A Bull Rider to Depend On

by Jeannie Watt

  You are single.

  Skye twisted the simple wedding band on her finger.

  Not an easy thought, but an honest one. She was single and she was young. For the past year she’d stayed close to the ranch when she wasn’t working, had turned down tentatively offered social invitations until they eventually dried up, and then it was just her and Jinx hanging out alone at night. And she’d been happy with that existence until Tyler had come into her life.

  In just a few short weeks, things had changed due to finances, unforeseen circumstances and a stubborn, hard-to-manage bull rider.

  And now she had nothing to wear...nothing that didn’t bring back a boatload of memories anyway. She debated about asking Chloe if she could borrow one of her blingy tops, but she decided against it because she didn’t want to answer questions. Yet. She’d be answering them soon enough. Gavin was a small town in every sense of the word. Just working one shift in the café earned her more gossip than she knew what to do with.

  It was a good tip day, and as soon as Skye got off shift, she decided to splurge and buy something new. How comfortable would she feel in her old memory-laden clothing as she took this new step in her life?

  Besides, she wanted something new. It had been a long, long time since she’d spent money on herself. She stopped by the new Western clothing boutique two blocks from the café and, after pricing things, decided she’d skip the new jeans and buy a fancy shirt. Then she saw the dresses on the sale rack. The first thing she pulled off the rack was a red sheath. Perfect to wear under a short denim jacket with boots. She had the jacket. She had the boots. Fifteen minutes later she had the dress, and then, on impulse, she walked into her favorite store, Annie Get Your Gun, on her way by.

  Danielle Perry Adams looked up from where she stood behind the counter and smiled. “Hey, stranger.”

  “I think I just saw you a few days ago,” Skye said with a frown.

  “That was in your territory, at the café. I haven’t seen you in the store since Christmas.”

  “Been pinching pennies.”

  Danielle came out from behind the counter. “Are you looking for another gift?”

  “No. I’m looking for one of those big necklaces.”

  “A statement necklace. Lex just brought in some cool pieces. Do you want to see them?”

  “Are they in my budget?”

  “Why don’t we take a look?” Danielle led the way to an antique table in the rear of the store where several silver and stone necklaces were tastefully arranged in a display of antique spurs.

  “Wow. I don’t even have to turn over a price tag...” Her eye caught a more delicate piece draped over a polished piece of sagebrush. “I like that one.” It wasn’t what she’d come in to buy. She’d been thinking funky. Something different. But the oddly shaped lapis stone set in silver on the simple chain spoke to her.

  Danielle picked up the piece and turned it over. Skye looked at the price and nodded, pursing her lips together. It would take a couple of days of decent tips to pay herself back. Or she could pull another double next time Chloe had a doctor’s appointment and not put the money in the mortgage fund.

  She drew in a breath and said, “I’ll take it.”

  Danielle smiled. “Shall I wrap it?”

  Skye shook her head. “I think I’ll wear it.”

  “I’ll cut the tags for you.” Danielle took the necklace and then pulled a pair of small scissors from beside the cash register. “Let me help you.”

  Skye lifted her hair, and Danielle fastened the necklace and then stood back. “I know I say this all the time in the course of my day, but Skye...that necklace is gorgeous on you. The stone and your eyes are almost the same color.”

  Skye touched the stone. “Thank you.” She dug into her purse and pulled out a wad of small bills. “I hope you don’t mind me paying you in tips.”

  “I could use the small bills,” Danielle said with an easy smile as Skye smoothed out the bills. “Everyone from out of town seems to pay with a hundred-dollar bill. I get tired of dashing to the bank.”

  Skye’s stomach was tight as she left the store—she’d spent money on herself, and she was moving forward into uncharted territory life-wise. She took a deep breath and told herself to get over it. Life went on. The ranch wouldn’t fail because she’d spent forty dollars on a necklace that she loved. It had been a long, long time since she’d bought anything she loved. Now she had a dress and a necklace. More than that, she had an occasion to wear them.

  And she was darned well going to enjoy herself while she did so.

  * * *

  TY WASN’T CERTAIN what exactly had prompted him to ask Skye out early that morning, because it certainly hadn’t been on his list of things to do that day. Maybe it was because of the way she’d been looking at him, as if he were something that both aggravated and attracted her. Maybe it was because he honestly thought a night out would do her good. Whatever the reason, when Skye came out of the house that evening and crossed the driveway to his freshly washed and vacuumed truck, he was glad he’d made the move. She looked both grimly determined and wildly uncertain, and he knew that this was a huge thing for her—her first date since losing Mason. A business date, of course, because a real date would have been too threatening. It was common knowledge that one did not get involved with one’s business partner, but Tyler had made a career out of bucking expectations.

  Whatever happened, he was going to make certain Skye had a good time. After calling around, he’d managed to get together a mellower crew than usual. Trace had found a sitter, so he was bringing his new wife, Annie. Cody was bringing Angie who he promised wouldn’t get drunk and dance on the pool table as his previous girlfriend had done. Blaine was supposed to show, but he was coming alone. Tyler had given him a heads-up about Cody and Angie being part of the group, but Blaine had assured him the breakup had been both mutual and amicable. Blaine was always mellow, so Tyler wasn’t concerned about him. He halfway wished his brother, Jess, could have been there, because Skye felt comfortable with him, but another part of him said no, he did not want to share.

  “You look good,” Skye said as she approached. Well, he had ironed his white shirt and dug out his newest jeans.

  “As do you.” He was not being polite. She wore a slim red dress under a short jean jacket that made him want to swallow when he first saw her. And the tops of her boots—red—did show, unlike his. He smiled as she got closer. “I like the necklace.” The blue stone looked good on the red, but more than that, it seemed to reflect the color of her eyes.

  She touched it self-consciously, then let her hand drop. “You realize this is my first time out in a long time.”

  “It’s just the Shamrock. We’re meeting people there for our business date.”

  “And I haven’t been single in about six years.” She held his gaze as she spoke, and Tyler reached up to lightly brush his knuckles across her cheek.

  “Yeah. I know. Let’s just go have fun. We can come home super early if you want.”

  She smiled a little. “Thank you. And please realize that if I don’t make small talk as we drive, it’s because I’m really bad at small talk.”

  “We’ll discuss ranch business as we drive.” He opened the door for her, and she climbed into the cab of the truck, hiking her dress up over truly beautiful thighs in order to make the big step up. She smoothed her dress down and looked straight ahead as he shut the door, tipping up her chin as if mentally girding herself for the challenge ahead.

  He blew out a breath as he walked around the back of the truck. He was not going to screw this night up. No, he was not.

  * * *

  SKYE FELT AS if a spotlight was on her when she walked into the Shamrock with Tyler. Heads literally turned. Not that many heads, but enough to tell her that no one expected her to be there, wearing a new
dress and jewelry, on the arm of Tyler Hayward.

  She felt like announcing that it was a business date and nothing more, but that was so not true. It was a turning point. Her first date since her husband’s death, and it was with a guy she’d once ducked behind trees and bookshelves to avoid.

  A guy who now had his hand comfortably resting at her elbow as he guided her to the bar.

  “Hey, folks,” Gus Hawkins said with an easy grin. “What can I get for you?”

  Tyler glanced down at Skye, and there was something in the way he looked at her that made her throat go dry.

  Business date. Business date. And there would be more people joining them. She was safe. For now.

  “What would you like?”

  “Beer would be nice.” And would perhaps help calm her overactive nerves.

  Tyler ordered two drafts, then picked up both glasses as Skye led the way to a table toward the back where it felt more private.

  “Feel well hidden now?” Tyler asked,

  “More hidden anyway.” She pulled her glass closer. “This is a big step for me.”

  “I know.”

  Surprisingly, she believed that he did know. “I feel self-conscious.”

  “And like you’re cheating on your late husband?”

  She met his eyes. “A little.”

  He reached out and covered her fingers with his, gave them a quick squeeze, then pulled his hand away again. Skye took hold of her glass but did not drink. Instead she took a moment to study the man sitting across the table from her. His face was entirely healed now, but for how long? How many times had Mason left home pretty and come back swollen and broken?

  Did she want to get back into that again?

  As a bull rider’s wife, she knew fear, and she knew prayer. Ultimately she’d relied on the latter along with a healthy dose of optimism. Things would be okay. And as far as bull riding went, they had been.

  Tyler sipped his beer, allowing Skye her silence. Mason had never been comfortable with prolonged silence, and she’d assumed without thinking that Tyler was the same. But no. Instead of forcing conversation, he seemed content to give Skye time to decide her next step. That, too, surprised her.

  So what was she going to do now that she was out with an attractive man whom three months ago she would have refused to share a table with? A man she’d once thought was to blame for a lot of her misfortune?

  She had no idea what she was going to do, and she was surprisingly okay with that. They were out for a drink. There wasn’t even a dinner involved. There could have been, but she nixed it, and Tyler had gone along with her wishes without an argument.

  Imagine that... Tyler Hayward without an argument.

  Was she getting in over her head?

  No...she wasn’t even knee-deep yet, and, if she took care, she wouldn’t slip into deep water.

  “A penny for your thoughts?”

  “Fat chance,” Skye murmured before meeting his gaze. “I told you I wasn’t a great conversationalist.”

  He smiled at her. “Maybe you can pretend that we’re on the roof in a storm.”

  “Maybe.” She pressed her lips together thoughtfully. “This is harder than I thought it would be.”

  “We can leave anytime you want.” Tyler reached for her hand, when a commotion started at the door and they both looked that way. Gus was already at the door, coolly suggesting that the rowdy couple find another place to drink.

  Skye tucked her hands into her lap before looking back at Tyler. “I didn’t expect to feel this conflicted.”

  “Things take time.”

  “It’s been eighteen months.”

  “Everyone has their own schedule. Why don’t I take you home?”

  She shook her head and picked up her drink. “I have to start somewhere, and I may as well start by being out with someone who gets it.”

  “Bet you never thought you’d say those words.”

  “No,” she said with a small laugh. “I never did.” She set the drink down. “I like you, Ty. And that scares me to death.”

  “Because you know it’s the first step toward being forever smitten?” he teased.

  “Exactly.” She picked her drink back up.

  “It’s a problem I have.”

  “I bet you do.”

  This time when he reached for her hand, she didn’t pull hers away. “I’m not asking for anything, Skye, except for an open mind. Don’t talk yourself in or out of something for the wrong reason.”

  “What,” she asked softly, “might be considered a wrong reason?”

  “Guilt. Fear.” He waggled his eyebrows. “Lust.”

  Skye nearly spit out her drink. She dabbed a napkin at her mouth. “Unfair.”

  He grinned back unrepentantly. “Hey... I gotta be me.”

  Skye laughed in spite of herself, and after that the mood lightened. She finished her drink and ordered another as Tyler talked about life on the road, life as a twin. Life in general. He seemed happy to carry the conversational burden, until Skye relaxed enough to lean her elbows on the table and ask, “Do you see us becoming friends?”

  “Like you and Jess are friends?” He shook his head.

  Skye moistened her lips. “Then what?”

  “I don’t know.” He spoke with an honest intensity that made Skye’s cheeks begin to feel warm. Not from embarrassment or self-consciousness but rather from raw awareness. “But whatever it is, it’ll be something mutually agreed upon.”

  “That sounds very...civilized.”

  “For a rough-and-ready bull rider?”

  “Something like that,” she admitted.

  “You compare me to Mason.”

  It was a statement, not a question, and it gave Skye pause. “It’s that apparent?”

  “It’s logical. We were friends in the same profession.”

  Skye lightly cleared her throat. “I can’t help it.”

  “I’m a different kind of guy than Mason was.”

  She didn’t ask how, maybe because she was afraid of the answer.

  Oh, deep water, here I come...

  Tyler suddenly raised his chin and Skye turned in her chair to see a group of familiar people crossing the room—Angie and her new bull-riding beau, Cody, as well as Trace and Annie Delaney.

  Tyler raised a hand to greet them, then shifted his chair so that it was closer to hers, thus freeing up space for the newcomers.

  Skye smiled and said hello as people settled in chairs, then jumped as Tyler touched her knee under the table. He leaned close and said, “We’ll continue this business conversation later?”

  Skye held his gaze for a moment, wondering if he’d made her jump on purpose because she wasn’t in a position to call him on it. Or had he simply wanted to touch her?

  She waited for him to casually raise his beer before reaching out to settle her hand on his knee. He coughed and she smiled a little before pulling her hand away and turning toward Angie to ask how she liked school.

  * * *

  REALLY, SKYE?

  Tyler had almost choked on his beer when Skye touched his leg. The touching, in itself, was no big deal, except that it was Skye, making physical contact with him of her own accord. Maybe it was payback for him touching her...or maybe it wasn’t.

  He wasn’t certain, but he was looking forward to getting the answer later that evening. In the meantime, Skye pretty much focused on everyone at the table, except for him. When Grady and Lex showed up they scooted their chairs even closer and Tyler slid his arm along the back of Skye’s chair. She turned to look at him, her expression making him feel like a junior high kid who’d been caught doing the arm-around-the-girl-while-yawning move.

  He gave her a mock frown and lightly caressed her bare arm with his fin
gertips. A shiver went through her and her eyes widened ever so slightly. Then she turned back to Angie, her hair sliding over his arm like a smooth silken sheet.

  Tyler felt his body stir at the sensual contact, then told his body to knock it off. Not the time or place and he was thirty freaking years old. He continued to stroke Skye’s arm ever so lightly and she did not move away. Nor did she move closer—not until she leaned in to say, “This is not the way I do business.”

  “We might have to discuss your technique.”

  “Fat chance,” she whispered sweetly.

  “We’ll see,” he murmured back. He looked up then, caught Grady studying him with a slight frown and had the craziest feeling that his fellow bull rider wanted to offer him some advice. He looked away. He was doing okay, considering the circumstances. He’d gotten Skye out on a date, hadn’t he? She’d touched his leg. Major headway.

  The group broke up early. Trace and Grady and their ladies had duties at home and since Tyler had a feeling that Cody and Angie were itching to ramp up their evening, he and Skye left with the married crowd. The couples went their separate ways in the parking lot and after opening Skye’s door for her and helping her into the truck, Tyler walked around and got into his own side.

  Skye sat close to the window, her face turned slightly away from him, as if being alone with him without the protection of a crowd was suddenly too intimate.

  What happened to the woman who’d patted his leg under the table?

  She certainly wasn’t there in the truck with him.

  Tyler did Skye a favor and left her alone in her thoughts on the short drive out of town to the ranch.

  Once they’d parked, he’d half expected her to bolt from the truck, but instead she opened her door and made her way to the ground, taking care not to tear her tight-ish red dress. A dress that didn’t cry out “business date.”

  Tyler walked Skye to her door, maintaining the silence until she’d put her key into the lock. Then he reached out to put his hand on top of hers, stopping her from turning the key. Her startled gaze jerked up to his and he saw color stain her cheeks. He eased back, dropped his hand.

  “I was just wondering if tonight was...okay.”