And he said in a musing tone, “Even as a baby, she would lie there making happy, cooing sounds. Hardly ever cried. I gotta say, the way she’s been behaving lately, I almost wish she was a baby again. I’ll take the loaded diapers and the feedings every four hours, any day.”
That’s right, Crystal thought. Kelly was still in high school when she had DeDe—and living with her big brother at the time. Tanner would know all about DeDe as a baby. The idea pleased her. He might be a tough, private eye type, but he did have experience with babies. More experience than she had, when you came right down to it.
She predicted, “I’m sure DeDe’ll get used to the changes having her dad around has made in her life. She’ll be her old self again in time, just watch.”
Tanner grunted. “I only hope it’s soon. Think. She’s almost ten. She’ll be a teenager before you know it. When that happens, all bets are off.”
Crystal’s thoughts strayed back to the baby—their baby. “It’s not easy, is it, raising a child?”
He put on a dark look. “Hell, no.” And then he grinned. “Haven’t you heard? Only crazy people have kids.”
She laughed. “Crazy. Right.”
“That’s us,” he said low. “Out of our minds in a big, big way.” And they shared a long look of what could only be called mutual understanding. Bizarre. Crystal and Tanner, all bondy together. But then he said, “Well, I guess we ought to bring our stuff in, get settled, all that….” He dropped his arm from around her shoulders and started for the door.
Our stuff? The good feeling fled. He was up to something.
“Wait a minute.”
He turned back to her. “Yeah?”
“You just said our stuff?”
“That’s right.” His expression was way too innocuous—and Tanner Bravo was never innocuous. The vague sense of alarm she felt ratcheted up a notch. Then he said, “I gave it some thought last night after I left your place, and I realized that this was a great opportunity and we shouldn’t let it pass us by.”
She stared at him, not following. “A great opportunity?”
“Oh, yeah.”
“For what?”
“To live together.”
She still didn’t understand. “But…why would we want to live together?”
“Oh, come on, Crys. You know it’s a good idea.”
“No. No, I don’t. There’s no reason we need to share a house.”
“Yeah. We do.”
“No. We don’t.”
“Think of it this way. It’s like an experiment. To see how we get along, being around each other every day. Just in case.”
She fell back a step. “Just in case…what?”
“In case we decide we want to get married, after all.”
Chapter Four
Tanner wanted to grab her and kiss her. He’d been wanting to take her in his arms since the moment she’d walked into the kitchen, before Kelly and Mitch had taken off.
But judging by the look on her face when he’d said the word married, kisses were not in the offing.
She said, so carefully, “Tanner. I thought I explained to you. There’s not going to be any marriage.”
“Yeah.” He gave her a thoughtful nod. “You explained that.”
Her cheeks were flushed. A pulse beat in the curve of her throat. Total frustration. It came off her in waves. “And…we agreed about not getting married. You said okay.”
“Okay can mean a whole lot of things, Crystal. For instance, ‘Okay, I hear you.’ And I did. I heard you. Doesn’t mean I agreed with you.”
She folded her arms around herself. Tight. “I’m not going to marry you. That’s that. You’d better get used to it.”
He could have gotten irritated. But no. He’d thought this whole thing through. Any show of anger on his part would only make her more determined to resist him.
So he asked in a lazy, good-natured tone, “I’ve been wondering. What have you got against marriage?”
“Nothing,” she answered, too quickly. Then she qualified her statement. “I mean, you know. In principle.”
“You have nothing against marriage, in principle….”
“Isn’t that what I said?”
“Only in reality?”
“No. That’s not what I meant. I meant that I think marriage is great as an institution. I have nothing but admiration for couples who love each other and want to work together to build a life and all that. I just don’t think you and I are cut out for it. At least not with each other.”
“Why not give us a chance? We might surprise you.”
She made a scoffing sound. “Oh, I doubt that.”
“Hey, don’t be so rigid.”
She stiffened where she stood. “I am not rigid.”
Tanner hid a grin. That one must have stung. Crystal prided herself on going with the flow and all that crap. She was the ultimate play-it-as-it-lays kind of woman. Calling her rigid had gotten her right where she lived. Which was what he’d intended.
He said gently, “Yeah. You are. You’re being rigid. And that’s not like you. You could…give it a chance, couldn’t you? Kind of…roll with the punches.”
She looked at him sideways. “You’re telling me to roll with the punches?”
“Wild, huh?”
“Well, and what do you mean, give it a chance? I don’t see marriage as something you…take a chance at. Like the lottery or the slot machines in Vegas. When and if I ever get married, I want to be sure I’m making the right decision. I want my marriage to last.”
Patiently, he explained himself. “I meant give the idea of you and me getting married a chance. Think about it. That’s all.”
She glanced away. He knew then that he was making progress. A moment later, she huffed out a breath. “I just don’t…last night, you didn’t even hint that you might be considering marriage.”
He reached out, pried her top hand free where she had clutched it around herself and cradled it in both of his. “Be fair. You’ve known about the baby for weeks. You’ve had all that time to think about what you wanted to do.”
Now she looked at him. Finally. A look of indecision, which was good. Excellent, even. “Well, yes,” she said. “I understand. Of course you need time…”
“Come on. Come here…” He pulled her to the couch and guided her down next to him. Then he said, using words she might have chosen herself, “I only want you to be…open to all the possibilities, that’s all.”
She cleared her throat. “Well, of course I’m open. But I don’t want to get marr—”
“Shh.” He touched her mouth, lightly. “Listen.”
“What?”
“I’ve made some calls. Got a couple of colleagues to take over the trips I had scheduled in the next two weeks—everything else I have working, the things I need to handle myself…they’re all right here in town, or within a fifty mile radius, anyway. And that means I can help you out with DeDe. I can stay here.”
“I