Page 33 of One Last Rodeo

I clear my throat. “You don’t strike me as someone who wants marriage and kids.”

“You don’t know me outside of what you see on the circuit.”

“But you don’t date?”

His grin stretches wider. “Ah, you’ve looked me up?”

“Accidentally. For medical reasons.”It wasn’t for medical reasons.It was late night research on social media because I couldn’t sleep.

He chuckles. “I want that. A family. White picket fence in the mountains of Tennessee or somewhere else a little remote. The whole country song cliché.”

“That’s surprising,” I say quietly. For a beat I try to imagine what Jensen's life would look like married and with kids someday. And all I feel is red, hot jealousy for whoever that woman will be. But that doesn't make any sense. Why would I care?

He leans forward, his hazel eyes flaring with heat so intense it shocks me. “It’s getting late. Let’s go back to my room.”

“You’re going to keep offering that in every city we travel through?” I ask. But there’s no bite in my voice anymore. I want to go back to his room too. My pulse is racing with thatrealization. I’ve never had a one-night stand before. I want my first to be with Jensen.

He never drops my gaze. “I might.”

“You’re persistent.”

“I know what I want.”

“And what’s that? To sleep with the series doctor? The woman who fixed your heart? Is this some kind of competition? Did you make a bet with the guys that I don’t know about?”

He rubs his jaw, his eyes sparkling with mischief. “There’s no bet, Catalina. You’re telling me it wouldn’t be tempting to sleep with the guy whose heart you stitched back together? I’d let you put your hands on it again. I’d let you listen to it.”

Do I want to have sex with Jensen?Absolutely. But I know it’s reckless. Stupid. Professional suicide if someone found out from the media. Especially Craig, Rory, or any of the riders. But tonight, I want reckless. I want a bad idea. I’m supposed to be trying new things with this job. And I want that new thing to be sex with a stranger cowboy.

No strings attached. We do this, and then we never talk about it again.

Our server reappears, asking if we need anything else. I shake my head. “No. He’s paying.”

Jensen laughs and slides them a couple bills, tells him to keep the change, then turns back to me with a look that sends another pulse of heat down my spine.

“So, Doc,” he says softly. “Are we doing this?”

“You only call me Catalina tonight.”

He nods, his grin growing wider like he knows I'm going to agree.

“No one can ever find out," I say firmly.

“No one will know.”

“One time, and then we walk away like it never happened.”

“One time. We walk away.”

I hesitate, because at some point, I’m going to have to have sex again. It might as well be with a guy that I can’t take completely seriously who won’t emotionally destroy me afterward.

Jensen's emotionally aware. Jensen's uncomplicated. Jensen's easy. Jensen doesn’t want anything more from me either. He just wants to sleep with his doctor once.

It’s simple.

I need something simple.

“Fine.” I stand. He stands too. “Let’s go.”