Always Enough

by Elliott, Kelly

  “And you want more than friendship with him?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then, tell him.”

  I shook my head. “I don’t want to push him away. He already told me he wasn’t looking for a relationship, but . . .”

  Brock raised a brow. “I think we both know he cares about you, Kaylee. Maybe what he really needs is to know he’s worth the fight. That you won’t give up on him, no matter what he says.”

  “He called tonight when I was in the barn with the mama cow and her calf. Channing took it upon himself to answer my phone.”

  “Oh, shit,” Brock said.

  “Yeah. Oh, shit. I hate saying this, but I think Channing did it on purpose. I don’t want to think he would do that, but why on earth would he answer my phone?”

  Brock rubbed his chin. “I have an idea . . . if you’re willing to get on a plane for a quick ride.”

  “Depends. Am I going somewhere warm with a beach?”

  He laughed. “No. Billings.”

  A feeling of hope and excitement built in my chest. “This better be a good plan, Brock.”

  “I’ll sweeten the deal—it’ll be a private plane.”

  “Jet. None of those propeller planes that will make me throw up the entire time.”

  “Deal. I’ll pick you up first thing in the morning.” Brock glanced at his watch. “You better get some sleep—sun’s up at six a.m. Have a bag packed.”

  Brock pulled out his phone, hit a number, then looked at me. “The calf will be fine. Get some sleep, Kaylee.”

  “Okay.”

  A muffled voice came through on Brock’s phone. “It’s Brock. I need a favor.”

  He climbed into his truck and waved at me as I took a few steps back, then turned and headed into the house.

  Once I’d tracked down my phone, I went to my call log. Ty had called thirty minutes ago. Maybe he was still up. I hit his number and quickly got to work getting a small bag and packing some clothes.

  A part of me wasn’t sure I could leave him a message. Maybe I should simply show up.

  What if he was with someone, though?

  I sat down on the edge of the bed. I quickly hung up after his message played and I heard the beep to leave one of my own.

  He’d said he was going out. Who was he going out with? I’d look pretty stupid knocking on his hotel door tomorrow and finding some girl in his bed. Then again, by the time I got there, he would most likely be up.

  “For the love of God, just call him back and leave a message, you pussy!” I said out loud.

  I hit his number again, and this time I left a message.

  “Hey, Ty. It’s Kaylee. I had a bit of a problem earlier: a mama cow was standing in front of my house with a calf coming out of her back end. Not something a girl sees every day, I can tell ya that. I couldn’t get ahold of anyone and ended up calling 911. If it’s not a fire, it’s a baby calf being born in my front yard. Anyhoo, Channing heard it, and . . . well, he came over to help out. That was the only reason he was here. I don’t know why he answered my phone. I was down at the barn at the time. Anyway, I don’t know why I’m telling you all of this on the phone either. I’m leaving in the morning to head out of town. I’ll see you soon. Okay, bye.”

  I hit end and then stared at the phone. Jesus, did I really just ramble all that off on his voice mail?

  With a roll of my eyes, I got back to packing a bag. I took a quick shower, brushed my teeth, and crawled into bed. I had hardly closed my eyes when my alarm went off at five thirty in the morning. I quickly got dressed, made some toast and a cup of coffee to go, and grabbed my bag, charger, and purse. As I was walking out onto the front porch, Brock was pulling up.

  I took in a deep breath and slowly let it out.

  “Lord, please don’t let this be a huge mistake. Please.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  TY

  Bright lights caused me to squint. Tires sliding on the pavement pierced my ears before the sound of metal crunching caused me to scream out in pain.

  Jerking up in bed, I dragged in a breath. Then another. My heart raced in my chest, and I could feel the sweat on my forehead. The room felt cold, so cold I swore I could see my breath as I panted to regain some semblance of normal breathing. I dropped back down onto the pillow and closed my eyes.

  Fucking nightmares. When would they stop?

  My phone rang on the nightstand, causing me to groan and reach for it.

  “H-hello?” The word barely came out of my dry mouth. Clearing my throat, I tried again. “Hello.”

  “So, it’s true: you were at the bar last night getting shit-faced.”

  I groaned and looked up at the ceiling. Thank God I’d shut the curtains last night and the sun wasn’t shining in. “Rich, I’m not in the mood for your bullshit.”

  He laughed. “I also heard you were talking to two women.”

  My heart stopped, and I quickly looked around the bed. It was empty. I closed my eyes and let last night flood back into my memory.

  I had gone to the bar with the two girls. We sat at a table, and I had a few beers, a couple of shots. The blonde managed to hook up with some guy; I had no clue who he was. The brunette stayed at the table. It was me and another bull rider, Mike Warner, by then, and Dirk showed up a little later.

  Then I remembered the brunette reaching under the table and rubbing on my dick.

  It took me not even two seconds to push her hand away. Why, I had no fucking clue. I needed to be screwed. I needed to have mindless sex with someone to get Kaylee out of my head.

  Slowly, I sat up, then scrubbed my hand over my face.

  “Yeah, I didn’t hook up with either one of them. Pretty sure Dirk did, though.”

  Rich laughed again. “Listen, Bill and I are meeting for breakfast in the restaurant down here in the hotel. You want to join us?”

  I didn’t, but that was no way to start off what was possibly going to be a working relationship with these guys. “Sure. Give me a few minutes to get cleaned up, then I’ll be down.”

  “Sounds good. See ya in a few,” Rich said.

  Once the call ended, I stood and made my way into the bathroom. After a quick shower, I brushed my teeth, then got dressed. I grabbed my wallet and phone and put my black cowboy hat on. I noticed I had a few voice-mail messages. One from my mother, one from Brock, and one from . . .

  Kaylee.

  My heart wobbled a second in my chest as I held my finger over her message, then hit my mother’s first.

  “Good morning, sweetheart. How are things in Billings? We miss you already. One of the neighboring ranches had a cow wander onto Kaylee’s place, and she started laboring in front of her house. The poor thing panicked and called 911. Anyway, give me a call.”

  I rolled my eyes but smiled. Only Kaylee would call 911 because a cow was in front of her house having a calf. At least it hadn’t been a fire.

  The next message was from Brock. “Give me a call, ASAP.”

  That made me take notice. I wanted to listen to Kaylee’s message first, though.

  I hit play, and her voice made my breath hitch and my chest tighten. Just that sweet sound made my entire body feel warm. Comforted. And that freaked me out.

  She rattled on about the cow, its giving birth, the 911 call, and the reason why Channing was there. I couldn’t help but smile again. Had she been worried what I was thinking when I’d called and that dick had answered? I didn’t want to admit it in the light of day, but that asshole answering her phone had been what had caused me to go and get shit-faced.

  Pulling up Brock’s name, I hit call.

  “Ty,” he snapped.

  “Brock.”

  He sighed. “Are you alone?”

  Laughing, I asked, “What kind of question is that?” I opened the door to my room—only to find the brunette from last night getting ready to knock on my door.

  I stopped in my tracks, and she smiled as she looked me over from head to toe, then licked her ruby-red li
ps.

  “It’s the kind that needs to be answered right away. Kaylee is probably walking into your hotel right now, coming to find you.”

  I froze. “Kaylee?”

  “No, it’s Mary,” the brunette said.

  A strange growling sound came across the phone. “Fucking hell, you asshole! You slept with someone last night?”

  “What? No!” I said, then looked back at the girl.

  “Yes, silly, that’s my name,” she said with a giggle.

  I wanted to roll my eyes at her, but I wasn’t that big of a jerk. “Brock, I’m walking out of my hotel room, and someone was just about to knock on the door—hold on.”

  “That better be the case.”

  I sighed. “Mary, did you need something? I’m running late for breakfast,” I said, more into the phone than to her.

  “Oh, well, I just left your friend Dirk’s room, and I thought maybe you might like to—”

  “No, thank you,” I said as I pulled my door shut and walked around her and headed to the elevator. Dick move, but if Kaylee was here, the last thing I wanted was for her to see some woman standing outside my hotel room.

  “Brock?” I said into the phone, not even bothering to look back at Mary, or whoever the hell she was.

  “Yeah, damn Dirk. One of these days, he’s going to meet a woman who’ll knock him flat on his ass and make him stop all the manwhoring.”

  I chuckled. “I don’t know—the guy likes his pussy.”

  The elevator doors happened to open just at that moment when I was talking about Dirk’s proclivities, and two older women glared at me.

  “Excuse me, ladies,” I said, stepping into the elevator as Brock lost it, laughing. “I might lose my signal,” I said to Brock, giving them both my best smile. My charm didn’t work, though, and all I got were two scowls in return.

  Oddly enough, I never lost my signal.

  “So, do you want to tell me why Kaylee is here in Billings?”

  “Not really.”

  I rubbed at the instant headache in my temples. “Brock.”

  “Listen, this is between the two of you, but something happened last night, and she was worried you were going to read into it wrong.”

  Even if I tried to hide it, I wouldn’t have been able to contain the slight upward turn of my mouth. “Channing?”

  “Yeah. Ty, listen, do me a favor: don’t blow her off or act like you can’t stand being around her. She took a flight in this morning to be there.”

  “A flight?”

  “Just promise me you won’t be a dick to her.”

  “Brock, I wouldn’t do that to her. I mean, we have a sort of . . . messed-up relationship, or friendship, or whatever the hell it is. I know I’ve hurt her before, and I had some messed-up reason for justifying it, but I’m not going to hurt her. Ever again.”

  “Good, or I’d have to break your other leg in a few spots.”

  “Like that would ever happen,” I scoffed. “I’m supposed to meet Rich and Bill for breakfast, and I’m running late. I’ll keep an eye out for her.”

  “Ty?”

  “Yeah?”

  “She loves you. I just thought maybe you should know that before she gets there, and maybe it’s wrong of me to tell you, but it’s out there now.”

  I stopped walking, anxiety instantly filling my entire body. Swallowing hard, I forced myself to move, then forced the next question out as I approached the hotel restaurant.

  “How . . . how do you know that?”

  “She told me last night.”

  “What do you mean, she told you last night?”

  “I’ll talk to you later.”

  “Brock. Brock!”

  The line went dead, and I let out a growl as I shoved my phone into my pocket. I was going to kick his ass for getting involved in my personal life. And why in the hell was Kaylee telling my brother she was in love with me? She couldn’t be in love with me. Yes, what we shared that night was fucking amazing, but she didn’t know the real me. She couldn’t—because that was the part of me she wouldn’t want to love.

  “Ty, how did you sleep?” Bill asked. He stood and gave my hand a quick shake.

  “Good, thanks.”

  The waitress walked up and smiled when I looked at her. “What can I get you?”

  “A bloody mary, and just some scrambled eggs, whole wheat toast, and a bowl of fruit, please.”

  She nodded as she wrote it down, then asked Bill and Rich, “Anything else, gentlemen?”

  They both answered no.

  “Hair of the dog, huh?” Rich asked with a laugh.

  I groaned. “I’m getting too old for this shit. How do these guys do it and then climb onto a bull?”

  Bill laughed. “You should know—you used to be one of them.”

  “Yeah, well, I guess being twenty-three versus twenty-nine makes a big difference in endurance.”

  “Oh, most definitely. Just make sure you’re ready for today. You did great yesterday, and the bosses loved it. That’s all that matters.”

  “So, what are you guys going to do about Rachel?” I asked, thanking the waitress for my drink and taking a long swig.

  “I spoke with Kim this morning; she’s going to handle it.”

  With a nod, I took another drink.

  “So . . . you and Rachel dated?” Rich asked.

  I almost snorted. “Hell no. We fucked, a lot. But it wasn’t anything exclusive.”

  “Never were one to mince your words,” Bill said.

  “Why should I? That’s what we did. She was a regular on the circuit, pretty and very willing. I didn’t care who she slept with, and she didn’t care who I slept with. It was good for both of us. And now it’s not.”

  They both nodded.

  “Can we move on from my past sex life, please? Tell me what I should be expecting if I take this job.”

  Bill gave me a confused look as he turned to Rich, then back to me. “If? I thought it was pretty much a done deal.”

  The waitress set my food down in front of me, and I dug into it like I hadn’t eaten in weeks. “No, I didn’t sign a contract. I told them I wanted to see if this was something I wanted to get back into. It took me a long time to get used to the idea that the PBR wouldn’t be a part of my life anymore, so coming back, and into something totally different, is something I need to think about. I’m not ready to make any long-term commitments.”

  Rich leaned back in his chair. I couldn’t tell if he was pissed or honestly confused, like Bill seemed to be.

  “Sam didn’t say anything about this being a test run.”

  “‘Trial run’—those were the words he used,” I said, a smirk on my face.

  “Ty, why wouldn’t you want to do this? The pay is great, you get to travel, you’re surrounded by friends you’ve known since you were, what . . . seventeen?”

  “I didn’t go pro until I was twenty.”

  Rich closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, then slowly let it out. Clearly he wasn’t in the mood for fucking around this morning. “You’re the guy we want. The guy we need.”

  I chewed my toast, swallowed, then took another drink of my bloody mary. “Why me?”

  “Why you?” Bill asked, a befuddled expression on his face. “Have you looked in the mirror lately, Shaw?”

  “I have. This morning. What do my looks have to do with this?”

  Rich shook his head. “The PBR and CBS are trying to pull in more of an audience. Women are one of the fastest-growing populations of viewers. You put a pretty face in front of the camera, a guy who used to ride . . . and you have a tragic story to tell.”

  “Which I’m not telling. That’s all in the past, and I’d like to leave it there.”

  This time, Rich and Bill exchanged a look that said they knew something I didn’t. I put my fork down and wiped my mouth, dropping my napkin onto my plate. “What are they not telling me?”

  “Sam wants to make your comeback more like a documentary. They want you in Col
orado so they can keep an eye on you, film you as you get back into the world of PBR. They’ve already talked about interviewing some people who rode with you—some who rode after, some before. They were even planning on contacting Brock and your folks for interviews.”

  I was positive my lower jaw was on the table. “Are you fucking kidding me? They didn’t say a goddamn word about this to me in New York.”

  “That’s because it was in the contract. They were probably hoping you’d sign and not look at it.”

  Laughing, I looked at them both in disbelief. “I wouldn’t read it? I may not be able to ride a bull again, but I didn’t hit my head and go stupid. I would have had my lawyer look at it.”

  Bill spoke next. “Well, that’s the plan. Listen, I don’t give a rat’s ass if you want the documentary done or not, but Rich and I both think you’ll make a great addition to CBS Sports. You know this world like the back of your hand. You were a damn good rider—probably even better than your brother.”

  I grinned, then shook my head. “You better not let Brock hear you say that.”

  Rich smiled. “Ty, just think about it. You don’t have anything holding you back there in Montana.”

  The air in the restaurant changed instantly—and I looked to the entrance. I didn’t even have to see her to know she was here. I smiled at the sight of her. Blonde hair pulled up into a messy bun on the top of her head, strands hanging down in wavy curls. She had on jeans and a long-sleeved shirt and sneakers, and her bag was draped over her shoulder.

  She looked tired as fuck. And she was the most beautiful woman in the world.

  “Judging by the smile on your face, I’m going to guess my last statement wasn’t entirely factual,” Rich said.

  I watched as the hostess walked Kaylee in and sat her down at a small table. She smiled and nodded her head as she took the menu from the waitress. I couldn’t pull my eyes away from her.