Page 67 of Catch Me, Cowboy
“How so?”
He turned his head to frown at her. “Do you know easily we could havenotbeen here right now?”
“So this is where you want to be?”
“I had a stellar last ride and that was a gift. I’m good.” He pulled in a breath that swelled his chest and slowly exhaled as he stared out over the pasture where the horses were grazing. “But even if I had left, I would have found my way back to you. Then I would have hammered at your defenses until you let me back into your life.”
“I have pretty good defenses.”
He gave a small snort. “No kidding.” He was quiet for a moment. “I think maybe things had to play out this way.”
Shelby pulled away from him, so their shoulders no longer touched. “In some ways, I love watching you ride.”
He frowned. “I thought it scared you.”
“It does. But… there’s another aspect to it—something about watching you do something that you so clearly love, and that you’re so damned good at. It’s… I don’t know… thrilling, maybe?”
He smiled a little. “I thrill you?”
She smiled back, a wry curve of her lips. “In many ways.”
He breathed deeply and stared back out over the pastures, still smiling a little.
“I want you to go back out on the road.” His gaze jerked back to hers, before he could speak, she said, “Your dad was right. If you quit before you’re finished, the unanswered question will always be there… could you have done it again?”
“Maybe I don’t need an answer.”
“Maybe I do.” She put her hand on his leg. “I need you to do this… and I need to be there for it.”
“You want to go with me?”
“I need to face my fears. It’s part of life, facing fears. I’d never feel right dodging this.” Her expression grew fierce. “I can do this. What is it? Eight seconds once a week? And think of all the time we’d have in between those eight-second rides.”
“I… uh…”
Shelby took his face in her hands. “I thought about this last night. For a long time. I can be done with my contracts in less than three weeks. It’s getting close to the time of year when I don’t take on any more horses. I can get Cass and Jess to keep an eye on Gramps… Jess has been looking for another place to live anyway.”
“Maybe he’d like Hawksley’s trailer.”
She smiled innocently. “I thought we could take it with us. Live in it.”
“Oh, hell no. That thing will rip to pieces if it traveled too fast and far… which is exactly what we will be doing.” He slid his hand around the back of her neck, pulling her closer. “I thought last night, when you talked about me doing the documentary, you were doing the brave thing. You know, tossing it out there as a kind of peace offering.”
“No. You were right about the need to understand one another so that we can build together. I understand that you would stay, but I understand that you need to ride, too. We can’t pass up an opportunity like this, Ty.” She leaned forward to first kiss him, then nip his lower lip. “Let’s go make a documentary.”
His hand tightened at the back of her neck. She was sure about her decision. He knew her well enough to be certain of that. “We can bail at any time. It’ll make Buck’s movie all the more dramatic.”
She brought her hands up to his shoulders and gave him a small shake. “We’re not bailing.”
The phone rang in the house and Shelby got to her feet, hurrying into the house to answer it. Ty waited where he was, sorting through her amazing offer. When she came back, she was smiling.
“Hospital?” he asked.
“Gramps himself. He’d like to get out of that ‘hell hole’ ASAP.”
“And the hospital? How do they feel about it?”
“According to Gramps, he can be released at noon, but he has appointments for testing with Dr. Murphy early this week.”
