Tanner furrows that dark brow, looks down, and sees how he’s crumpling his hat in the death grip against his chest.
“Oh, shit,” he laughs.
“Is everything alright?”
Tanner smooths out his hat and looks back up at me, shaking his head in wonder. “It’s just that I don’t have the words. Pretty is all wrong. You’re fucking beautiful, Casey.”
The tone of his voice, and the dark, hungry expression in his eyes, make my heart flutter. Other, smaller muscles quiver too. His gaze warms me down to my fingertips, and I feel much less self-conscious in this skimpy dress.
“I feel good in it. Never thought I’d say that about a dress. I suppose you’re gonna say I should wear them more often. And makeup and high heels.”
Tanner steps forward until he’s so close I can smell cattle on him.
“All I have to say is you should do whatever makes you glow from the inside out every day. Was today a good day?”
I give a slight nod. “Sorta.”
Again, he gives me a look of concern. “What did I forget? Did something go wrong?”
I shake my head, then give him a wistful smile. “I would have rather spent the day with you.”
Tanner grips his hat to his chest once again.
“Damn, Casey. I wanna kiss you, but I’m dirty, and you’re so perfect and pretty—”
“You think this cowgirl cares about your sweat? Your dirt? Kiss me, you big dummy.”
And in the next second, he does just that.
Tanner drops his hat and moves in swiftly, cupping the back of my neck with his hand. For the quickest second, we lock eyes, making me think he’s having second thoughts. But then, his other hand tips my face to a slight angle, and we kiss. A soulful, passionate press of lips. Tanner’s lips are just as soft as I remember from him kissing my hand. Today, there’s no flirting. Just crackling energy. I feel the press of his mouth against mine all the way down to my toes. Tanner wakes up every dormant nerve ending in my body. Before the scalp massage, before the full body massage, I’d been touch-starved. The way Tanner’s kisses make me feel is so far beyond a day of spoiling. He kisses me like he’s already in love with me.
At that thought, I pull back, noticing Tanner’s flushed cheeks and rosy lips.
“Oh. Here, let me get that.” I use my thumb to wipe away the smear of my lipstick on his lips and chin and try not to notice the desperate neediness between my legs. Or his hooded gaze.
Tanner caresses my arms from my shoulders down to my wrists, then captures my hands in his.
“I better shower, then we can go.”
Go. That’s right. We’re going out.
He walks from the living room and heads down the hall.
I would offer to join him in the shower, but two things occur to me. One, I don’t want to ruin all the hard work everyone has put into my hair and makeup. Two: He really, really wants to take me on a proper date.
Thinking wishfully that there will be more kisses for me soon, I head to my bathroom to wipe off my lipstick and instead opt for a clear lip balm. “There,” I say, heaving a sigh in the mirror. “That looks like me.”
Careful not to wrinkle my dress, but not caring about dog fur, I curl up on the sofa with Patsy and wait, both of us resting our eyes. Scratching her behind the ears, I ask, “What’s going to happen to me when he leaves town and breaks my heart, huh, Patsy?”
Patsy replies with a heavy doggy sigh and nuzzles her skull against my leg, tired from a day’s work.
When Tanner emerges from the hall bathroom with washed hair and dressed in another version of the “man in black,” I have to suck in a breath.
I feel my nipples harden at the sight of him. He looks more like a hot young celebrity than someone who rides the back of a bull for the entertainment of the masses if I’m honest.
“This is just unfair,” I say with a smirk.
Those gorgeous shiny eyebrows knit together. “What are you talking about, Casey?”