Western Flame

Chapter 18

He was still asleep at six in the morning. Liana was not, and contemplating what to do, exactly, about that.

She was an early riser most days, and here she was, still in his bed, when she'd normally be up and in the shower by now. She had to be at the salon for eight, so she had two hours to get her ass out of here, home and ready for her day.

Her mind sluggishly started cataloguing all the things she had to do, and her appointments. Plus she had to check in with Caitlin about Brady, spend some time crunching numbers with Jenny for her pedicure station, and get groceries. It all jumbled together frustratingly as soon as Tanner rolled over to face her, still blissfully asleep.

Liana re-settled into her pillow, observing the man that had sent her flying into a million pieces last night. She carefully stretched, stiffness pulling at her legs. It had been all she could do to stay upright in front of that mirror. He'd been relentless, and she'd really, really liked it.

And then there was afterwards. In all the encounters she'd had since him, no man—not one—had rendered her so utterly boneless as he had, with his head between her legs. Her tummy tightened deliciously, remembering just how bonkers good his tongue and fingers sliding over her had been.

She took in his handsome, rugged face, his broad shoulders and defined arm muscles, a chance to observe him without his normal barriers in place. He was gentle and peaceful like this, his mouth relaxed, his furrowed brow gone. She brushed some of the hair back from his forehead gently. She might want to repeat last night, if they had more moments like this.

In high school, they'd never gotten to spend the night together. She'd snuck out, or they'd been elsewhere, usually his truck. The situation still felt a bit naughty, even though they were both now fully grown adults, with no parents to catch them. That thought quelled some of the arousal building in her. There it was. The "before". The hurt, the longing, the time that had passed between then and now. She'd given into her urges last night, and in the morning, here was the other side. Was it regret?

Liana rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling, now contemplating that. She didn't regret sleeping with him. That wasn't it. But what it was she was feeling now was different, and new, and she didn't know what it was.

That brought her up short and she carefully swung her legs out of the bed, and eased to the floor. Tiptoeing about, she grabbed her clothes and her Blundstones. Her cell phone was thankfully still in the back pocket of her jeans. She picked up her torn panties, tossing them in the wastebasket. She'd liked that pair, dammit.

She turned as she reached the door, and looked back at the bed, Tanner's muscular form tangled up in the comforter. She wondered if she should wake him to get his ass in gear. He had a big day ahead of him as well.

He let out a soft snore, and she decided not to. One, because she didn't want to have the conversation she knew would be awkward, and two, because she wondered how well he normally slept.

He shifted and rolled onto his back, his arm out where she had just been laying. She froze, waiting for him to wake up and see her, but he mumbled something incoherent, his chest rising and falling. Phew.

"What am I going to do about you, Tanner West?" she whispered, ignoring a brief wish to crawl back in with him and repeat last night. Sighing, she carefully opened the door, slipped out, and darted for the guest bathroom across the hall to get dressed and make some sense of her wild, knotted hair.

As she grabbed her coat from the front hall and was hopping on one foot to pull on a boot, her phone vibrated. Thinking it might be Caitlin, she pulled it out quickly.

You'll just have to come back and find out.

Shit. She stopped and muffled a laugh. He'd heard her, and let her leave, pretending to be asleep. That damned man. She typed back a 'make me' and began a mad dash for the back door.