Wishing on a Rodeo Moon (Women of Character) (6 page)

Jake
managed to find a fairly clear area for them to walk through. Worried about her
falling, he deliberately shortened his pace, holding her arm the entire time.
Strangely, she didn't protest, and he began to feel some of the tension ease
from his body.

Partway
to the house he heard Tye give a small laugh. He looked at her questioningly,
seeing the light in her eyes, the relaxed curve of her lush lips. He smothered
a groan, then looked fixedly ahead. How different she looked from last night,
when everything had seemed to weigh her down.

"Well,
Jake, it’s understandable why Ben has kept in touch with you all these
years."

Surprised,
Jake came to a standstill. "Why is that?"

"Ben's
a pretty smart guy. It's because you're such a good friend, and friends like
you are hard to find. I’m glad you’re his friend." To Jake's
ears her voice sounded almost wistful. In the next moment, the thought was
banished when she gave him a brilliant, almost carefree smile. "Do you
think we could manage to be friends?"

"Friends?"
Jake felt a rush of anger. What the hell was she asking? How could they be
friends? He didn’t want to be her friend. He wanted her to get well and
leave, so he’d never have to think about her again. He wouldn’t
think of her as a friend. Friends didn’t go away, they kept in touch. If
she didn’t leave, all the old emotion might surface and he’d make a
fool of himself again. He knew the pain of trying to hold on to a woman who
wanted to let go.

"I
think we can do it, Jake. It’s been a long time since we were anything to
each other."

Tye’s
gaze was turned away from him, and Jake wasn’t sure if that was
deliberate or not. He swallowed hard, stopping the protest about to jerk from
his throat.

"You’re
right, ten years is a helluva long time," he said. He told himself
he’d better remember that. She had her life and he was working on his.

"I
think we should try for friendship the short time I’ll be here. It might
be easier all around." Tentatively, it seemed, Tye held out a slim hand to
him.

Jake
looked down at her, then let his gaze drift over her palm, the skin pale and
smooth, with hardly a trace of a callus. His thoughts flashed back to the night
of the accident. He recalled taking her hand then, remembered, too, the slight
calluses against his own larger palm. Drawing a deep, fortifying breath, he slowly
grasped her hand in his.

Tye
shook his hand firmly. "I won't break, Jake. If we're going to be friends,
I want you to remember that. We’re both adults now. I think we can work
through the past and leave it where it belongs."

She
looked too damned fragile to him, but Jake merely nodded and said,
"Sure," with a smile. He knew he’d ruin this tentative overture
if he did what he wanted to do ― step forward and plant a kiss on her
luscious mouth, lose himself in her scent and warmth, like old times.
"Friends," he heard himself say.

Jake
liked the feel of her hand in his. Was he such a glutton for punishment that
any contact was better than none? Dangerous road there! Back up, he warned
himself.

"I
think I'd enjoy that, too," she murmured. They reached the house and
stopped beside his truck. As Jake opened the door and began to climb inside,
Tye said almost musingly, "You didn't fool me, you know."

Warily,
he swung back to look at her. "About what?"

"I
knew you were keeping an eye on me." Before he could think up a plausible
protest, she went on. "While it's kind of nice to know you were looking
out for me, it's not necessary." Gently but firmly, Tye continued,
"I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself. Forget any notions about
taking me under your wing. I know you’re used to looking out for your
family, but I don't need that." She added emphatically, "What I need
now is a friend."

For the
second time that morning Jake felt heat creep up his neck. Taking the bull by
the horns, he said, "You keep using the word
friend
.
Do you really think it’s possible for us to be friends at this late
stage?"

Tye
avoided his gaze, as if she, too, was revisiting past memories and what they
had meant to each other. "I've been thinking about this arrangement.
You've got a beautiful place and it's close to town. I'd be crazy to think I
could do better." She turned her head and finally met his eyes. "But
it creates problems if you feel like you have to watch over me."

Jake
nodded, trying to soothe the deep ache inside him. He wanted Tye to get well,
but he began to wonder if he could keep his emotions in check. Why had these
feelings resurfaced after so long? He should be reassured that she wanted
nothing more than friendship. In a few days or weeks or months she’d be
gone, and he could pick up the threads of his life. He’d been getting
along fine, hadn’t he? He hadn’t needed her in all these years.

"Sorry,
Tye, it's merely habit that made me follow you. I would have done the same for
any of my sisters. You’re right, we can be friends. Old history is old
history and we’ve both moved on."

"Do
you still look out for your family?"

"Of
course, but my sisters are settled now, with families of their own."

"All
except you. You’re pretty special, Jake." Tye looked away from him,
but Jake thought he saw a flash of pain or perhaps regret. "I’ve
never taken care of anyone in my life, except for myself, and sometimes I
wasn’t very good at that." She threw her head up almost defiantly
and flashed him a smile. "Makes me seem pretty self-absorbed,
doesn’t it?"

Jake had
a flashback to that night long ago when she’d walked away from him.
He’d seen the same pain in her eyes then, but it hadn’t stopped her
from pursuing the rodeo, and he had let her go.

"How
is your little sister Amy these days?" Tye asked, when he didn’t
reply to her comment. "Last time I saw her she was about eight."

"Amy
moved out a few weeks ago. She’s sharing an apartment with some friends
in the city."

Tye
jerked her head up and her eyes widened as if a thought suddenly occurred to
her. "And here I am, intruding on your life, when you’ve finally got
your house to yourself."

"You've
been through a bad time, Tye. You need some space to pull your life back
together."

"Yeah,
I guess." Jake heard the uncertainty in her voice. As she dipped her head,
her hair fell forward. Jake stuffed his fists in his pockets, squashing the
urge to push back the locks hiding her eyes.

He
couldn’t touch her. They were going to be friends. There was room for
nothing more, even though his traitorous heart wanted more. He wouldn’t
allow this to happen again. Jake forced himself to mentally step back and take
a deep breath before he did something stupid, like start wanting Tye again, and
acting on it.

Later
that afternoon Tye sat on the edge of a lounge chair beside the swimming pool.
As she stared at the crystal clear depths she admitted to herself that she was
a coward. She didn't dare hop into the pool with Jake somewhere close by.

If she
wanted to swim she would have to take off the leg. She didn’t want to do
that with anyone around, especially Jake. He was a man, a good-looking man, and
that seemed to matter in her mind. He had known her when she was young and
whole. She'd be virtually trapped in the pool if he came out. Of course, she
could hop on one leg and escape; she had become pretty proficient at that
during therapy. But she wasn’t comfortable doing that in front of an
audience.

Tye
pushed her dark glasses up on her nose and leaned back in the lounge chair. She
was a fraud. She had told Jake she wanted to be friends. It was a ploy to
protect herself, to hide. She was drawn to him and kept thinking about him, as
if the time apart had never been.

She had
to snap out of the damnable lethargy that sapped her. She had to find another
place to live. It felt like torture to be this close to Jake. God! She still
loved him, and he felt nothing for her ― nothing more than concern for a
fellow human being. He had made that so clear with his friendly indifference.

If she
allowed herself to get closer, to actually give in to the urge to kiss Jake,
which was the way her thoughts were wandering, she’d lose her
perspective. She was here to recover, to pick up the pieces of her life, not
get involved. She couldn’t afford any more mistakes. They just kept
piling up.

Tye
remembered Jake from way back when they were kids. He had been Ben's childhood
friend. He had never called her a tomboy, like her brother's other friends had,
but he’d told her once she was spoiled. For a brief moment Tye wondered
what might have happened if she hadn’t left. Would she and Jake have a
family by now? For the first time in her life, Tye began to question the
reasons she had left Jake. It had been a highly emotional time, too much for a
seventeen-year-old to handle. Tye clenched her fists. She had run away all
those years ago. She, who declared she never ran from anything.

With an
exasperated sigh, she moved to stand beside the deck rail. Looking out over the
flats, she watched the sun drop in the sky. Her first day at the ranch was
almost over. Tye liked it here. That was strange, because she had never taken
to solitude and tranquility. If the rodeo crowd could see her they would think
she had gone loco. Who would believe Tye Jenkins craved quiet surroundings?

Tye
shook back her hair. There was no way her friends were going to see her until
she could walk perfectly, with no hitch, no hesitation.

"Hey,
Tye, are you thinking about going for a swim?"

Drawing
a startled breath, Tye swung her head around. Jake stood on the opposite side
of the pool, clad only in a pair of tight, faded jeans, his tanned wide
shoulders sleekly muscled and brown. Tye sucked in a deep breath, her gaze
tracing over him. This was what he hid under those business suits! The man looked
amazing. The jeans hugged long legs and fit perfectly over every bit of him.
Tye checked herself abruptly. To see him nearly naked like this just about did
her in.

"I-I
thought you might have gone out," she muttered, tearing her eyes from his pectorals.
Her brain seemed locked on his body. His size had always made her feel small
and safe.

"I
decided to stay in tonight. How about you, Tye? Do you have any plans?"

"No,
I plan to forgo the nightlife for a while." She threw him a daring smile.
"I’m sure the urge will come back in time. I have a reputation to
uphold, you know ― number one party girl." The words tasted bitter.
Tye shrugged at her own irreverence.

Without
her conscious permission, her gaze moved again over Jake. His chest hair was as
dark as his head; at nineteen, he’d had only a smattering of it. The
flesh covering his chest was more muscled now, yet Tye could see the hollow
beneath each rib.

She
dropped her eyes to his bare feet. Swallowing past a tight lump in her throat,
she watched him throw his towel onto a bench and unbutton his pants. Damn, the
man's body was to die for. Tye wondered if he planned on skinny-dipping with
her there. The thought made her mouth go dry, then she rejected the idea. Not
Jake.

He began
to pull his pants down.

"Whoa,
Jake, what are you doing ― that is, I don't think I've ever seen you
without your suit," she murmured weakly.

He
looked up, his gaze level. "I intend to cool off. Do you want to join
me?"

Cool
off! Tye felt as if the heat of the day had caught up with her and pooled in
her stomach. Didn’t he know his jeans were unsnapped and just kind of
hanging open? She sure as heck did. She wished she wasn’t quite so
conscious of it.

In
response to his invitation she shook her head. One look at his perfectly
proportioned body and there was no way she’d strip down and let him see
the stub that was her leg.

Tye’s
mood suddenly went sour. A dry sob nearly choked her. Damn the wasted years!
She cleared her throat and reached down to pick up her book. "Thanks, but
I think I'll go inside. I've got some things to take care of."

Biting
her lips hard, Tye maneuvered her way around the pool, cursing her awkward
steps. She had to escape into her apartment. The door was located right behind
Jake. She moved too fast and the leather sole of one boot slipped off the pool
edge. Tye fell toward the water. A startled yelp left her lips, then she
quickly shut her mouth as water closed over her head. Automatically, she
flailed her arms and pulled herself upward.

As Tye
broke the surface she felt herself being hauled against a hard chest, with arms
banding around her back. She sputtered and cursed, her hair over her eyes and
in her mouth.

"Tye,
are you okay?" Jake asked with concern.

Pushing
back the clinging strands of hair back, she met him eye-to-eye. "What a
stupid thing to do," she hissed in disgust. "My foot slipped."

He shook
his head, a smile curving the lips so close to hers. "Glad you decided to
join me, after all," he said softly, his eyes full of some cryptic
emotion. Meeting his gaze Tye felt her insides twist. Slowly, so slowly that
she could have pulled back, Jake’s mouth moved to touch hers. His tongue
flicked out and traced her upper lip, then her lower lip. He lifted his head,
his gaze locking with hers. Frozen, Tye stared at him. Confusion held her
speechless. Desire made her wish he would do that again.

"You
taste like chlorine," he murmured.

Tye felt
herself softening under the influence of that masculine smile, the genuine
enjoyment she read there. Her insides were all aflutter and felt like mush. The
years melted away. She moved her legs to tread water and then frowned. Ten
years.

"This
isn’t a good idea. I have to get out." She pushed away from him.