Page 74 of One Last Rodeo

Daniela: And tell mom and dad that Lawson and I can’t wait to see them in a few months when they come to visit us. You should come with them. Autumn here is beautiful. You didn't get the whole experience when you lived here.

I think about what autumn in Tennessee might be like. I bet it’s gorgeous, too. Then I stuff that thought down deep inside me because there's no reason that when the summer ends, and the Iron Horn series ends, I'd be going back there with Jensen.

Nope. No reason at all.

Catalina:I don’t know where I’ll go next. I have to go.

Daniela:Love you! Have fun tonight! We'll be watching the ride at Regan and Hayes house on TV! Tell Jensen we said good luck!

I roll my eyes and slide my phone into my bag before smoothing my shirt, the deep red one that borders on burgundy but doesn’t screamChristmas in July. I think this shade makes my eyes look brighter, my skin warmer, my hair that I'm wearing down long, richer. I look like a woman who chose this on purpose—not someone who threw on scrubs in the dark on her way out the door. I also know Jensen likes this color on me.

California might be mild this time of the year, but I’m not here for a runway show. I’m here to work. And still, I can’t help noticing the way these fitted white dress pants hug me better than they ever did in the past, or how my mahogany-colored heels click confidently against the hospital tile. It all feels… foreign and a bit exciting being back here like this. Like I’m wearing someone else’s life. Or maybe just stepping back into mine as a different person.

Colleagues pass me in the hallway with expressions ranging from polite confusion when they realize it's me, to straight-up shock. I lift a hand in a half-wave at each of them and wonder to myself... Do I really look that unrecognizable? Did I really spend years blending into the walls of this place with my attire and personality?

I round the corner and nearly collide with my old surgery tech, Jordan, who's been by my side for nearly ninety percent of the procedures I’ve performed. She spills half her coffee down her front with the contact.

Fortunately for her, she's wearing all black.

“Oh my God—I’m so sorry!” she blurts, immediately reaching to fix my shirt that she didn't get a drop on.

“It’s fine,” I promise her. "You didn't get me. I'm sorry. Your shirt's soaked."

She finally looks up at me, and it’s like watching a movie in slow motion the moment recognition dawns on her face.

“Um… Oh my...God.Doctor Alba?”

I give her a smile. A real one. Apparently, that’s even more terrifying than seeing me in a red shirt and white pants.

“What are you?” she demands, as if I’m an alien. The question doesn't even make sense. What am I? A surgeon? A daughter? A woman... I don't know? Is she going to finish that sentence?

She doesn't.

I glance down at my outfit, suddenly feeling self-conscious.

“Do I have something in my teeth? Is the outfit too much cleavage? Not enough?” I adjust my shirt.

She shakes her head, blinking hard. “I just… I didn’t recognize you. I’m sorry.”

“Is it the outfit?”

“No,” she says, shaking her head rapidly. "The outfit is fire. You look incredible. Have you been working out?"

Not unless you count lots of sex.

"Is it the hair?" I subconsciously twist a lock of my dark brown curls around my finger. Hair that I've never been able to let breathe outside of the buns I always wore when I was working here. It has to be the hair.

“Well, maybe a little that, but also... You’re… glowing.”

My hand freezes in my hair. I know why that is. Because before I left for the hospital this morning, Jensen came to my hotel room where the rest of the team is staying this weekend and buried his tongue inside my pussy until I screamed his name into a pillow with tears in my eyes. Then, he shoved his thick, hard cock inside me while fingering my asshole.

I've never had that done before and I'm a little ashamed to admit just how much I liked it. How much I like everything he does to me.

Somehow, he’s seeped into my skin, shifted something I didn’t realize had solidified. Myaura, his word, probably, because that seems like a thing that he'd say, is softer and more vibrant.

When we landed from Nashville yesterday, I immediately had to attend a staff meeting with Craig. Jensen went the opposite way to meet with physical therapy for a check-in on his shoulder and to prepare for his first ride back tonight. I already know it looks good. I checked it personally on the plane ride to the west coast and knew I’d sign off. But I needed him to meet with Heath first so that it didn’t look like I was circumventing him just because we’d spent the last five days together.Naked.

I swore that what happened in Tennessee would stay there. But though we haven't talked about what exactly happened between us… and what happens next… Jensen must have had different plans. Very different plans. Especially because when he left my hotel room so I could come over to the hospital he whispered in my ear.