All Night with the Cowboy

by Soraya Lane

  “Definitely! Hey, I have to go, but can’t wait to hear more. Talk soon?”

  “I’ll call you another time. Bye.”

  As Lauren hung up and dropped her arm, phone clasped in her fingers, she wondered if she was ready for the fall that was coming. Having a fling was one thing, but letting Tanner go all over again was something else entirely.

  * * *

  Tanner looked up and smiled to himself as he saw how close they were to the top of the mountain. Today was humid as hell after the rain, and his skin was slick with sweat, but he loved the feeling of actually doing something more strenuous than swimming.

  He glanced at Lauren walking beside him, wondering why she’d been so quiet all morning. He doubted she was worried about the storm—she wasn’t the type to rattle easily—but she was obviously mulling over something in her head and she wasn’t as talkative as usual.

  “What do you say we jog the rest of the way?” he asked.

  Lauren smiled and shook her head. “Easy, tiger. Remember what I said about not wanting to carry you back down?”

  The idea of her trying to carry him was something he’d pay to see.

  “I’m feeling great, but walking is killing me. Promise I’ll take it slow.”

  She looked undecided.

  “Come on, we’re almost there.”

  Lauren sighed. “Okay, fine, but if you feel anything, anything at all, just stop. I haven’t spent all those hours on you for nothing.”

  Tanner shook out through his shoulders and pushed off on the balls of his feet, springing forward into a light jog. His muscles bunched and pulled and he listened to his body, as cautious as Lauren not to push too hard and cause damage, but he felt good. Better than good, he was starting to feel great again. It was like he’d woken up this morning a huge step closer to having his old body back.

  “You good?” Lauren asked, matching his pace.

  “Keep your eyes on the track, sweetheart,” he said. “I’m doing great.”

  Tanner focused on every footfall and jogged the rest of the way, his lungs full of air and his heart racing as he surveyed the island from above.

  “Man, it’s beautiful up here,” he murmured.

  “I know,” she said, breathless as she stood beside him, shoulders almost touching. “It’s why I’ve been coming up here every day.”

  “You know, I have you to thank for helping me to feel this way again,” he said. “I couldn’t have imagined actually feeling like this even two weeks ago.”

  She moved away from him and he tracked her, his attention on her instead of the view now. “You would have gotten to this point with or without me, Tanner. You’ve got a strong body, you’re determined, and to be honest, any therapist could have helped you.”

  “But I didn’t have just any therapist,” he said, hearing the deep, gruff tone of his own voice. “I had you.”

  She turned and he saw tears in her eyes, the same kind of held-back, stuck-in-the-lashes big tears that he’d noticed that first time they were in bed together.

  “I knew this would be hard, but…”

  “What? Being here with me?”

  She smiled, finally meeting his gaze head on. “I knew being here with you would be hard, but this, this whatever this thing is going on between us, it’s hard knowing that we’ve gone back but…” She let out a big sigh. “I almost think we should just end this now. Today.”

  Tanner stood a little straighter, knowing what she was trying to say because he’d thought the exact same thing. “It’s the island air, it’s making us feel like we’re kids again,” he said. “Once we’re back in the real world with other people around us, instead of being in this little bubble of paradise, we’ll be fine. Trust me. It’ll all be over and this will be the memory that stays with us when we think about what we used to have. And no, we’re not ending this today. When we board the jet again, sure. But not yet, Lauren.”

  She nodded and he watched as she brushed her eyes with the back of her knuckles. He had no idea what she was thinking, her face impossible to read. “You’re sure? Because…”

  He felt a stabbing pain in his chest and he shook his head. “I’m sure, baby.”

  “Want to walk back down?” she asked, clearly trying to change the subject. “Or do you want to see how you feel doing a gentle run?”

  Tanner grinned. “I thought you’d never ask.”

  “Just do some stretches with me first. I want your calves nice and limbered up.”

  “We’ve got awhile before we have to leave, so we can stretch for a while.”

  Her brows pulled together as she stopped, one leg stretched out. “Leave for where?”

  “Did I forget to tell you? I know the weather’s kind of crappy but we’re having lunch on the private island.” Tanner laughed. “And we definitely can’t call this off between us before we have our island time.”

  “Just the two of us?”

  Tanner winked. “I’m afraid so.”

  Lauren couldn’t hide her blush as she looked down, pushing her leg out in front of her and holding a stretch. He copied her movement and wondered for the hundredth time what he was doing trying to be all romantic. He could say it was the sex as much as he wanted to, but if he did, he’d only be lying to himself.

  When they eventually ran down the mountain, it took all his willpower to go slow and not sprint to the end. If he could just get his wrist feeling right, he’d be one huge step closer to climbing on a bull again and showing that asshole Thunder Cat that he couldn’t throw him like that ever again. And once he was back riding, he’d be able to forget all about Lauren—she could live on in his fantasies and that was all. Which is why he was going to make the most of having the woman who’d driven him crazy in his mind for so many years in his bed. Or on the sand. Or anywhere he could goddamn have her.

  * * *

  Lauren walked down to the boat, barefoot and with a bag over her shoulder. The sun was coming and going, and it was still incredibly warm, but it felt stormy. There was almost a smell, a coolness in the breeze that was indicative of something brewing from the weather gods.

  She let the boat’s skipper take her bag and help her onto the boat, and then she settled back and waited for Tanner to climb in.

  “I’ll come back to get you if the rain starts again,” the skipper said as he moved them out into deeper water.

  “Are you worried about the storm?” Tanner asked. “It looks bad on the weather radar.”

  “We’ll decide tomorrow if we need to evacuate our guests,” he replied. “Nothing to worry about.”

  Lauren sat back and enjoyed the short boat trip, loving the clearness of the ocean and the serenity of being somewhere so untouched by the rest of the world. When they got there she took the skipper’s hand and slipped into the shallow water, amazed to see tiny fish swimming so close. She walked onto the island, marveling at how secluded it was, and sat down on the sand as Tanner joined her and their picnic lunch and towels were brought over to them. It was hard to wrap her head around the way they were behaving and what was happening between them, but she had to believe that Tanner was right. Once they were home, life would go back to normal—it was the tropical weather making them sex crazed.

  Within minutes they were left alone and Tanner dropped to the sand beside her as the boat slowly disappeared from view.

  “It’s amazing here, isn’t it?” he said.

  She pushed her sunglasses up into her hair and continued to survey the ocean. “Amazing” seemed too much an understatement.

  “Is it a bad thing that I don’t want to go home?” she asked. “The idea of going back to work every day after this, it’s rough. Maybe this is why I never take vacations, because it stops me loving my real life.”

  “By the time we leave we’ll have island fever and be ready to rejoin the world again,” he teased. “Trust me.”

  Lauren wasn’t so sure she believed him. “Can we swim before we have lunch?” she asked. “I think there are snorkel
s and masks for us in that bag.”

  Tanner pulled out two masks and passed her one. “You planning on swimming naked?”

  She laughed. “Not a chance. I don’t need a fish thinking my nipples are lunch and taking a nibble.”

  Tanner reached for her, his smile wicked. “I’ll fight any fish off. Those babies are mine.”

  Lauren stared at Tanner. He was grinning, the sun was just starting to peek properly through the clouds, and she couldn’t take her eyes off him. How was he so handsome? He was like a replica of what a big, hulking, sexy bull-rider should be, and it struck her that even without his plaid shirt or his hat, he still looked every inch a cowboy.

  “Take off your T-shirt,” she said.

  Tanner raised a brow but did as she’d ordered without saying a word.

  When he threw it down onto the sand, she licked her dry lips and lifted the hem of her dress up, pulling it up and over her head. She was wearing a bikini beneath it, and she glanced around to make sure they were completely alone before pulling the strings at the back and at her neck and letting it fall away. She saw Tanner’s mouth fall open a little and she smiled, liking the way it made her feel.

  She strode the few steps between them, stepping out of her bikini bottoms and pushing him back with the heel of her hand to his chest. He fell back, the smile never leaving his face as he lay back in the sand and she climbed on top of him.

  “I guess that means we’re not snorkeling before lunch?”

  “Shut up and kiss me.” Lauren kissed Tanner like it was the last time she was ever going to feel his lips against hers again. She opened her mouth and tasted his tongue, wishing they’d had this kind of send-off before they’d broken up. This was the moment she was going to hold on to forever—naked under the Fijian sun, on their own private slice of paradise, making love on the beach.

  “Tanner!”

  He flipped her, forcing her onto her back as he positioned himself above her. “You’ve healed me so well,” he murmured, taking off his shorts, “I think it’s time I took the lead.”

  She gazed up at him as he placed one hand on her knee and gently pushed it open. Lauren was waiting for him to lean in and kiss her, but instead he lowered himself and kissed down her leg. When he reached her thigh he traced it with his tongue, moving so slowly, then going back up again a little before running his fingers down her belly and making her quiver.

  “Think of this as a little thank-you for all that cowgirl riding you’ve been doing.”

  Lauren held her breath as his mouth closed over her, the touch of his tongue so light she could barely feel it. He flicked back and forth and then delved deeper, pleasuring her with his mouth. She closed her knees around his head, fingers digging deep into the sand above her head as she moaned and bucked against him.

  “Don’t stop,” she whispered.

  Tanner clearly didn’t have any intention of stopping, and when she rocked up to meet his tongue, heat pulsating through her, she shuddered as a wave of intense pleasure shocked her system. As she came down from her high, eyes shut, body thrumming with satisfaction, Tanner rose, smiling as he cupped both of her breasts. She was feeling lazy and satiated, but he was just getting started.

  He edged closer, his big body hard up against hers as he kissed the side of her neck, the tickling sensation of his moist lips to her skin almost too much to stand. He’d had a shave after their run so his cheeks were smooth against hers, and she shut her eyes again and savored the feel of him, the touch of his lips and fingers, the smell of his citrusy cologne that lingered around his neck.

  Tanner rocked into her then, gently at first, and she lazily let him do all the work, smiling as he dropped his mouth to her breast. When he rose up higher, she finally opened her eyes, watching his face, liking the way he looked straight back at her as he moved in and out of her.

  She locked the sight of him into her memory, lifted her hands to trace his face as she rocked up to meet him, not letting him stop, not wanting him to slow down. Tanner pulled her up then, scooping her against him. She sat on him as he held her, moving her up and down with his hands on her hips. She buried her face into his neck and his thrusting became more insistent, his hands firm on her, and she couldn’t stifle her moan. She leaned back, folding onto the sand, and Tanner moved with her, covering her body with his own. She listened to him suck back a sharp breath and she bucked up to meet him again, fingernails digging into his shoulder as he let out a low groan.

  When he finally lifted up, he looked down at her and kissed her, and she relaxed back into the soft sand. Tanner kissed her again before rolling over her and lying beside her, one arm flung out to touch her.

  “You’ve definitely healed me,” he said, laughing.

  Lauren forced herself to sit up again and placed a hand to Tanner’s chest. It was hot and wet, which was exactly how she was feeling.

  “Come with me,” she said.

  Tanner had his eyes shut but it didn’t stop him from grinning up at her. “I thought I already had?”

  She play-punched his arm and then gave him a nudge. “Come on.”

  Lauren found her mask and snorkel and ran into the water, looking over her shoulder to check he was following. When she caught his smile she gave him a beamer right back, before diving into the water and basking in the sensation of the ocean against her naked body.

  * * *

  Tanner followed Lauren out into the water, chuckling to himself as her pert little butt breached the surface as she dived deeper. He put his mask on and pushed under the water too, wishing they were out on a better day. It was still nice, but he knew it would have been amazing on a hot, clear day with the sun burning bright above.

  She gave him an underwater thumbs-up and he did the same back, watching as a school of tiny bright fish traveled past. When they both surfaced to blow out through their snorkels and get more air, Lauren reached for his hand, palm to palm, and they swam side by side, inspecting the underwater world. By the time Tanner let go and finally came up to the surface properly, taking off his mask as he kept treading water, he could see that they’d gone a long way.

  Lauren emerged beside him and he pointed to the shore. “Think we’d better head back in.”

  She swam in a little circle around him. “I am getting kind of hungry.”

  Tanner swam back and into her way so she couldn’t get around him, kissing her as she tried to dodge him.

  “Eeek!”

  He laughed. “What?”

  “There’s a snake!” She grabbed hold of Tanner and he just about went under the surface. “Ohmygod, why did we come out so far?!”

  He turned and looked for it, seeing through the perfectly clear water and catching a glimpse of a black-and-white blur. It darted away so fast that it was gone before he had time to put his mask back on.

  “Come on, it’ll be fine,” he coaxed, pushing her away slightly so she didn’t drown him but keeping hold of her hand. “Let’s head back.”

  “I hate snakes.” She kept spinning to look for it. “What if it’s poisonous?”

  “I think they’re called coral reef snakes,” he said, knowing exactly what they were because he’d been flicking through a dive magazine while he’d waited for her to get ready earlier. “They won’t bother us if we don’t bother them.” He had no idea if that was true, but freaking her out wasn’t going to help.

  He let go of her to put on his mask and snorkel again and waited until she’d done the same, and when she placed a hand to his shoulder he started to swim slowly in, kicking as he kept his eyes underwater to admire everything one last time.

  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 fronds above 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.