For today. She could do today.
The horse he’d drawn was rank—a notorious bucker, which was another reason Buck had wanted Ty to ride. They hadn’t had much time to talk before he was up, but Buck told him they could work an angle with Les’s accident and self-sacrifice that would add depth to the documentary. Whatever. Ty was going to ride.
Shelby had stayed behind the chutes with his father and Buck while he tended to his horse. Once saddled, Pippin—which was a stupid-ass name for a bronc notorious for stomping the shit out of cowboys—snorted, rolled his eyes back as if to take Ty’s measure, and then flattened his ears against his skull. The horse was a pro. So was Ty.
“Right back at you,” Ty muttered as he climbed on board.
He arranged his seat, adjusted his grip, his left hand on the top rail of the gate to steady himself. Then the nod and the gate swung open.
Pippin blasted out of the chute, his front feet barely hitting the ground before he was in the air again, twisting and kicking. Whoa, shit. There would be no smart ass fanning of the hat on this ride.
Ty hung onto the thick rope rein and leaned back, matching his rhythm to that of the animal, only to have the horse change it up and throw in a spin followed by another twisting kick. Ty countered the movements with his free hand, never broke rhythm, although he tasted blood from biting the inside of his cheek after another jarring turn that knocked him off balance. He fought with everything he had to keep from touching the horse with his free hand as the whistle blew and he surrendered himself to gravity.
Yep. Dirt sandwich, but it was after the whistle and that was all that counted. As he got to his feet he heard the cheers, heard the announcer yelling about yet another great comeback ride, and all he could think was that he needed to get back to Shelby. He picked up his hat from the dirt, waved it at the crowd, saluted Pippin as he loped by with the pickup men in hot pursuit, then set the hat on his head and headed for the gate.
Buck and his dad were waiting for him at the end of the alley. His dad slapped him on his sore shoulder and Buck gave an approving nod. “I think this is all going to work out,” he said.
“Yeah. Hope so.”
“What do you mean hope?” his dad asked in an overly jovial voice.
“Depends on Shelby.” He turned to Buck. “You said I have a day or two. I’ll give you a final answer soon.”
Buck nodded again. “Sooner is better than later.”
“I won’t tie up your time unnecessarily.”
“I appreciate that.”
His dad looked as if he had a lot to say, but Ty cocked a warning eyebrow at him and the words died on his lips. “I’ll see you later, Dad. Buck.”
He reached back to unfasten his chaps, freeing his legs as he walked. His ride had been the last of the night and people were leaving the stands even though the awards would be given in the next few minutes. Always a rush out of the parking lot. Most of the riders were already gone, on to other rodeos or starting long drives home.
He pretty much was home… if Shelby agreed.
She was standing close to the main gate, looking a touch pale. She smiled as he approached, a taut, at-the-edge-of-breaking smile. He reached out for her, drew her close, breathed in the sweet scents of her hair and skin. Scents that somehow mixed so damned well with the arena smells he loved.
“Nice ride,” she murmured against his shoulder.
“Thanks.” She’d sacrificed to be here and now he needed to get her back where she belonged. He eased out of her embrace and took her hand. “Give me a second to collect my gear and I’ll drive you back to the hospital.”
*
Les was asleep when they got to the hospital. After a quick look at her stubborn, sleeping grandfather, Shelby spoke at length with Doctors Murphy and Gallagher while Ty cooled his heels on the vinyl loveseat, idly rubbed his sore shoulder, and debated his future. Their future. When she finally joined him, she seemed to be in a better place, which made his heart lighten a little.
“Gramps was totally healthy when he had his checkup with Dr. Murphy three months ago. But he got a blood pressure med for the first time and that’s most likely the cause.”
“Then why hide the dizziness?” he asked as he held the door open for her.
“Dr. Murphy is guessing it’s because he didn’t want to end up in a hospital.”
“He was muscling through?” Ty asked incredulously.
Shelby sent him a look and he had to admit that he could totally see Les doing that.
“He was probably afraid that is he went off the meds, then he’d be a candidate for a stroke or heart attack, just as Dr. Murphy had told him he’d be if he didn’t take the meds. What he apparently didn’t understand is that there are other meds he can take.”
“Remind me not to be that stubborn when I’m old.”
Shelby shot him a frowning look, but he ignored it and opened the truck door for her. She climbed in without a word and Ty walked around the truck to the driver’s side.
He put the truck in gear and pulled out of the parking lot, turning north instead of south.
“My truck is still at the rodeo grounds.”
“I know. We’ll get it in a while.”
He continued to the stop sign, then turned onto the side street that would take him to Highway 89 by a circuitous route. Shelby settled back in her seat, her hands in her lap.
“You feeling okay?” he asked after turning onto the highway.
“Better now that I know what’s going on with Gramps.”
He continued driving, past Harry Monroe’s cross, which had even more flowers and mementoes than the last time he’d passed it. Shelby turned her head to study the sad memorial as they passed, then focused again on the highway in front of her.
“I’m taking you home the long way.”
“I figured. I just don’t know why.”
But he did. And that was the important thing right now.
*
Ty turned onto a county road that joined Highway 89 a few miles north of Marietta and continued down the gravel road. As soon as he’d made the turn, Shelby had known where they were going. Fifteen minutes later, they pulled to a stop on a small hill overlooking his family farm. Or rather the acreage that had once been his family farm and now belonged to a wealthy young couple who leased out the farming.
“Do you know what this represents to my father?”
Shelby held Ty’s blue gaze and slowly shook her head.
“The wrong choice.” He leaned his head back, staring out at the property with half-hooded eyes as Shelby studied his profile. “My great-great grandfather homesteaded the place. He grew grain to feed miners. Much smarter than trying to do the mining, but just as backbreaking. He was successful. He passed the land on and my great-grandfather and grandfather did well. My dad… not so much.”
They’d never discussed the sale of the Harding family farm, or its history for that matter. It had been on the block when she and Ty had broken up, but Ty hadn’t been living at home and it wasn’t until after it sold that she’d come to understand that Kenny Harding had sold the place because he’d had to. He’d been going under fast. And then she’d thought she understood why Ty had been so reticent to talk about the farm or his father.
“Farming is a tough life,” she finally said after a long stretch of silence. “Lots of people lose generational farms.”
Ty rubbed a hand over his chin. “My dad gave up bronc riding to take over the farm. A big part of him died when he did that. The farm started slipping not long after he took it over. He had a couple good years and then the droughts came…”
Shelby set her hand on Ty’s hard thigh. A moment later he covered her hand with his, squeezed lightly. But he didn’t look at her. He was focused on the house and outbuildings at the bottom of the small hill. The place where he and his brother had grown up.
“He encouraged Austin and me to be rough stock riders from the time we could toddle. Sheep, calves, broncs, bulls. As we started seriously winni
ng events in our teens, Dad started coming alive. It felt so damned good to see him be something other than morose and defeated. And Mom… she was so much happier when Dad was happy.”
“So he lives through you and your brother?”
“Pretty much. I don’t think a day goes by that he doesn’t regret his decision to take over the farm.”
“So you did opposite.”
“I didn’t want to end up a bitter person like him.” Ty spoke slowly, choosing his words. “I thought I had to follow my career to avoid that.”
“Why didn’t I know this?”
“Maybe because I didn’t fully understand it at the time. Twenty-three-year olds aren’t exactly known for their deep comprehension of life issues. Although you couldn’t have convinced me of that fact when I was twenty-three.” He shifted his lower jaw sideways for an instant. “The other reason is because I’ve never talked about this stuff. But I’m going to start.”
“You are.” It was a flat statement, edged with a minor amount of disbelief.
“Bottling it up didn’t help anything.” His expression softened as their gazes connected and his hand slid over her leg. “I was protective of my dad; sorry for how his life had turned out. I wanted to win for him, but in a way… his needing Austin and me to win so badly… made him seem kind of weak.” His mouth tightened ever so slightly. “Does that make sense?”
“Yes. It does.” Perfect sense.
“When I was torn as to whether or not to go all out professionally, try to make the NFR Finals, he said that whatever I left behind would be waiting when I got back.”
“Was he referring to me?”
“Probably.”
She shot him a sideways look. “You know… that kind of makes me mad.”
“That he said it, or that I believed it?”
“Both?”
“I was afraid of becoming my dad, Shelby, and I was worried about you becoming like my mom, controlled by her husband’s resentment. I believed Dad when he said I needed to follow my dreams. Both Austin and I did.”
“So you left me.”
“I asked you to come, despite my dad telling me not to.”
“I felt like my dream was taking second place to yours.”
“I thought that my dream had a time limit and yours didn’t.”
She frowned over at him. “I wish we could have said these things four years ago.”
His grip on her thigh tightened ever so slightly. “Maybe we needed four years to think.”
“Why the confession now, Ty?”
“Because if we are going to try to build something, we need to truly understand where we stand. What our fears and motivations are. We loved each other before, but we didn’t share a lot.” He paused for a moment and then said, “My riding scares you, doesn’t it?”
Shelby looked down at her lap and was surprised to see that she was twisting her hands together. She released her fingers and laid her palms on her thighs, splaying the fingers. “I may as well just come out and say it. Yes. Your riding scares me.”
“So why did you tell me to ride tonight?”
“I think you should do this documentary. It’s a huge deal. My fear of your riding… that’s my problem. Not yours.”
“No. It’s our problem.” She looked up at him and he smoothed the hair back from her cheek with a gentle stroke of his hand. “I’m not leaving you, Shelby. Whether or not I ride, I’m not leaving you.”
“You can’t promise that. Look at what happened to Harry.”
There. She’d said it. Let out her biggest fear. Losing Ty permanently.
“And your mom.”
Shelby swallowed. “And my mom.”
Ty leaned in and kissed her then. A sweet, I’m-there-for-you kiss, his lips moving gently over hers, one hand cradling the back of her head, the other at her cheek. As he pulled back, Shelby opened her eyes and focused on the man sitting a few inches away from her, whose taste was still on her lips. A man she couldn’t stand to lose again.
“Maybe we should go home,” she whispered. “We can get my truck in the morning.”
“Good idea.”
Chapter Fourteen
Shelby and Ty didn’t talk as he took the back roads home to the Forty-Six Ranch, but there wasn’t much more that needed said. What Shelby needed now was time to process.
She called the hospital shortly after arriving home and was told her grandfather was doing well and, if nothing changed, she’d be able to pick him up at noon the following day. Shortly after that, she called the insurance company, the salvage company that had towed Gramps’s truck, and Cassie, just to let her know that all was essentially well.
“Do you want to stay with me? Or do you want me to come to the ranch?” Cassie asked. “Because you shouldn’t be alone right now.”
“I’m not alone,” Shelby said simply. Ty was outside feeding and she knew he wasn’t going anywhere. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
She ended the call and set the phone on the table. It would be twilight soon. What had been one of the longest days of her adult life was almost over.
And she was not alone.
That meant so much. She could have handled alone, because she was a survivor, but she didn’t want to. She wanted to be with Ty. She wanted to wake up in the morning with him there next to her, and go to sleep at night curled up against him. And she wanted him to follow the dream that meant so much to him.
Shelby got to her feet and walked out the door, the crisp, early evening breeze ruffling her hair. She spotted Ty near the homestead house and started toward him. His head lifted as she approached.
“Come to the house. I’ll zap something for dinner.”
“Zapped food is my favorite.”
She smiled a little and started back the way she came. Ty caught up with her, slipped his thumb under the top of her belt as he brought an arm around her, making her jeans ride lower on one side.
“You know I hate that.”
“Uh huh.”
She didn’t hate it. She loved the familiarity of it. Loved this fragile bubble around them. Was he staying or going? They had to talk. For real. But she wasn’t ready yet. She understood so much more than she had before. She’d accused him of not talking, but now he had.
The ball was firmly in her court.
Once they reached the house, Ty pulled dishes out of the cupboard as she microwaved a tray of frozen lasagna. She was not hungry, but Ty had to be, and she’d eat with him.
Once the food was on the table, though, she discovered she was ravenous. Her grandfather was okay and the guy she totally loved was here with her.
“Do you want to talk?” Ty asked after they’d finished the dishes. Shelby shook her head.
She snapped off the kitchen light and reached out to take his hand in hers, loving the feel of his work-roughened skin against hers. “Don’t want to talk.” She led him down the hall to her room, pausing outside the door to say, “But I wouldn’t mind another kind of communication.”
He leaned down to touch her forehead with his, his breath warm on her face as he said, “I’m your guy.”
A tingle went up Shelby’s spine. He was her guy.
She opened the door and led him inside. Shadows stretched across the room, but Shelby didn’t bother with the lights. She reached out for her guy, smoothed her hands over his hard chest, then undid the buttons of his shirt one by one, focusing on how much she loved touching him, running her hands over his skin, feeling his response. She pulled the shirt tails out and then pushed the shirt off his shoulders. Leaning in she traced the muscles of his chest with her lips. He tasted of salt and dust and man. She loved it.
His hands fisted in her hair and he tilted her face up. “I need a shower.”
“So do I.”
Shelby slowly washed every inch of Ty’s muscled body, memorizing it yet again. He returned the favor, and then they kissed as they rinsed off, Shelby’s hand firmly gripping his erection which was pressed between their bellies.
After toweling off, she went to her knees, taking him in her mouth as he stroked the damp hair away from the sides of her face. She brought him close, then pulled back and he helped her to her feet, then swung her up into his arms and carried her to the dark bedroom where their clothing lay in tangles on the floor. He laid her down, and then, after a melting kiss, moved his lips down her neck to her breasts, making her arch and gasp. He smiled against her belly, his stubble rough against her delicate skin, then continued his sensual journey south. As he touched his tongue to her sex, she jerked, then relaxed and let her eyes drift shut as he did that thing he did so well, teasing her clit with his fingers and his tongue. She gave another gasp, then pulled her hips back, breaking the delicious contact as she came too, too close to going over the edge. Ty looked up at her and she reached down to take hold of his shoulders, pull him up to where he belonged—on her, in her. As he eased his way inside of her, Shelby pressed her face against the hollow of his shoulder, closed her eyes, breathed in his scent. He was part of her.
They made love slowly, savoring the closeness, the familiarity and the uncertainty. Shelby had no idea what the future held, but she had Ty with her now. It was the now that mattered. She’d deal with the future later, when she could think, because her thoughts were tangling as her need for release grew. And then she was hanging on, taking everything Ty had to give and giving back all she could.
The orgasm rocked her and she gave a sobbing gasp before biting down on his shoulder. Ty came the instant her teeth hit flesh, shoving into her one last time before holding and then finally, as if drained of every ounce of strength, collapsing onto his side, pulling her with him so that they were still joined.
Shelby hugged him close, pressing her face against his damp chest.
She loved this man so damned much.
*
Ty awoke at sunrise like usual, only he didn’t get out of bed. Instead he rolled over and woke Shelby in the best way he knew how. She seemed appreciative.
“If you make the coffee, I’ll see about breakfast,” she said when she finally eased herself out of his embrace and slid out of bed, pausing long enough to kiss his bruised shoulder.
Catch Me, Cowboy Page 15