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I’d also gotten calls after the accident to keep doing sponsorships, but I’d turned them all down. I wasn’t interested. Not when I was trying to deal with the reality that I’d never climb onto the back of a bull ever again. It had been too difficult to even think of entering that world again right after the accident. Then, once the addiction started, I was so lost I didn’t know what in the hell I wanted to do. I hadn’t realized I’d never really found that lost part of me.
As I went about the morning, taking care of things around the ranch, one question kept popping up over and over in my head.
Who was I?
I had nothing to offer a woman like Kaylee. She deserved someone who wasn’t broken. And I was as broken as they came.
Chapter Five
KAYLEE
The moment I opened the door and saw him, I knew I had made the right decision. Standing before me was a man who looked at me like I was his world. Of course, he had a bit of desire in those eyes; nothing wrong with that. For once I wasn’t being given a scowl, and it made me feel really damn good.
“Channing, you look nice this evening.”
The hot firefighter chief stood in front of me dressed in jeans, a nice button-down dress shirt with a dress jacket over it, and cowboy boots. He wasn’t wearing a cowboy hat, and I had to admit, that made me feel sad. Ty always had his black cowboy hat on. Always.
Channing’s eyes roamed slowly over my body. He had told me to dress casual, so I did my version of it. Jeans. A sweater that hugged my body, and high-heel dress boots.
“You look as beautiful as always,” Channing said once his gaze met mine.
“Are the heels too much?”
“Not at all—we’re going to Taste of Paris for dinner.”
“I love it there!” I replied, grabbing my coat, only to have Channing reach for it and slip it over my shoulders. I wrapped the wool scarf around my neck and smiled.
Manners and good looking. The evening was starting off on a positive note.
“I’ve only been once, with Lincoln when we first moved here. The beef bourguignon was out of this world.”
“It is a great place. I know the owners.”
“Sounds perfect. Plus, I’m starving.”
Channing placed his hand on my lower back and guided me out of the house. I turned and locked the door and took his arm while I navigated down the porch steps and to his . . . sports car?
I had to look twice. Channing drove a sports car?
Why did that disappoint me?
A vision of John in his BMW 5 flashed through my mind, causing me to slow my pace.
“Kaylee, is everything okay?”
I wasn’t sure how long I stared at the Mazda Miata. Too long, apparently, because Channing looked worried.
“So, I take it you don’t like sports cars?”
That pulled me from my moment of haze. “What? Oh, no. I mean, yes. Sports cars are fine. Sorry, I just had a memory take me by surprise, that’s all. It’s all good.”
He nodded and opened the passenger door for me. “Good, let’s get you fed, shall we?”
Before I got into the car, I looked out over the pasture—and saw Ty and Tanner.
Shit. Of all the times he’d have to be here. They were on horseback, riding the fence line that separated the Shaw ranch from the small parcel of land I lived on. He wasn’t looking my way, so I quickly slipped into the car. My heart hammered in my chest, and I closed my eyes and took a few deep, deep breaths until I heard Channing open the driver’s door.
“It’s freezing outside. Do you have any gloves?”
I tried not to look at Ty as I answered. “I figured it would be okay, since we’re walking from the car into the restaurant and that’s it.”
He smiled. “What if I made other plans for us?”
That made me turn and look directly at him. I smiled and said in a teasing tone, “What other plans? I only agreed to dinner.”
“I thought maybe we could grab a drink after dinner at the Blue Moose.”
Why was I not wanting to do that? What in the world was wrong with me?
Forcing myself to answer him, I replied, “That sounds like a good plan.”
Channing was an easy person to talk to. Once we got to the restaurant, he ordered our meals, and we fell right into a conversation where he asked me about me. It was nice to have a man actually interested in me.
“So what made you decide to leave Georgia behind? I mean, I get that Lincoln had moved here and all, but that’s a pretty big decision.”
I shrugged. “Not really. I didn’t have anything in Georgia holding me there. My family is there, but my parents travel a lot, so I didn’t see them very often. My work is freelance, and I can do it from anywhere, anytime I want. I needed the change for a few reasons.”
