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I fucking melt for this little girl and her mom who is standing there watching our interaction like we’re a tennis match. Right up until Shiloh invites me in. That’s when Journey pinches the bridge of her nose.
My woman shoots me a nervous look before trying to dissuade her daughter. “I’m sure Tanner is busy, baby girl. We don’t want to take him away from whatever he was doing.”
Shiloh plops her hands on her hips and looks so much like her mom that I cover my mouth to stop myself from barking out a laugh. “Mom,” her tone is exasperated, “if he was busy, he wouldn’t have shown up on our doorstep at dinner time. You always tell me about using my manners and being kind.” She huffs, “That’s what I’m doing.”
Journey looks up at the ceiling for a moment before giving me a sheepish smile. Holy hell, she’s cute. So is her miniature clone.
A moment of clarity overtakes my body with such rightness that I can only breathe through it.
They’re mine. Both of them. My family.
“I’d love to stay for dinner,” I assure Shiloh before looking at Journey. “As long as it’s okay with you, pretty girl.”
“Oh,” Shiloh sounds giddy, “I like you. You can definitely stay.”
Then she disappears back into the house and calls back, “Let him in, Mommy. Come on, Tanner. It’s my favorite dinner of the week.”
I step closer to Journey, our bodies almost touching, but not quite. My voice is a low rasp, “I want to stay, but I’ll go if you want me to. I’m not here to make you uncomfortable, Journey.”
“Then why are you here?”
She looks up at me, her eyes big, round, and full of so much hope. I doubt she even knows that she looks at me like she’s begging me to stay and be what these ladies need in their lives.
I’ve been a lot of things in my day—a soldier, a killer, a brother, a biker—but I’ve never been needed in the way I know Journey and Shiloh need me.
“I’m here because I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you,” I tell her honestly.
She studies my face for a moment before stepping back and motioning for me to enter her home. “You can come in for dinner.” She pierces me with a warning look that matches her words, “But you better not break her heart.”
I don’t think she’s only talking about Shiloh, but I don’t say it out loud. Instead, I take the little bit she’s given me and press for just a little bit more. I kiss her forehead as I walk by her, loving the way her breath hitches.
As Journey leads me through her living room, it’s clear something is missing. “Where’s your tree?”
My woman shrugs one shoulder as if it’s no big deal, but the way her shoulders are tense tell a different story. “I won’t allow an artificial tree in my house. Not for Christmas. It’s just wrong.” She tries to deflect by pointing to the table where Shiloh is already seated. “I’ll grab you a plate for dinner. I only have juice or water.”
She could have just gone to the lot where they’re selling real trees if she wanted one, but I don’t push her about it. I will at some point, but now is not the time.
“Juice would be great,” I tell her with a wink before I focus on Shiloh.
The little one is more than happy to share a whole lot with me over dinner. Some things have Journey trying to shush her, but it doesn’t even slow Shiloh down.
I learn about my girls while we laugh and eat some good food. It’s the best night I’ve had in a long fucking time.
CHAPTER 3
JOURNEY
You know how they say that a dog is a good judge of character, and you should watch them when you bring a new person around if you want insight into who the person is? Well, I’ve learned to watch my daughter when she meets someone. She has no problem shutting down and only being passably polite if she doesn’t like a stranger.
I’m not sure if she picked it up from me because of the way I react to most of the people in Christmas Falls or if she’s just intuitive. Either way when she’s standoffish with someone, I pay attention and I don’t force her to stifle those instincts.
Hell no, I want to bottle them for myself. Maybe if I had the same ones, my life would have turned out differently. Not that I would change it now, but still.
I did not think Shiloh would take to Tanner the way she did. I was shocked senseless when she invited him in for dinner. She had never done anything like that before. Then she chatted his head off like they were best buds who hadn’t seen each other in ages.
It was adorable and heartbreaking.
I had to wonder if she latched onto him because he was a man giving her attention after she had spent eight years without her father in her life. But, then again, she had never reacted the same way to any other man we’ve ever spoken to.
