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When he thought she was asleep, Tristan overheard him flirting with the all-too-willing-to-flirt-back flight attendant. Listening to them made her sick to her stomach. She turned the volume all the way up on her music, and it still wasn’t enough to drown them out entirely.
When they landed and were waiting to depart, Harris had tried again to woo her into having a drink with him. Instead of bothering to be polite, she simply answered “no” to each thing he asked. He hadn’t been polite when he slept with half the women at every rodeo he attended, not giving a second thought to his “girlfriend.” She didn’t need to be polite to him now.
His parting words, when he walked by her in baggage claim, were, “This isn’t over, Tristan. I want you back. I need you back.” He leaned and whispered, “We were so good together, baby. I know you want me as much as I want you.”
She’d rolled her eyes, but he had walked away. They might run into each other at various rodeos, unless she
saw him first.
Once they were airborne, Tristan closed her eyes. Today was going to be a long one. A nap would do her good, if she could only fall asleep.
“We’re getting ready to land, miss.” The flight attendant touched her arm. How could it be? Hadn’t she just closed her eyes? Had she really slept the entire flight? Usually she couldn’t sleep at all on planes.
Tristan had a one-hour layover in Denver but needed to get to the other side of the airport to catch the regional flight to Edwards. Fortunately, many of her business trips had connecting flights in Denver, so she was familiar with the airport.
An hour later she landed at the small airport near Vail. There would be no baggage carousel. Someone would bring the luggage on a cart. Once she had her bag, she’d look for her ride.
Bullet dozed off, sitting in the airport, waiting for the flight from Denver to arrive. He woke with a start and realized he’d dropped the sign on the floor, beneath his chair. He reached down to get it, and when he straightened up, he saw a woman looking out the window on the other side of the small terminal. He rubbed his eyes. From behind she looked so much like Tristan. Wow. He really needed to get laid and get his mind off the elusive Miss McCullough.
He stood, holding his cardboard sign in front of him. He looked around the airport for any woman who appeared lost. So far everyone who had walked through had done so with the determination of someone who knew where she was going. When the woman by the window turned, Bullet’s eyes met hers.
She approached him. “I don’t understand.”
“Hi, Tristan. How are you?” he smirked.
“I’m fine, Bullet. Now, please, explain yourself.”
“Explain myself?”
“Don’t pretend you don’t know what’s going on here. How did you arrange this? A better question would be why did you do this? How in the world could you have thought this was a good idea?”
“I’m not stalkin’ you, if that’s what you think.” He was annoyed now, so he stepped around her, closer to the walkway. “I’m meetin’ someone here, to give her a ride. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll see if I can find her.”
“Uh, Bullet. You’re looking for me. Or I’m looking for you. Black Mountain Ranch. That’s what your sign says, right?”
“Oh. Shit.”
“Yeah, that’s right. You’re caught. If you’ll excuse me, I have to go find out when I can catch a flight back home.”
“Wait a minute.” Bullet tried to catch Tristan’s arm, but she yanked it away. “Hold up a sec.” She walked faster down the short length of the terminal.
Bullet sat in the closest chair. One way or another, she’d be back. He’d checked the board at the desk when he came in; there were no other flights scheduled in or out today. He crossed his arms in front of him, and waited.
When he saw her stomp in his direction, he couldn’t help but smile.
“You really didn’t know you were picking me up?” she asked as Bullet threw her bag into the back seat of the cab.
“Nope.”
“And what are you doing here again?”
“Bull riding.”
“I don’t understand. My father said the owners of the ranch wanted to meet with me about private labeling some of our clothing. This is quite a coincidence, don’t you think?”
“Yep.”
He opened her door for her, and held his hand out to help her up. She was used to getting in and out of trucks, so she ignored his offer and climbed in on her own.
