Page 69 of All Night with the Cowboy
“I can’t give up my career for you,” she said. “One day, I’d step back from my crazy schedule if we had a family, but not right now. It’s too important to me.”
“But I can,” he said, surprising himself by how easily he’d said the words he’d been thinking.
He felt the stillness in her body. “You can what?”
“Give up my career,” he said. “But right now we just have to figure out a way of giving this,us, a real chance.”
“You’re thinking about giving up bull riding?” Lauren asked. “Tanner, don’t do that for me, you’ll only resent me for it later and that’s not the way I want so start over.”
“I’m not doing it for you, I’m doing it because I want to,” he said honestly, kissing her on the upturned tip of her nose. “Someone wise once asked me what I had left to prove, and I’ve decided that I want to do what makes me happy, and sometimes those things change. Remember I told you how I’d like to do an MBA one day? Well, this is that day.”
***
Lauren leaned back in Tanner’s arm, ready to pinch herself to see if she was dreaming. Was this actually happening? Since when had Tanner been so romantic and… she ran her hands down his thickly muscled arms and exhaled. The boy had been fun and reckless, but this was Tanner the man. This was Tanner who’d let go of all the hurt and baggage from the past and asked her for a fresh start. Hell, he’d been bold enough to show up at her folks’ place on their anniversary and ask for a second chance, and she had to admire him for that. Andwas he really giving up riding and going to settle down and study?
“Are we really going to do this?” she asked, standing on tiptoes to taste him, to kiss Tanner and inhale the scent of him and lock this exact moment into her memory.
“Build the house?”
She play punched his arm. “No doofus, this,us?”
He kissed her, lips murmuring so softly against hers it made her melt against him, pressing her body to his and grinding into him, wanting more.Needingmore.
“Yes, sweetheart, we are,” Tanner told her, with so much sincerity, so much depth in his voice, that it melted something inside of her that she hadn’t even known was frozen. “If you want a house in town, too, I’ll build you one there or buy something for us. There’s nothing I won’t give you, and there’s only one thing I expect in return.”
She hesitated before answering, not sure if she wanted to hear what that one thing was.
“What?” she asked, the word rushing out of her like a big exhale of air.
“You,” he said simply. “I just want to know that we’re solid, that if there’s a problem you’ll tell me instead of walking away like you did last time. You might not want my help, but we’re stronger together, okay?”
She nestled against him, looking down, knowing how happy she’d be here one day. Not yet, because she had a life that required her to be in town and to travel and work like a dog for, but one day. For now, just being with Tanner would be enough.
“Can we go back to your place now?” she asked. “I’m beat.”
He nodded and she ran her fingers across his cheek, his stubble tickling her skin. She stood high on her toes and nibbled along his jaw line until he let out a low groan that sounded more like a growl.
“Leave the lights though,” she whispered. “Can we just turn them off but not take them in yet?”
“For you?” his lips whispered against hers. “Anything.”
Lauren bumped against him, hip to hip, thigh to thigh, as they walked back in the dark to his truck. There had been a time she’d never thought she’d step foot on River Ranch again, that she’d never imagined a second chance or even a stolen moment with Tanner in her lifetime after walking away from him the last time.
Life was full of surprises and she couldn’t believe how things had changed.
“We have two weeks until my work load explodes,” she told him as they walked.
Tanner bent down and grabbed her, throwing her over his shoulder as she screamed and squealed, slapping her on the butt as he jogged the rest of the way.
“Tanner, stop!” she pleaded as she bobbed along, laughing so hard she couldn’t fight him.
“If we don’t have long, then we’d damn well better make the most of it.”
When he put her down, his hard body against the length of hers and the cool metal of his truck behind her, she grabbed the back of his head, fingers kneading into his hair as she raised her mouth, and kissed him. Tanner kissed her back just as hungrily, pressing her down, crushing her against him as he ran hands down her sides, holding her hips as she lifted a leg and tucked it tight around the back of his legs.
His breath was hot against her neck when he finally released her, his head still dipped as his lips whispered against her ear. “Come on baby, it’s time to go home.”
She kissed him again, slowly this time, running her hands from the back of his head all the way down his back. They were together again, and nothing had ever felt so right.
