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.

"Good morning Liana," Peony greeted her as she made her way towards the back mudroom. Liana halted and turned, her coat half-on. Peony was leaning against the counter, a mug of coffee in her hands, ensconced in her morning bathrobe, a picture of domestic bliss.

"Good morning," Liana mumbled, and hung her head. "I see I've been caught on my walk of shame."

"No shame, my dear. None. Do you want a coffee before you go? I can make a fresh one quickly."

"I—" Liana started and stopped, eyeing behind her. She needed to leave, her nerves pushing her to get ahead of Tanner if he decided to follow up on her cheeky response. "I'll get one at home, my coffee maker is set to go off at six-thirty."

"If you hear from Caitlin, let us know. Do you have my phone number?" Peony asked sweetly, changing the subject. Liana shook her head, so Peony gestured at Liana's hand. Liana unlocked her phone and handed it over. Peony quickly typed in her number.

"There. Now you have me as well."

"Thank you Peony, for, uhh... the not shaming thing," Liana blurted. "I have no idea what this means but—"

"It means what it will mean," Peony said cryptically, and smiled. "You and he, you have a long, bumpy road to travel. Don't try to take a shortcut, my dear. Stay the course. He's not an easy man, but he's worth it."

Liana met Peony's eyes, and she understood what the woman was trying to say. "I'll remember that," she murmured.

"We'll see you soon," Peony added with amusement dripping from her voice, and Liana retreated as quickly as possible into the cold morning air.

-----

Tanner hadn't had time to think about anything other than work by the time he sat down in front of his desk, bone-tired from staying a step ahead of his thoughts.

He'd pitched in with morning feed rounds, checked the east feedlots and nearly froze his fingers fixing a gate chain, replaced a sheared bolt on the snow blower rig attached to the big Massey Ferguson, looked through the crew schedule with Bobby to shift people, hoovered a quick lunch, had a quick catch up with Liz and Trevor to get their needs covered, and had just left Harry and Rowan to check tags and update shots with the vet.

He would have rather wrestled steer than stare at a spreadsheet right about now. He was restless and twitchy. Sitting was good, but the paperwork could take a flying leap. He hated it with a passion.

Jake was rustling papers beside him, deep into something, and he leaned back as Tanner put his feet up on his desk to just take five minutes to breathe, settling his beaten up Tilley crushable over his face.

"Crazy day. Have you heard from the hospital?" Jake asked and Tanner lifted the hat to look at his brother. That too. Another thing on his plate.

"Yeah, they're keeping him another night. If there's a brain bleed they need to catch it quickly. Likely just mild whiplash, but they want to be sure. Caitlin called me this morning," Tanner replied.

"Cool. I haven't heard from the precinct yet. Have you looked at Brady's truck?"

Tanner waved in the general direction of the house. "Just the pictures for the insurance that Peony took for you. She sent them to me as well."

"Let's go see," Jake said, standing and stretching. "I don't like what happened. It doesn't feel like a drunk driver does it?"

"I just sat down, dammit," Tanner muttered, but wearily levered himself up and followed his brother.

They walked out into the bright day, the air cold, the sky clear. Tanner stuffed his hands into his pockets, and shrugged up against the cold. His legs were stiff, and he wondered how much of it was a result of yesterday's tension, or last night's efforts.

Maybe a little of both.

"So I caught Liana leavin' early this morning,'' Jake remarked casually as they made their way over to Brady's garage across the yard, where the truck had been towed to yesterday. Tanner sighed. So much for not thinking about her.

"Yeah, she had an early start at work."

"You two have fun?" Jake asked, a hint of humour in his voice. "She was in a hurry."

Tanner threw a peevish look at Jake, who started to laugh. "Fuck off."

"Just riding you," Jake said then sighed. "But listen, be careful you aren't—"

"Aren't what?" Tanner clipped, stopping in the middle of the yard. "If you are about to try and give me some cock-a-mamie advice on handling Liana, don't. What we are or aren't is none of your damned business. Between you and Brady, I've had my fill."

"Fine, fine. But I see the way you look at her, Tan. I get it," Jake replied, his voice quietly serious. "I know what she means to you."

Fuck. Tanner stomped away, ignoring Jake's last comment. He didn't know what to think about where they were now, if they were anywhere. Last night had happened, but she'd left before he could properly wake up, and he played possum when he heard her gathering up her clothes. Obviously she needed a quick exit to avoid him, so he'd let her.

He'd answered her whispered question by text to goad her, to see if she'd come back, but she didn't. Ball was back in his court anyways, with her response of 'make me'. He didn't know what to do next, or to let it simmer for a day or two before they had that conversation. If this was going to be something they did, he needed to know the score with her, because if she was back in his life, it wasn't just for kicks.

Last night had proven that.

They reached the truck, silently staring at the harsh scrapes along the side of the truck back towards the box, the crumpled rear seat door, the smashed front quarter panel from where Brady had hit the road sign. It was potentially fixable, but if the frame was bent, they'd have to write it off. He pushed thoughts of Liana aside, and frowned as he lifted one side of the smashed out headlight unit, the wires half-detached.

"That's where the other truck hit, and then pushed him," Jake said, pointing, and he ran a hand along the biggest of the scrapes. "It looks like they were both at speed, doesn't it?"

"It does. It looks targeted," Tanner remarked, and walked along the side of the truck. The scenes from yesterday played in his mind and he swallowed, breathing carefully through his nose, clenching his hands to stop the shaking that was automatic the moment he thought about what happened. Brady was safe, and would be fine, and he needed to let that fear go, like Liana had told him. He wondered if Jake had a similar response.

"You doing okay with this?" Tanner asked impulsively, squinting at the scrapes, as if they would give up the answers he needed. Jake leaned against the truck.

"Yeah, I guess. It was fucking scary, seeing him like that. I've never felt that kind of fear before," Jake said. "I've seen some shit from my time in New York, but this time it was family, and—"

Family. It meant something different now than even a year ago. Jake had shared, so maybe he could as well to get it off his chest. He took a breath and blurted "I fell apart when Liana took me for a coffee."

Jake looked over at him, surprised. "You did? Didn't think you did that unless there was three quarters of a bottle of Jack into you."

"Funny," Tanner spat back. "She talked me down."

"I figured she might be able to," Jake said. "You want to talk about it more?"

"No," Tanner muttered. He'd said his piece. Oddly, the shaking in his hands stopped. Admitting it had helped. Jake was too much like him, he could read when he needed someone to spill his shit to. Coming out to see the truck was the excuse to talk to him. Was he that transparent?

"She gets your head out of your ass, you know."

"What does that mean?" Tanner asked, glaring at Jake, who was calmly studying him.

"Don't get prickly on me. Just saying that if there was ever a woman who could pull down the walls you put up, it's her. Just an observation."

"Married life is turnin' your brain into a cow patty, City Boy," Tanner said defensively, and hunched into his jacket. The afternoon light was starting to wane, and they had more work to do. The thought of going back to the office made him want to scream.

"You should go get onto a tractor and go feed some cattle," Jake said, reading his mind. He tapped the side of the truck. "Maybe call that sexy woman who was in your bed all night and do a repeat. Might help you be less of an asshole."

Tanner growled for good measure, but took Jake's remark for what it was. Advice he should fucking listen to. Jake laughed as he headed back towards the cattle barn. "Alright sourpuss. See you for dinner?"

"Yeah. Listen—" Tanner started and Jake stopped and turned.

"What?" Jake asked.

"Thanks."

"Anytime, brother," Jake replied and kept walking. Tanner leaned on Brady's truck, eyeballing the damage one more time. A lot had happened in the past day or so, hell in the past week. His mind was spinning. Jake was right. He turned and headed for the machine shed. He could take one of the cab tractors out to the north pasture and move some rounds into the feeders from the storage shed, no one had done that yet. It was supposed to get cold over the next few days, and the pastured head up there would need the extra to stay warm.

He folded his cold fingers over his phone in his pocket, contemplating doing what Jake told him, and calling her. She'd be busy, and likely didn't have time for him. He'd do it later. He pulled his gloves out of the other pocket, and squared his hiked up shoulders, ignoring the pinch of tension between them.

That had to come first, as it always did. Without Brady, there was a lot to do.