his attention back to some documents on a clipboard. “We’ll be there at Crystal Beach in no time. In a little less than an hour.”
Lyric watched him and thought this wasn’t the first time her attention had been drawn to his hands. She’d noticed them yesterday at the gym. They were big and powerful-looking. At least she’d thought the latter while noticing how he’d gripped and lifted those barbells. He’d made a usually hard task look easy. Last night while sleeping, she’d anticipated today and dreamed of those same hands gripping her in certain places.
“Ready?”
She switched her gaze from his hands to his face and saw him smile. Had he noticed how she’d been staring at his hands? “Ready?”
“Yes. For takeoff?”
“Yes, I’m ready.”
Lyric watched how smoothly he moved the plane down the runway and then how expertly he geared it toward blue skies. She didn’t say anything, figuring he needed total concentration. Pretty soon, the plane leveled off.
“You can stop holding your breath now, Lyric.”
She glanced over at him and chuckled. “How did you know I was holding my breath?”
“I could tell.”
She decided not to ask how, when his attention hadn’t been on her—at least she’d thought so since he hadn’t been looking at her. What she decided to do was find out more information about him. It didn’t matter that today would be one and done—she still wanted to know him. “Tell me about you, Tanner.”
Glancing at her, her asked, “What is it you want to know?”
“Anything you want to tell me.”
Tanner didn’t say anything for a moment, and she wondered if he would tell her that there wasn’t anything about him that she needed to know. Instead, he began talking and said, “The Jamison family is a large one. My parents have been married for over forty years and are from Dallas. I have two older brothers and two older sisters.”
“So you’re the youngest?”
“Yes, and they like to remind me of it.” He smiled. “They think I had it made growing up, a lot more freedom than they had. My great-grandfather started a funeral business over sixty years ago. I’m the only Jamison not taking an active role in the company.”
“Why?”
“I decided before I left for college I would major in finance and not in handling dead bodies. I convinced my family I would be better at growing the family fortune. They took a chance on me and haven’t regretted it now.” He glanced over at her. “What about you? I met your younger sister, Liza. Any others?”
“Yes. I have an older brother. Liam is five years older and operates an Evans’s Gym on the west coast in San Diego. The one we have in New Orleans is small beans compared to the huge facility Liam and his wife, Paula, operate.”
There was no need to tell him that she’d learned all the secrets of single men from Liam, who’d once been a devout bachelor. She knew the pickup lines men used and what asses some guys could be. Liam had shared a lot with her because, as he put it, he didn’t want her to ever get tangled up with some smooth-talking, no-good dude. Too bad he hadn’t been around to spare her from Westley.
“Do you have any hobbies?” she asked him.
Tanner shot her a look that gave her an idea of what she figured one of his favorite hobbies would be. “Besides chasing women.”
He smiled. “Umm, let me think. Believe it or not, I’m active in a number of community causes.”
She stared at him, wondering if he was pulling her leg. “Community causes like what?”
“I volunteer at the homeless shelter. I’m also big brother to a number of boys, and on the board of Habitat for Humanity.” He paused a moment and then said, “My partners and I also build and donate a house to a single mother at Christmas every year.” He then added, “And I participate in the cancer walk each year.”
“You actually find time to volunteer for all of that?”
He chuckled. “Yes, they are things I enjoy doing, so I make time. The cancer walk has a lot of meaning for the Jamison family.”
“Why?”
“The walk is named for my grandfather, who died of cancer ten years ago. He was well known in the city and involved in a number of charities.”
Lyric didn’t say anything because she also was involved in a number of community causes. Although she spent a lot of her time helping out at her family’s gym, she still worked at the