Page 42 of All Night with the Cowboy
“Thanks,” he said.
She should have asked for what, but she didn’t. She was here as a professional, and yet she wasn’t sure if he was thanking her for the treatment or the booty call the night before.
Tanner hobbled into the bathroom and she went to place their order for breakfast, wanting it to be ready when they finished swimming. She was starving and she wanted Tanner to eat well while he was on her watch, with plenty of fresh fruit and protein.
Lauren went into the living room to make the call, ordering up fruit platters and omelets for two. She stood and waited for Tanner, looking out at the ocean and knowing that she’d never forget their trip for the rest of her life. They could never be together, not after everything that had happened, and they both had such different careers that consumed them, but being with him here, having him back just for a little while, was one hell of a feeling.
“I’m looking forward to that swim,” Tanner said, and she turned to find the man who was consuming her thoughts standing in his swimming shorts, towel over his shoulder.
“Did that at least loosen you up a little?” she asked.
He nodded, but she wasn’t convinced. “Come onthen, cowboy. Let’s do a few slow laps and see how we go.”
Lauren left her towel on a lounger, using the tie around her wrist to secure her hair into a ponytail. She watched as Tanner sat and then slipped straight into the water, and she dived in once he moved further into the middle of the pool.
She blinked when she came up and smiled at the man in the water beside her. “Come on, let’s slowly do five laps of breast stroke then see how you’re feeling,” she said. “There’s no better way to build up full body strength in a gentle way than swimming.”
Tanner followed her lead and she let him set the pace, refusing to listen to the voice in her head asking whether she truly believed she’d be able to heal him. He would be fine—of course he would be—but would he be strong enough and fit enough to be number one again? She wasn’t sure. But what she did know was that nothing was going to stop her from doing everything in her power to fix him.
“You look worried,” he said as they turned and headed back in the other direction.
“I’m fine. Come on, let’s switch to freestyle. But take it slow.”
Lauren settled into a slow rhythm, focusing on her breathing, and wondering if she was truly cut out to be his physical therapist by day and his mistress by night.
***
Tanner sat outside, holding a beer and looking out at the ocean. He’d thought that sitting on his porch and looking over his ranch was relaxing, but the Fiji beach was something else. The light breeze, the temperature that was pleasant but not too hot, the white sand, the gentlylapping ocean—there was nothing not to love about being cast away on a luxury island.
If his body slowly started to improve, and he was able to go home healed and ready to ride for the next season, it would end up being the perfect holiday.And that was before he factored in Lauren.He had no idea what the hell he thought he was doing with her, but what harm could it do? So they’d reconnected—so what? He wouldn’t be second-guessing himself if he’d met some gorgeous brunette on vacation and spent a week having wild holiday sex with her, so why was Lauren any different? And once they boarded the jet to go home it would all be over.
He sighed and took a pull of beer. This was different because it was Lauren Lewis. Former love, the woman who’d ruined him for all others, the one human being in the world he’d genuinely thought he despised. Maybe he’d been fooling himself all along about that last part.
“How are you feeling?” Lauren’s soft voice was warm, like arms being swept around him from behind.
“Good,” he replied, taking another sip of beer before swiveling to look at her. She was dressed in denim cutoffs again and a pretty top, and he wondered if that was part of the attraction. That last summer they’d spent together had been all about her wearing teeny-tiny shorts, lying out in the sun turning dark shades of golden, and swimming. Fiji was turning out to be exactly the same, other than the recovery stuff.
“You want to eat in tonight or go to the restaurant?” she asked. “Or if you want some alone time then I’m happy to dine solo.”
He laughed. “Solo? Not a chance. And for the record, I’d like to eat you.”
Now Lauren was the one laughing, and when she moved closer he hooked his hand around her smooth leg and looked up at her. He didn’t need to say anything, she seemed to know exactly what he was thinking and spun around, slowly sitting in his lap. She brought her mouth toward his, lips parted expectantly, and Tanner closed the distance, kissing her gently, enjoying the sensation of her weight on him, the feel of her silky, just-washed hair connecting with his skin.
“What the hell are we doing, Tan?” she asked, sighing against his mouth as she touched her forehead to his.
“Kissing,” he replied, finding her lips again.
She kissed him straight back, but slower, their lips just grazing this time. “I mean us,” she finally murmured. “I’ve spent my life—”
“I know,” he said. “Work is work and pleasure is pleasure. I get it.”
“So why am I bending the rules for you?” she asked. “It’s a bad idea, I just know it.”
“Because we’re Tan and Lol,” he teased. “We were voted most likely to be married, remember?”
When she laughed her head tipped back. “Oh my god, you’ve just given me a mental image of us at homecoming. And you’re right, I think everyone had us pegged for being married in college and me barefoot and pregnant.”
“Ah, it wouldn’t have been so bad,” he said.
