Wishing on a Rodeo Moon (Women of Character)

by Brannigan, Grace

  Tye intended to step away. Her feet didn't move. She reached out a hand and tentatively placed it on his chest. "I think I'm stuck," she said weakly, looking up at him. Stuck on you, Jake Miller.

  "I've got the same problem. Maybe we should make the best of it and find a common solution," he said huskily. Jake’s head dipped toward hers. His warm breath fanned her lips.

  At five-eight, Tye had never felt short in her life, but with Jake looming over her, she felt dainty in comparison.

  His mouth touched hers, the contact electric, jolting a surge of wanting through her entire body, just like she remembered, only more intense. The feeling concentrated in the pit of her stomach, then spread outward until the very tips of her fingers and toes tingled. Strange, but she swore she felt the sensation even in the toes she knew were missing.

  Tye drew a quivering breath. She needed to touch him. Her fingers crept up to his collar and into the back of his hair. Hungrily, she wound her arms around his back, felt each hard, contoured muscle. They were connected, breast bone to thigh. It felt wonderful and so right. Jake was holding on to her as tightly as she wound herself around him. Tye’s breath came in short spurts. She missed being this close to Jake.

  The sound of splashing water drove them apart. With a groan, Tye rested her forehead against Jake’s. "Sounds like they found the pool."

  "Yeah."

  This time, reluctantly, they turned and moved out of the shadows toward her side of the house. Tye walked slightly ahead. Trying to breathe normally, she stepped into the spotlight cast by the overhead halogen.

  Amy came running towards them, using her arm to wipe water from her face and neck. Her short black dress lay plastered against her body, a high-heeled shoe dangled from each hand.

  The face she lifted to Tye held excitement. "There you are, Tye!" she exclaimed. "Wow! What a great party. It's the first time I've ever gone swimming in a dress." Amy looked at her brother as he stepped into the light. "Uh-oh, hello Jake. I'd better get dried off. Mind if I run over to your place, Jake?" Without waiting for a reply, Amy ran on. "See you guys later," she threw over her shoulder. "Thanks for the invite, I've never had so much fun."

  The yells and squeals from the pool grew louder. To Tye, it sounded as if someone were drowning. She rushed forward, her gaze skimming the heads in the pool to see if someone really was in trouble.

  A flurry of activity drew Tye's attention. She turned to see Jake discard his boots, whip his shirt off and dive into the water. Someone was in the deep end, arms flailing. Tye hurried toward that end of the pool, grabbing a towel off a chair as Jake hauled a man to the edge.

  Somewhat subdued, several others rushed forward to help pull the man from the pool. He lay on his back with his eyes open. It was Marty, a young, promising bull rider. Sheepishly, he grinned at Tye. "Sorry, I guess I had too much to drink."

  "Are you all right?" she asked anxiously.

  "Yeah." He coughed a few times, but kept nodding his head. "Yeah, I’m fine. Give me a minute."

  "Well, I'm glad you're okay." She handed him the towel and quickly turned to walk over to where Jake sat on the pool’s edge. She leaned down to peer into his face. "You okay, Jake?" she asked.

  Jake looked up at her and pushed his hair back with both hands. Tye tried not to stare at the water running in rivulets into his chest hair. Man, but this guy was sexy!

  "A bit damp around the edges," he drawled.

  Someone pushed a towel into her hand. She placed it on Jake’s shoulders, her heart beginning to slow. Everyone was fine. "Thanks," she told him.

  Everyone had quieted. Even the CD music which had been blaring in the living room had cut off.

  Tye straightened. All eyes seemed to be on her. And Jake. Clearing her throat, Tye felt an imp of mischief take over.

  "Looks like somebody died," she commented to no one in particular. She sat down on the pool deck next to Jake and rolled her pant leg up. Quickly, efficiently, she proceeded to undo her prosthesis straps.

  "Tye, what are you doing?" Denny asked, clearly bewildered.

  Minus her prosthesis, Tye grabbed Denny's hand and pulled herself upright. She looked down at the young cowboy who had almost drowned. "Marty, I think it's a good idea if you stay right where you are. We don’t want anyone drowning tonight."

  Tye looked around the patio and read the surprise on her friend's faces. They were her friends, they had stuck with her through the years and they had all helped each other out when times got rough. "The rest of you I'm throwing out a challenge. The last one in the pool is a one-eyed, one-armed flying purple-people-eater..." With a screech of joy, Tye hit the water first. She was never one to lag behind on any challenge.

  § Chapter Thirteen §

  "I'd say your party was a success," Jake stated later that night. They sat in chairs on the back lawn. To Tye, it seemed almost surreal, the way the moon’s light penetrated the dewy fog hovering in the air. She rested her head on the back of the chair and stared at the fog.

  "I found out what I needed to know," Tye said softly. She felt incredibly relaxed.

  "What is it you needed to know?"

  "I needed to find out if I still fit in. Even though I'm not quite in touch with my life, my friends came through for me."

  "Sometimes it takes time for life to fall into place. Your friends obviously care about you. That’s not going to stop because your life has changed."

  "I knew that but I guess I didn’t know it. I had to see it for myself."

  "There's a long line of people who care about you, Tye," he said quietly. "I still care about you." The words wound around Tye and squeezed her in loving arms.

  Tye jerked her head sideways, her gaze meeting his. "I think we’ll both always care about each other, Jake. Too bad life isn’t that simple." If it was, she would be in his arms now and never leave.

  "It can be."

  Tye went very still. Surely Jake could hear her heartbeat? "There’s been a lot of years and living in between."

  "On both sides."

  "There are things you don’t know about me," Tye said warningly. "Times have been hard. I can’t say I’m proud of all I’ve done, and I've managed to do some pretty dumb stuff. At this point in my life I still feel like I'm growing up."

  "We all do things we regret. Hopefully, we learn from the mistakes and go on."

  "That sounds pretty magnanimous." Tye stood, then walked toward the house and the door to her apartment. She looked over her shoulder at Jake as he remained seated. "Would you like to come in?"

  "Sure."

  Tye looked around the now empty apartment. Beer cans sat on the tables and counters, ashtrays needed to be emptied and washed. Popcorn littered the area rug in the middle of the room.

  "How about I help you clean up while you tell me about it?" Jake offered.

  "No, that's okay. Tomorrow the maid comes in," she quipped lightly, then she grimaced. "Find a seat." She waved a hand around the room then walked back to the sliding glass door and opened it. Some fresh air would disperse the stale smoke in the room and she needed a moment to figure out a way to tell him what she wanted him to know.

  Perhaps sensing her hesitation, Jake said, "If you’re not sure about this maybe it's better if you don't tell me. Contrary to popular belief, confession isn’t always better for the soul."

  Tye sat down next to Jake on the couch with a good couple feet between them. Jake sat forward, his hands between his knees. Tye wanted to sit closer and curl herself around him, but knew the truth had to be told. Jake had to know the woman she had become, the woman she was still trying to define.

  "There’s no easy or pretty way to say this. I always liked to party and have fun, but a few years back I lost control." Tye pushed herself deeper into her corner of the couch. "I went overboard. For about six months, I didn't know where I was half the time after six o'clock." Tye looked sideways at Jake, a grimace of disgust flashing across her face.

  "I got into a real partying habit, and I'm not
even sure why. I had broken my ankle, and of course I couldn't ride in the finals. That year had been my best year yet." She shook her head. "I'd been so sure I'd be in the top ten, but I had to pull out. If I hadn't had a couple bad rides toward the end of the season I might have been able to pull off the last couple rodeos. I was in a streak where I couldn't seem to win. I began to get desperate.

  "When I was a kid that's all Daddy talked about, about how I could win big and I was the best darned rider he'd ever seen."

  "His wild child."

  Tye smiled slowly. "He always called me that. I guess I got that idea stuck in my head and I've been trying to make the grade ever since. When I didn't, I couldn't handle it.

  "I'd been seeing this bronc rider, his name's not important, on and off, but it was nothing really serious. He had a bad rep, he'd been in and out of jail." She shrugged. "I just thought I was above it all, you know, too smart to get caught in a bad situation. I flirted with danger."

  Tye drew a deep breath, and continued. "One night he found me in a little bar, a regular hang out. I was drunk, dancing on the tables, ankle cast and all. I didn't care, nothing mattered. I thought I was having a good time.

  "When this guy came in I kind of fell into his arms...maybe I pushed myself into his arms, I don't know. He was putting me into his truck when luckily my friends, Lynn and Denny showed up. I had passed out by then. They managed to get me out of there. The next morning I had an unbelievable hangover...I wanted to die. Lynn told me what had happened. It really scared me, especially since I didn't remember any of it. Anything could have happened that night if my friends hadn’t come along. About a year later this same guy was arrested for murdering a hitch hiker he picked up." Tye felt the shivers of memory creep over her. "I was lucky. I also wised up because eventually luck can run out."

  Tye looked at Jake, wanting him to say something, anything, even call her a fool. She saw the movement of his jaw but he didn't speak.

  "I stayed away from that guy, but I did see him at rodeos after that. On one occasion he called me everything he could lay his tongue to. I'd never lost control to that point. I was terrified by the total memory lapse. I felt I had hit the bottom. I decided I didn't want to be there ever again."

  Tye swallowed hard. This was the hardest part. "I had to face up to my life. Mama just about ran over me with a steamroller, and when Daddy got wind of my partying, he threatened to beat me black and blue if I didn't get my life in order. By that time I had already realized I couldn't go on the way I was." Tye gave him a straight look. "I'd be in a pine box before I hit thirty." Tye looked down, pressing her fingers together, distressed when she saw Jake's mouth was a grim, white line. "I suppose you’re disgusted with me for being dumb enough to allow my life to get out of control."

  She couldn't imagine him letting his life get to such a point. He was always in control, taking care of every aspect of his life and his family’s problems with precision and honor. Amy was a fountain of information regarding Jake’s support of his family through the years.

  Taking a deep breath, Tye met his blue eyes. "I'd never deliberately hurt anyone, Jake, but I've got a pretty wild reputation, some of it deserved."

  Jake let out a deep breath, then leaned forward and gently touched her hair, letting his hand slide down behind her ear. "I know about you. It doesn't matter what they say in the papers."

  Tye sat up straight. "Are you kidding? Half of that stuff is fairytale."

  "I've read about you through the years, Tye. You’re not telling me anything I haven’t already heard."

  "Jake, I have to know why you were at the rodeo that night."

  Jake looked at her warily before answering. "I came across a picture of you in some boxes I was packing away. It was like an omen or something. Amy had moved out, my mom was settled with my sister, I was alone for the first time in ten years, and I come across your picture." Jake drew a deep breath and Tye felt the breath squeeze from her chest. She was afraid of what he would say next. She clasped her hands together tightly. "I was packing away some old things, and your picture was right there, staring up at me. It was like the years rolled back."

  "My picture?"

  "You were on your horse Pongo, your legs hanging down past the stirrups. I guess the photographer caught you by surprise. You were turned in the saddle and I could almost see the startled expression on your face. I felt all the old anger well up inside. The anger and a ghost of the old feelings."

  Tye felt the pain lance through her. "Old feelings". In the past. Not something he felt anymore.

  "I put the picture on my desk. I saw it every time I went into my office for about a week. I knew you would be rodeoing that night since it was one of the big rodeos that count toward the finals. I decided I had to come and see you. It was time to put the past to rest. I figured I had to see you again to do that. Then it would be over."

  "I don’t recall that picture." Tye shook her head, not wanting to understand what he was saying. Dread pooled in her stomach. She ached with it. "So, you really came to say goodbye?" She didn’t want to hear this, but she had to know all of it, no matter how hurtful.

  "Yes. I came to the rodeo to see you, to say goodbye. I don’t know that I actually intended to talk to you. I just knew I needed some kind of ending. I wanted closure on this anger that I had hidden for ten years. My life had gone on, but the emotional aspect of my life stalled that night ten years ago."

  "Jake..." Tye couldn’t answer in words the pain she felt in him.

  "Then you had your accident."

  "And you were there. Why did you come that night and not before?"

  Jake looked away, but finally he said, "You were always on the go, one rodeo after the other. I stayed away deliberately. Why would I pursue you when you walked away?" There was a glint in his eye. "You made it plain that last night you wanted out. You wanted rodeo."

  Tye swallowed hard. "It seemed the best solution at the time. I-I was frightened. Everything seemed to be happening all at once." Tye tipped her head back. "God! I was so young."

  "You walked away at the worst time, when things were so bad."

  "It was the best solution." Tye felt like she was still trying to convince him, and maybe convince herself.

  "For you, Tye. You wanted the rodeo more than you wanted us."

  Tye felt the hurt of years ago come to the surface. She felt his pain and remembered her own numbing agony. "Neither one of us walked away unscathed." Defiantly, she added, "I did what I thought was right, Jake. I've always loved the rodeo, you knew that. You had so much responsibility. At seventeen, you don’t always see the whole picture. We talked of spending forever together. When you talked about going to the courthouse for a marriage license, it was suddenly more than talk, it was real. I knew rodeo, I knew what to expect. Marriage..." she let her voice trail off. "All I knew of marriage was the mess of my parent’s life."

  "So you took the rodeo instead."

  "I’ve always had that, always knew it would be there. I don't know what else I'd do if it wasn't there. It was something I could do."

  "You didn’t give us a chance."

  Tye felt her shoulders slump. "At the time, I thought I was giving us the only possible chance. It didn’t work that way."

  "No, it didn’t." His face looked hard. It was that wall he put up that scared Tye. She would never scale it.

  "I have made mistakes. If I had stuck around, who knows we wouldn’t be divorced by now? After my parent’s failure at marriage, I was scared as hell."

  "You're a strong woman, Tye. If you set your mind to something, you’ll succeed."

  "I don’t feel strong."

  "You've carved your own niche in this world. You'll do it again."

  Tye felt shaky and uncertain as she stared at Jake, his dependable face, the hard set of his shoulders. She wanted to scoot over to where he sat. She sat still. "I didn’t mean to hurt you all those years ago, but I know I did. I hurt too. I had to tell you this so you'd understand about
me." She curled her fingers tightly, holding herself stiffly as Jake moved closer.

  "Anybody can change, if they want to," he said in a low voice. "I recall liking you back then just as you were."

  Tye leaned toward him, letting his voice sink to the very marrow of her bones. "Not always," she whispered, doubt gnawing at her. With a heavy frown, she shook the hair back from her face. "Jake, I know about choices, some right, some wrong. I won't hurt a family the way my dad did. He was never there when it counted. He missed so much." She sighed. "My life's already been set in stone, and I carved it. I'm my father's daughter through and through. I’m afraid we’ll hurt each other again."

  Jake lifted his hand and gently cupped her throat. "You're not your father. If we go into this with our eyes open, no one has to get hurt."

  Tye swallowed hard, wetting her lips with her tongue. Was that true? Could they both walk away without getting hurt? "I-I don’t know, Jake. I don’t want to be hurt, I don’t want to hurt you."

  "I'm a grown man, Tye, let me worry about it. With that said, right now I need to touch you." Gently, he traced her mouth with his. "Can I touch you?"

  Tye nodded her head slowly, mesmerized by the desire she saw in his face, the narrowing of his eyes. Jake's touch sent tremors of sensation straight to Tye's stomach. It caught her off-guard, starting that impossible yearning again. How she wanted Jake. Some things never changed. Tye needed to probe Jake’s reasons for showing up at the rodeo that night. Right now things felt hazy, her body charged by his touch, his scent in her nostrils.

  "We're not rushing into anything," Jake murmured. "When we make love, it'll be the right time, the right thing to do."

  "Oh, God." Tye opened her lips, put her arms tightly around Jake's hard body. When he talked about making love it did strange things to her stomach. She leaned into him, willingly overcome by emotion and feeling, her fingers gripping his arms. She wanted Jake. He made her burn, made her want to let go of the past, the fear of not measuring up. Right now past mistakes faded into dust.

  #

  Jake felt the urgent press of Tye's slim body against his. Dropping his hands to the small of her back, he traced his palms over the slight curve of her hips, felt the bones beneath the soft, responsive flesh. He drew her quivering reaction into himself, felt his own body tremble. He'd wanted her a long time, but he had to go slow and make sure it was right for both of them. He didn’t want any doubts clouding this moment. They had both come so far.