Page 135 of Ride a Cowboy

He absentmindedly rubbed his shoulder again and studied her outfit, silently amused with himself. He was actually turned on by Sienna’s hot pink scrubs. Jesus. He’d gone way too long without a woman. Hell, he hadn’t gotten laid since his accident. He’d hit a honky-tonk last night with some of the other ranch hands, but none of the local ladies tempted him like Sienna.

“Does your arm hurt?” Sienna asked.

Daniel stopped moving. “It’s a little stiff.” He glanced toward the sky. “I suspect we’ll have a thunderstorm tonight. One of the benefits of my injury is I can now predict rain with pretty decent accuracy. The weathermen have nothin’ on me.”

Her gaze locked on his face, studying him in a purely medical way. He wished she’d view him a little less professionally.

“You’ve been working really hard since you got here. You need to be careful not to overdo it. What were your injuries exactly? You never said.”

He shrugged, wondering if there was some way to avoid this conversation. He didn’t like to dwell on the accident. It reminded him too much of how much he’d lost. “Dislocated shoulder, right arm broken in three places, four broken ribs, cracked skull and a punctured lung. Those were the biggies. There were a bunch of other smaller issues.”

Sienna winced. “The biggies were big enough. I have some salve in the house that will help that sore shoulder. I’ll change out of my work clothes and bring it over to your trailer in about an hour. It’ll fix you right up. Okay?”

His pride emerged first and Daniel started to refuse, to claim his shoulder was fine and that he had his own muscle cream. Luckily, his brain engaged just in time to save him from refusing her generous offer. “Thanks.”

She turned to offer Doug some sound advice on his run before she headed toward the house. Daniel gave Doug a few more pointers and then returned his horse to the stable. He hurried back to his trailer, anxious to tidy the place before Sienna arrived.

They hadn’t started off on the best of terms and he was hoping to correct that. He’d just dried and put away the last dish when there was a knock on the door.

He opened it and invited Sienna to enter. “Come on in. I was just straightening up a bit.” While he’d thought her nursing scrubs were cute, she was downright hot in her jeans and sweater.

Sienna smiled. “You didn’t have to go to the trouble. I’ll only be here a minute.”

He hoped he’d be able to entice her to hang around longer. She started to hand him the salve, but he didn’t reach for it. “Truth is, I have some cream, Sienna. I just don’t seem to be able hit all the sore spots with it.”

She eyed him suspiciously. He couldn’t blame her. Despite his attempts to play nice, he’d definitely admitted to his interest in her the last time she was in his trailer.

“Daniel, I?—”

“You have a boyfriend. I’m perfectly aware of that, Sienna. I’m just asking for a little nursing TLC.” It was a lie and a dirty trick. If he’d learned anything about her, it was that she took her job very seriously.

“Fine,” she said, gesturing to his upper body. “Take off your shirt.”

Daniel couldn’t restrain the grin that proved her words had taken his mind straight to the gutter.

Sienna frowned, though he didn’t think she was as annoyed as she pretended. Maybe somewhere in the past two weeks she’d begun to soften toward him? “Don’t get excited, cowboy. I’m just going to rub some of this ointment on your sore shoulder.”

“You know, I’m a firm believer in paying my way. I could return the favor. I’ve been told I give very good massages and you look like you could use some relaxing after your long day.” He took a step toward her, but she stopped him, placing her hand on his chest.

“Your gratitude is more than enough for me.” She definitely wasn’t annoyed. Sienna was smiling, clearly enjoying their flirting dance. Her hand lingered on his chest. Daniel tried to ignore how good it felt there.

“My shoulder is pretty sore. I might need some help with these buttons.”

Sienna laughed. “Just take the damn thing off.”

He grinned and began to unbutton his flannel shirt. “I think we got off on the wrong foot, Sienna.”

Her smile dimmed. “You didn’t, but I did. I’m sorry I snapped at you the first day we met. I’ve been in a really shitty mood lately and you ended up in the line of fire.”

He shrugged off his shirt and waited for the inevitable pity. He’d seen it in the eyes of plenty of nurses as he recovered from his injuries. Though the scars weren’t quite as red or as angry-looking as they had been right after the accident, they still managed to cut a fairly nasty swath across his pale skin. He hoped when summer arrived, the tan he usually acquired would tone down the paths of destruction wrought by the bull.

Sienna didn’t speak for several moments, her face completely inscrutable. Finally, she lifted her gaze to his, her playful eyes capturing his. “Ouch.”

Her unexpected joke caught him off-guard, and he laughed. “You can say that again.”

She stepped toward him, her close proximity allowing him to catch a whiff of her floral perfume. Lilacs? Roses? He sucked when it came to distinguishing flower scents, but either way, she smelled damn fine.

“RDL?” she asked, pointing to the small tattoo etched just above his heart.

---