Free Blindsided by Jami Davenport Page A

and hurried to the bathroom before she could answer and break his brittle resistance. Tanner locked the door, stripped off his clothes, and stepped into the tiled shower. He turned on brutally freezing water and leaned his head against the cold tile, praying for relief.
    Emma, the good girl, was every bit a match for Tanner the bad boy.
     
    * * * *
     
    Emma paced the floor waiting for Tanner, alternating between imagining the altercation she’d have with Izzy to imagining Tanner’s fine body with water running down all the hard, taut muscles. Both images were enough to drive her crazy.
    Finally Tanner came out, his hair still wet and tousled in that sexy way which scored a touchdown with her heart every time.
    “Hey.” He grinned at her, showing his perfect white teeth.
    She gaped at him for a long moment and finally managed to squeak out one word, “Ready?”
    “Yeah, don’t want to keep them waiting. Coop has no patience, and Ice is even worse.”
    Emma paused in the open doorway, and he bumped into her. She hesitated and drove straight ahead into no man’s land, ignoring all the warning signs. “Whatever Isaac did, you should forgive him, you know? You’re hurting yourself more than you’re hurting him.” The second she spoke the words, she knew she’d stepped into a minefield littered with emotional bombs. One false move, and he’d detonate, taking her with him.
    “That’s between Ice and me.” Tanner’s smile disappeared and his face froze into cold, hard marble.
    “You accused him once of murdering your sister. Isaac isn’t a murderer.” Emma held strong, not believing for a minute Isaac had committed murder or that Avery would stand by him if he had.
    “He set the wheels in motion which led to her death and his girlfriend’s. How can a guy forgive something like that?” Tanner rubbed the back of his neck and stared over her shoulder, avoiding her gaze.
    Since he’d asked, Emma decided to answer, “He’s very sorry. Can’t you see that?”
    “You don’t know him like I do,” Tanner insisted stubbornly, obviously clinging to his beliefs and refusing to listen to reason. Despite how infuriating he might be at this moment, she felt sorry for him, and the personal hell to which he’d sentenced himself because of his unwillingness to forgive and move on.
    “You don’t know him at all—not anymore. The brother you knew has changed. He’s a different man,” Emma pressed.
    “I’m not going to stand around here and discuss Ice. I have my reasons; you need to accept them or move on.” He fisted his hands, and his eyes darkened dangerously.
    Emma blinked a few times at his rudeness. Tanner was never rude except when it came to his brother. She couldn’t conceal her disappointment. “I thought you were a better person than that.”
    “You thought wrong,” Tanner groused, mumbling curses under his breath.
    “Fine.”
    In complete silence, they drove to Izzy and Cooper’s house overlooking Puget Sound, a great way to start a meeting where they both needed to be on the same page and in each other’s corner.
    Emma started to jump out when Tanner parked his big pickup truck in the driveway, but Tanner reached out and put a hand on her arm. “Wait.”
    “What?”
    “I’m sorry,” he said, his green eyes softened with regret, and she wallowed at his feet like a stupid, lovesick Cocker Spaniel.
    “I’ll try to avoid that subject from now on.” She sniffed, still hurt by his harsh attitude.
    “It’d be appreciated.” He smiled to ease the blow, but she turned away. “We have to present a united front or else we’ll be cat food for Coop’s obnoxious cat.”
    “I love cats.”
    “Oh.” He seemed at a loss for words. Tanner got out and offered her his elbow. Emma considered ignoring the chivalrous gesture. The man was only buttering her up so she’d be on his side and make things go easy on him. In the end, he was too tempting, and she wrapped her fingers around his