as always logic won out. “I’ll call him when I get a break, but Rachel, it’s only until your mom leaves, okay?”

“You got it. The moment mom heads back to Oklahoma I’ll have the guys help move you in. Now, clean yourself up, and get your ass to your new job! You are going to rock it and those kids will love you.”

Her enthusiasm made Zoey smile for the first time all morning, and she forced herself to her feet after saying her goodbyes. Rachel was right. She was starting the road to the rest of her life today one way or another, and this was just a little hurdle she had to cross before it smoothed out again.

Two or three weeks in Dalton’s old apartment wouldn’t kill her, and besides, Tanner was a rancher. He was in the saddle from sunup to sundown, so really as long as she made sure she was tucked safely behind closed doors before sunset, she wouldn’t even have to deal with him. It would all work out perfectly in the end. She was going to make sure of it.



*****



Tanner was just stepping onto the front porch of the house when the sound of a car coming down his drive caught his attention. He turned and rested one hip against the porch railing as Zoey Carson parked and threw open her car door. The melodic sounds of Kenny Chesney singing about addiction in his song “Demons” drifted on the breeze. A pang of hurt zipped through his heart for Zoey and the heartache he figured her mother’s problems had brought into her life. He didn’t know the details, but he did understand how hard the battle with addiction could be.

He waited patiently as she climbed out of her twenty-year-old car, and took a few measured steps toward him. Her eyes darted around for a few seconds without meeting his, and he bit his tongue to keep from smiling. It was good to know that he kept her as off balance as she did him.

“Hi, Tanner.”

“Well. Well. Well. What brings you all the way out to the Triple T?”

She cleared her throat, and took a deep breath. Her knuckles were white where she gripped her tiny purse at her hip, and she shoved her other hand into her hair in a nervous gesture. “Actually, um, do you mind if we go inside? It’s awfully hot out here.”

Tanner stepped back and held his arm out gallantly for her to lead the way. As she brushed past him, her long black hair swished against his arm and sent a spiral of need straight to his groin. It was like silk against his skin, and he could just imagine what it would feel like draped over his chest as she rode him to a screaming orgasm.

Her round hips swayed as she stepped up inside the front door, and he saw her shoulders droop slightly when the chill of the air-conditioned house hit her. She moved over to the sofa and perched her lush ass daintily on the edge of the tufted suede with that miniature purse in her lap.

Tanner turned and dropped his hat on the table next to the door before bending to tug his boots off with his back to her. For a moment he thought he might cut his own cock in half when he bent over, but by the time he was in his socks and comfortable, he felt under control again. Until he turned around and caught Zoey’s eyes on his backside. Instantly he was hard as stone again. This time he spread his thighs and narrowed his eyes on her.

Zoey’s gaze landed on the bulge beneath his zipper for just a breath in time before she blushed and turned away. So that was the way of it. Well good, at least this time she wasn’t half drunk and begging him to take her to bed.