Page 10 of All Night with the Cowboy
“Hope you’ve got a good book,” she mumbled, not sure what else to say.
“I’m more of a movie man myself.”
Her face went red again. She should have known that. When they were at school she was always trying to get him to study more, but he was more interested in kicking back and watchingherstudy, his slow smile teasing her whenever she looked up at him. And when they had a night alone, they’d always start out watching a movie, before Tanner would make a move and they’d end up making out on the sofa. Or his bed.
The door closed and the engine noise increased. Lauren looked up when the attendant reappeared, holding a silver tray with two glasses of champagne perched on top.
“Would either of you care for a drink?”
Lauren eyed the bubbles, knowing she should decline and ask for an orange juice instead, but right now shewas tempted to say yes.To hell with it.She nodded and extended her hand. “Thank you,” she said, holding the stem of the tall glass and watching as Tanner shook his head and asked for a beer instead. She never usually drank when she was on the clock, but right now she needed something to settle her nerves. Besides, it reminded her of the fun night she’d had on Friday with her sister and Casey, and she’d made it clear to Mia that she’d work on Tannerduringher vacation. She was technically on holiday whenever she wasn’t engaged in Tanner’s rehabilitation.
Happy birthday to me, she thought, raising her glass and taking a sip. The bubbles were cool and delicious on her tongue, and she sighed as she closed her eyes for a moment and leaned back in her seat. Today was the day she turned thirty, so if she didn’t deserve a drink now, then when?
She was on a private jet about to fly to one of the world’s most beautiful countries. There was going to be white sand and vivid blue ocean greeting her every day, the sun was going to be on her shoulders as she worked, and she was going to come back feeling amazing.
Lauren glanced at the hulking cowboy drinking his beer across from her and took another sip of champagne. She just had to stop feeling like a teenager again in his presence and show him the woman she’d grown into. Why was it that merely being near him was making her feel like a girl? She listened to him thank the attendant for his drink when she returned, and politely tell her that they’d ask if they needed anything, so she was welcome to relax during the flight.
Typical. He could be the world’s biggest idiot and behave recklessly over and over again, but he wasunfailingly polite and never acted like he came from wealth the size of Texas.
It was one of the things she’d always loved about him.
And still did.
***
Tanner slowly swallowed his beer and stretched out his ankle. If he was honest, it hurt like hell when he flexed it, and it was the one reason he was trying so damn hard to be polite to Lauren. He needed her help, more than he wanted to admit, and when he’d asked around over the past week, everyone had sung her praises. Then when his cast had come off, he’d known there was no way he could cancel their trip. He needed her.
The truth was, he was desperate to get back on a bull. He missed the adrenaline, missed being on the circuit, and his greatest fear was that when the season started again, he’d be sitting on the sidelines—and that wasnota place he wanted to be.
“I requested your latest ankle scans this morning,” Lauren said, her soft voice jolting him from his thoughts.
“What did you think?”
She smiled when she eventually looked at him, and he liked it. He’d hated her for so many years—or more correctly hated what she’d done to him and how she’d made him feel—but looking into her eyes and seeing her warm smile, it made it damn hard to hate her now.
“I think you have more soft tissue damage and ligament issues than I’d hoped for, but it’s only to be expected.” She chuckled. “I’m used to plenty of soft tissue problems, just not ones that occur from crushing. None of my players have come into contact with a fifteen-hundred-pound opponent, thank goodness.”
Tanner cracked up and took another pull of his beer.“I’ve been damn lucky to go this long with so few injuries. Guess my lucky streak couldn’t go on forever.”
“Anything else that’s been niggling you? Any other pain that you’ve been putting up with since before the accident?” she asked. “Aside from the general aches and pains we discussed the other day?”
Tanner looked down at his wrist and gripped the beer bottle a little tighter, feeling the pinch of pain that he’d become used to living with. He couldn’t pretend that it wasn’t a big problem, because it was.
“My wrist,” he admitted. “I hurt it damn bad that day, but before then the joint had felt, well, a bit sticky I guess. It just never felt quite right and it still doesn’t.”
“Hmm,” she made a low mumbling sound in her throat. “I know this sounds crazy, but you don’t have any footage of you riding, do you? It’d actually help me if I could see the way you hold yourself and get a better understanding of your sport. I like to visualize what I’m trying to achieve for my clients so I can see where they want to be, what they need to be doing.”
He raised a brow. “You’re serious?”
She nodded. “Deadly. Is that a problem?”
Tanner shrugged. “No problem.” He put his beer down on the table and opened up the small bag beside him, pulling out an iPad. “You want to see the fall, too?”
He heard her sharp inhale and it surprised him. Did she not want to watch the moment he got hurt? He’d seen it and it was brutal—there was no sugarcoating that the accident could easily have killed him—but surely it was something she needed to see?
“Yeah,” she murmured. “Please.”
Tanner clicked on the video clip and passed it over to her, extending his arm out. When her fingers closedover the device, her eyes darted upward and met his and he couldn’t help staring at her. How was she so damn beautiful? How had she managed to get better looking with age? Her skin was creamy, a result of the winter weather and her probably not getting outside as much as he did on a daily basis, but he knew that after a few days in Fiji she’d be lightly golden and tanning darker. Years ago they’d spent hours horseback riding under the sun, lying in grassy fields on long summer days, and her legs had been tanned as dark as his arms. She’d always be in cut-off shorts, even out riding, and he still remembered the feel of her soft skin beneath his fingertips.
