as she relaxed and fell for the trap, he leaned forward to snatch away the card.
"Hey!" She whirled on him.
Tanner closed his fingers over the ID and smiled. "What'll you give me if I don't check it out?"
"You should worry about what I'll give you if you do check it out. Did I mention my older brothers? They taught me how to fight dirty."
He smiled wider, leaning close to chuck her under the chin. "Mine too, sweetheart. See how much we have in common."
His hand lingered on her soft skin. That was a mistake. That and knowing what else they had in common. Desire. Christ, in the middle of the DMV of all places, it was acting like some kind of hot air machine, heating the inches of space between them and causing his cock to stir to life. Again.
The gaggle of other people receded into the far distance, and instead of being aware of the babble of voices and hum of computers in the cavernous room, his senses fine-tuned to her. Her reaction.
His hearing picked up Hannah's startled hiccup of concern, and he saw her eyes flare wide. Her whole body trembled beneath his fingertips. Her skin started to burn against his, and he knew he could have her. Right now. Right this minute.
Tanner snatched his hand away. Then he cleared his throat and flipped her the plastic card. She caught it out of the air in one hand, and then they both swallowed, both broke their joined gazes, both moved on.
He kept silent until they were back in his Mercedes and he was waiting for her to buckle her seat belt. She lifted her butt from the bottom cushion so she could slide the new ID into her front jeans pocket.
"I didn't look closely, but isn't that a regular license? I thought you said you didn't drive."
And he'd noticed on their journey to the DMV what a tense passenger she was too. She'd braced one hand on the dash and strangled the door handle with the other.
Her tongue came out to moisten her lips. "I took the classes." The rain drummed against the roof of the car, and she stared out the windshield, as if fascinated by the rivulets of water washing down. "I took the test and passed. But I'm not confident behind the wheel."
"It can take some practice."
Her head bobbed in a jerky nod. "I ride a bike to work. I live close enough to stores and anything else I need that I can use my two wheels or my two feet. It's good exercise and I don't need to rely on anyone's charity."
"Sure. Gotcha." Of course there was more to the story - that fact was staring him in the face in foot-high neon - but getting it out would mean focusing on Hannah when he kept remembering he shouldn't. Think about yourself, Hart. Poor Tanner. Poor Tanner. Poor Tanner.
It was once more time to run. He turned the key and the car purred to life.
Hannah started at the sudden sound. She shot him a swift glance. "There was an accident."
Without thinking, he switched the engine off. Nothing would compete now with the sound of their voices and the muffled drum of the rain. "Car accident?" Damn his curiosity.
Another nod. "It was a day like this."
Ah. He glanced away from her face to take in the dark clouds and the heavy rain. "Were you hurt?"
"No, no. It was my sister. My sister died."
"What?" His belly cramped, twisting and squeezing into a knot. "What did you say?"
"She was sixteen. The oldest of us kids. She'd had her license about a week and I had dance class that afternoon. I was six and wanted my big sister to collect me. She wanted to drive whenever she could. My mom was up to her eyebrows in my brothers' science projects and they lobbied for her to stay home with them and continue helping. In the end, when my sister didn't make it to the dance studio, there was plenty of guilt to go around the Davis family. I'm pretty sure my dad figures he should have been able to stop the rain." She laughed a little at that.
The sad sound tightened the half-hitch in his abdomen. "Jeez," he whispered. "Jeez, Hannah." He'd seen death and he had his own guilt, but if he could, he'd take over the memories and the regrets he could read in the deep brown depths of her eyes. "I'm so sorry."
"Thanks. I don't