by Roma James
But no. The other two men were stony-faced, and surely Jenny would have done more than sigh if I had made any mention of my bed.
“You’d do that for us?” Ty asked, finally. “Really?”
“I’m not doing it for you,” I said, flatly. “I’m doing it for Rambo. He needs me now, and that’s all that matters.”
His expression hardened at my words, and he gave a curt nod. “You’re right. That’s what matters now. Thank you, Doc. We’ll take you up on that offer.”
And just like that, it was decided. I glanced over at Jenny, but she seemed to suddenly be very busy avoiding my gaze.
Whatever.
It was what I had to do, and now it was done.
I could only hope that I hadn’t made a big mistake. If so, I only had myself to blame.
Chapter 2 - Ty
I looked around at the empty pasture. There were definitely worse places we’d set up camp before, but I couldn’t remember a time we’d shared our space with cattle. And horses. And I was pretty sure I’d spotted an alpaca when we’d come through the gate.
One of her patients, maybe?
I could only guess.
The doc was a pretty lady, but I had seen the mama bear come out in her when it came to looking after those animals.
Which was obviously a good thing, even if it meant camping out next to a barn for a couple of days.
“Do you think it might be too much to ask for a fucking tree in this part of Texas?” Jaeger muttered, wiping the sweat from his curly black hair. “Or maybe you could have sweet-talked that pretty little vet into offering us a place with some air conditioning,” he added, jerking his head toward the little white farmhouse in the distance. “She was practically falling all over herself to help you out.”
“Since when does Jaeger Robeson admit that a girl looked at me first?” I asked, only half-joking.
I might have been the one who usually spoke for the group, but Jaeger never had any trouble getting attention when he wanted it—especially from the ladies. With his tall, solid frame and his cocky smile, most women agreed first and asked questions later whenever he needed anything.
And from the stories he had shared with the rest of us over the years, that really did mean anything.
“Will the two of you quit bitchin’ and help me with this damn tent?” Cody barked, glaring from behind the canvas material that he was trying in vain to stake out in the West Texas wind. “Or y’all think it’s funny to make the short, old guy do all the work?”
Jaeger and I both laughed. “Pretty sure you’re not that old,” I said, deliberately not remarking on his height. Though, if I was being honest, he wasn’t short, either. Probably just a couple of inches under my six feet. Still, I had to have something to pull his chain about. “You’re not even forty for a couple more years, are you?”
“Four more years,” he answered, still glaring. “But I was referring more to maturity than age.”
“Hey, I’m mature,” Jaeger said, his indignant tone blown by the slight smile playing across his lips. “And besides, you’re only a few years older than we are.” He paused, then added under his breath, “But you are short.”
I laughed as Jaeger dodged a flying tent pole. “Okay, okay… nobody is old or short. But it is hot as fuck out here, so let’s give Cody a hand, eh?”
Jaeger was already moving to help. It was what I loved about these guys. We might all talk a big game—and could absolutely back it up when necessary—but we all treated each other like family. These guys were just as close to me as any blood relative I had, and I wouldn’t hesitate to take a bullet for them.
I also knew they’d do the same for me, if it came down to it.
A couple of times, it nearly had.
“I hope we’re out of here in a couple of days, like she said,” Cody grimaced, finally able to stake down the tent without it flying back in his face now that we were each holding part of it. “We need to be able to pick up and go if we get a lead, and we might not have more than a couple of days until that happens.”
He wasn’t saying anything I didn’t already know, but it still took more than a little willpower not to snap. Maybe it was the heat. Or the stress. Or the fact that my bike looked ridiculous with a custom dog seat in the back and no fucking dog to ride in it.
Having Rambo harnessed in behind me made the world feel right. Even just the short ride from the parking lot of the clinic to the barn a few hundred yards away had felt wrong. It had felt… off. Like I was missing something.
And I was, really.
I was missing my best friend.
“We’re not going anywhere until Rambo is better,” I said, hoping Cody would recognize by my tone that it wasn’t up for discussion. “I don’t give a damn how long it takes. He’s part of the club. He rides with us.”
Just talking about Rambo made my throat feel tight. If he hadn’t made it through that surgery, there was no way I could have forgiven myself. As it was, I had already prayed and promised a million times that I’d never be so fucking careless again.
He just needed to get better.
Soon.
“You guys got this under control?” I asked, nodding toward the tent.
Cody and Jaeger shot me the same puzzled look. Jaeger was the first to speak. “Yeah… what’s up?”
“I need to go check on Rambo,” I said, looking across the field to the back of the clinic.
He was in there somewhere, probably wondering what the hell was going on and why the hell I wasn’t there with him. I should be there with him. I needed to be.
“Didn’t she say he’s probably going to be sleeping for a few hours?” Jaeger asked, exchanging a quick, knowing glance with Cody that made me want to reach across the tent and pop him in the jaw. “You sure you’re not just going there to check up on the pretty little pet doctor?”
“Fuck off,” I said, turning away. “It’s not even like that.”
Behind me, I could hear them snicker, but that was fine. Let them think whatever they wanted. Rambo wasn’t Jaeger’s dog, and he wasn’t Cody’s, either. He was my responsibility, my friend.
They didn’t understand. Until they shared that same kind of bond with an animal, they would never really get it.
“Fine,” Cody waved me away. “Go on, then. We’ll get this shit taken care of while you’re gone.”
I nodded and turned toward my bike, considering for a moment whether I should just walk across the pasture to the clinic.
But it was hot, and even though it didn’t look like such a long way, I wanted to get there as soon as possible. I wanted to see Rambo.
Now.
“Oh, and see if you can get her to invite us over for dinner tonight,” Jaeger called after me.
I pretended not to hear him as I swung my leg over the bike and revved the engine. Just being on the back of a motorcycle soothed something in my soul. It somehow kept me sane, kept me grounded.
The only thing missing was Rambo.
I let out a slow breath and stood in the doorway of the clinic, letting the cool rush of air-conditioned goodness wash over me for just a moment before I fully stepped inside.
Not that I wasn’t used to the heat of summer in Texas, but damn. The older I got, the more I appreciated a good air conditioner.
The receptionist gave me a look that was a mixture of curiosity and wariness as I approached the front desk, but I didn’t mind… well, not much. It was a look I had grown accustomed to over the past few years, and one that I would probably be receiving for the rest of my life.
Between the tattoos, the motorcycle, the company I kept, and the big-ass German Shepherd that was damn near always by my side, people usually gave me plenty of space—and plenty of side-eye to go along with it.
Anyway, I’d rather put up with those looks than have to deal with pointless small-talk any day.
“You’re here to see Rambo?” She asked, her expression softening a little as I nodded. “I’ll go let Dr. Black know
you’re here.”
“Thank you,” I said, watching as she hurried through the door to the rear of the clinic.
I felt my stomach clench at the thought of seeing my little buddy all broken and bandaged, but the need to check that he was really okay—or that he was at least going to be okay—was enough to overrule that guilty part of my brain.
The guilt would still be there, sure. It probably wouldn’t ever go away. There wasn’t much I could do about that now, though, aside from making sure I did better in the future.
“Ty, he’s awake now.” Dr. Black appeared in the doorway and pulled me from my thoughts.
I couldn’t even respond, though, because damn. There was something very different about her from just a couple of hours ago. Her hair must have been pulled back or something earlier—or else I was too focused in Rambo to notice—but now it fell over her shoulders in long, jet-black waves.
And while that change was surprising enough, there was something else that also held my attention and made me forget where I was and what we were doing.
Her smile.
It was fucking beautiful. She was beautiful, but that smile made her shine as bright as the West Texas sun. I finally knew what people meant when they said a person could light up a room.
She was doing it now, here, just by looking at me with that perfect, gorgeous smile.
“Did you, um…” she hesitated, giving me a funny look. “Did you want to see him?”
“Right. Yes,” I said, nodding quickly as I tried to focus on the words that were coming out of her mouth rather than the way her full, pink lips moved. “That’s why I’m here. I was…” I cleared my throat. Stop looking, Ty. “I was hoping he’d be awake by now.”
“You can come on back if you want.” She motioned for me to follow as she half-turned toward the door. “I know for sure he’ll be happy to see you.”
I winced but tried to cover it with a grin. Well, okay, I couldn’t have really stopped either reaction if I’d tried. I still felt guilty as hell, wasn’t gonna lie—knowing that Rambo was awake in the next room and that I’d actually be able to pet him and talk to him made my whole day.
“So, he’s really gonna be okay?” I asked as we walked down the corridor, hoping to hear her reassurances again.
“I expect him to make a full recovery in time,” she answered, gently pushing open another door. “He’s just inside here. I’ve got him separated from the other animals for now while he rests.”
My eyes immediately went to the large crate that was the size of a baby’s playpen where Rambo was lying on his side. For such a large, strong dog, he looked surprisingly small and frail spread out across the fuzzy blue blanket beneath him. The stark white cast covering most of his leg was enough to stop me in my tracks.
As soon as he saw us, though, he lifted his head and started wagging his tail. I turned my head to quickly dash at my cheeks as my eyes welled up. I definitely wasn’t going to cry in this room with this woman I didn’t even know, but damn. Seeing him like that made my heart hurt.
“Rambo, your daddy’s here,” she cooed, kneeling down to pet him as I slowly approached and tried in vain to get myself together. “That’s a good boy, just take it easy now…”
“Listen to the doc, buddy,” I said, my voice sounding low and thick with emotion even to my own ears. “You’ve gotta get better soon, so don’t give her any trouble, okay?”
Even though I knew he couldn’t understand the words I was saying, it felt good just to be able to talk to him again.
His tail wagged faster and he tried to move his legs, only to whimper and go suddenly still. I reached for Rambo at the same time she did, and our hands touched for just a moment as we rushed to comfort him.
He licked my hand and went back to wagging his tail, but I was still trying to recover from the pain of hearing him whimper like that combined with the electric jolt that went through my body at her touch.
From the way she pulled her hand back and was looking at me wide-eyed, I could tell she felt it, too.
“Sorry,” she murmured, folding her hands into her lap. “I was just going to, um—”
“No,” I shook my head, smiling. “I think you know more about making him feel better than I do, Doc.”
“You can call me Grace,” she said, her voice sounding much less sure than when she’d been talking about Rambo.
“Okay… Grace. In that case, you can feel free to call me Ty.”
She nodded, then cocked her head to the side. “Are you all from around here? You and Rambo and… and the other guys?”
“No. We’re from around Austin, originally,” I answered, pausing to consider how much I was prepared to tell her. “We’ve all been riding together for a few years now, though, and we pretty much go all over the state these days.”
Her look of curiosity turned to confusion. “And you just… travel around the state? Sightseeing?”
I laughed. “Would you believe me if I told you that’s what we did?”
“Not even for a second,” she replied, a slow smile spreading across her face.
And fuck if that smile didn’t make me forget what I was talking about again.
The silence stretched out between us as I looked back at Rambo, who was unhelpfully starting to snore.
Now would be a great time to wake up and distract her a little, buddy.
But nope. Just the doc—Grace—and me, with Rambo’s snores the only sound in the room.
“So if you and your, um, friends aren’t tourists…” she began again tentatively. “What do you do for a living?”
“We go where we’re needed,” I said, knowing it was a non-answer. “And we do what we need to do. Helping with law enforcement, mostly.”
“Law enforcement?” Her eyes went wide and a tiny crease formed between her eyebrows. “I mean… I’m sorry, I just…”
I gave a wry smile as I watched her search for the right words. I had seen this exact same reaction too many times to count over the years.
“The guys and I used to be Texas Rangers,” I said. “That’s how we all met. Rambo, too.”
“You were all Rangers?” she repeated, looking at me as if I’d just said we all used to be unicorns.
“Yep. Rambo here even saved my life by tackling a guy who had pulled a gun on me. When we all left the Rangers, I couldn’t give him up.” I sighed and absently scratched behind his ears. “And now my carelessness almost got him killed.”
“It was an accident,” she said, resting her hand on mine for just a moment before taking it away again and looking into my eyes. I could see the color rising in her cheeks. Fuck, everything about this woman was distracting. “You’ve gotta stop beating yourself up about it, Ty.” She paused for a moment, then continued. “So why did you quit? The Rangers, I mean. What made all of you decide to do… this… instead?”
I had a feeling she didn’t really know what this was, and I wasn’t telling. I could see that she had been impressed—shocked, for sure, but still impressed—by the fact that I was a former Ranger. Saying that I was basically a vigilante and a bounty hunter now might be a step too far.
And even though she had an uncanny knack for making me forget what I was saying with nothing more than a smile, I had to remind myself that Dr. Black—Grace Black—was still more or less a stranger.
“We just got tired of seeing criminals walk free,” I answered, finally. It was the truth, mostly. “We felt powerless. We felt like there had to be a better way—or at least a different way.”
“I see,” she said, still looking at me like she had no idea what I was talking about. Which was probably for the best. She stood up slowly and gave another hesitant smile. “I need to get back to my office soon. I have some paperwork to finish before we close for the day. Were you all able to get, um, everything set up out there?”
“We did,” I nodded. “Thank you… but does that mean Rambo is going to be in here overnight by himself?”
I knew it sounded a little r
idiculous for me to be worried about him now. He was probably safer in this little room than anywhere else—certainly safer than anywhere I could possibly take him.
Still, I hated the thought of him lying here alone all night.
She gave me a pained look. “I’m afraid he will. I’ve given him an anti-inflammatory and a pain-killer, and I honestly think he’ll be fine, but—” She shook her head, then smiled. “I can’t believe I’m even about to offer this… I’m gonna blame it on him being so sweet. But if you’d like to come in and check on him through the night, I’ll leave the back door unlocked. You can see the door from where you’ll be sleeping, so in return I’d just ask that you guys keep an eye on the place.”
Now it was my turn to be surprised. I couldn’t believe she offered to do that, either, but I definitely wasn’t going to turn her down.
“Hell yeah—I mean, of course, we will. That’s very kind of you, Grace. I won’t forget this, and you don’t have to worry for a minute about this place tonight. My guys and I have you covered.”
She nodded. “Good. Then we have a deal.”
I scratched behind Rambo’s ears one more time before standing as well. “We certainly do. Thank you again.”
“You should thank Rambo.” She gave me a look that was just a little too innocent to be real. God, did she even know how sexy she was right now? “I just can’t say no when he’s around.”
My body reacted instantly to her words as they shot straight down through me. I looked from her to Rambo and couldn’t help but feel myself start to smile.
If someone had told me this day would have turned out so well just a few hours ago, I would have laughed in their face. Or, more likely, I would have punched them in the face.
But now?
With my dog on the mend and this beautiful woman giving me these sweet, sexy looks?
Yeah, this had turned out to be a pretty damn good day.
And the way she was still looking at me now made me wonder if tomorrow might somehow be even better.
Chapter 3 - Grace