Vivian Arend - Turn It Up

Tasha led her into the house where Gramma was taken by the hand and brought by one of her grandsons to the place of honor at the head of the table. Tasha dodged back as bodies swirled around her, the voices on the air loud and happy, ringing with pleasure and the occasional childish complaint of who had to sit next to whom.

Tasha turned and found herself looking into a pair of big brown eyes. Maxwell smiled warmly as he led her to a chair, but he didn’t say a word other than to make sure she was comfortable before he left. Tasha twisted her head to watch him as he took his place at the children’s table with three of the other guys.

Lila passed the water pitcher down and nudged her, bringing her focus back to what was happening in front of her. “Got any plans for the rest of the weekend? You want to get together?”

“I’ve got a few projects I need to finish up, and I have to stop by the house to check the builder’s progress, but other than that, I’m free.” Tasha hid a smile as one of the children tried to escape from the children’s table. Junior caught him easily, pulled the boy into his lap and enticed him with a few tidbits of food, all the while maintaining his conversation with the other older men guarding the children.

Lila followed her gaze and laughed. “Best. Tradition. Ever.”

“Having the older Turner boys watch the little ones during dinner?”

“Hell, yeah. It almost makes up for having to have the Max in our names.”

Tasha smiled. “I have to say I’ve always loved seeing that. None of the guys seem to mind, either. In fact if anything it’s like they compete for the right to sit at the kids table.”

“That’s because sometimes it’s funny as shit.”

Tasha wasn’t just watching the humor in the situation, although it did seem there was more food-wearing than food-consuming happening at moments. The half-dozen Turner males in charge, aged from late teens to late twenties, had their hands full, but there were no screaming children complaining about the situation. There was laughter, and joking, and a heavy dose of camaraderie.

“I wonder if it’s like a test of knighthood—survive your family children’s table duty and you are now one of us. I’ve never noticed the girls having to do it.”

“They get enough watching time during the rest of the evening when the rugrats are free and on the run.” Lila snickered and pointed to the side. “I think they should include dates in the tradition. Maxy’s new beau looks horrified. I wonder how he’d handle the mashed-potatoes-in-the-hair trick?”

Tasha managed to keep eating, and chatting, but through it all that list of pros and cons she’d labored so hard over kept coming back to her again and again. And with every fleeting glance to see what Junior was up to, another one of her doubts slipped away. Across the room, laughter burst from a dozen throats at a time. Steady low conversations created a backdrop for the most erratic outbreaks of mirth. Gramma Turner’s aged tones carried through the room, her wisdom and patience a kind of binder twine—a bright ribbon of love weaving through them all, and Natasha had to wipe away tears.

There was no way she could deny this to her child. No way that she could be all and everything to them. Having been offered a chance to join into such openly offered love, she would be a fool to turn it down.

She peeked again in Junior’s direction, and this time caught him looking at her. There was hunger in his eyes, and a determination that switched immediately to a slightly cocky smile. He leaned back, acknowledging her, his hands holding firmly to the young child in his arms. Even as she watched, the little one wiggled around to plant a big kiss on his cheek, and suddenly Max’s attention turned, the delight on his face clear. It wasn’t a show for her sake, something to impress her with his goodwill. He was actually enjoying his time with the toddlers, and her final resistance stripped away.

He was a good man, and he had offered to make her dream come true. The fact he wanted to get married? It wasn’t her first choice, but considering everything, surely that was the one thing she could give in return.

Somehow, she had to find the courage to tell him she would be willing to go ahead, at least with part of his proposal.

“Can I talk to you?”

Finally . Maxwell turned to discover the object of his past hour’s search standing only a foot away. “I thought you’d joined the younger gang in playing hide and seek. You’ve been very elusive tonight.”

Tasha nodded slowly. There was something different in her body language, something restrained. The dark marks under her eyes proved she’d been struggling to sleep well, and it drove him mad. He didn’t want her to hurt like this. “I was staying away from you. That big window seat upstairs was a great place to sit and think for a while. I’ve come to a decision. You want to meet me somewhere?”

The knot in his belly tightened. “Serious, huh?”

“Very.”

“Damn, maybe we should do this in public, so I don’t lose anything vital if it gets messy.” Somehow, he needed to keep the conversation light-hearted. It wasn’t so much that he wanted to stop her from seeing how much this meant to him. It was one thing to fight for what he wanted, another to guilt the woman into a decision she didn’t want to make.

She rewarded his effort by smirking.

“I’m not kicking you in the nuts, Maxwell. But we do need to talk.” Tasha took a big breath. Looked around cautiously. “Maybe we could meet back at your house.”

Their gazes connected and he peeled away the layers of innuendo in a flash. Freaking A, could it be? “Holy shit. Really?”

She held up a hand. “Just to talk. We need to make a few decisions and I don’t want to… I mean, I don’t think we should… We need to talk.”

His brain and body fought a battle for which could react the fastest. She was accepting his proposal. He was going to be with the woman he’d longed for his entire life. They were going to have sex and start a lifetime together. And have sex.

Rational conversations were not high on his list right now.

The party was breaking up, there was no reason for them to stick around any longer. “I need to say good night to my Gramma, then I’ll meet you at my place.” He pulled his keys from his pocket and separated off the one for the house. “Here. If you beat me home, make yourself comfortable.”

Tasha bit her lip, cheeks flashing to red, and he swore.

“Shit, no, I didn’t mean that in the sexually loaded way it came out. I mean, you want to talk, we’ll talk. I get that. I promise I won’t…push you for anything else tonight.”

Although how he’d keep that promise he had no idea.

Someone called Tasha’s name and she raised a hand in acknowledgement. She stepped back a pace and let her gaze drop over him, the heat that rose in her eyes doing nothing to inhibit his anticipation. She turned to leave, her ass swinging from side to side as she walked. He couldn’t tear his gaze away, images of stripping her clothes off piece-by-piece filling his mind, only this time he’d indulge his every whim as far as it came to her body.

He tried to hurry, but while he cut his farewells short, there still were a lot of them to make. By the time he’d given his Gramma a kiss, hugged his parents, and extracted himself from the smallest of the cousins who clung to his ankles like burrs, his brain was feverishly repeating the images of Tasha, naked. Only this time she was in his bed, waiting for him.

His sister Maxine stepped in front of him.

“You haven’t had a chance to meet Jamie yet.” She gestured to the side. “I wondered if you wanted to join us for a coffee or something for a few minutes.”