Tacker doesn’t even miss a beat, his eyes pinned hard on the TV screen as he replies for me, “Because she has impeccable taste.”
Dax roars with laughter. Leaning over the couch, he squeezes Tacker’s shoulder briefly. “Of course she does.”
Next thing I know, Dax has me by the elbow. As he starts to lead me away, he calls out to Tacker. “Got your woman. I’ll return her safely.”
“You better,” Tacker calls back, again eyes still engaged fully in the game, but there’s no mistaking the warning in his tone. “Or you’ll regret it.”
Dax leads me up the stairs, through the great room, and out onto the back patio where several people congregate, talking, eating, and drinking.
I’m tugged along with him, right over to a small group of women. I recognize Blue, who I’d seen a bit earlier, and Brooke and Regan, who had come out to Shërim Ranch that day with the team. There’s another woman there—petite and stunning with her dark hair in a pixie cut—who I don’t know.
“Nora,” Dax says as he releases my elbow. “I believe you know everyone but Pepper.”
Of course, Pepper. The woman of the hour.
She opens her arms to me, and I step in for a hug. When we pull apart, I say, “Congratulations on your marriage.”
“Thank you,” she gushes, pushing her hair behind her ears. “I’m so glad you came with Tacker. I’ve been dying to meet you.”
Suddenly, a glass of wine appears in front of my face, held by Dax. “Here you go.”
I accept it, not worrying about the fact Tacker doesn’t drink. He hasn’t minded me having a glass of wine or beer when we go out to dinner. Sometimes, I do. Other times, I don’t, depending on my mood. Tacker assured me it was fine as he wasn’t much of a drinker anyway, so he wasn’t bothered by the team’s mandate he couldn’t have alcohol. It works out, because I’m not much of a drinker either. Like I said, just a drink with a meal sometimes.
“And with that,” Dax says with a slight bow and wink at Regan, “I’m out of here. Unlike Tacker, I don’t hang out with the girls.”
Everyone laughs but me, because I don’t get the joke. Regan notices my perplexed expression as Dax disappears, and explains, “In an effort to get Tacker engaging with people, Dax sort of set him up.”
“Yeah,” Brooke pipes in with a snicker. “Asked Tacker to check on Regan one day and unbeknownst to poor Tacker, we were all there baking cookies for a charity event. We sort of pulled him inside, and we didn’t give him a choice about leaving. Made him hang out with us for a few hours and actually have a conversation.”
My jaw drops as I admit with all the admiration in the world. “That’s brilliantly devious.”
“Totally,” Pepper adds with a giggle. “But we all love Tacker so much, so the team sort of came together as a whole, determined to keep pushing at him to rejoin our world, so to speak.”
“Well, he has an incredible support system with all of you,” I tell the ladies.
“And with you,” Blue says pointedly. “You came into his life at the exact right time. Serendipity.”
I can’t argue with that, except to point out. “Or, he came into my life at exactly the right time.”
Blue beams back. “I love that. I genuinely believe when true love comes along, there’s an exceptionally good reason for it to happen at the moment it does.”
I blink at her casual use of the word “love,” because we are nowhere near that. Hell, we’ve only shared a handful of kisses these past ten days. No way can I even consider being in love with him.
“If I can have everyone’s attention,” we hear being yelled from the double French doors that lead into the house.
Erik stands there with a champagne glass in hand, looking very self-important.
“He’s such a spectacle,” Blue mutters, but it’s loaded with so much affection.
“If everyone would come into the great room, please,” he says with a grand sweep of his hand and a disarming smile thrown at Blue from across the patio.
“He’s a fool,” she murmurs as she starts hurrying his way, “but he’s my fool and I love him.”
Everyone moves into the house, Brooke chatting with me along the way, inviting me to watch some home games with her. Once inside, I see Tacker standing beside Billy in his motorized wheelchair. Erik had upgraded the house with an elevator, and he’d made all the rooms handicap accessible for the young man. Even though Billy still lives at a group home—by his choice—Tacker told me he spends a lot of time here at Erik’s house.
The first line couples all seem to come together. Legend and Pepper, Brooke and Bishop, Regan and Dax. I take that as my cue, moving over to Tacker.