“You have my word.” He rested his forearms on the bar. “What’s the plan for tomorrow night?”
Ava smiled. “Why wait for tomorrow? Let’s get started tonight.”
Chapter Fifteen
Maybe faking sleep when Ava returned to the room last night at 1:04 a.m. made Chase a total pu**y. He’d decided pretend slumber was preferable to beating the tar out of whoever Ava flirted and giggled with outside the motel room door.
She hadn’t attempted to be quiet when she finally deigned to enter the room. That chapped his ass. It was almost as if she’d been…taunting him.
Sending the still-sleeping Ava a cursory glance, Chase slipped out. Three hours later, after running five miles and completing a full weight training session at the gym, Chase opened the door only to be greeted by Ava’s crotch.
Her feet were spread wide and her legs were splayed open. The remainder of her body was bent back over the big blue ball. Ava’s body was twisted so he couldn’t even see her face—only the area between her thighs and the flat arc of her belly.
Goddamn if his mouth didn’t water when he fantasized about dropping to his knees and burying his face against her tempting mound. Or testing the bounce factor of that exercise ball as he slammed his c**k into her.
Ava sat up and rested her hands on her knees. She smirked as if she knew every lewd thought that’d crossed his mind. Her eyes flicked over him, head to toe. “Morning, roomie. Seems we’re on the same wave length.”
“Oh, I highly doubt our thoughts are even close to parallel, Hollywood.” Chase drained his water bottle. Then he yanked his tank top over his head, mopped the sweat from his face with it and tossed it on his bed. His gaze returned to Ava. He wasn’t imagining things this time; Ava actually licked her lips as she eyeballed his chest. He didn’t hide his smirk as he gestured to her. “You about done doin’…?”
“My yoga practice? Yes. Why?”
“Just wondering who gets the shower first?”
Ava hopped off the ball. “Go ahead. I planned on staying around the room the rest of the day, trying to get some…ah…work done. I figured you’d be going to the fairgrounds with Ryan and hanging out until the rodeo started.”
That vague comment got his back up. Was she trying to get rid of him? Just to be ornery, he said, “I hadn’t planned on goin’ anywhere today. Thought I’d stick around the room and rest up. Hang out with you, my friend.”
Panic darted through her eyes. “Oh. Obviously since you’re paying for half the room that’s your prerogative. But I was hoping…”
“Hoping for what?”
“To have a few hours of quiet time so I can get your rides separated from the other footage.”
Quiet time his ass. She wanted nookie time. And he’d be goddamned if he’d just f**king walk away and make it easy on her to bang a total stranger in his hotel room. “I’m not exactly loud, Ava.”
“I know, Chase, but I need quiet. Complete silence. No TV. No talking. No cell phone conversations. No fighting.”
The sneaky-ass woman knew that lying on his bed, counting the flaws in the ceiling tile for hours would drive him bonkers. But the idea of any man, in here—the private space Chase shared with Ava—touching her, kissing her, f**king her on that lumpy damn mattress—made Chase crazier yet. So he offered Little Miss Liar-Liar-Yoga-Pants-On-Fire a somber nod. “Understood. There’s online work I’ve been putting off. I promise to be as quiet as a church mouse.” By Ava’s expression, she expected him to tuck his tail between his legs, exit the room and leave her alone.
Like hell.
Chase smiled at her. “I’m glad we can sort this stuff out so quickly.”
After he was scrubbed and freshly shaven he wandered out of the bathroom with a towel loosely secured low around his hips. As he dug in his duffel bag for clean clothes, he felt her checking out his package, and then his butt, although she didn’t utter a peep.
It was a long, quiet afternoon.
An hour before the finals performance at the fairgrounds, Chase checked out his bull, stretched his quads and hamstrings and tried to mentally prep himself. He was leaning against the corral, watching the last rays of sunshine through the clouds of humidity, when he heard, “Bill Chase. You’re lookin’ good to win this tonight.”
He turned toward Taz. “I hope so. Be nice if we all came in the money, huh?”
Taz spit a stream of tobacco juice through the fence rails. “Yep. Be a boost to the boy if he could place.”
“He’s doin’ better than I did. Took three events before I even rode one for eight seconds. I damn near gave up.”
“Been there myself more times than I care to admit. Started the junior events at fifteen. Got my pro card at eighteen. I’ll be fifty-one next month. So a long damn time.” Another brown stream landed in the dirt.
“You get tired of it?”
“There are days. But it ain’t like I got other skills. Ridin’s all I know.”
Sobering for Chase to admit that he might be Taz in a few years.
That’s when Ava sauntered into view. Smiling at assorted cowboys as she shooed them aside and set up her video camera. Fuckin’ hell, the woman was something else.
“She sure is,” Taz said.
Shit. He hadn’t meant to say that out loud.
“I saw her last night at the bar on Main Street.”
He’d been too pissed off and filled with pride to track her down after she’d left. “Any guy in particular catch her notice?”
“Hmm. I believe one did.” Taz snorted. “If I were twenty years younger, I’da given that guy a run for his money. Man. He was all over her.”
Chase wanted to demand what the guy looked like. If he was tall. If Ava and the putz had danced together. Or whether they’d snuck off early. They could’ve gone back to his place right after they’d met. She could’ve ended her sexual drought and he wouldn’t know it. That thought turned his vision a dangerous red and he wanted to rip something to pieces with his bare hands.
“Didn’t see Ryan last night until late neither. Kid still had a grin on his face this mornin’. You got time to have a beer at the campsite tonight after the event?”
“I’ll swing by. It’ll be an early night since I’m hitting the road tomorrow mornin’.” He clapped Taz on the shoulder. “Gotta get my head on straight about this ride. See you in the chutes.”