His Last Rodeo

by Claire McEwen

  She was right and he stood, reluctantly. “Loomis is covering the bar. But yeah, we should go in.”

  They followed the path around the building. “Thanks for the pep talk, Tyler,” she said when they got to the front door.

  “I hope it helped,” he said, not wanting to go in. “Tomorrow morning? Bright and early?”

  “I’ll think about it.” She smiled. “It’s a little hard to picture myself voluntarily climbing a cliff.”

  He let her go inside first, while he hesitated, looking up at the sky above the Dusty Saddle. He wasn’t much of a spiritual guy, but he sent a little prayer up to the star-strewn universe. That she’d find her way. That she’d see all that she was worth. Because he could see it. Way too clearly for his own damn good.

  CHAPTER NINE

  KIT CLUTCHED HER coffee cup and huddled in Ethan’s SUV, listening to Lila explain climbing holds and foot positions. How could her friend be so chatty? They’d both worked last night. Why was Lila bursting with energy while Kit was still trying to figure out how to be awake?

  Oh, yeah, Lila was in love. Kit was pretty sure Lila had never set foot on a boulder before she’d met Ethan. Now she climbed with him every chance she got.

  And now Kit had been talked into it. Also by a guy. That thought rankled. She wished she’d agreed to go one of the many times that Lila invited her along, rather than waiting until Tyler talked her into it.

  She’d lived way too much of her life conforming to what guys wanted. Waiting for them to suggest something fun. Still, it was nice of Tyler to ask. To try to help her. And he’d had a good point with the whole adrenaline rush idea. If Arch had provided her that rush so often when she was young, maybe she’d never learned how to get it for herself.

  She yawned and glanced at Tyler, but he had his head tipped back on the seat, cowboy hat covering his face. He was wearing long cargo shorts and hiking boots, and she took the opportunity to get used to him looking like any other outdoorsy guy. No Wranglers, no cowboy boots. Just Tyler.

  Pushing up his hat he said, “What, you don’t like my shorts?”

  She tried to play it cool. “Just wondering how you can be awake without coffee.”

  “Don’t like the stuff. Though I hear it makes you smarter. I could use that.” He winked at her and she laughed, startled that he could make light of his reading troubles. Just one more thing she liked about him.

  Ethan bumped them a few miles down a dirt road that snaked through a steep valley. He pulled over at the foot of a granite cliff and got out. “This is it. You guys ready?”

  Kit looked at the rocks rising so far they blocked out the sky. “We’re climbing that?”

  “Not the whole thing. There’s a ledge not too far up. You guys will climb up to that and rappel down.” Ethan pulled open the tailgate and Tyler joined him to haul out duffel bags stuffed with ropes, harnesses and bits of metal.

  Kit looked at Lila. “You like this?”

  Lila grinned. “Trust me. You’ll love it. And Ethan’s a great teacher.”

  Kit sat on a rock, watching as Ethan got the ropes set up, paying close attention when Lila pulled on her harness and slid her feet into climbing shoes. She’d be doing this herself in an hour or so, and she wanted to learn everything she could beforehand.

  Lila scaled the rock face in almost no time and sat easily on the top of the ledge. She waved, making Kit’s heart thud at how far away from the ground Lila looked. Tyler had been standing with Ethan, but now he walked over to Kit. “Are we crazy to do this?” he asked, keeping his voice quiet.

  “You rode bulls. This should be a piece of cake.”

  Tyler peered at Lila, still perched on the ledge, still waving happily at them. “Bulls aren’t so high off the ground.”

  “You can do it,” Kit told him, having no doubt that he would. The guy was all muscle. “And because you’re my boss, I’ll let you go first.”

  He smiled that slow, wide smile that had sold so many Wranglers. “Mighty generous of you, Kit. Mighty generous.”

  When he went to stand by Ethan she followed, wanting to listen to the instructions one more time. Hoping that if she heard them enough times on solid ground, she’d be better able to follow them on the rock. Lila arrived, jubilant after her climb, and pointed out various invisible-to-Kit handholds that she’d been able to use at the bottom of the cliff.

  Then Tyler was roped in, ready to start.

  “On belay,” he said, using the words Ethan had taught them.

  “Belay on,” came Ethan’s deep voice in response as he tightened the rope so there was no slack.

  “Climbing,” Tyler said, groping for a handhold on the granite.

  “Climb on,” Ethan said.

  “As if it’s that easy,” Tyler muttered.

  “Your shoes will stick to really small footholds if you put your weight on them. Trust your feet.”

  “Famous last words,” Tyler said, but he put his foot on a small outcropping and slipped his fingers into the crack Lila pointed out and there he was, standing on the cliff face. After that, he seemed to get the hang of it pretty quickly, inching up a lot more slowly than Lila had, but steadily, with no slips or missteps. Then he was on the ledge, a huge grin on his face, a fist pumping the air in triumph.

  By the time he’d rappelled down, Kit’s heart hammered in her ears. Tyler was a professional athlete. Lila was really athletic and had climbing experience. Ethan was ex-army. They were naturally good at this.

  She, on the other hand, was a bartender. A sporadic 5K jogger. A dabbler in martial arts and senior-citizen pole dancing. She was about to make a fool of herself.

  She tried to focus on everything Lila said as she helped buckle Kit into her harness. Kit slid on the stiff climbing shoes. She went through the checklist with Ethan that finished with the words “climb on.”

  Then it was just her and the rock, which had grown several stories in the past thirty seconds, the ledge looking impossibly high, with no hand-or footholds in sight.

  Tyler stood beside her. “You’ve got this,” he told her quietly.

  “Trust your feet, Kit,” Ethan intoned.

  “Oh my gosh, if he says that one more time...” Kit whispered, and Tyler grinned. Kit slid her fingers into the granite crack, surprised to realize that she could grip it, and it felt solid. “Bye-bye manicure.”

  Tyler shook his head as if in disbelief. “That’s what you’re worried about?”

  “Well, that and breaking my neck.” She put her foot onto the outcropping and stood.

  And slipped, landing with a jarring thud on the ground, staggering to keep her balance, grateful that Tyler gripped her arm before she went over, her heart careering in her chest, her breath coming in gasps, her pride hanging in tatters.

  “It’s okay, Kit.” Ethan had the perfect climbing instructor voice, more solid than granite. “Just put your entire focus on the rock.”

  “And don’t forget,” Tyler said, in his best Ethan imitation. “Trust your feet.”

  “Thanks for those words of wisdom.”

  “You can do it,” he said. “I’ll give you some space.”

  He walked away and it felt a little lonely without him. Because now it was just her versus this very large rock.

  “Right.” Kit wiped sweaty palms on her black leggings. She could do this. She wanted adventure, she wanted to push herself to try new things. To feel alive.

  Well, she felt alive all right. The nerve-charged, hyperalert type of alive that people probably felt right before they took the risk that finally killed them.

  Lila wandered up and took her gently by the elbow. “You’re on belay. You won’t fall any farther than you just did.”

  “My mind wants to do this. But my feet won’t get moving.”

  “You are fo
rgetting that you are my kick-ass friend. Who was the star of the seniors’ center pole-dancing class?”

  Kit giggled. “Not me.”

  “Yes, you,” Lila said firmly. “And who has read every self-help book in the Benson library?”

  “That would be me,” Kit said, laughing.

  “Who is the most gorgeous, popular bartender at the Dusty Saddle?”

  “Well, that would be Tyler, nowadays.”

  “True,” Lila agreed. “He has perhaps stolen that title from you. But what I’m trying to say is that you can do this. No problem. Just ignore the rest of us and focus on kicking this cliff’s butt.”

  “Kick cliff butt.” Kit pulled her friend in for a hug. “Best pep talk ever. Okay. I’m doing this.” She walked to the base of the cliff and called to Ethan, “Climbing.”

  “Climb on,” Ethan said. “Now, put the ball of your foot on that bump in the rock and stand right on it. Don’t hesitate. Trust your feet.”

  There was a life lesson there. She was sure of it. Putting her foot on the outcrop, her fingers in that manicure-annihilating crack, was one of the harder things Kit had ever done. She stared at the rock and tried to block out Tyler and Lila and the fact that they’d both done well and she’d fallen on her first step. She shouldn’t compare herself. All that mattered was this rock. And Ethan, since he’d be the one to catch her fall.

  She wriggled her foot in to make sure the ball of her foot was right over the bump. Then she tightened the grip with her fingers and stood. And stayed, with her heart thudding in her ears.

  “Now look for your next hold,” Ethan said quietly.

  She scanned the rock and saw a small bump, about knee-height above her free leg. A foothold. Glancing up, she saw a tiny ledge. She inched her right hand up the rock and grabbed on.

  “When you’re ready,” Ethan coached, “just go for it.”

  She’d assumed rock climbing would be difficult. But she wasn’t expecting this. The shaking in her standing leg as her muscles grew weary. The distance between her and the ground, only a few feet but looking so much more vast. The mind-whirling knowledge that she was supposed to scale this cliff, gripping onto tiny bumps and cracks. She was terrified.

  “Keep breathing. One step at a time,” Ethan reminded her.

  She wanted to tell him she was done. That this wasn’t her thing—too much could go wrong.

  “This is your eight seconds, Kit.”

  Tyler. Who knew a little about what she was running from, and what she was moving toward. About how much she wanted to learn to live. He was right. This was her eight seconds. Except it was taking her a whole lot longer than eight seconds to climb this rock.

  She brought her focus to the hold in front of her, narrowing her mind and body to this next step. A step only she could take, for herself. She went for it, putting all her weight on that new foothold, grasping the ledge in her damp fingers. Then she was climbing. Really climbing. Scanning the rock for cracks and bumps she could use to lever herself up the cliff, her whole world made up of those hand-and footholds, and the harshness of her breathing as she pushed herself harder and higher than she’d ever imagined going.

  Kit was surprised when the ledge she reached for was the ledge that marked the end of the climb. She pushed up on it, flopped down on her stomach and raised a fist in exhausted triumph. Closed her eyes to absorb the whoops and cheers from her friends below.

  Then she was rappelling down, which was so much easier than going up. When her feet hit the ground Lila enveloped her in a warm hug and Ethan high-fived her, and then Tyler held out his arms. Kit ran to him, fueled by gratitude and triumph, and when she jumped, he caught her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, laughing while he spun her around once in triumph. He slowed, then stopped, and the spinning world narrowed to the deep green intensity of his eyes, the feel of him under her, the way he’d made her feel with every conversation, every shared confidence, every silly joke.

  He made her feel too much. She slid off him slowly.

  “You were awesome up there,” he said quietly, letting her step away.

  “Thanks for your help.” She stared at him, stunned by how much she wanted to kiss him. “I’ll go help Lila clean up.”

  “Yeah me, too.” He seemed as dazed as she was. “I’ll help Ethan.”

  As Kit wrapped ropes under Lila’s watchful eye, she glanced at the cliff again. Climbing that rock had been a risk, but a manageable one, with ropes to catch her. Acting on these unexpected feelings for Tyler would be far riskier. No matter how drawn to him she was, she had to remember all that could go wrong. And keep in mind that breaking old patterns meant resisting the kind of risk he offered. The kind that could blow your whole world apart if something went wrong.

  * * *

  TYLER SURVEYED HIS STAFF, clustered around him at the old picnic table behind the bar. They’d shown up on a Monday for early-morning champagne and a chance to cheer on the excavator as it started digging the foundation for the new additions.

  He’d come a long way from that first staff meeting where they’d looked bored and barely met his gaze. He knew them now. He’d worked hard among them and he sensed he’d earned at least some of their respect. In fact they’d asked him if they could all kick off the construction together.

  And another thing was different. Kit. At that first meeting she’d been furious. Now she was his closest ally, and maybe something a whole lot more. He didn’t know what to call it.

  Aaron waved from the seat of the excavator. “Hey, Tyler. If you want this place ready by the fall, we have to get busy.”

  Tyler nodded. He shook the champagne bottle a couple times, popped the cork and let the bubbles burst out. “To all of you. You’ve been a part of the Dusty Saddle for a long time. It’s a great business. Thank you for staying on board as we take it to the next level.”

  “What are you going to call it?” Loomis asked.

  Tyler looked at Kit and caught the smile blooming on her face. “Got any new ideas?” he asked her.

  She glanced at the blueprints laminated in plastic and nailed to the back wall of the bar. “Tyler’s Money Pit?” she suggested.

  Everyone burst out laughing. “A pretty accurate description,” he admitted. He poured the champagne into the waiting glasses and Kit opened a second bottle so even the crew members could have a taste. They passed the glasses around. “To the Dusty Saddle,” Tyler said. “Also known as my money pit.”

  Glasses clinked and voices rose in excited conversation. Aaron fired up the excavator and scooped up a huge pile of dirt and everyone cheered. Then they headed for the table of food Kit had set out, chatting and laughing as they helped themselves to muffins and fruit.

  Kit stepped away from the crowd to glance at the blueprints, and Tyler followed. “We’d never have gotten this far without you.”

  She glanced at him from under her thick black lashes. “You’d be okay.”

  “Nah. Not even close.” He clinked his glass softly to hers. “To my partner in all of this. I’m so glad to have you by my side.”

  She shot him her teasing smile. “To my partner, who’s really my boss. But he has this strange need to pretend we’re in an equal relationship.”

  “I may have the bucks, but you have the brains.”

  Their gazes met for a moment and held. He could stay there, looking into the deep brown darkness of her irises, for a long, long time. He wanted to hold her like he had when they climbed yesterday, but that moment had passed. So when she took a sip, he did the same. She elbowed him and her eyes narrowed and her mouth widened in a sassy smile, the way it always did right before she gave him a hard time. “I really think you should call it the Money Pit. Seriously.”

  “Hopefully, with you by my side, we can find a way to avoid earning that name. Can I sh
ow you my budget for the first phase of construction? And you can tell me if it makes any sense?”

  He couldn’t wait to show her. He’d worked on it all last week, with some help from Sheila, which is what he now called his tutor, Mrs. Lopez. She made time for him twice a week and assigned him homework in between. She’d taught him some eye exercises. They made him look ridiculous when he did them in the mirror, but they seemed to be keeping lines on the page from turning into writhing snakes.

  Kit nodded and followed him inside. They sat in the office to go over the spreadsheet, and they were so close he wondered if he was wise to expand this room after all. Because once he did, they wouldn’t need to sit like this. Knee to knee, shoulder to shoulder, with her heat warming his edges and her scent wafting like ether in his brain.

  * * *

  THE BUDGET LOOKED good to Kit, though the figures were so enormous it made her head swim. “It balances,” she assured Tyler, setting down the calculator. “The foundation, the framing, the pipes, the walls and the roof. It all balances.”

  “It’s a pretty simple budget right now.” He reached for the papers and slipped them into their folder. “I still have to make one for the interior construction, the finishes, the fixtures. It’s a little overwhelming to think about.”

  “You’ll figure it out. It seems like you did really well with this one.” She wondered how he’d done it when he had so much trouble with numbers. But he hadn’t mentioned his problems for a while and it didn’t seem right to make him talk about it. So she switched to teasing him.

  “How did you get so rich, anyway? Rodeo prize money isn’t that great.”

  “That’s what the underwear commercials were for. The more skin I showed, the more zeroes my agent negotiated onto my contract.”

  She burst out laughing—totally disarmed by his honesty. “So you’re spending underwear money on this place.” Delight at this juicy piece of information had her mind going. “This gives me ideas for new names. How about Tyler’s Skivvies? Or Tighty-Whitie’s?”