Yeah, I minded. But if that would rush the process, I was all for it. “That’s fine.”
“Great.” She pushed the button to start recording. “Can you tell me how you got into bull riding?”
I let out a sigh. So, we were going to start all the way back there. I’d give her a high-level background, then see if we could move on to talking about the program. I didn’t like to talk about my past.
“Did you grow up around the rodeo?” she pressed.
“Yeah, my dad rode bulls. I remember being hauled from one rodeo to the next. Grew up on the road and got started pretty young. Anyone who looked up my profile online would know that much.
“I read that a bad injury forced him to retire. Did you settle in Broken Bend after that?”
My stomach twisted at her mention of the glossed-over background I’d shared with the public. “That’s right.”
Her eyes softened. “It must have been difficult after your dad got hurt. Were you ever worried that would happen to you?”
How could I explain that getting hurt and ending my career were the furthest things from my mind at that point in my life? It wasn’t that I didn’t know the risks. Guys rotated in and out of the circuit all the time based on injuries they’d suffered and their stage of recovery. It’s just that I didn’t care. I thought I was invincible. Even after my mom left us and my dad drank himself to death, I couldn’t see any of that happening to me.
Until I got hurt.
I wasn’t about to explain to someone I barely knew what it felt like to dig myself out of the dark place I’d fallen into. “Can we talk more about the business and not my personal life?”
“Oh, um, sure. You bought the Rocking H Ranch a few years ago when you retired. Is that right?”
I nodded. The only thing I had to show for the hours I’d spent on the road, the countless number of injuries I’d sustained, and the many broken bones, was the land I’d purchased with my savings.
“What made you decide to go into breeding bulls? I did a little of research and it looks like most stock contractors have been at it for generations.”
I pictured Whitley staring at her computer while she searched the internet for information on bulls. Would she sit with one foot tucked up under her gorgeous round ass or would she surf the web while wearing something like the sheer robe she had on the other night? Dammit, I needed to chase images like that out of my head.
She was right that many of the other contractors had been in the business for generations. But an online article could only provide so much info. It was harder to describe the way bull riding got into a man’s blood. How it could drive a cowboy mad with the need to prove himself one ride at a time. And especially how even when a man knew he’d never ride again, he couldn’t seem to let go.
Instead of saying any of that, I rattled off something trite and well-practiced about how getting involved in that side of the business allowed me to maintain a connection to the sport I loved.
She seemed to buy it. At least, I thought she had. Then she took a long sip of wine and leveled a smoky-eyed stare at my lips. “Is riding bulls the only thing you’ve ever loved?”
“Excuse me?”
“Sorry, I mean, have you ever found anything else you think you might love as much as the sport of bull riding?”
My pulse had spiked at the question. Now I tried to get my heart rate to settle back down. “No, and I doubt I ever will.”
Our server swept in and set a giant platter in front of each of us. Saved by a medium-rare ribeye. Whitley ended the recording, and I focused on the steak in front of me, wondering where my appetite had gone.
8
WHITLEY
There’d been a moment earlier,right before our server interrupted the conversation, when I thought Chase was about to let me in on a bit of his past. By the time we had our food in front of us and I was eyeing the biggest steak I’d ever seen in my life, it had passed. I tried to loop the conversation back around, but he avoided my questions.
Now we were headed back to the ranch, and I didn’t have that much more information to work with than before we left. He was eager to get rid of me, that much was obvious. But being around the ranch, getting a behind-the-scenes look at how things worked, only made me want to learn more, to experience more.
I didn’t want to overstay my welcome, but I wasn’t ready to leave yet. There was something about the ranch that made me feel more at home than I ever had in the house I’d grown up in. I loved the quiet of the country, the sweet scent of honeysuckle in the air, and being able to look out in any direction and not see another soul. The peacefulness soothed something inside me, and I wasn’t ready to give it up yet. I just hadn’t figured out how to get Chase to let me stay.
We hadn’t said much of anything the whole way back. When we pulled into the gravel drive, Chase cleared his throat. “If you’ve got everything you need, I suppose you’ll be ready to go in the morning.”
I licked my lips. “Are you sure I can’t stay a little longer?”
He closed his eyes for a long beat. Then he opened them and stared right at me. The heat in the depths of his eyes sparked a low burn in my belly. “What exactly is it that you want from me, Whitley?”