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She coughed and reached for her margarita. “Not really. So you’ve eaten here before?”
He almost pressed her, wanting to tease her about this new fun Charlie he liked so much, but he let it go. “Yeah, I’ve been damn happy since this place opened last year. For a few weeks, the other hands and I would sneak away every Monday night for the all-you-can-eat special.”
“Oh, man. I bet they cringed when they saw a herd of cowboys coming in.”
“A herd?” he asked.
“I don’t know. What’s the correct term? A gaggle? A pack? A cuddle? A spur of cowboys?”
“Probably a posse.”
Charlie laughed as she dug into her ribs. “Do you miss your friends there?”
“Sure. Like I said, I got used to being around people all the time. There are some good guys out there.”
“Yeah... You know I’ve been thinking about something tonight.”
“Oh? Does it have anything to do with the kind of stuff teenage boys like? Because I’ve been thinking about that, and I’ve got to tell you that grown men are okay with it, too.”
She laughed and pressed a sauce-covered hand over her mouth.
“I could tolerate it, at least. I mean, I’d like to try.” He liked making her laugh, especially when her face was smudged with barbecue sauce and her eyes were so bright, and he could still feel the way her body had tightened around him when he’d fucked her.
She shook her head, eyes still twinkling. “No, I wasn’t talking about that. Though I’ll take your comments under advisement.”
“Please do.”
She grabbed a napkin and wiped the worst of the sauce off her face. “What I was thinking was... Tonight. Those kids you were playing with...”
“John’s kids?”
“Yes.” Charlie put her elbows on the table and leaned forward. “You’re amazing with people, Walker. You were amazing with those kids.”
“Only if you consider giving a few kids a piggyback ride something spectacular.”
“It’s not just that. You’re just so easy. With everyone. And those kids...they loved you and they’d only known you for five seconds.”
Walker cleared his throat and grabbed his beer to drown out the strange mix of pride and embarrassment flooding through him. “Thanks,” he said once he’d gotten some beer down his dry throat. “I like kids.”
“I talked to John a little bit, and I was thinking that you should consider applying there.”
Walker shook his head. “I don’t know what you mean. They don’t own cattle, do they?”
“No. I meant that you could work with the kids. Teaching them about horses and how to ride. You’d be around people every day, doing exactly what you like to do.”
For a moment, he was still blessedly confused, and then the humiliation of what Charlie was saying slammed into him, full force. “You want me to be a teacher? Charlie, I can’t do that.”
“Sure you can!”
“No. I can’t.” He tore half the meat off a rib and ducked his head to stare at his plate while he chewed.
“You wouldn’t be a teacher, per se,” she pressed.
The back of his neck burned.
“When you were at the guest ranch, you taught people how to ride, didn’t you? You gave lessons?”
Walker swallowed and reached for a drink. After scrubbing the napkin over his mouth, he felt calm enough to speak. “No. I wasn’t a riding instructor.”
