Page 27 of The Cowboy’s Intriguing Love

“Shit. I’m an asshole, aren’t I? I’m relieved that you’re not the kind of girl to hang out with a different guy every weekend, but I want you to be okay with knowing that’s who I used to be.”

She chuckled. “I don’t see it as a problem.”

“No?”

“No. I really don’t. Unless …” Her smile faded.

“Unless what?”

“Unless you’re still doing that. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with it, but I …” She didn’t know what to say. She could hardly tell him that she was looking for something serious, or something exclusive. She didn’t even know if she was. This whole thing had come out of nowhere and …

“I’m not. I haven’t been to Chico like that in ages. I still go sometimes but not looking … you know … to hook up.”

“Fair enough, then.”

“Is it? You’re not just saying that and then you’ll get off the phone with me and call your girlfriends and tell them that I’m a waste of space manwhore and you’re over it?”

He said it with a laugh, but she could tell that he thought there was a possibility that she might do just that.

“Ty, it doesn’t matter to me who you’ve been – in the past or with other girls, all I’m interested in is who you are with me. If you want to keep hooking up with people, I’m not going to judge you for it, I’d still want to be your friend, but that’s not what I’m looking for in a relationship. Shit!” She blew out a sigh. “And now I sound like I’m laying down the law, and I don’t mean it that way. And who’s talking about a relationship anyway? Andeven if we were, there’s this tiny detail of us living a thousand miles apart and …”

“Shay?”

She only realized that she was rambling on when he interrupted her. “Yeah?”

“I’mtalking about a relationship. At least, I’ve been thinking about one – with you. I have no fucking idea how it can work, but I want to see what we can make happen, if we get that far. That’s why I wanted to lay it out for you. You need to know who I am before you can decide if it’s even worth exploring.”

“I know it is – worth it.” The words were out before she even knew she was speaking.

“You reckon?”

“I do. If you do.”

“Yeah, I do. So, what do you think? I don’t want to keep you up too late – you have to be at the barn in the morning. But you said we should take it one step at a time. Do you want to take another step?”

“Yeah. But … what’s the step?”

“How about I figure out how to get down there to see you?”

“You’d do that?”

He chuckled. “I’d be there by the time you wake up in the morning if I could pull it off, but I might have to wait till the weekend.”

“Oh my god! You’re thinking about coming that soon?”

“I don’t see any point waiting – unless you want more time.”

She sucked in a deep breath. “The only thing I want time for is to roster myself off. It’d suck for you to come all this way only for me to have to work the whole time.”

“Okay, so how about you take a look at your schedule and let me know when will work for you? I don’t mind if you have to work some of the time – I imagine it’ll be hard to take off from all your jobs.” He chuckled. “If they don’t mind, I can come to the barn with you and help with the stalls. I can visit with Xander while you work your other jobs, and I can explore the place by myself. What I’m saying is that you don’t need to worry about fitting me in. Just say when you want me there and I’ll be happy with whatever time you can spare.”

“Wow!”

“What?”

She laughed. “You’re awesome.”

He chuckled. “Nah. That would be you.”

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