Once a Champion

by Jeannie Watt

  “I’d say we’re dropping from a code orange to a code yellow.”

  “Code yellow. All right. I can deal with that.”

  * * *

  AT THE END of Dr. Bates’s shift, he gave Liv a cautious thumbs-up. Cautious because, as Andie had said, Tim’s case had not been the slam dunk he expected, and he was candid about that. But now he felt confident that the worst was over. Tim was remaining in the hospital as a precaution and because he was already showing signs of becoming his usual self, the doctor told Liv he’d appreciate her help convincing him to stay put once the medications started wearing off. Liv promised to do the best she could.

  Tim was fairly alert when she visited him one last time before going home, and she listened patiently as he listed all the chores that needed doing, when what she really wanted to do was to yell at him for scaring her.

  She had exactly two blood relatives, since both of her parents were only children and her grandparents had passed on, and had just come too close to losing one of them. Stubbornness in the face of adversity wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. It might have gotten her pioneer forefathers to Montana, but it’d also almost killed her dad. Life was short. One had to seize the day. Enjoy what they could.

  Which was probably why she took the wrong fork at the Y and drove to Matt’s house, hoping he was home and that there wasn’t a crowd this time.

  There wasn’t. Just Matt in the yard roping a dummy calf head stuck on a straw bale.

  And he was so damned good at it. Swing, toss, jerk, shake off the rope and coil. Swing, toss, jerk...

  He stopped when he saw Liv’s car slow at the driveway and began coiling his rope as he walked toward her.

  She left the engine running as she rolled down the window. Matt hooked a hand on her mirror. “Is everything okay?”

  “Yeah,” Liv said, feeling all her former shyness come barreling back. She swallowed before saying, “Just thought I’d let you know that my dad is doing all right.”

  “Great,” Matt said, breaking into a wide smile.

  “And...if you wanted to stop by tonight...again...well...that would be okay.”

  There was a very long, very pregnant pause before Matt cocked his head and said, “Yeah?” And she could tell from his tone that he understood exactly what she was offering.

  Escape. Now. With your pride.

  Too late.

  Liv shrugged. “Yeah,” she echoed, impressed that her voice didn’t sound at all as if her heart were halfway up her throat. “If you want. I thought I could fix something to eat. As a thank-you.” Dinner, yes. Good save.

  Matt nodded, the smile having turned to more of a cautious half smile. At least it wasn’t a smirk. “Should I bring Craig?”

  That hadn’t been in her plans. “If you want to.”

  Matt’s expression edged back toward amusement...and something more, which made Liv feel like swallowing again. “I think I may feed Craig and leave him here to watch his Star show.”

  “Great,” she said, reaching for the ignition and turning it, even though the car was running. The nasty grinding sound startled her and color washed over her face. “Damn,” she muttered.

  Matt laughed. “I’ve done that,” he said, and she liked him more because of it.

  “I better go,” she said. “Before I do something else to the car.” Matt stepped away, and she put the car in gear, being careful that it was the correct gear, then turned a tight U-turn and headed back out of his driveway.

  Okay, she wasn’t smooth, but truthfully, she didn’t regret the invitation. Dinner with a guy who’d been there when she needed a shoulder. That was all this was. She wouldn’t let it be anything else.

  * * *

  MATT SHOWED UP for dinner with a bottle of wine and a deep curiosity as to how the evening was going to play out. Liv the aggressor was something he hadn’t expected. Not that she was exactly aggressive once he arrived. No, she hid behind the ritual of cooking, stirring sauce, draining pasta, refusing all help.

  Matt sat at the kitchen table, sipped wine and watched, letting her orchestrate the evening. She fed him an excellent but simple meal, complimented his wine and talked to him about her work.

  They did not talk about roping, or Beckett or her father—other than her brief announcement that all was still well and she was grateful.

  Matt watched the one-woman show with a touch of amusement and a touch of awe. Liv wasted no movements. She glided from one task to another, making them look effortless. Liv would have made a decent calf roper.

  Matt smiled a little and Liv cocked her head. “What?”

  “Just...admiring.”

  “Yeah?” The reply was offhand, but her color rose.

  They ate the dinner and Matt insisted on doing the dishes. Not helping, but doing. It didn’t take long, since Liv had been cleaning as she went in a way that would have made Craig proud.

  Then she turned off the kitchen lights and they went into the living room, where they sat side by side on the sofa staring at the opposite wall.

  “Well, this is awkward,” she said.

  “How so?” Matt asked innocently.

  Liv smirked at him. “Have you ever in your life felt awkward? Do you have a clue?”

  He half turned toward her on the sofa. “You’re talking to a man who’s been knocked off his horse in public more times than I want to admit, has taken facers in the mud, been kicked in the nuts by a squirming calf in front of a woman he wanted to impress...need I go on?”

  She laughed, hugging her arms around herself. “I spent a good deal of my life feeling awkward. But I have never been kicked in the nuts by a calf.”

  “You don’t know what you’re missing.” She leaned her head back against his arm, as she’d done the other night, and after a few silent, not totally uncomfortable minutes, he asked, “Why did you invite me over?”

  “To say thanks.”

  “And?”

  She met his eyes directly, though he had a feeling it cost her. “You have to ask?” she asked lowly. Her voice was husky, filled with meaning.

  Matt felt himself begin to rise to the occasion.

  * * *

  SHE’D DONE IT. For the first time ever she’d flat out told a guy what she wanted. Oh, she’d hedged a bit with the dinner and all, but she’d eventually taken the leap. And then for one long moment, nothing happened. All she could hear was her own breathing. And Matt’s.

  Then Matt slid his hand up under her hair and leaned over and kissed her. Only this wasn’t like that first kiss, the one that had taken her by surprise. No, this one was slow and deliberate, a long, thorough kiss that made her want to start shucking off her clothes. But she wouldn’t allow herself to react too soon. Her instinct for self-preservation was too strong. Yeah, she’d said what she wanted, but she needed to take her time, make certain she hadn’t made a mistake.

  She smoothed her palms over the planes of Matt’s cheeks, pulled his lips down for another kiss, this one even deeper and longer.

  “This is what I wanted to do during the study sessions,” she confessed, smiling against his mouth. Matt pushed his fingers back into her hair, then twisted the strands around his hand, holding her head as he spread his fingers over the small of her back, pressing her against him.

  “This,” he said in a low voice, “is what I would have wanted to do had I known you were interested in anything other than derivatives.”

  He was hard. Very hard. Liv’s breath caught at
the feel of his erection pressed against her and all her many insecurities came racing back. For an instant she was seventeen-year-old Liv, in awe of eighteen-year-old Matt, yet wanting this so badly.

  Then he ran his mouth down the side of her neck to the sensitive area at the base of her throat and a tremor shot through her, making her gasp. If she responded like this when he touched her neck, then what was it going to be like when he explored other more sensitive areas of her body?

  Sheer heaven.

  Matt pulled her to her feet and took hold of the bottom of her shirt. Liv lifted her arms, allowing him to pull it up over her head before he dropped it on the floor. She unbuttoned his shirt, sliding it down his arms until it joined her T-shirt at their feet. She reached back to pop her bra open, let it slip off, then pressed against him, not quite ready for him to look at her.

  Shyness. Did it never end?

  “You’re beautiful,” he murmured, reading her reaction.

  “Mmm,” was all she said in reply. Maybe she was. Or maybe he just wanted to get laid, which was fair, because that was what she wanted, too. To have hot sex with a guy she trusted as a friend. To make her forget everything for a few hours.

  Liv took a step back, allowing Matt’s hand to slide down to her waist, then come up to caress her breasts before pulling her back against him and let his hands drop down to cup her ass.

  “I can’t believe we’re doing this,” she murmured, then cringed as she realized she’d said the words out loud.

  “All your dreams come true?” he asked, making her want to smile. Who would have thought that Matt Montoya didn’t take himself that seriously—as a guy anyway? As a roper...that was a different story.

  She shook her hair back, feeling bolder as she pushed her pelvis against him, felt him push back.

  “Just not something I saw coming a few weeks ago.” She reached for his belt buckle, hoping she didn’t fumble too much, since she had a history of being awful with buckles. This one slid open with no problem and then hung heavily on the end of the belt as she undid the top button of his jeans and then eased the fly down over his erection. It wasn’t easy getting that zipper down, but Matt did nothing to help.

  Liv bit her lip, finally got it to the point that she could push his pants down his hips and then...oh, yes, this was good.

  But she didn’t have much time to admire because Matt kicked his pants the rest of the way off and then went to work on hers, getting the job done in half the time. More practice? She didn’t know, didn’t care. Not one bit. His past? None of her concern. His future? Likewise.

  She circled her arms around his neck, pressed into him and savored the feeling of skin against skin as she pulled his head down for a deep kiss.

  “Where?” he asked softly, his breath warm against her lips.

  She tilted her head toward the hall and they made their way to her bedroom, moving in tandem, kissing as they walked. She closed the door and then found herself trapped against it by a very hard, very insistent male body. He maneuvered his erection so that it was between her legs, making her more than a little crazy as he claimed her mouth.

  “Matt...?”

  “Door sex comes later,” he said. He took a step back and easily swung her up into his arms. Seconds later, before she could protest about him possibly straining his knee, they were on the bed, Liv on the bottom, Matt very much on top. And she loved the way he felt there. Was there any part of him that wasn’t toned and hard?

  “Are you ready?” he asked, his voice little more than a husky whisper.

  “Oh, yeah,” she murmured, wrapping her legs around him as he pressed into her. So. Very. Ready. Yes, it hurt a little. She hadn’t had sex in a very long time, and she could truthfully say she’d never had sex with a guy like Matt. He eased in slowly, taking his time, watching her face. Then, when he was all the way home, he kissed her, a soft kiss that became more intense as he started moving inside of her. Liv gasped against his mouth as he hit the sweet spot just right and he smiled.

  “You like that?”

  “It’s okay,” she said.

  He laughed low in his throat and began to move, taking his time, making her crazy.

  “Better than okay,” she admitted, her words barely audible as sensations threatened to overpower her. She wasn’t ready for this to end. Not yet. Not after waiting all this time.

  “I should hope so,” he said, but the teasing note in his voice was strained. And then the talking stopped and Liv lost track of everything except for Matt driving into her. He was so damned good and she did not want him to stop—

  And then she exploded against him, long before she wanted to. Matt groaned against her neck as she arched beneath him, then he drove in deeply into her one last time.

  What had she just done?

  They were both still breathing hard as the questions began crowding into Liv’s brain, but she was soon distracted by Matt kissing her. A sweet, gentle kiss that made her want to melt back into him.

  They were two people who understood each other. He wouldn’t tell her what to do, and she wouldn’t tell him what to do....

  Except for that knee thing. That still bothered her.

  “I’d like to stay,” he said, pulling her against him.

  “Craig,” she said.

  “Yeah.”

  “That’s okay,” Liv said. “I think...I need some alone time.”

  “Regrets?” Matt asked softly.

  “No.” Liv hoped she wasn’t lying.

  Matt got out of bed and pulled on his pants, dragging the denim up over his wrecked knees, buckling the belt around his lean hips.

  He looked like a hot cowboy who’d just stepped out of some kind of magazine advertisement. And she... Liv caught her reflection in the full-length mirror on her far wall—she looked pale and tousled and not at all magazine worthy, but she would never have known it from the expression Matt wore when he met her eyes in the mirror. Her heart stuttered at the intensity of his gaze.

  He smiled a little as he shrugged into his shirt, then he came to sit on the bed beside her and pulled on his boots.

  “I’ll come back to help you feed in the morning.”

  “Don’t.” The word came out so quickly that Liv was barely conscious of saying it.

  Matt held her gaze for a moment, then exhaled. But he said nothing. A moment later he kissed her lightly on first the forehead, then the lips.

  As he straightened, he smiled again and Liv couldn’t help but notice that according to the evidence showing through his worn jeans, he was seconds away from crawling back into bed with her.

  And she was seconds away from insisting on it, consequences be damned.

  “Good night, Liv.”

  Liv rolled onto her back, pushed the hair back from her forehead as she stared up at the ceiling and listened to the sounds of the man she’d once thought she’d loved more than anything leaving her house.

  What had she just done?

  She’d done what had felt incredibly right. At the moment. And she’d enjoyed it, shutting off the warning voices in her head and simply experiencing what Matt had to offer.

  When he’d started making love to her, his motions had felt practiced, automatic. But then...then things changed. She’d responded, and he’d done the same. By the end, Liv had the strong feeling that Matt was charting some unknown waters. Or at least waters he hadn’t experienced in some time.

  She rolled over onto her side, cushioning her head on one
arm as she heard his pickup start up. She’d rung his bell. Her lips curved into a wearily sad smile. She had the power....

  And she didn’t want it.

  Resolutely, she closed her eyes. She needed sleep if she was going to deal with her father in the morning. As if.

  Her last thoughts, jumbled one on top of the other, were that there was no way she would ever be able to fall asleep and that Matt hadn’t asked when he could see her again.

  The last thought made her smile.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  “WHY IN THE HELL didn’t you come see me?” Andie demanded.

  Tim rolled his head on the pillow to see her better. “I don’t have insurance and I was waiting for Medicare to kick in.”

  “What happened to the insurance, Dad?” Liv asked, shocked at his admission. Her father had never been a fan of spending money needlessly, but foregoing insurance?

  “I dropped down to just the ranch policy, which covers accidents, not illness. Since I’ve never been sick, I thought I could save some money.”

  “And then you got sick,” Andie said. Tim said nothing, staring up at the ceiling. “We’ll work something out.”

  “Like what?” he grumbled. “Medical bankruptcy?”

  “Stop it, Dad.”

  “Had you seen me earlier,” Andie said, “or Dr. Bates, or any health professional, then we could have solved this in a less dramatic way.”

  Tim continued to stare at the ceiling, as if he hadn’t heard her, his face pinched with pain.

  “You’re staying a few more days, Dad.”

  Again no response.

  “We have ways we can help you deal with this,” Andie said.

  But Liv knew her father would never agree to any of the “ways” she was speaking of, since they smacked of charity.

  “I’ll talk to the hospital about a payment plan. We’ll get through this.” Liv forced a smile. “If I started paying rent, then that could be your payment.”

  The thought didn’t seem to cheer Tim any, but he reached out anyway to take Liv’s hand. He squeezed her fingers, his hand rough from decades of hard work, then dropped his hand back to the sheet.