Just Down the Road (24 page)

“I could look at her.” Addison couldn’t believe she was offering to treat a horse.

He shook his head. “It’s too dangerous. The cuts have been sewn and treated. If they don’t get infected, they’ll heal.” He stood and reached for a beer. “I’m in for the night.”

“You want to talk about what happened between us last night?”

His blue eyes met hers. “Not really. Not if you’re going to tell me it never should have happened again.”

“It probably shouldn’t have,” she admitted, “but I’m not sorry it did. I just want you to know that what happened wasn’t me. Not the real me. I’m not like that.” She stared down at her hands. “I’ve never been like that before with anyone.”

“Like what?”

“You know, wild, reckless, passionate, demanding.” She glanced up at him and was surprised to see him smiling. “It’s not funny, Tinch. I’m not sure, even if you’d tried, I would have let you go.” She closed her eyes, remembering the way she’d wrapped not only her arms but her legs around him.

“Are you trying to say that you took advantage of
me
?” A laugh rattled from his tired body.

“I’ve had all day to think about it, and I’ve decided that’s about it. But I want you to know I’ve never acted so wild, and I promise it won’t happen again. I still respect you.”

He spewed beer across the floor as he fought down another laugh. “You’re something, Doc. Really something. I can’t believe you think I’ve been worried all day about the way
you
took advantage of me last night. If the alarm hadn’t chimed, there’s no telling what
you
would have made me do.”

Addison stared at him. She couldn’t tell if he was serious or if he was teasing her. “That’s why I think it best if we just be friends and try to get through this like reasonable adults.”

“I agree,” he said. “I wouldn’t want you losing control again. Who knows what you’d do to me?”

“Exactly.” She jumped off the stool. “Well, now that that’s settled, I suggest we go to bed.”

“Darlin’, I thought you’d never ask.”

He followed her up the stairs. “I’d better take a shower and change into some fresh clothes; otherwise you’ll be smelling dirt all night.”

“You don’t have to sleep in your clothes. Now that we’ve reached an agreement, there is no reason we can’t be comfortable with each other. Why don’t you sleep in whatever you usually do?”

“I usually don’t sleep in anything,” he answered. “But how about we compromise. Since you’re sleeping in my shirt, I’ll settle for a pair of old jeans.”

Fifteen minutes later when he came to bed, Addison tried to act like she didn’t notice all he had on was a pair of tight jeans. There was so much about him she didn’t understand. He was so gentle with Jamie and the horses, and her, but she’d met him the night he’d taken on five men in a fight. He lived all alone in a house big enough to hold a family. He made her feel like a woman.

When he rolled over, she could tell he was watching her even in the pale moonlight.

“What?” she whispered as she noticed his frown.

“I want to touch you,” he said simply. “I’m not going to, but that doesn’t stop the need I have. I just want you to know. We can play this game of being friends for as long as you like, but that doesn’t change the ache I have in me to pull you near and run my hand over you.”

She said the first thing that crossed her mind. “You’ve just been without a woman for a while. Having Jamie here must slow your dating life down.”

“I don’t have a dating life,” he corrected. “And I’m not wanting
any
woman, Doc, I want to hold
you
.”

No man had ever been so direct. Tinch wasn’t flirting or playing mind games. He was simply being honest, and that frightened her.

“It’s not happening,” she whispered. “We’re not happening.”

She rolled over, turning her back to him. Part of her knew that he was just being honest. She also knew he wouldn’t cross the line she’d drawn without being invited. The problem was, Addison felt like she was going slowly insane, and she had little faith that she wouldn’t jump over every line the next time they were alone.

W
EDNESDAY

O
CTOBER
5

B
EAU WATCHED THE BAR FILL UP FOR THE SECOND TIME
on a practice night. Even the half dozen nurses were back.

“Now, try to be cool tonight, partner,” Border told him. “My brother said he talked Harley into unlocking the cage and letting us go say hello between sets. It’s a pretty big deal. Harley’s going to announce the bar is closed while we greet our fans.”

“What fans?” Beau had noticed them listening, but he doubted the drunks wanted to talk to him. “I wouldn’t mind seeing a few of the nurses up close, but I don’t think anyone else will want to meet me.”

Border kicked his chair. “Okay, go out and meet the nurses. But, remember, when we do, be nice. My brother says the tall one is kind of a friend of his.”

“What’s her name?”

“Big didn’t know. He forgot to ask her. I guess that’s where the ‘kind of’ comes in.”

Beau didn’t want to know more. He decided he should probably stay in the cage at break time. He’d get nervous and just stutter anyway, or worse, look at their breasts. Martha Q had made it plain if he didn’t stop thinking about breasts he’d be moved to the pervert line pretty soon.

Beau thought about writing a song about how it felt to touch a woman’s breasts, but he figured only half of the crowd would like it. As he played through the next set, he tried to apply logic. Women liked showing their breasts off. They were always pushing them out there or leaning over so a guy could get a good look. Men liked the feel of them, so it made sense people should just give up shaking hands and start touching breasts as a greeting. It would make the world a lot friendlier place.

Almost choking, Beau thought about what his father would say if he suggested such a thing. To his knowledge his dad had never even said the word
breast
.

When the break came, Harley announced the bar was closed for ten minutes and opened the cage. To Beau’s surprise, people rushed forward to shake his hand. He didn’t have to say a word as one after the other they all said how much they liked his music.

Border was at his side and thanked each one.

After a few minutes the crowd died down and Beau came face-to-face with one of the nurses. He’d noticed her before when she danced.

“Hi,” she said. “The other band member told me to bring you this. He said you were always dying of thirst after a few songs.”

She shoved a soft drink in his hand. “I like listening to you play. Some of your songs made me want to cry. I think we all feel that kind of lonely sometimes. You’ve got a way of saying things that touches me.”

Beau didn’t trust himself to say a word. She was being
nice to him, thinking he was something. He didn’t want to start stuttering and have her realize he was nothing special.

“I also like to dance to your music.”

He forced his eyes wide open as he stared at her forehead. He didn’t even trust himself to blink for fear he’d start staring at her breasts. She had short blond hair and a nice smooth forehead.

“The girls and I decided we’d come over every week when you play. You’re the best entertainment going in this town. Even Harley knows it.”

Beau nodded, then gulped down half the drink.

“You got songs I’ve never heard before. Songs that make people want to cuddle up close and sway with the music. Do you make them up?”

He managed another nod.

“Maybe some night after you’re finished, if you want to, we could …”

Beau handed her back the empty glass and shot toward the cage door Harley was holding open. He felt like some kind of caged monkey who’d been given a moment of freedom and couldn’t wait to get back into captivity. Another minute with that girl and he’d be staring where he shouldn’t or stuttering so hard he’d sounded like a stuck record.

He could hear Border behind him talking to the girl about how they had to get back to work, but Beau didn’t look up. He concentrated on setting up his equipment and organizing his notes.

When Border climbed into the cage and bumped his way to the back, he mumbled, “What did you say to that cute little nurse?”

“Nothing,” Beau whispered.

“That explains it.” Border picked up his bass guitar. “She asked me what was wrong with you.”

“What’d you tell her?”

“Don’t worry, partner, I covered for you. I told her you were an idiot savant. A regular Rain Man, only you work
with music and not numbers. I thought that would frighten her off, but she wants to talk to you again.”

“Great.” Beau could see himself becoming one of the world’s leading forehead experts.

“Any time. I’ve heard the only way to get over one girl is to find another.”

“Who told you that? Some girl on a nine hundred number?”

“No.” Border strapped on his guitar. “My big brother got the bill for a few of those calls and told me he’d break my fingers if I ever dialed them again.”

Beau smiled at his friend. “Might improve your playing.”

Border turned on the amplifier. “So you’re not mad about me trying to fix you up with that pretty nurse?”

“No, but don’t do it again. I’m on a two-step recovery plan after my last two run-ins with the opposite sex.”

“What’s that?”

“One, stay away from all females. Two, repeat step one.”

They began the first song, a fast one to warm up the small crowd.

When Beau looked up halfway through the song, he saw people all around the room lift their glasses to him. Even the little nurse was smiling at him.

Beau smiled back, noticing she was wearing a sweater. Winter might be the answer to his problem, he thought. Only date girls who were cold natured. The more clothes, the better.

T
YLER
W
RIGHT CARRIED HIS CELL PHONE WITH HIM EVEN
to the bathroom. No one ever called him on his cell, so he knew if the phone rang it would be either Autumn telling him to pack the car because they were on their way to deliver a baby, or Kate calling to tell him she was heading home safe and sound.

He tried not to dwell on the code she’d mentioned. He didn’t want to think of the possibility that she might be somewhere in danger where she couldn’t talk. Over the months they’d been engaged, she’d told of having to be escorted into places to investigate a fire. Places that weren’t safe. Places where snipers might be waiting or bombs might go off.

Her expertise was in developing a profile of the arsonist from the signature he or she left at the scene. There were a thousand reasons Tyler loved his Kate. What he’d never understood was why she loved him.

Major Katherine Cummings was a wonder in complexity. She’d traveled the world and made it safer for thousands. She was educated, intelligent, and—to him—beautiful. He, on the other hand, lived a simple life doing what his father and grandfather had done. He had a good fifty pounds he should lose, seldom read a book, and usually found even the Monday crossword in the
Times
too hard to complete.

As Tyler prepared for the chapel service for Sadie Noble, he let his mind walk through his and Kate’s story as if it were a great love affair played out on the screen in his brain. They’d met one icy night at Quartz Mountain Lodge in Oklahoma. Neither one had planned to stop, but the road conditions made it impossible to travel. By chance they’d ended up at the same table and talked the evening away over red wine, and then they began to e-mail. As the months passed, Kate became part of his life.

No. He rewound the movie in his head. She became the only thing that seemed real in his life. Once, when he’d thought he’d lost her, he could do nothing but wait for her to contact him, checking the computer screen endlessly until one night she finally responded to his note. For the last six months she’d spent every weekend she could in Harmony … no, edit. She’d spent every weekend with him. They’d taken long walks through the night streets and laughed. They’d talked of everything that was important to them and held each other until dawn.