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Ashton was frowning at them, and Tanner got the impression that it wasn’t about how long it might be before the house was ready.

He turned to Everly and cocked an eyebrow. They needed to talk about it – he needed to know how she felt before he waded in. She gave him a slight nod, but Ashton spoke first.

Tanner’s heart felt as though someone was trying to rip it out of his chest when the little guy’s shoulders sagged as he said, “I know you’re not my dad. You can say if you don’t want me to call you that.”

Tanner covered the distance between them in two strides, all his concerns forgotten. He wrapped his arms around the kid and scooped him up. Ashton clung to him, and the feel of his hot little hands on his shoulder, and warm, ragged breath against his ear, made Tanner love him even more – and he hadn’t believed that was possible.

He hugged the kid tightly and met Everly’s gaze over his shoulder. What he had to say was for the both of them.

“I want to be your dad, Ash. I love you. I already feel like Iamyour dad. Don’t ever go thinking that I don’t want to be. I’ve been trying to take my time. Everything’s happened so fast between the three of us. Fast isn’t a bad thing, but I wanted to make sure that we were all happy about it before…”

Bands of pressure tightened around his chest when Ashton lifted his tear-stained face and looked up into his eyes. “Do you mean it?”

“I do. In my heart, you’re already my boy – my son.” He glanced over at Everly again, and Ashton did the same.

“Can I? Can I call him Dad?”

Tears shone in her eyes as she nodded. “Yes. If that’s what you both want…”

“Don’t you want that?”

She came to them and wrapped her arms around them. “I want it more than anything in the world; what I don’t want is for either of you to get hurt.”

Ashton rubbed his hand over his face, smearing dirt across his wet cheek. “It hurts when people say that Tanner’s not my dad.”

Everly’s eyebrows shot up.

“Who said that?” Tanner asked.

Ashton shrugged and laid his head back down on his shoulder. “No one. Can I get down now? Can I go and see Houdini?”

Tanner looked at Everly, and Ashton laughed. “You know she’s going to want to see the kitchen, and I don’t.”

Everly ruffled his hair. “Okay, go and see Houdini, but don’t go too far. We won’t be long, and you need to take a shower before dinner.”

Tanner watched the kid run for the stairs. Everly breathed out a big sigh.

“What did I miss?” he asked.

“I might be wrong, but when I picked him up from school today, I thought some boys were picking on him. I don’t know for sure, but I’d guess that’s at the root of whatever’s going on.”

Tanner clenched his hand into a fist at his side. “Can I do the school run next week?”

“Shayna said that she’s happy to help and…” Everly’s words trailed off when she noticed the look on his face. “Oh.”

Tanner nodded grimly. “Yeah. Oh. I need to sort this out.”

“What are you going to do?”

He shook his head. “I won’t know until I get to the bottom of it. Do you trust me?”

She only hesitated for a moment before she nodded. “I do; we wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Everly stopped scrubbing the cabinet and smiled at the sound of Tanner and Ashton laughing. It was only when she looked up that she realized it was starting to go dark. She went to the window, and her hand came up to cover her heart when she saw them. They were walking back across the pasture, each carrying a bucket and a halter. Whatever Tanner was saying to Ashton had him laughing so hard that he was bending over.

The three of them had spent most of the weekend in here getting the apartment ready. She’d sent them off outside to have some fun a couple of hours ago. Tanner hadn’t wanted to leave her, but they’d both worked hard and done their fair share. Plus, she didn’t need them in the way while she was cleaning.