One in a Million(54)
“Yes—” He broke off with a groan when she went for the tight muscles of his thigh and began to dig in, finding a lot of knots.
He didn’t say a word, just gripped the sheets in his fists, and unlike before, this clearly wasn’t in pleasure.
“Try to relax,” she murmured, and kept at the torture, doing her best to find every single millimeter of his leg that hurt.
“Jesus Christ,” he gasped as she kneaded a particularly hard knot until it seemed to finally ease somewhat.
Once it did, she lightened her touch and finally he began to relax. Her hands got sore but she kept at it, feeling her heart squeeze at the pain he must feel all the time. “Is it always this bad?” she asked.
“It’s good now, at least compared to how it was.”
She was quiet a moment, hating how he’d suffered. “The story goes that you nearly died.”
“Nearly doesn’t count except for in horseshoes and hand grenades,” he said. “And I was the lucky one, remember.”
She stroked his leg again, running her finger along the scar. “He was a good friend?”
“Gil? Yeah. Really good.”
“Can you tell me what happened?”
“A tank caught fire,” he said. “There was an explosion. We both landed in the water and I got pulled out first. By the time they went back for Gil, it was too late.”
His eyes were hooded from her now. She couldn’t imagine the pain of what he’d been through. “I’m so sorry.”
He reached for her hand, brought it up to his mouth, and kissed her palm.
“Is that why you came back to Lucky Harbor?” she asked. “To recover?”
He scrubbed a hand over his face and sighed. “The four of us were always going to come here sooner or later. We were saving up for a boat to start the charter business. But that night after I hit the water, pretty sure I’d just bought the farm, all I could think was that I’d be leaving my mom to fend for herself in her old age and Troy would have to grow up without knowing his dad. So we came sooner rather than later. Of course he’s not always thrilled now that he is getting to know me.” He smiled wryly. “He’s been a tough nut to crack. Apparently he’s also a whole lot like me.”
Callie let out a low laugh. “Yeah, he is.” She cocked her head and smiled. “I like him, though.”
He met her gaze, his own heating again. “Yeah?”
“Yeah,” she said.
“You like me too?”
She smiled. “Maybe.” Her smile faded. “But I’m trying really hard not to.”
He nodded. “You should stick with that,” he said softly.
Right. Because neither of them wanted this. “Don’t worry,” she said just as softly. “I plan to.”
Tanner woke to a soft, warm woman pressed up to his side like a second skin as she tried to slide out of the bed.
The woman who’d not blinked or flinched when, after tearing up the sheets, they’d reminded each other that this wasn’t going to become a real relationship.
He cracked an eye and watched as Callie moved with exaggerated care, attempting to separate their entangled limbs and—at least going off her expression—sneak away.
It wasn’t an easy escape. She had a leg between his, her arm tucked up into his armpit, and her breasts pressed inside his side.
She started with her leg.
He simply tightened his.
Her gaze flew up to his face and she squeaked when she saw him eyeing her.
“Oh,” she said, all casual-like, in complete opposition to the look of panic on her face. “Didn’t mean to wake you.”
“Where you going?”
“Um…” She tried to free her hand that she had tucked in his pit but he tightened his arm on it. “Yeah, see, I need that to…”
He waited, but she just bit her lower lip and stared at his mouth.
This made him grin.
“Stop that,” she said, pushing at him. “Stop distracting me. Let me go.”
“This first.” He leaned in to kiss her but she slapped a hand on his chest.
“I have to…you know,” she said. “Do stuff. Morning stuff.”
He blew out a sigh, rolled to his back, and let her go.
She scrambled out of the bed before she seemed to realize she was naked. To his great enjoyment, she whirled around, clearly looking for clothes. Apparently nothing came to her immediate vision because she gave up and ran totally, gloriously nude for the bathroom, slamming the door on his laugh.
Damn.
That was a sight he could get used to waking up to. All those sweet, hot curves bouncing around. He’d be dreaming about it for a good long time to come. Then his gaze landed on the ugly purple stuffed unicorn on her dresser and his smile faded. He thought of the fragile, vulnerable look she’d had on her face standing in front of that game, wanting the prize.