Page 48 of All Night with the Cowboy
As they hit shallower water he rose and took the mask off again, shaking his hair and frowning as he looked up at the sky. It looked ominous.
“I think we should get some clothes on,” he suggested as he waded through the last of the water toward shore, loving watching Lauren squeeze her long hair out, and twist it in over her shoulder, covering one round breast. “I have a feeling our boat will be coming back soon.”
Her eyes widened and she hurried up the beach, quickly drying herself and changing back into her bikini. As rain started to fall, the sky darkening even more, Tanner pulled on his shorts and grabbed the picnic basket, racing for the cover of the trees so they could set up camp.
Lauren ran after him, tucking up close as they settled down, rain dripping in big plops from the frondsabove them. Tanner put towels over their legs as Lauren opened the basket before bursting out laughing.
“What?” he asked.
“It’s nothing, I just—” She hesitated and passed him a sushi roll. “It’s just that this has been one hell of a day. If it ends up being our last day on the island, I’m glad it’s my last memory.”
He hooked her chin with his fingers and held her still, staring into her eyes before looking down at her plump lips and kissing her slowly. A raindrop fell on his nose and dripped down to their lips, and Tanner pulled back and rubbed another drop from her cheek, noticing the tiny freckles that had appeared on the bridge of her nose.
“It sure has been one hell of a day, but if that boat doesn’t come soon? We’re in serious trouble.”
Thunder rumbled in the distance and Tanner hoped it didn’t come any closer, because sitting under a tree wasn’t exactly his idea of fun if lightning struck.
Chapter 15
“THE storm has been upgraded,” Tanner said, concern etched on his face as he stood in the doorway of her bedroom the next day. She hadn’t been using it much since they’d started sharing a bed, but all her clothes were in her original room still and she’d already started to gather some of her belongings together. “We’re leaving in a couple of hours.”
Lauren had expected it. She’d known the news was coming but she’d been trying to pretend that it wasn’t going to happen. She nodded and looked out through the big glass doors, at the trees blowing steadily as the wind lifted and the rain pelted down. They’d had rain in their time here, but it had always poured like a monsoon and then cleared and come out beautiful. This was different. There was a sense of danger in the air, an ominous change in the climate that told her Tanner was right—it was definitely time to go back to the mainland.
“Will we come back here?” she asked, still staring out. “If the storm passes?”
Tanner came up behind—she could hear his bare feetpadding over the tiles. “I don’t know, depends on the destruction, and whether my doctor thinks I need to stay longer.”
She sighed and when his arms encircled her, she leaned back into him. Tanner’s lips found her neck and she shut her eyes for a moment, trying to forever commit to memory the feel of his chest and torso against her, his lips on her skin. It didn’t matter how many times she told herself that he didn’t meet the carefully selected criteria on her list for her perfect match—he was gorgeous and fun and charming and right now she was loving every second of being with him. Besides, finding a stable, serious man was never going to guarantee she didn’t get her heart broken one day, so to hell with her damn list.
“Is it childish that I don’t want this to end?”
Tanner stiffened behind her and she wished she hadn’t said it.
“This as inus?” he asked. “Or the whole being on one of the most beautiful islands in the world?”
She stayed against him, knowing that both were true but that there was only one she’d to admit to.
“Being here,” she finally said. “It’s going to be hard going back to work and normal routines and things. I feel like I spend almost the entire year exhausted and then I limp through my time off and only just start to feel reenergized days before I’m due to start work again.” Her sigh was loud. “Sorry, I’m not complaining, I love what I do, I just get tired of being so tired sometimes. And I had my heart set on spending more time here.”
His sad smile told her he understood exactly what she was trying to say. “Can you believe it’s Christmas tomorrow?” he asked. “Maybe we should have had the jetready so we could fly home for it, since we have to leave early and all.”
She actually just wanted to stay put. She wanted to enjoy more time in Fiji, she wanted to spend more time with Tanner, so she had enough new memories to last her a lifetime, even if they were in Nadi instead of Vomo. “I don’t mind. Whatever happens is fine by me, and I can always continue your treatment back home if I need to.”
“Hey, isn’t your birthday close to Christmas?” Tanner moved to stand beside her as he spoke.
“Um, yeah.” She smiled at the inquisitive look he was giving her. “It was actually the day we arrived here.”
He froze. “You’re kidding me.”
“Nope.” She laughed at the expression on his face, not letting on her surprise that he’d even roughly remembered when it was. “I celebrated a few days before we left—it’s fine, so don’t go feeling sorry for me. And I’m not a kid, so birthdays aren’t that big of a deal, although I did plan this vacation so I was away for the big day.”
“Now I feel like a complete shit,” he said, reaching for her. “Happy birthday, beautiful.”
When he spoke to her like that, his voice so soft and raspy, it broke away a little piece of her. She didn’t want him to be sweet, she wanted him to be rough and arrogant, like he had been before they’d left Texas and when they were on the plane. She’d needed him to be like that, so she wouldn’t fall head over heels in love with him all over again. Why did he do this to her when no other man had ever come close? Why did he have to be the one man on earth who had this effect on her, who made her question every decision she’d ever made?
He kissed her and she melted, opening her mouth andkissing him back. She would have slipped her hands under his T-shirt and turned it into something more, but his cell phone rang and he groaned against her and kissed her one more time.
“Sorry. It might be the helicopter pilot.”
