Page 59 of Out of Bounds
“I know,” I tell him. “I made the right call. I’m fine. Really.”
He slows as we approach his gate, which opens after scanning his registration plate. We park and I scoop my bag as he gingerly climbs out and limps inside.
Betty has left the nightlights on in the lounge but the house is quiet. She and Nelson must be in bed already.
“I’m going to give Nelson a kiss goodnight,” I tell Tanner. “I’ll be back. I can make us a nice hot drink.”
He opens his mouth, as if he has something to say. I wait but it never comes. Instead, he gives me a barely there curve of his lips and I feel his eyes on me as I head upstairs.
My baby looks so peaceful. I stroke his hair, press my lips to his temple, then quietly pad back out of the room.
Downstairs, Tanner is taking a cold compress from the refrigerator and trying to navigate it onto the side of his waist, grunting as he does.
“Here, let me,” I say, positioning it where he took a heavy hit in the game.
“Thank you,” he says, his voice gruff, thick with discomfort. “I’m going to take a soak. It’s my post-game ritual.”
“Alright, soldier.” My hands physically ache to touch him, to rub down his muscles, to stroke his hair. So I interlace my fingers behind my back. The arching out of my chest is accidental but I don’t miss the way Tanner’s gaze rakes over my breasts, or the heat his hooded eyes generate in my panties.
“Can I get you anything?” I ask.
His focus lifts to my face and, call me crazy, but I think the man blushes. San Antonio’s most eligible bachelorblushes.
“I’m good,” he says, voice breaking.
Is he…? Are we… hot for each other?
Nah, course not.
“Alright, then. I’ll make myself a hot chocolate and head to bed. Nelson will have me up early in the morning and I have school.”
He nods but he isn’t moving, only staring at me. Then his gaze shifts to my mouth and I swear I want him to devour it.Me.
Good Lord, I’m a woman possessed by her libido.
He steps closer to me. I inhale and forget how to release it. He leans in. His chest gently grazes mine and my nipples could puncture him they’re so hard.
“Sweet dreams, Annie,” he says against my cheek.
I finally exhale as he walks away, and as I watch him limp up the staircase, I hold my hand to my cheek.
For the entire time it takes me to make my drink, I replay his expression, the way he stared at my lips. The way he fought on the field today and locked heads with my brother, the way he celebrated by driving a car in the end zone.
Maybethere’s something between us that’s more than my imagination.
Hands locked around my warm mug, chocolate that Tanner bought for me wafting under my nose, I head upstairs to my bedroom, where I’m pretty sure I’m going to sate myself picturing the man I couldn’t take my eyes off for the entire game.
There’s a tiny, miniscule feeling of something reminiscent of guilt for what I’m about to do, a sense of unease or wrong and a distant image of my ex lodged in my mind. But none of it is going to win over the lust burning through me.
The light is on in Tanner’s bedroom as I pass – a low orange hue of lamplight and the flickering of candles. I pause at the door, knowing that beyond it, Tanner is very likely naked, and wet.
“Lord help me,” I whisper into the hallway.
Then I hear… a groan? A grunt? Instinctively, I like it. Given my current state, I wonder for a millisecond whether Tanner is sorting himself out, too.
But when I hear the sound again, it’s more like a struggle.
“Tanner?” I say quietly, unsure whether I’m intruding.
