Austin (American Extreme Bull Riders Tour Book 7)
Page 18
She smiled. “The bull or the doctor?”
“Let’s go with the doctor.”
“Looks like you have a rod in your lower leg, and other than that, bruising and swelling. A minor concussion. You got off lightly from what I hear.”
Her description sounded so cut and dried. Rod in leg. Bruising. Swelling. She didn’t mention the part where he felt like he was coming apart, both physically and mentally. Why did the room smell like Kristen?
“Was there a woman here last night?” he asked Dani as she made notations on the white board hanging opposite his bed. “Long reddish hair?” Beautiful?
Dani gave him a regretful smile. “I came on shift at seven.”
“Thanks.”
Dani moved on to her next patient, leaving Austin stared up at the ceiling wondering if he was imagining things. It seemed so real, the scent, but maybe it wasn’t.
He drifted off again, only to be startled awake by a hand on his arm. His eyes jerked open and he found himself staring blankly at the man standing next to his bed who wore green scrubs and a pleasant expression.
“Expecting someone else?” the doctor asked with a half-smile before extending a hand. “Adam Medina. You may not remember me from last night. I put your leg back together.”
“Thank you.”
The doctor went on to describe the procedure and aftercare, but he didn’t answer the one question Austin wanted answered. “Do you think I’ll be able to make any more events this season?”
“Normally I’d say no. But you’re a bull rider.”
Austin gave a small choking laugh. It hurt.
“Let’s take this a day at a time for a while. See how you mend. I’ve already been in consultation with one of my colleagues in Bozeman.” He checked his clipboard, then looked back at Austin. “If you plan to return to Marietta, that is. That’s what we have as a permanent address.”
“I am.” He had nowhere else to go.
“If you’re agreeable, he’ll handle the follow-ups.”
“I don’t see myself driving to Missoula.”
“Kind of what I figured.”
Austin closed his eyes, grimaced in spite of his intention not to. There wasn’t a place on his body that didn’t ache.
“Doing okay with the pain?” the doctor asked.
“It’s an old friend.”
“This is probably like an old friend and a lot of his relatives.”
Austin smiled instead of laughing. Even that hurt. “I’ll take whatever doesn’t mess with my head.”
“I’ll see that you get something to take the edge off, but for the most part you’ll have to muscle through if we don’t mess with your head.”
He finished his exam, made a few notes and was about to leave when Austin asked, “Have you seen a woman with long reddish hair hanging around out there?”
The doctor shook his head. “Sorry. I haven’t.”
“Thank you.” Once the doctor left, Austin stared up at the ceiling. Maybe he really had imagined that Kristen was with him the night before. Maybe he’d wanted her to be with him so badly that he’d conjured her up. Had a conversation with her.
His eyebrows came together as vague images teased the edges of his memory. Something about telling her she shouldn’t be there. It seemed real…but his concussed brain could have been hallucinating. Addressing his memory of Kristen. Asking her to leave so that he could stop thinking about her. Like that was going to happen.
He was losing it.
His body was beat to shit, his career was in limbo, he had no backup plan to speak of, and he was hallucinating about the woman he’d accidentally fallen in love with. He didn’t need a pain medication that messed with his head. He was doing just fine in that regard on his own.
*
Austin was asleep when Kristen arrived back at his room. She’d checked into a motel and purposely waited until just after noon to come back to the hospital, hoping he would be lucid. During that time, she’d slept, showered and been in contact with his brother who’d called the hospital early that morning. The bull had splintered Austin’s tibia, wrenched his knee, bruised the hell out of him and given him a concussion. When he was finished explaining the injuries, Ty had assured Kristen that Austin was tough as hell. These injuries might slow him down, but they wouldn’t put him out.
Kristen knew about Austin being tough as hell, and she also knew about him being stubborn as hell. It was the stubbornness she was there to deal with today.
His eyes opened as she came into the room, slowly at first, as if he was getting his bearings, but as soon as he saw her standing in the doorway, his gaze sharpened.
“Kris.”
“Yeah.” She moved closer to the bed. “You’re looking better.”
“Better than what?”
Better than a big hole in my life. “Better than you did the last time I saw you.”
“You were here last night.” A flat statement of fact, but spoken in a way that told Kristen that he couldn’t remember what had happened while he was under the influence of the pain meds.
“I was.”
“We talked.”
“We did. You told me I shouldn’t be here.”
“I had a good point.”
She simply shook her head. “You didn’t.”
His mouth flattened briefly as he held her gaze, but Kristen remained stubbornly silent. If she didn’t say anything, he couldn’t argue.
“How did you find out about my wreck?” he finally asked.
“Your sister-in-law called me as soon as they got word.”
“Shelby.” Austin pressed his hand over his forehead as if he had a sudden headache.
“She called and I started driving.”
He dropped his hand back to the sheets, drilled her with a hard look edged with something else. “Why?”
She studied him instead of forming an immediate answer, taking in his pale, beat-up face, spiky hair, the scruff covering his cheeks and angular jaw, which gave him a sexy unkempt look, if one ignored the big abrasion and the bruise that was starting to bloom under one eye. “You know why.”
“Damn it, Kris.”
“Austin…” His name came out softly, almost as a plea.
He reached out his hand, almost as if he couldn’t help himself and she came closer, slipped her fingers into his. His grip tightened as if he was willing her to understand what he was about to say. “I have no job, Kris. I have no way to pay my bills other than tap into my savings.”
“I don’t have a job either, so I guess we have that in common.”
His gaze went dark. “What happened to Reno?”
“I turned it down.”
“You’re killing me, Kris.”
She let out a small choked laugh, feeling like she was on the edge of losing it, but needing to hold it together to get a toe hold in this battle of wills. She gained a measure of strength from the fact that he hadn’t let go of her hand.
“We have something else in common. You’re killing me, too.”
“That’s not my intention.”
“I know your intentions.” She pulled her hand out of his and took a step away from the bed, out of reach. “You know how much my life changed after we got together—for the better. I started thinking in ways that I never thought I could. I started looking at life differently. But you…” She glanced down at the tile floor as she tried to find the words to express her frustration. “You have this stubborn idea in your head about protecting others, about protecting me. But you’re not protecting me—you’re hurting me.”
“Kris—”
“It’s true, and it’s not necessary. If I was the one lying in that bed, where would you be?” When he didn’t say anything, she took a chance and answered for him. “I think you would be right where I am. I think you would miss a bull-riding event if I was in that bed and needed you.”
Austin exhaled. “Yeah, I probably would.”
“Then why is it any different for me to be here?”
“Probability. You don’t do life-threatening things on a weekly basis, so the chances of me being in your shoes are slim.”
“I can accept that you have a greater probability of risk.”
“You say that now.”
“Austin…how long are you going to be able to ride bulls?” She could see he didn’t like that question, but she forged on anyway. “I can last as long as you can. Your job is part of the package. I am not Kelly Kincaid’s wife, or any of your past girlfriends who couldn’t handle what you do.”
“You might have to last for years.” The word came out on a low, intense note, giving her a stirring of hope.
“Do you love me?” For the second time in her life she tossed the ultimate question in front of Austin. For the second time, she held her breath until she heard the answer.
“You know I do.” There was a rawness in his voice that touched something deep, deep inside of her. She knew that rawness. Knew it well.
“Then I shouldn’t have to beg to be part of your life.”
“I don’t want you to beg.” He looked startled at the thought.
“Good. Because I’m not going to.” She swallowed, considered just how close to lying she was, then lifted her hand, her thumb and forefinger separated by a tiny fraction of an inch. “But I might come close.”
Austin reached out and took her hand again, tugged her closer to the bed with a surprising show of strength. “You’ll never beg with me,” he said. “If I can give it to you, you will have it.”
Kristen’s lips parted as she stared down at the battered, sexy guy she loved so much. “I want you.”
For a long, tense moment, she thought he was going to turn her down, serve up rejection number three. Instead, he let go of her fingers and ran his hand up her arm, easing her toward him. She lost her balance as she bent over the bed, but managed to catch her weight with her free hand, before he pulled her mouth to his.
Home. She’d come home.
She let out a soft sigh and pulled back.
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Avoid my entire right side,” he muttered before meeting her lips again, kissing her as if he was trying to make up for all the hurt he’d caused. Kissing her as if he couldn’t imagine life without her.
It wasn’t until she touched his face he said, “You could have anyone, Kris. You could have a normal life.”
“I want you. Scars, abrasions, broken legs, dangerous occupation. I want it all.”
It was awkward bending over him, half on, half off the bed. She would have loved to stretch out beside him, but was scared to death of jarring his broken leg. Part of the deal she’d signed on for. She could do it.
“You know,” he said quietly as he smoothed the hair away from her face. “I really might be a loser now. I didn’t prepare for the future because I figured it would just be me. I didn’t count on you coming into my life.”
She let her head rest on the pillow next to his. “You’ll never be a loser, Austin. And we can work out the future together. It’s scary leaving the beaten path, but the rewards are many for those who dare.”
He smiled into her eyes. “Lofty thought.”
She gave a low laugh before lightly kissing his perfect lips. “We’re going to do okay, Harding. We really are.”
Epilogue
Austin’s close encounter with Slick Back ultimately caused him to miss the remainder of the season. He’d willed his leg to heal, and it did—but not fast enough. Finally he’d decided that he’d rather go into the next season at one hundred percent, than salvage what remained of the current one.
Besides that, for the first time in forever, he had something else to focus on. Something worthwhile that made him feel like coming home—and he actually had a home. He and Kristen had set up a single-wide trailer on the Forty-Six Ranch, thus making Les O’Connor a happy man because now he could work Austin whenever he felt like it.
Kristen didn’t officially live on the Forty-Six, and wouldn’t until they tied the knot in December—just before the season started—but she spent most of her time there, helping Austin with his rehab, working on her new business, and just generally making him feel grateful as hell that she’d been more stubborn than him.
Damn but he loved that woman.
His ice princess.
“Hey…” Kristen wandered into the spare bedroom they used as an office—she to run her new bookkeeping business and he to take online classes in preparation for his post bull-riding career in education. He didn’t know yet if he was going to open a bull-riding school, or follow Teller’s path and work in some kind of counseling, but he was going to get a degree. Face the future with a plan in place.
Kristen set some knitting down in front of him, pushing her hair back as she said, “Can you see the mistake?”
Austin took a long look at what was eventually going to be a sweater for Ty and Shelby’s baby and shook his head. “No.”
“Then I guess I can ignore it, rather than taking out all those rows?”
He hooked an arm around her waist and pulled her closer. “Do not pull out rows.” She leaned into him, smiled a little as she reached for the needles. He caught her hand, brought it to his lips as his hand slid down to her ass.
“I haven’t stretched today.”
“Yeah?” A slow smile curved her beautiful lips.
“Or done my exercises.”
“Hmmm.”
“Want to give me a hand with my rehabilitation?”
She leaned down to give him a long, slow kiss. “I’m always up for some rehab. That’s why I hooked up with a bull rider.”
He gave a low laugh and pulled her down onto his lap. “The bull rider appreciates the help.” His expression became more serious as he added, “With everything.”
She touched her forehead to his, the gesture feeling almost as intimate as a kiss. “Then I guess I also need to say thank you for changing my life.”
“It wasn’t easy. You fought me at every turn.”
Kristen leaned back, her sudden frown belying the amusement in her eyes. “Right. That’s exactly how I remember it, too. No stubborn man trying to save me from what I wanted more than anything.”
He gave a small shrug. “It seemed the thing to do at the time.” He smiled then and brought his hand up to stroke the side of her face. “I love you, Kris. Always have, always will.”
She smiled back in a way that made him believe that if a woman like her loved him, then all things were possible. “Likewise, Austin. I love you, too.”
The End
The American Extreme Bull Riders Tour
If you enjoyed Austin, you’ll love the rest of the American Extreme Bull Riders Tour!
Book 1: Tanner by Sarah Mayberry
Buy now!
Book 2: Chase by Barbara Dunlop
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Book 3: Casey by Kelly Hunter
Buy now!
Book 4: Cody by Megan Crane
Buy now!
Book 5: Troy by Amy Andrews
Buy now!
Book 6: Kane by Sinclair Jayne
Buy now!
Book 7: Austin by Jeannie Watt
View the entire series here!
Book 8: Gage by Katherine Garbera
Buy now!
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About the Author
Jeannie Watt is the author of over 20 contemporary romances and the recipient of the Holt Medallion Award of Merit. She lives in a small ranching community—a place where kids really do grow up to be cowboys—with her husband, dog, cat, horses and ponies. When she’s not writing
, Jeannie enjoys sewing retro fashions, running, and buying lots and lots of hay.
If you’d like to know more about Jeannie, check out her website JeannieWatt.com or visit her Facebook page.
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