Page 16 of All Night with the Cowboy
“Oh yes. He has just had his first baby. A boy.”
Tanner took out some hundred-dollar bills and passedhalf over to tip him. “Something for your family. Sorry it’s American currency.”
The man’s face rose, then fell. “I can’t take so much. No sir…”
“Do something nice for your kids, it’s fine.” Tanner pushed up and got out, holding out his hand for Lauren. She didn’t take it, getting out the opposite side and walking around.
“Congratulations on your new baby,” he told the other man, holding out his hand and then pressing the rest of the bills into his palm.
“Oh,vinaka!Vinaka!” he said, thanking him in the local language.
Tanner grinned and held up his hand, taking his sunglasses from where he’d hooked them over his front pocket and pushing them on. He stood back as Lauren ducked her head low and hurried to the helicopter, then did the same and climbed aboard beside her. His thigh brushed hers and neither did anything to stop it.
“That was really kind of you,” she said, leaning in a little.
He could smell her perfume, her shampoo, the lovely scent of her that was doing its best to tease him.
“It’s nice to help out,” he said. And it was. Generous tipping was an easy way for him to help others and he did it whenever he could. “For all I know they’re probably paid a few dollars an hour in their local currency. I’m sure it’s damn hard to feed kids and keep a roof over their heads, so me giving them a few hundred dollars each means a lot to them and doesn’t dent my pocket. It’s a win-win situation.”
Her eyes were warm now, the grit from earlier nowhere to be seen. “Well, it was a nice thing to do.”
While Tanner hadn’t done it to impress her, seeing the change in the way she was looking at him wasn’t half bad. “There’s not much point being wealthy if you can’t give others a hand up.” His mother had instilled that in all of them when they were kids. They’d had a swear jar at home when he was younger, and it had been emptied and given to charity regularly. His mother had also made them take twenty percent of their pocket money as a “tax” and put it away. They were allowed to choose their own charities to be recipients of their tax money, or even give it to specific homeless people, so long as they gave it to someone in need.
He smiled to himself as he thought about that damn jar. His mom had died when he was only a teenager, but if she hadn’t passed away, she’d have a swear jar full every few days from him and Cody alone. They’d watched their language around her, but once she was gone and they’d all grown up a bit more, the swear jar had been long forgotten and their expletives had gotten a whole lot worse.
“What’s so funny?” Lauren asked.
“Nothing,” Tanner replied.
He passed Lauren her headset and put his on just as the rotors began to speed up and the pilot spoke to them.
“We’re looking at a flight time of approximately fifteen minutes from Nadi to Vomo Island,” he informed them. “So buckle up, sit back, and enjoy the sparkling blue waters of paradise.”
Tanner sat back as instructed, unbuttoning his shirt and pushing his sleeves up some more. He was sweating like he’d just run a marathon and then some.
“I don’t think I got the memo on dressing appropriately,” Tanner said. “Seriously, I’m dying here.”
“What kind of fool needs a memo on how hot a tropical island is going to be?” Lauren asked, looking amused. “And how can a Texan not be used to the heat?”
“You feel this humidity?” he asked. He looked at her jeans, flip-flops, and pretty little top. Her jumper was long gone, and he envied how cool she looked. “I don’t think anyone could be used to this.”
“Come on, cowboy, toughen up,” she said, patting him on the thigh and making him feel everything but tough and cool.
Tanner gazed out the window as they lifted off the ground, steadying for a moment before flying across the sky. It took only minutes for them to reach the ocean, and he admired the twinkling, bright blue waters and imagined how good it would feel.
“Swimming’s good for my recovery, right, doc?”
“Absolutely.”
Tanner stared at the water some more, realizing how quickly he’d warmed up to Lauren and hating how rapidly he’d betrayed himself. When Mia had first told him the physical therapist was Lauren, he’d have rather submerged himself in a pit of snakes than have to spend time with her. Maybe she was his weakness, or perhaps he was finally starting to realize that her leaving him might not have been all her fault. And even if it had been, what sensible man over thirty would still blame his high school sweetheart for screwing him up when it came to women?
His brother had always said Lauren was a good excuse. Tanner had cursed her when he’d drunk himself stupid, when he’d slept with way too many women and refused to get involved in anything more than a one-night, or few-night, stand. But seeing her seated besidehim, long dark hair tucked behind one air and the sweetest goddamn smile on her face as she surveyed the island, he knew he’d been the villain, not her. Whatever her reasons had been for ending things, she wasn’t responsible for his bad behavior over the years.
It didn’t mean he had to forgive her or even like her, but he did need to grow up and stop blaming her for ending things all those years ago.
“Welcome to Vomo Island,” the pilot said. “Enjoy your stay in paradise.”
“You okay?” he asked Lauren. He watched as she removed her headset and he did the same.
