Page 23 of All Night with the Cowboy
“Says the woman teasing me with every damn touch.”
Lauren’s hands hovered—she almost stopped, but she pushed on. She was doing her job, she just needed to forget that the man whose strong, hard skin she was touching was Tanner.
She worked in silence a bit longer, holding the pressure and knowing it was hurting him. But when he finally spoke there was nothing to suggest he was in pain.
“I know it’s ancient history, and it’s not going to change anything, but can I ask you why?” Tanner’s voice was low. “I’ve never believed you that you wanted some space, that you were too young. I guess I’ve just always wondered what made you call time on us.”
She released the pressure but left her hand on his leg. “You’re right, Tanner, it is ancient history. There’s no point going back in time.”
He half turned and she could see how stormy his eyes were, how different they looked from the always-dancing ones she remembered. “Because you can’t remember? Or because I’m right, that it was something else?”
She fixed her smile, refused to crack even under his scrutiny. “Because there’s no point going back. Simple as that.” Lauren sucked in a breath. “Now how about we have that swim?”
Tanner kept watching her, before dropping the toweland standing up. “Christ! I’m worse now than before you started.”
She stood alongside him and reached out a hand to touch his arm, but he pulled away before she had a chance to do more than brush her fingers against his skin. Funny, before she’d been touching him repeatedly, but now, as she reached for him, it felt like she hadn’t touched him in a lifetime.
“It’s supposed to be sore. We have a long road ahead of us.”
Tanner made a noise deep in his throat that she couldn’t decipher before hobbling into the house, leaving her standing there. What was she supposed to do? Was she supposed to put her feelings aside and pretend like calling time on their relationship hadn’t ripped her heart out and left her gasping for air for weeks, months, longer? Because she wasn’t sure if she’d gotten over Tanner yet, even more than ten years later, so what the hell was she supposed to say to him when he acted like she hadn’t given a damn? She might have acted like a prize bitch at the time, but her hand had been forced. She’d had to make a choice, and she’d made the only one she could.
Tanner appeared again, but he didn’t give her a second glance. Instead he pushed off from the side of the pool and dived straight in, sending an arc of water at her, splashing her toes. His big body pushed through the water, slicing across it as he swam powerfully to the other end.
Lauren clapped when his head emerged, hair slicked and looking even longer than it had before. “Impressive. Maybe your body’s not as damaged as I thought.”
It was only then that she saw the ripple of pain pass through his face as he reached for the edge of the pool, gasping, before slipping back down below the surface again.
“Tanner!” she screamed, running the few steps between the deck and the edge of the pool and leaping in, swimming quickly to where he was. “Tanner!”
“Fuck, my leg, it’s…”
She hooked an arm under his and started to tread water as she reached for the edge. “Just take it easy.”
“I’m not going to drown,” he ground out. “I’m just goddamn sore. The side of my leg just exploded in heat, like it was on fire. And the cramp in my calf is—dammit!”
Lauren took a breath and ducked under the surface, pushing down as far as she could, and reached for his leg. She pushed his heel down, holding on to his toes, and rubbing his tight muscles. She stayed below as long as she could, and just as she was about to come up for air a strong arm wrapped around her and hauled her up to the surface.
She gasped when she came up, sucking back air and blinking water from her lashes. She pushed her wet hair off her face, and when she went to open her mouth she realized she was less than an inch from Tanner, and that he was staring down at her, his eyes on hers. She touched a hand to his chest.
“Are you okay now? How are you feeling?”
“No, I’m not okay. I’m so far from fucking okay that it’s ridiculous.”
She stared back at him. She needed to push away. Her hand was still on his chest. She just needed to push back.
Tanner grabbed her wrist, his gaze dropping to her mouth.
“Is it your leg? I can—”
“This doesn’t mean I’ve forgiven you,” he growled out.
“What—”
Tanner’s mouth closed over hers in a searing kiss before she had time to react, his hand letting go of her wrist and moving around her, pressed to the small of her back and pulling her straight into that rock solid chest of his.
***
What the hell was he doing? Tanner stroked his hand possessively down Lauren’s back, pressing against her so she moved closer to him. Her lips were wet and soft as he kissed her, and he tangled one hand in her wet hair as he kissed her again. Pain shot up his leg but he didn’t stop, put up with it so he could keep moving his mouth against hers. Maybe it had been the touching before or the heat or the—hell, he didn’t know why, all he knew was that it felt so damn good.
