After scribbling his name on the check, Joa showed out the server, then came back to him. “Do you want to eat in bed or sit at the table?”
“Is it too decadent to eat in bed? You made the pillows so good for me.”
“For Balta Silva? Nothing is too decadent.” Joa laughed at his own tease and brought him a covered plate. “Take this and I’ll bring the salad and bread to you. French fries in the middle?”
“I would love that. So we can share.” Balta opened the tiny bottles of ketchup. He was so addicted to the sicky sweet gunk.
“Sim.” Joa’s steak smelled of heaven on a plate, and the garlic bread was a heart attack all by itself. Amazing, how decent hotel food seemed likemannawhen hospital and fast food were the norm.
Balta grabbed a fry, pleased to find it crispy and salty. He chomped it, then they simply started to eat, sharing bites and laughing as they juggled plates, caught silverware before it hit the mostly clean sheets.
It felt a bit like riding a bull. All timing and free-hand adjustment. Everything could feel like a good ride if you let it. Balta licked sauce off his lips and pondered the cheesecake.
“I think dessert later for me,” he said.
“Sim. I ate an entire Hereford.”
“I think you might have. That was a Texas-sized steak.” They’d been to one of those places in Texas once where if you ate the whole steak you got it free. Joa had been like a python after, but he’d done it.
“I’ll work it off.” There was no worry there. None at all. Joa and his crunches were legendary.
“You will.” Balta pushed open Joa’s shirt to touch each ridge of that hard abdomen.
Joa chuckled softly, then flexed for him, pretty as a picture. They both knew how perfect those abs were. Balta wished he could have that for dessert every day.
“We’ll leave in the morning, head for Texas. You looking forward to going home?”
“Sim. So much. Riding and having good food and working on the house. I miss it when I’m gone. It will be good for you, too, to be out of the cold.”
“I know! This snow. So cold here already.” Balta thought that was just unnatural, but the ski areas were apparently very excited at the early snowfall. Skiing. Gracious.
Christmas was meant to be spent at the beach, enjoying the heat.
Balta’s eyelids began to droop, and he knew they needed to clean off the bed before he fell asleep. He patted Joa’s butt. “Let me up. I’ll help clean and brush my teeth, at least.”
“I’ll put the table out and keep the cheesecake for later.” Joa helped him sit up all the way, one hand hot on his spine.
Moaning, he pressed back against Joa’s hand for a moment, the warmth welcome, addicting.
“Mmm. I’ll rub you as soon as we’re back in bed,sim? Make it better?”
“I would love that.” In fact, he craved it with an intensity that shocked him. He’d let go of some of the worry about Sam and now he hurt as if Boogerbutt had stomped on him. That was one big bull.
“Then you will have it.” Joa kissed his cheek. “Brush your teeth and I will clear off.”
Balta crawled off the bed, gathering plates and forks to help. Then he took their kit bag to the bathroom to wash up and brush his teeth. He took two of his anti-inflammatories, knowing they would help release his shoulders and hips. In bull-riding it was not if you got hurt, it was when.
He was lucky. He had Joa there to help him.
“Bom Natal, Raul.”His youngest brother’s sweetheart, Feliciana, had grown up a lot in the last year. Their wedding wasset for August, and he would use one of his event byes from winning Rookie of the Year to come see it, he hoped.
“Obrigado,” he told her, kissing her on each cheek It was so nice to hear his native language. “How were your exams?”
She wrinkled her nose. “They were okay. I didn’t do so well on the anatomy.” Feliciana wanted to be a nurse, but she was an indifferent student. “Your mama says you won an award. Congratulations.”
“I did. Rookie of the Year.”
Hismaesniffed. “Rookie. Hah. You have been riding since you were twelve.”
