“Do you realize you touch and kiss me a lot anymore?” she asks, sounding somewhere between annoyed and confused.
“I hadn’t really thought about it, but you can probably expect it to happen a lot more.”
“I’m not sure that’s so smart,” she argues.
“I see your ride is here Miss Smith.”
“Yeah,” Katie answers.
“Oh, gosh! You’re Jake Ryan!”
“Uh, yeah.”
“Great a buckle bunny,” Katie murmurs under her breath. My lips twitch with the need to laugh, but instead I slide my fingers against the back of her neck, sliding them against her warm skin.
“You are amazing. My girlfriends and I watched you win the championship in Vegas. You rode that bull… crap what was its name.
“The Undertaker,” I respond.
“Yeah! You rode the hell out of that bull.”
“I tried.”
The Undertaker is one of the hardest bulls to ride I’d ever been on. He’s also the one who yanked my arm out of socket. I held on until the buzzer went off, but it was the longest eight seconds of my life. Hell, I’m prouder that I’m one of only two riders to stay on that son of a bitch that season than I am of my buckle.
“Are you going to be competing next year? I read somewhere there are rumors you’re retiring.”
“I’m not sure what I’m doing next, but I’ll stay active in the sport somehow. Once a cowboy always a cowboy,” I tell her tipping my hat.
“Yay. That’s a win for your fans for sure. I’m definitely a lucky girl. I get to escort you out of hospital.”
“Yay,” Katie responds, her voice full of sarcasm. My lips twitch. I could be fooling myself, but she sounds jealous. I can definitely work with that. “Actually, I think you’re supposed to escort me, but I’ve already signed the discharge papers and I’m in the wheelchair my floor nurse had home health send up.”
“But—”
“That means I don’t really need you. You can go pay attention to your other patients and leave me in the capable hands of my son’s father.”
I blink.Well damn…
“You have to be escorted out by a nurse,” the girl points out.
Katie looks around. “Carla, can you follow us down?” she asks the older nurse who has been Katie’s day nurse almost every day.”
“This is my job,” the girl argues.
“It’s okay, Linda. Your patient in two-twenty is looking for you. I’ll escort Miss Smith.”
“But…I…” Linda stutters. When no one responds she huffs and walks off.
“Thanks, Carla. If she kept fan-girling Jake, I was pretty sure I was going to hurl,” Katie says, and I laugh.
“She wasn’t that bad,” I laugh.
“Oh please, I was waiting for her to strip down and ask you to sign her ass.”
“Mostly they ask you to sign their boobs, honey,” I supply helpfully. Carla’s laughter rings out while Katie gives me a dirty look. I lean down so I can whisper in her ear so that only she can hear me. “Don’t worry. I’ll sign your body anywhere you want. All you have to do is ask.”
“Don’t make me gag,” she snaps making Carla laugh louder.