Page 50 of Rough Stock
Shyanna sat and stewed for a few minutes. She knew he was only trying to take care of her, but damn, she’d been doing fine before he’d come along.I should be grateful somebody cares, she told herself,but I’m just too fucking mad.Suddenly, the truck whipped into a parking lot and Shyanna turned to Jensen. “What are you doing?”
He threw the big dualie out of gear and turned to her. “Let’s get this straightened out now. I don’t want to fight about it. Iknowyou can take care of yourself, Shy. I’m fully aware of that. But think for a second: What kind of shit wouldIhave to take if I let a couple of guys beat the hell out of you and didn’t do anything? My god, they’d ride me out of town on a rail, that’s what kind of shit, and I don’t need that. Like it or not, my job now is to protect you as well as myself and the animals.”
“I don’t need protecting!” Shyanna shrilled.
“I’m not saying you do! What I’m saying is that I don’t have a choice. Tell me something. If you walked into a room and found two guys beating up on me, what would you do?”
Picturing the brawl he was describing made her laugh. “I can tell you right now. I’d pick up the first chair I could reach and make the fight fair!”
“Exactly. And that’s what I have to do. It’s no different than if I were out with a buddy and a couple of guys attacked him. Can’t you see that?” he asked. “Please? Try to see it from my side?”
When she took his hand, she felt him relax. “I understand, and I’m sorry. It’s just that I’ve been alone for a long time andhad to fight my own battles. Having someone else to help me makes me feel… weak. And small.”
“Has nothing to do with being weak and small and everything to do with being ganged up on unfairly and evening the score. But you’re going to be weak and small if we don’t get some food pretty soon?we both will be. We good?” he asked, his hand coming up to cup her chin.
“Yeah. We’re good. It’s fine.”
“Good. Because I love you and I don’t want you mad at me for doing what I’m supposed to be doing, what I’d be doing for any friend.” As he pulled out onto the highway, Shyanna thought about what he’d said.
He was right and she knew it. If he walked up and found somebody beating up Roger or Leo, he’d step in and try to stop it. And if there were two guys beating up on just one of them, he’d rain down hell on them. She’d do the exact same thing. Fighting was one thing; fighting unfairly was something else entirely.
By the time they’d gotten to the barbecue place one of the men in the arena’s office had told her about, she’d tamped down her mad and swallowed whatever pride had caused her to overreact. It was a pleasant way to spend an evening.
Once the horses were taken care of for the night, Shyanna went to her trailer and showered while Jensen did the same in his. They were pretty sure there were some facilities on the arena grounds, but for the time being, that would have to suffice. By the time she knocked on his door, he’d finished and was dressed and watching a movie on his laptop. That lasted all of two seconds when she slipped off her robe and sat down beside him on the tiny sofa.
They’d enjoyed the motel room the night before but, god, it was good to be back in one of the little trailers. “But we have to be quiet,” Shyanna reminded him.
“Why?”
“Because somebody will figure out that we’re seeing each other.”
Jensen laughed aloud. “You don’t think they’ve already figured that out?”
“Whuhh …”
“Shy, they all know. They’re not idiots. They see us together and they know we’re… well, whatever this is. It’s not dating, and it’s not just fucking, so what the hell is it?” She shrugged. “Let’s see… They all know we’re working on a relationship. How’s that?” he asked and nibbled at the tender flesh on her neck just under her right ear.
“That sounds perfect. If anybody asks. Which they won’t, because they don’t give a fuck what we’re doing unless you’re doing something to help me, and then they’re going to crawl all over you,” she said as he nipped and nibbled.
“Forget about them and get in the mood, beautiful,” Jensen whispered against her skin.
“Iamin the mood. I’m just… venting, I suppose,” she said as she gripped his hair, pulled his head up, and kissed him.
“Ohhh, gonna pull my hair, huh? I like it,” he groaned and pressed her back into the sofa, his mouth covering hers and his hands roaming her torso.
“You like that, huh?” she said with a giggle.
She couldn’t miss the twinkle in his eyes. “I do. As I recall, you do too.”
“Yeah. I do, actually.”
“Good.” She kissed him again a little harder, and he met her and upped it with a scorching kiss of his own.
His gaze trailed up and down her body and his voice was soft but coarse with need when he pulled back and said, “I might even have to do a little tie-down roping in here some night.”
Fire shot through everything between Shyanna’s legs and her cheeks burned. “Do it. I can take it.”
He grinned, a threatening grin that made a chill run through her core. “I dunno. Might be too much for you.”
