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Maybe he was starting to come down from all the adrenalineof the last few days and realizing what a horrible mistake they’d made.
“Lou, Dare and I are going to stay with Mom and Dad. Put TJin my room.” Tasha stepped into the hallway. She’d changed into PJs but had hersneakers and a hoodie on.
“It’s two in the morning, Tash. You don’t have to do that.”It had been a long flight, and they would feel that jet-lag for days. Wearinessthreatened to swamp Lou, and she still had to deal with the man currentlysitting in her kitchen.
He wouldn’t even go home to grab some things. He’d merelygotten in the car with her and promised he would stop by his parents’ placesometime tomorrow. He’d told her he had the only important thing.
A SIG. But then she could have told him her place was averitable weapons’ cache.
“We were planning on staying there anyway. His siblings arecoming down in a couple of days, and Mom and Dad have way more room. Dare isoutside waiting for me,” Tasha explained. “I think he’s been up most of thetime I’ve been gone. It’s the first time I’ve gotten called away on shortnotice. I need to make sure he’s handling it okay. He’s been staying with Momand Travis, and he signed the paperwork on the condo so we’ll be moving soonanyway. Let TJ stay in my room. He’ll be more comfortable there.” Tasha lookedher over. “Do you know what you’re doing with him?”
“Nope.” She was honest with the Taggart sisters. Always.There were no prevarications between them.
Tasha nodded like she understood. “Then go with yourinstincts, Lou. Not your fears. You live in your head half the time. I knowyou’ve been dating recently, and you don’t have to stop, but you could maybesee what a casual relationship with him would belike.”
She clutched the sheets to her chest, though it looked likeshe wouldn’t be using them. “I don’t think anything between me and TJ iscasual. At least not for me.”
Tasha settled her backpack on her shoulder. “I don’t thinkit is for him either. Otherwise he wouldn’t have plotted with Kala to ensureyou found a man who was worthy of you. I know I’m not supposed to talk aboutthat…”
“She told me,” Lou interrupted. “Apparently he’s been doingthis weird stalker thing for years.”
Tasha studied her carefully. “And how does that make youfeel?”
She knew how it should make her feel. Violated. Annoyed.Disturbed.
But she’d been in this family long enough to know thatprotection instinct was hard wired into their systems. She’d thought about iton the long flight over. TJ had stepped in when she was in trouble, whensomeone was going to hurt her. It might not have been right for him to do itbehind her back, but then she hadn’t exactly told him she’d gone into thesystem at school and changed his Algebra final from a 55 to 68, just enough sohe passed the semester and graduated with his class.
She’d only told Kala that she routinely hacked the system tomake sure TJ was okay. She’d never once mentioned it to TJ.
So maybe she was a stalker, too.
She damn straight would have fixed things for him if he’dgotten terrible assignments in the military. If he was being sent off to someplace he wouldn’t want to go, she likely would have stepped in, appliedpressure here or there, and gotten him somewhere he would enjoy.
“Weirdly protected,” she admitted.
Tasha smiled and stepped around her. “I know it’s scary andit feels like you’ve got a lot to lose, but you don’t. You understand that ifit doesn’t work, it’s not like we’re going to kick you out of the club. Himeither. We’re family, and we’ll find a way to make it work even if it’sawkward. The truth of the matter is when you genuinely love someone, you canget through anything, even heartache.”
She hadn’t even thought about that. If there was one thingshe was secure in, it was this group she had around her. That was why she’dbeen worried when Zach had called TJ into the cockpit. Zach could beprotective, too.
“I think we’re going to try playing at the club thisweekend. Neither of us has a play partner.”
“Oh, my mom is going to find that endlessly interesting,”Tasha said with a grin.
Lou was sure she would. Charlotte Taggart believed in usingD/s as a way to ease into a relationship when things were weird between twopeople.
Was that what she was doing? Or was she trying to have sometime with him before he came to his senses?
Either way, it scared the crap out of her, and it might be amoot point because he’d barely talked to her.
“Dare’s waiting. I’ll see you at the office, and call me ifyou want to talk,” Tasha said as she headed out.
Lou heard her leave, locking the door and resetting thesecurity system.
“Should I be worried?”
She turned and TJ was standing there. He’d changed from whathe’d been wearing on the plane into a pair of gray sweatpants and nothing else.Not a damn thing else. Nothing to hide his sculpted chest and broad, muscularshoulders. Nothing covering his six-pack, and the sweats rode low on lean hips.
How long had she been staring? She shook her head. “AboutTash? I don’t think so. She and Dare are going to stay at her parents’ placeuntil they move. They recently bought a condo apparently. She says you can stayin her room.”
