Page 22 of All Night with the Cowboy
“Are you swimming with me?” he grunted.
“Ha, you mean to make sure you don’t drown?”
“Yeah, something like that.”
She pushed again, the pressure far from enjoyable still, but if it was good for him, then he wasn’t going to complain. He leaned back, pleased that he was at least lying by the ocean instead of being treated in a medical environment. He needed to focus on the water, imagine the feeling of the cool liquid on his skin once she was done.
“Sorry, I need to go a little higher here before I finish,” Lauren said.
Tanner fought the urge to stiffen as her warm, soft hands moved up his leg, skimming his inside thigh as she refocused on his muscle and started to push deep, in circles then holding her pressure.
Holy hell. He stared up at the sky, wishing she wouldn’t touch him there. Nerve endings seemed to find their way to the surface of his skin and he moved, trying not to squirm. What the heck was she trying to do to him?
“I don’t think—”
Her hands went higher, closer to his hip, which is what he guessed she was actually working on, but her long ponytail came closer too as she bent her head, her hair brushing against his skin. Tanner tried to think about his granny, then he focused on horses, then he…dammit.Blood was flowing into the wrong part of his goddamn body.
“I think we need to call it a day,” he said, muttering as he tried unsuccessfully to push Lauren’s hand away.
“What? No, I’m just getting…”
Tanner didn’t bother saying anything else. Lauren could see exactly what she’d so expertly stimulated through his shorts.
“Oh.”
He grunted. “Yeah.Oh.”
“Maybe we could resume this later or you could roll onto your stomach,” she suggested. “It’s only natural and to be honest with you, it’s not really that unusual.”
“So it’s not unusual for your clients to get hard-ons, is that what you’re saying?” Talk about embarrassed—his body was behaving like a teenager’s!
Lauren looked mortified, her face like she’d seen a ghost, but when he cracked up she did too. “Tanner! I’m just saying that sometimes when my hand is on a man’s skin…”
“He gets a goddamn erection,” Tanner finished for her. “Yeah, I don’t need it spelled out for me, it’s bad enough experiencing it.”
Lauren surprised him by slapping his leg and pointing at him sternly. “Turn over and flatten it, or lie on your side—just don’t point it at me.”
Tanner couldn’t help his laughter as he turned over, happy to comply if it meant she’d leave his upper thigh and groin area the hell alone.
“Funny, I remember you liking when I pointed it at you.” He couldn’t resist the taunt, not when she was torturing him so expertly.
“Shut up and lie still,” she replied. “Or I’ll make this massage even deeper and you’ll be begging for mercy.”
Tanner shut the hell up and did what he was told,not wanting to know how much worse it could get. The sooner this damn massage was over, the better, because he couldn’t decide what was worse—her hands or the pain.
***
Lauren had had men get stimulated when she was working on them before. Not often, but over the course of her career it had happened enough that she knew how to ignore it and brush it off. It was just blood flow. It was a natural reaction to having a woman’s hands rubbing and pushing against their skin. It didn’t mean anything and she was always careful to either ignore it or suggest the patient roll over or take a break or something. But with Tanner? Oh, with Tanner it was an entirely different ball game. Because she’d seen Tanner naked. She’dfeltTanner naked. She’d dreamed for years about Tanner naked. And now here he was, in his briefs, with a white towel over him, and all she could think about was how much she’d like to explore that body of his in completely unprofessional ways.
She remembered their songs, what they’d listened to out in the open lying under the big oak tree near the river; she could shut her eyes and feel and see and remember what it had been like. Just like she could remember what his hands had felt like on her and how warm and soft his mouth had been against hers. Those feelings were indented in her memory and she’d never forget them, because no one else had ever made her feel quite the same as Tanner had. Now he was all grown up, and probably a whole lot more experienced, and she couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like between the sheets with him now.
She gulped, trying to focus on the job at hand.
“I’m, ah, going to have to tape you up,” she said. “But I think we’ll wait until after your swim.”
“That’s not exactly going to help my full body tan,” Tanner replied.
Lauren swatted at him playfully before she could stop herself. “Stop teasing, this is serious.”
