Page 58 of Head Over Spurs

She wasn’t ready to leave. She had wasted too much time fighting her own heart. And she had no plan worked out. Her role here was temporary, and she hadn’t worked through any of the issues that pushed back to the surface during that dinner at the vineyard.

“Ms. Graham? Are you still there?”

She fell back against the bed, her head hitting the duvet with a light thud, and sighed. “Yes, I’m here.”

Pleased, Michelle from Rustic and Ranch Magazine continued, “Wonderful. So, compensation and shoot list remain the same. We’d still handle all your travel as well. It looks like you were slated to fly out of the Denver airport. Is that still the plan?”

“Can I call you back to confirm before you book any new travel arrangements?” she asked, staring up at the ceiling.

“Oh. I can give you a day, I suppose. But there isn’t much time,” the liaison replied hesitantly. There was an air to her tone—as if she couldn’t imagine anything would stop Jules from agreeing. And at the start of summer, nothing would have.

“I was just about to run out the door. I’ll call you back when it’s a better time,” Jules assured her. She wouldn’t commit to anything until she talked to Riley. She couldn’t.

The moment the call ended, she glanced at the two messages gracing on the home screen. The first was Maddie saying she was on her way. The second was Riley confirming that he was indeed going to see her tonight, as apparently Cooper had suggested.

It felt as if a fist was squeezing her heart. Tears threatened to ruin her freshly applied makeup.

A week. That wasn’t enough time to move forward with Riley, to figure out what this was before she left for three months.

She was going to have to run away from himagain. Like a drawn-out version of what she did to him in Texas. And he had already told her that he was hesitant to pick things up because of that. He’d said it that very first day she arrived here. If she did it now, she worried that he wouldn’t give her a third chance.

The fist around her heart tightened further. As if prepared to squeeze until it disappeared into oblivion.

Her fingers hoovered over the message from Riley. How could she see him tonight without having a clear plan to offer up?

Another message came in from Maddie—here.

She sat up and looked out the window at the white Jeep parked below. Maddie and Cooper looked so happy, chatting away while they waited for her.

She could do it. She could fake happy tonight. After all, Jules had plenty of practice doing just that each time she returned to Denver. Then tomorrow, she would deal with everything.

One day. She could hold it together for one day.

Her eyes flitted over Riley’s name on her screen once again. His crooked grin and mischievous glint appeared in her thoughts. Her stomach swooping involuntarily.

She had spent the last few days on edge, eager to see him again. Tonight could just be about fun, they were certainly good at that.

26

RILEY

Peering in the diamond shaped window of the black door, he found a full house inside the weathered tavern. Pulling the antler handle, he crossed the threshold and scanned the scene. The dance floor was at capacity with line dancers, the house band captivating its audience. Moving past them, he headed towards the back corner of the place where a cluster of tables sat around a pool table. And at one of those tables sat Jules.

She straightened as he approached, that stunning blue flame of her gaze consuming all the oxygen in the room.

“Hi, Sundance.” Her voice was a sweet melody to his ears. Three days had been too long without hearing it.

“Hi, wild thing,” he rumbled, reaching her and taking her chin in his hand. She tilted up to face him, rolling her head into his embrace as his hand snaked up her jaw line and fingers tangled in her hair.

He leaned down, his other hand coming to rest on the table beside them. Slowly, unabashedly, his attention trailed over her. He took in those sinful red lips, the way her tight little tank topaccentuated her chest, and the short, black denim skirt that hugged her hips.

“How was camp?” she murmured, her hand coming up to close around his forearm.

“I prefer having you in the bedroll with me.”

“I prefer that too.”

Tipping his lips closer to hers, he said, “I was thinking about things, and I wanted to run something by you.” He would start with the idea for the wild horse rehab center. Then maybe they could talk about what it meant for them if she agreed to stay.

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