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Skye stopped in her tracks when she saw TJ approaching. She looked like someone about to face the firing squad, and when she said, ‘Ah, I realize I may have made things weird back there,’ TJ put the hay net and horse feed down on the dirt by his feet.
He nodded slowly. ‘I won’t hurt you.’ He thought it imperative that he start with that. ‘You don’t have to worry about that. I might flirt with you. Because you’re beautiful. I might even try to kiss you eventually,’ he said, and laughed when her blue eyes widened. ‘Because I like kissing.’
Her cheeks flamed, and TJ saw her brain working overtime right before she frowned and said, ‘Does this actually work for you?’
‘You’d be surprised.’ He was a professional bull rider with over four million in earnings; the girls didn’t exactly play hard to get anymore.
‘Isn’t it important that you also – I don’t know – maybe like the person you’re kissing?’ she asked.
‘Actually, sometimes a little hate makes things hot as hell.’
She frowned, as if hot hate sex had never occurred to her. ‘Oh.’
TJ took the second her guard was down to ask, ‘Who are you afraid of, Skye?’
Those blue eyes flashed, but she didn’t back down. And she didn’t lie. She tensed her small body as if readying to give as good as she got. ‘Why does it matter?’
He tucked his hands into his pockets, showing her that he was harmless. ‘Will he follow you here?’
‘No.’
‘So, my parents don’t have to worry?’
Realization dawned. ‘No,’ she insisted with a quick shake of her head. ‘I would never …’ Her eyes filled. She dropped her gaze. ‘I would never endanger anyone,’ she rasped.
TJ bit off a curse. ‘Okay.’ He took a step closer, noticed that while her head popped up, she didn’t take that mirrored step back. But those lines of tension running all through her body remained. ‘I’m going to give you a hug now. Because I’m not in the habit of making strange women cry.’
She froze up like an ironing board.
TJ gently pulled her into a hug. He wrapped both arms around her, like he still did with his sister, Julia, or his mom when they cried. He exhaled deeply out of habit, something he’d learned from a lifetime of working with spooked horses, and smiled when she released her breath in one big whoosh.
Her hands gripped the sides of his shirt awkwardly, as if she knew she was supposed to do something with them but wasn’t exactly sure what. She relaxed, rested her forehead against him, and said, ‘Hey, TJ?’
‘Yeah?’
‘I’m not gonna sleep with you just because you’re being nice.’
A surprised laugh stuttered out of him. ‘I wouldn’t expect you to.’
Skye took that first step back. But when she smiled up at him, her blue eyes dancing with humour, his heart skipped a goddamn beat before picking up an adrenaline-fuelled pace that only bull riding had ever given him.
TJ felt it only fair to warn her: ‘You’re gonna sleep with me because you want to.’
She took another step back, as if she wasn’t quite sure of his sanity. But instead of fear or anxiety, now he only saw surprise – and, if he guessed correctly, curiosity. ‘Do you always proposition women you’ve known for five minutes?’
‘Nope.’ He picked up the hay and the feed, started back towards the barn, only pausing to toss, ‘Barely ever actually,’ over his shoulder.
She tried to hide it, but he caught her smile the second before she rolled her eyes and turned towards the trailer.
TJ kept on walking. But he couldn’t help but mutter, ‘Called it.’ Because he’d known she’d have a killer smile.
Chapter 4
‘You’ll have to excuse TJ,’ the older man said as Skye approached her trailer. ‘I’d say the bull riding has made him irrationally confident. But the truth is that it’s probably given him some brain damage too.’
‘Mr Jones?’ She wasn’t sure why she asked it as a question. It was obvious that this man was TJ’s father. They had the same rangy build, the same laughing green eyes and devilish sense of humour.
‘Please, call me Ryan.’ He reached out a hand, and this time, Skye returned the shake with no fear.
