He knew better.
That life was always waiting to yank the rug right out from under you, and all the better if you thought that things were going fine.
And anyone who felt secure... Well, they were living in an illusion.
He’d been disillusioned completely at seventeen.
Other than the horrendous grief and loss, it had served him well.
“Fine. If that’s what it takes. You can train me. Whatever. As long as you agree to the marriage thing.”
“Yeah. Fine with me.”
Cal took her white hat off, and set it on the counter. Her brown braid had grown scraggly around the edges, and he could see a slight dirt band around her head. She’d come straight here from riding or working. Which was just like her. She was the least feminine female of his acquaintance, and the least fussy about things like fixing up. Which made it all the more insane that he had such an attachment to her.
An attachment that he’d spent a hell of a long time playing off, pushing off.
She was a woman, and he wasn’t blind to that, so the occasional moment when she bent over and her jeans had displayed her ass and he noticed... He hadn’t thought much of it.
But when she’d been bucked off her horse a few months ago, and had lain on the ground motionless, knocked completely unconscious...
That was when he realized that all his thoughts about fate didn’t apply to everything. Not to everyone. Because when he’d seen her lying on the ground like that, he’d seen his whole life flash before his eyes like he was the one who could’ve died. He didn’t mind the occasional moment of checking out her rack while she was wearing a tight tank top.
He had minded the clutching terror in his chest when she’d been thrown from that horse. Yeah. That he’d minded a whole lot.
It was that dread. That dread that he’d only before ever experienced here. In the house at Hope Springs, in this town. Dread tied to loss. The loss of people he cared for.
It had followed him to the rodeo.
To her.
And it was why he’d left.
But she had followed him here.
And what was he going to do? Turn her down now?
He couldn’t have her going into competition unprepared. In both cases, he was her safest bet. He would die to protect her.
And for a man who prided himself on holding on to nothing all that tight... It was a strange realization.
She wiped the back of her hand over her forehead, and he thought again about the fact that she’d clearly driven here without a shower.
“You want to grab a shower?” The words felt heavy on his tongue and something in his body reacted like he’d given an invitation of some kind that he absolutely hadn’t.
God bless Cal, she didn’t notice.
“Oh,” she said, turning her head and sniffing the front of her top. “Sure. Thanks.”
That ought to cool him off. It didn’t.
“No problem.”
He did his best not to imagine her standing underneath the spray of water. Slick and naked.
He didn’t know why he was so unable to keep himself from fantasizing about her when she was around. He had all the women he could possibly want, when he wanted them. And his taste ran a lot more toward girly girls than women like Callie. But maybe that was the thing. There was something unknown about her. Untamed. She was serious and private, and he didn’t really know what she did with that part of her life.
Men.
Or whatever she was into.
She was unreadable on that score. It wasn’t anything she ever talked about.
She could talk about horses and rodeo from sunup to sundown. Had tons of great stories about growing up on the circuit. Laughed at a dirty joke as hard and loud as anyone. She was...one of the guys. Except that she never talked about conquests or anything of the like. And except he thought she was beautiful.
Yeah, one of the guys.
Except for that.
And except for the fact that when she’d fallen off her horse he’d felt like his life might be ending.
“Come on this way,” he said.
He swung by the entry and grabbed hold of her duffel bag again, slinging it up over his shoulder and leading the way down the hall. He pushed open the door he’d prepared for her to use as the guest room. He hadn’t lived here long enough to have ever used it for that purpose.
He stood there for a second, and marinated in the ridiculous lie that he’d just told. As if he’d ever been planning on using it for anyone else.
He hadn’t really been planning on using it for her. But it wasn’t like he’d moved back to Gold Valley to suddenly start throwing dinner parties and having guests stay. Hell, no.
She turned a circle in the generous space. Looked at the large bed and leaned over, pressing on the mattress with both hands. She bounced.
Well, she bounced the mattress, but it bounced her body.
Dammit.
“Well, this is great. Thank you. I mean, a hell of a lot fancier than what we usually get when were out on the road.”
“But not as fancy as your house, I bet you. Given that you’re trust fund people. Turns out.”
“I told you. It doesn’t really matter to me. It’s not about money or getting nice things or anything like that. It’s about the rodeo. It’s in my blood. My bones. So if they break, it better be because of the rodeo. That’s all. That’s it. And if I’m breathing, it better be arena dirt and horse manure.”
“That’s real romantic.”
“I don’t know what else there is.”
“You’ve got a big family,” he pointed out. “Big family house.”
“Oh. Yeah, sorry, I didn’t mean to be insensitive about your... About...”
She knew about his parents, about how he’d grown up. The bare bones of it, anyway. Less so the nitty-gritty details of the whole situation.
But no one else knew about that.
He waved a hand. His loss wasn’t anyone else’s problem. It wasn’t up to her to watch every word that came out of her mouth to avoid skating too close to his family stuff. “No worries. Do you have a Thanksgiving favorite?” he asked.
She wrinkled her nose. “I don’t know. We never really get the same thing—my dad caters it every year. We go out on Christmas Eve.”
“Well, you’re in for traditional home cooking. My cousins are pretty spectacular in the kitchen, and my cousin’s wife is really something.”
“Sounds good.”