Page 85 of Reckless Skye
‘If something happens,’ TJ cut Andrea off, ‘something that may or may not be completely legal, do you want to be associated with it?’
‘Do you?’ Stevie demanded.
‘There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for Skye,’ TJ replied honestly.
‘Why? She hates you.’
Stevie’s observation was a knife to the heart. But TJ just shrugged. ‘I did what I thought was best for Skye based on the information I had at the time. She can hate me, but I know, absolutely, that I did the right thing. And it wasn’t easy. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.’
TJ tipped his hat and pushed to his feet slowly. ‘Stay close to her. Once you fly out, I’ll take over.’
‘Skye will have a few things to say to that,’ Andrea predicted.
TJ just sighed. ‘Oh yeah. I bet.’
Chapter 26
Because Skye knew it would be fun for Andrea and Stevie, she willingly attended the rodeo performance that night, even though she knew TJ would be working it. And if there was, maybe, a tiny part of her that wanted him to see that she was unaffected by him, Skye didn’t overthink it.
From the stands, now packed full of spectators, she watched as TJ and Kai skilfully navigated the arena. They stood on alert as each bronc and rider surged out of the chute, but the moment the rider was thrown or the buzzer sounded, signalling he’d made eight seconds, TJ and the other pickup man fluidly rode in.
They aligned themselves on either side of the bucking bronc. TJ grabbed the bronc rein and pulled the horse’s nose inwards as the rider wrapped both arms around TJ’s torso and, using TJ’s bodyweight, hauled himself out of the saddle, over Kai, and down to the arena dirt.
Skye had been watching TJ’s face, looking for signs of pain, but his eyes remained obscured by his hat, hiding any discomfort.
The second pickup man released the flank strap. The bronc calmed but kept running, forcing the men to stay abreast of him until they’d driven him back into the holding pen.
As soon as the horse was safely penned, they retook their positions out of the way of the next bronc and rider.
Skye couldn’t take her eyes off of TJ. Her mind was in tumult. Half of her wondered why he’d sign up to work when his back clearly couldn’t handle it – his spasm the day before had told her that much. But the other half knew that it was because of her. He’d told her he wanted closure. And they were in Texas, for Christ’s sake. Horsemen – pickup men – were a dime a dozen, so the fact that he’d wormed his way into the rodeo in Odessa could only mean he’d pulled strings to make it happen.
But more than her tumultuous mind, her body betrayed her – there were no two sides about it. Just watching him ride, so skilled, so sexy, had those little reminders of what he could do to her rising up and stirring a torrent of need.
As if he’d sensed her gaze burning into him, TJ glanced over his shoulder. He tipped his head back slightly, so that he could see her from under the brim of his hat. When their eyes met, Skye just raised her eyebrows condescendingly.
The gate opened, releasing the next bronc and rider. TJ refocused on the arena.
At her side, Stevie waved both hands in front of her as if clearing the air. ‘Jesus, I can’t breathe through all this sexual tension.’
Andrea snort-laughed.
Skye groaned. ‘I’m being punished.’
Stevie leaned comically closer, whispered, ‘He doesn’t exactly look like a hardship to me.’
On her other side, Andrea looked down towards where TJ rode. ‘Maybe you’d both be able to purge the demons. Get closure.’
Skye looked from one of her friends to the other. ‘Okay, what’s going on?’
‘What do you mean?’ Stevie asked innocently. And it was that – Stevie acting innocent – that gave them away.
‘You two were ready to rip TJ’s throat out outside of Dave’s last week, and now you’re encouraging me to jump his bones. Uh-uh. Spill.’
‘We’re not encouraging you to jump his bones,’ Andrea argued. ‘Just suggesting that, maybe, things might be different this time around.’
‘Okay,’ Skye ceded. ‘But why? Why the change of heart?’
Stevie tapped her lips with her index finger. ‘It’s not a change of heart, per se …’
