Page 6 of All Night with the Cowboy
He sucked back a breath and calmed the hell down. Why was he behaving like a child while she was managing to behave like a perfectly professional adult?
“It’s fine,” he muttered. “I just didn’t expect to ever see you again.”
She smiled, her lips faintly turning up at the corners. “I know the feeling. But I’m good at what I do, Tanner, and I will get your body working again. I’ve made a career of keeping athletes in top shape and rehabilitating them when they need it, so you can trust me.”
He nodded. So he could trust her with his body, just not with his heart. “Follow me then.”
Tanner could smell her perfume; it filled his nostrils, and teased him, following him as he limped down the hall and into the living room. He flopped onto a sofa and dropped his crutches, staring at the woman standing in the center of the room. Dammit, she was beautiful. Andwhen she sat down across from him, leaning forward so he got more than a glimpse of her creamy chest, he had to swallow a rock in his throat.
Lauren Lewis had been a gorgeous girl, but she’d turned into a devastatingly beautiful woman and it was going to drive Tanner nuts.
***
Lauren sat on her hands to stop them from shaking. She’d thought that after all these years, he wouldn’t still have an effect on her, but how wrong she’d been. Tanner was a man now—all grown up and then some. His eyes were still the brightest blue, and she bet his skin crinkled more at the sides now when he smiled, but she hadn’t seen him crack one yet. Instead she’d seen a coolness that she didn’t recognize, as well as heavily stubbled cheeks, broad shoulders, and a chest that was all kinds of filled out. She glanced up and hated the way he was considering her, his gaze still cold. This wasn’t the Tanner she’d known way back when, but he was even more gorgeous now, more sinewy and masculine than she cared to admit, despite the arrogant stare.
“I thought we’d start by reviewing your latest scans together,” she said, clearing her throat and reluctantly releasing her hands.
“I’m all ears,” he replied, leaning back into the sofa. She didn’t miss the grimace as he lifted his foot to rest it on the table.
“When do you get your cast off?” she asked softly.
“Seven days and counting.”
“Where is it hurting? The ankle still or elsewhere?”
Tanner’s gaze met hers this time, warmer than before. “My thigh and my hip now. It’s like there’s no part of me that’s been spared.”
She smiled. “That’s what happens when you lose a fight with a bull, huh?”
He laughed, but it sounded like more of a grunt. “Yeah, something like that.”
“Honestly, I don’t think there’s anything that we’re working with here that I can’t help you with,” she told him, relaxing more now that she was in work mode. If she stayed focused on her job, she’d be fine—working was what she did best. “You’re sore because you’ve got a cast on that’s making you move in an abnormal way to protect your ankle. That’s putting pressure on other areas, and let’s not forget that there are plenty of other parts of your body that were hurt during that accident.”
“Sounds like you’re on the right track, doc,” Tanner muttered.
“Tanner, I know things are, well, awkward between us,” she said, needing to get it out in the open, not wanting to leave it unsaid, “but I’m good at what I do. I love what I do and I love healing bodies and getting athletes back to work. With you, I’ve got time to heal you properly, but for that I need you to trust me.”
He considered her, his eyes never leaving hers. She gulped, hating the feeling of being so thoroughly under inspection.
“Trust is something that’s earned,” he said slowly. “It’s not something you can demand.”
Lauren gulped. She got it. She’d been the one person he’d trusted outside of his family, and she’d ended their relationship with no warning and never looked back. Or at least that’s what it would have felt like to him. At the time she’d broken her own heart as badly as she’d obviously ripped out his, but that was all in the past. There was no point in trying to make him understand whyshe’d done what she’d done. She had a job to do, and right now she needed him to trust that she was capable and prepared to do whatever she needed to get him back on a bull.
“I need you to trust me professionally, Tanner,” she said, keeping her voice low and steady. “I can give you references and case studies so you can believe in my work, but I don’t expect this to be anything more than a professional transaction, okay?”
He nodded. “Fine. Professional it is.”
She let out a low, quiet breath. “So we’re still leaving in a week?”
“Yup.”
They sat awkwardly, Lauren looking at her boots and then back up at Tanner, wondering how the hell they were going to spend weeks together if they couldn’t even get through a fifteen-minute conversation without struggling.
“Tanner, I know it’s been a long time, but I don’t have a problem keeping things strictly professional between us,” she said. “There’s no reason we can’t work together, and we can both relax while we’re away, too. It’ll be an amazing place for you to recover, and I’ve been looking forward to this vacation for a long time. Like a seriously long time.”
The look on his face surprised her. It was like a combination of hate and pain twisted into one for the briefest second, before a tight smile crossed his lips. “You’re right. I need therapy and from what Mia keeps telling me, you’re the best in the business.”
Lauren hesitated, but curiosity got the better of her. “Can I just ask you one thing? Did Mia tell you before she contacted me?”
