by Jill Lynn
“Well. That’s just dumb.”
He laughed.
“Aren’t concussions a really big deal? Isn’t there some disease that can come from too many?”
“Sometimes. Chronic something or another. CTE for short. But that’s not what’s going on with me.”
“Good. Says who?”
He grinned, crossing his casted hand over to latch onto her arm and rub a thumb along her soft skin. “Worried about me, are you?”
An eye roll answered.
“Doc Karvina is my rodeo doc, and he’s never implied its anything close to CTE.” Just that I should stop competing before that becomes a reality for me. “And I saw Dr. Sanderson in town, and he said I’m making improvements. The spleen and ribs are pretty much good to go. The arm still needs time.” Waiting was the worst part. Instant healing would be so much more preferable. “Overall I’m a specimen of health.”
“Did either doctor say they could do anything about your sassy mouth?”
Humor surfaced. “They did not mention that.”
“Just...” Mackenzie huffed. “Take care of yourself, okay? This sport... It isn’t worth your life.”
“I will. I always do. I’m not going to do anything stupid.” Jace would wait until he healed before he got back up on a bull. Or at least until the majority of his symptoms subsided.
“Good.” All of that concern written across her pretty features almost did him in. Wasn’t he supposed to not be causing the woman pain and suffering this time around?
“You going soft on me, Wilder?”
Mackenzie studied him, those mesmerizing gray depths full of all kinds of emotion he no longer had the right to. “Maybe. And if that’s not a problem, I don’t know what is.”
Chapter Ten
Mackenzie stowed the rafting supplies in the storage area at the back of the barn. She’d just returned from taking a group, and it had been glorious to get out of the office and outside. But while her favorite activity usually energized her, today she was dog-tired.
In the last two weeks she hadn’t been off duty for more than an hour or two at a time. Even her Saturdays had been filled with Wilder Ranch work—issues, planning, the big Fourth of July celebration last week that was always a hit.
The only escape she had managed was for church on Sundays. At least she’d had that. And she’d needed it. She’d needed that break, that minute to remember that taking care of everything at the ranch wasn’t all on her shoulders.
Because it had begun to feel that way.
Why, she wasn’t quite sure. Emma was doing her job and more, even with her wedding being only ten days away. And Jace had been a huge help, too. But somehow Mackenzie still felt...alone in all of it.
The twins were finally being discharged tomorrow, so Luc’s world was going to get even busier. Emma was about to get married and become a wife and a mom all in one instant I-do moment. And once Jace healed, he’d most certainly go back to bull riding.
Mackenzie couldn’t shake the notion that she was being left behind once again. And she didn’t like feeling sorry for herself. Didn’t like this weight strangling her.
At least the campout was tonight, and many of the guests had signed up for it. Which meant that she should have a night to relax, since she wasn’t in charge of that. Sure, she’d be around in case of any emergencies, but at least the evening would allow her to chill.
After organizing, she walked over to the lodge. Jace was sitting on the front steps, almost as if he’d been waiting for someone. Her? Strange. They’d been so well behaved since the migraine encounter. No more touchy-feely. No more diving into the depths she’d promised herself she wouldn’t go near.
He hadn’t even pressured her to talk about the past. If this was the calm in the middle of the storm, Mackenzie wanted to rent a room and stay here.
“Anyone ever tell you that you work too much, Wilder?”
She dropped down beside him. “Anyone ever tell you that you stick your nose in other people’s business too much?”
His head cocked. “Nope.”
“Well, they should. If you must know, taking guests white-water rafting does not qualify as work to me.” The icy-cold splash of water misting her, the thrill of the next big drop. She loved every second of it.
“I feel the same way about the shooting range. I just got back from supervising that.” He nudged her shoulder with his. “You look like you could use a night off.”
“Maybe.”
“Definitely. So you should be thankful I finagled one for you.”
“Huh?” She glanced at him. “What do you mean?”
“I mean I talked to the boss—”
“I am the boss,” Mackenzie interrupted, pathetically relishing Jace’s chuckle.
“Don’t I know it. I meant your twin. And he’s on my side. He’s home tonight and agrees that you need to take the evening off. He said, and I quote, ‘If Mackenzie takes a night off, it will lessen my guilt for how little I’ve been here lately.’ Luc said he’d be on call, in case of emergency, for the campout tonight. And I have just the thing planned.”
If Mackenzie was getting a night off, she intended to sleep. Well, first she’d put on a movie—Pale Rider or another one of her favorite Westerns—and then she’d conk out on the couch. Who said her life wasn’t just as exciting and full of new adventures as the lives of everyone around her?
“I’m tired, Hawke.” She barely resisted closing her eyes and dropping her head onto his shoulder. And that was saying a lot, since she’d been nothing but careful around the man.
He switched to the step behind her and began rubbing her shoulder with his noncasted hand. Her neck lagged forward, her head barely hanging on. “You’re really going to put me to sleep now.”
He switched shoulders. “I know how tired you are. Maybe we should do it another night.”
Her curiosity perked. “What’s ‘it’?”
“A thank-you.”
“For what?”
“For checking on my mom all of these years.”
What would that be? “You got me boots?”
“No, ma’am.” His drawl stretched out, and his fingers continued to dig into her tired muscles. She moved his hand an inch to the left, and he blessedly continued. “Something you asked me about.”
“Hmm.” Mackenzie couldn’t think. Didn’t really want to right now. After this little massage, she’d crawl into bed and not come out until morning.
“Something involving a bull.”
Her senses woke up, and she flipped around, causing his hand to drop. “You’re going to teach me how to ride a bull?”
“Not a live one.”
“What other kind are there?”
“Mechanical.”
Mackenzie analyzed. If she said no, she wouldn’t get to try at all, because she didn’t think Jace was going to let her do the real deal. Unless...! Unless she proved that she could handle it. Then maybe she could convince him.
“A little wussy but I’ll take it.”
He laughed, and it registered in her stomach like comfort food. “Are you sure? If you’re exhausted, it’s probably not the best timing.”
“My energy has suddenly returned to me.”
“Okay. But the offer stands if you’d rather reschedule.”
Mackenzie suddenly wanted nothing more than to get out of here. “I’m game. Let’s go make me a champ.”
* * *
Jace had wanted to thank Mackenzie, not make her pass out cold on the drive to his friend’s place. Her head had fallen back against the seat during the drive, her shoulders drooping lower with each mile. She’d changed into jeans, along with boots and a vintage T-shirt that had a black-and-white cow’s mug on the front wearing a red bandanna. Equal parts cute and distracting. The woman was like a baby lulled to sleep, and now he didn�
�t have a clue what to do with her.
He’d heard of the advice not to wake a sleeping baby, but a sleeping Kenzie Rae was a tad more confusing.
Jace had parked at the end of Colby’s drive and not headed in yet, trying to figure out what to do, kicking himself for not knowing better than to have waited and taken her on another day. Kenzie had told him she was exhausted, and she hadn’t been lying.
If he turned around and drove back to Wilder Ranch, would she be upset? What was more important? Sleep? Or a night away?
The woman had been working so hard lately, and the Fourth of July holiday last week had been even busier than usual, with all the ranch had done to celebrate that. Wilder Ranch kept Mackenzie running. Jace, too. When he’d first gotten injured, he’d assumed that waiting to heal would just about kill him. But the fast pace of his temporary job had fixed that for him.
In exactly one week his cast would be coming off. After that he’d be hitting physical therapy at a run. And then he’d be back to bull riding by September for sure. Hopefully before.
He was more than ready. But a good chunk of him was going to miss Wilder Ranch. Miss the woman next to him whose heavy, openmouthed breathing was edging toward a snore.
Maybe that should turn him off, but it didn’t. He liked seeing Mackenzie relaxed. He liked it even more that it was with him.
A month ago this scenario would never have happened.
“Hawke, are you watching me sleep?” Her steel-gray eyes popped open. “Creepy!”
“More like I was watching you drool and snore.” She hadn’t done either, but her look of horror and panic made the jab worth it.
“I do not drool when I sleep.” She swiped a hand across her lips, checking, and his gaze stalled and stuck.
He’d edged closer while analyzing whether to let her sleep, and now it would only take the slightest lean to test out his theory about her kisses and whether they were as good as he remembered.
You’re thanking her, not taking advantage of her tired, vulnerable state. Jace forced his body back to the driver’s seat.
“Where are we? What are we doing sitting here?”
“We’re at my friend Colby’s. I was trying to decide what to do with you.”
“Where to hide my body?” She scanned their surroundings. “The middle of that field over there would probably work.”
He laughed. “Do you want to go home? I feel bad dragging you out here when you’re so exhausted.”
“Actually, the nap helped.” Her shoulders inched up sheepishly. “I feel rested. Sorry I conked out though.”
“The two-hour ride was pretty boring without anyone to talk to.”
“Two hours?” She sat up straighter, took in the rock formations and evergreens that lined the drive. “Where exactly did you take me? I’ve been asleep that long?”
“I’m kidding. It was only about forty-five minutes.”
“Oh.” She whacked him on the arm. “If you’re trying to thank me, you should probably tone down the jerk and up the doting, adoring admirer.”
“Noted.” If only sparring with Mackenzie was a full-time career. Jace would have job security for life. “You ready, old woman? Or do I need to get you home in time for Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy! and a TV dinner?”
She flashed a sassy smile. “I’m ready. You’re going to be sorry you ever started this with me, Hawke.”
He had no doubt she was right.
* * *
Mackenzie climbed out of the passenger seat of Jace’s old beater truck. It was funny to her that he didn’t get a newer vehicle. Based on his career successes, he should certainly have the money. But then again material things had never appealed to him. At least not to the younger version of the man.
Take today for instance—his boots and jeans were worn, his T-shirt advertising some rodeo, his baseball cap perfectly broken in. And Mackenzie was not, for one second, going to admit those things looked good on him.
At least not out loud.
Colby had a simple but well-kept spread. A ranch house and two outbuildings were on the property, some bikes and other toys outside. The front door opened, and a young man bounded in their direction. “Ace, how’s it going?”
“Ace?” Mackenzie questioned.
Humor twisted Jace’s mouth. “An announcer coined the unimaginative nickname once, and the guys never let it go. It’s stuck ever since.”
Jace and Colby shook hands and did that one-arm-man-hug thing.
“Mackenzie, this is Colby. He retired from riding a few years back and now gives private lessons to kids, along with raising a brood of his own.”
She shaded her eyes against the sun. “It’s nice to meet someone who’s part of Jace’s life since he left Westbend. I assume you have some stories you can tell me.”
Jace groaned. “I’m regretting this already and you’re not even up on the bull yet.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Colby’s full-of-mischief grin promised plenty of dirt. “That I can do. We can discuss over dinner. Les has some food in the Crock-Pot for tonight. She’s working right now.”
“Colby’s wife is a nurse,” Jace explained. “Not sure what she saw in his sorry hide.”
“Me either.” Colby chuckled and slapped Jace on the back. “Come on.” A smattering of kids flew out the front door and chased after them as they made their way to one of the outbuildings. Two blonde girls and one blond boy, and they all looked under the age of four—maybe five.
Colby and his wife had their hands full for sure.
“Whacha doing?”
Mackenzie slowed her steps to match up with the little boy who had sidled up next to her. “I’m going to ride a mechanical bull. What are you doing?”
Two fingers slid between the boy’s lips, and he spoke around them. “I’m thwee. I don’t know what I’m doing.” He took off like a shot and caught up to his sisters.
Cute kid.
Colby slid open the large doors on the gray building, and the three of them stepped inside. The mechanical bull was in the middle of a ring, with padded cushion surrounding it.
“Where’s the real bull?”
“Out in the pasture.” Colby glanced at Jace, amused. “You’ve got your hands full with this one.”
“I already told you that’s not happening, Wilder.”
“Fine.” She gave an exaggerated huff. It had been worth a try. Maybe there was a chance in the future, if she behaved herself. Or now that she’d met Colby, she could always go around Jace and ask him. “I’ll take what I can get.”
“Sure hope you know what you’re doing, Ace. She’s a firecracker. I gotta go make sure the kids haven’t gotten into any trouble in the last minute, so I’ll see you two later. Hopefully with all of your limbs intact.”
* * *
Colby’s parting statement didn’t fill Jace with confidence. He still wasn’t sure exactly what he was doing here with Mackenzie. He’d wanted to thank her for checking up on his mom over the years. With most women that would be chocolate or flowers. With Mackenzie? Something that could break her neck.
And since there was no way he was putting her on a live bull, this option was second best. If he didn’t teach her, didn’t help her, she’d go find someone else, out of spite, and then really get herself injured. At least he had that thought to comfort him.
But the woman had better not get hurt on his watch.
Mackenzie had hopped over the perimeter of the floor mats and was now touching the mechanical bull as if it were a live animal. “Let’s do this.” She climbed on and shot him a let’s-go-already look.
“You’re crazy. I’m going to teach you some things first so that you don’t get booted right off and hurt yourself.”
“Okay, but how hard can it be? Just...stay on. Right?”
His jaw unhinged, and then she pealed with laughter. Her head
tipped back, hair flowing with it. Gorgeous, horrible woman.
“That was even better than your girls-can’t-ride-bulls comment!”
Jace shook his head, lips twitching. Mackenzie was definitely a force to be reckoned with. And seeing her happy, teasing him... He liked all of that a bit too much.
“What’s first, coach?”
Jace approached. “Put this on.” He’d gotten her a glove that would fit her smaller hand so that her knuckles didn’t blister or bleed. Because knowing Mackenzie, she wouldn’t quit if things didn’t go her way the first time. “Then slide your hand under the rope, palm up. Line up your pinkie finger along the backbone.” Mackenzie did everything he said like an old pro. “Good. You want to stay up on the bull and use your legs to hold on. Make sure you stay centered.”
Mackenzie scooted toward the rope, got situated.
“Use your free hand to stay balanced, and try to keep your upper body relaxed. When the bull tips down and forward, push your knees and heels into the bull and lean back. You want to shift your weight opposite of the movement. If the bull dips back, then lean forward.” That was generalizing things, but he had to start somewhere.
“Makes sense.”
“We’re probably just going to have to try it so you can get a feel for it. Then we can work out the kinks.”
Right now Jace didn’t even exist to Mackenzie. She was in full-concentration mode, full-experience mode. It only upped her attractiveness. He’d always loved her adventurous spirit.
“I’m going to start you off slow so you can get the feel of it.”
Mackenzie raised her left arm. “Okay. I’m ready.”
Jace’s gut sank to his boots. Why had he started all of this again? After a quick prayer that the woman wouldn’t get hurt, he manned the controls. Mackenzie handled a few dips, but then a spin knocked her off. She popped up quickly and climbed back on before Jace even had the chance to check on her.
