Page 74 of The Cowboy's Second Chance Bride

Then he saw me, paused midstep for half a second, and decided to take a gamble and try his hand at winning her attention. Poor sap. He was out of luck. Not that Sabrina and I had declared our intentions and had theWhere do we standtalk, but I expected we would have it soon. Maybe even before the sun set. And this nitwit was reading the room all wrong. He was flirting and touching her. Granted, he had to touch her to look at her ankle, but still, his hands lingered a few seconds too long.

I ground my teeth to keep from growling at him. This would play out, and we’d get a good look at what kind of guy the doc was. I didn’t like the idea that I might have to snap off the good doc’s hands, beat him with them, then toss them into the fire.

I wiped a hand down my face. Goddamn. I was stupid crazy for this woman. So I understood where he was coming from. But when the good doc asked his question about her status, I thought it only fair the man knew the playing field.

“You an orthopedic doc?” I asked, thinking of our conversation earlier.

Sabrina stifled a chuckle, and her eyes met mine. I stuck my hands into my pockets and shrugged. I’d loved any memory of that doctor right out of her. Mission achieved.

Sabrina returned her attention to the doc. “I’m sorry—your question. I thought you were asking how we met. Which was college, but yes, we’re dating.”

Bryant looked between us. “And you’ve been dating since college. Impressive.” He said it like he didn’t mean it, as if I were stringing Sabrina along with promises of forever.

“Off and on,” Sabrina said.

“Not so much off,” Cal said.

Sabrina snorted. “He was out of the country a lot.”

“All in the name of safety.”

Bryant looked at me and snapped his fingers. “That’s right. You’re that securities expert. Hannah said what you did at the community center was fantastic. I’ve seen you on TV before. Sorry about the beating you’re taking in the news and about them taking away that Pinnacle award. Why shouldn’t you be awarded for something you did that they said was awesome but now are scared because of the press? Chickenshit, if you ask me.”

Sabrina sat up straighter, looked at me in surprise, then searched her purse for her phone.

“You left it at the house,” I said.

She narrowed her eyes, and I knew what she was asking.

“Paul told me about it when we got back. It’s like the good doc said. They’re afraid of bad press.” Just one more thing my dad had taken away from me. I hadn’t even told her about the award to begin with, mostly because I had forgotten about it with everything else going on.

She leaned back and crossed her arms. “Assholes.”

Sabrina was watching me, so I gave her a small smile and a shrug, then looked at her foot, hoping to hide my anger. “Paul is on it.”

Dr. Bryant, quick to pick up on the vibe, stopped looking at Sabrina with his romance eyes and moved into doctor mode. He reached into a drawer and pulled out ace wrap. “I don’t think it’s broken, but let’s X-ray it real quick to rule that out, then depending on what we find, I’ll wrap it to help with stability and swelling and give you something for pain and inflammation.” He smiled at Sabrina. “I’ll grab the machine. Hang on.” A few minutes later, he was in the room and taking an X-ray. “You’ve got some good tears in there. This is a pretty severe sprain, but nothing is broken.” He finished wrapping her ankle and inspected his work.

“Thank you, Bryant,” Sabrina said.

He tapped a notepad. “You want me to call these into the pharmacy in town? Are you set up there?”

She nodded. “I am. Thank you.”

He stuck out his hand. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Sabrina.”

And then he turned to me and put his hand out for a shake. “And you as well, Cal.”

The guy was all right—decent. I kind of liked this guy.

Sabrina and I left the appointment, with her on crutches, and went to meet Cricket in the town square. “When were you going to tell me about this award?” she asked.

“I’d honestly forgotten about it.”

She paused a few blocks from the square. “Help me get to this bench. Can you go get Cricket and tell her I’m here? I’m too tired to hobble my way there.”

“Tell me her number, and I’ll text her.”

She shook her head. “I need to get away from you for a minute. And when we get home, I’m going to talk to Paul. Getting answers from you is like squeezing water from a rock.”

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