Page 41 of All Night with the Cowboy
His laughter was gruffer this time and he leaned in and claimed a kiss. “No idea, but we’re the one writing the rules, so who gives a damn?”
His lips were as warm and soft as the bed sheets wrapped around her, cocooning her and making her forget everything else. She kissed him back, still keeping the pillow tucked to her breasts as a familiar flutter in her stomach told her she still wanted Tanner just as bad this morning as she had the night before.
“Oh shit, we’d better stop,” he said, pushing her back a little.
“Why, did I hurt you again?” she asked. “I’m the worst therapist around!”
The humor in his gaze made her glare at him. “What?”
“It’s just that I thought day time was for workouts and training. Not my PT taking advantage of me in the bedroom.”
Lauren swatted at him, but he caught her wrist and placed a kiss to the inside of her palm.
“Until tonight then,” she murmured.
“Oh, I havenoproblem being taken advantage of,” he said, lying back with his arms above his head. “For the record, I’m all yours.”
She refused to take the bait, deciding she’d damn well make him wait if he was going to tease her like that. “Well, if you’re all mine then get up, get dressed, and be ready for a swim in ten minutes. Training starts now.”
He laughed. “Oh, so it’s like that, is it?”
She sat up and took the sheets with her, holding them tight to her body as she got up and walked out.
“What are you trying to hide? It’s nothing I haven’t seen before,” Tanner called out as she headed for her own bedroom.
She giggled as she walked, feeling like a naughty girl caught out late with her boyfriend or trying to sneak back without being seen. This Tanner was like the one she’d fallen for all those years ago, the one she’d yearned for and mourned like he’d died. It couldn’t last for long, but it was the rematch she’d needed, to get him out of her system once and for all, on her terms this time. She would walk away from him, but it would be because she wanted to this time, because it could never work between them, not because someone else was pulling the strings and forcing her hand.
Lauren washed and got into her one-piece, ready to swim alongside Tanner in the pool to help get his strength up. She liked the workout and it was good to be completely hands on with him, to see how far and hard she could push him.
“Lauren?”
She paused and wondered if she’d imagined Tanner’s call. “Do you need me?” she called back.
“Yeah.”
She picked up a towel and carried it under her arm, heading back into Tanner’s room.
“Everything okay?” she asked, before seeing him sitting on the bed, still naked, with a grimace on his face that told her everything was definitely not okay.
“Sorry, I just don’t feel right. My leg, it’s, I don’t know how to describe it, but when I put weight on it, it was weak.”
She dropped to her knees and placed her hands on him, tugging at the tape she’d used to do the strapping with. “Let me take this off, see how you feel.”
Had she pushed him too hard? Had something made him worse instead of helping him?
“I’m sore, but it’s more than that. It’s like my ankle or something is burning.”
“Lie back,” she said, hands resting on his skin and massaging more gently than she had been the day before. “You’ve got a lot of damage there to ligaments and soft tissue, so it was always going to be a slow recovery, but maybe we need to ease off a little, just focus on swimming, massage, and complete rest otherwise.”
She glanced up at him and cracked up when she realized he was lying on his back, with his package on full display. Funny how she could totally ignore the fact that his gorgeous body was on show when she was focused on work.
“Whatever you say, doc,” Tanner said.
Lauren frowned and kept working, knowing that he would never have called out to her and admitted his pain unless it was really bad.
When she’d finished, she stood and held out a hand to him. “Come on, let’s just have a nice swim, and then we can order in breakfast and chill for the rest of the day.”
Tanner took her hand and used some of her weight to pull himself up. When he was standing, at least a foot taller than her, he dropped a kiss to her hair, hand moving to her elbow.
