Page 29 (1/2)

So as the appeal to sustain this way of life? When it was co work, extreer? There didn’t appear to bethe elelean the tiniest bit of understanding would be to stick it out Figure it out Maybe by doing that, she’d find her way Because one thing she had figured out? She was ardless of her physical location

Her thoughts drifted back to her sleeplessness last night and her flash of understanding of how important it was for Chase to prove he could keep the “no sex” proe his mind? Just because she wanted to prove that she had the ht to fall into bed with her?

Talk about diva-ish expectations

Needing to sort out her eed her notebook and flipped on the desk laestions, ideas Gibberish mostly, but she finally felt a e, not writing snarkily, or trying to be hip, or funny, but being real

Ava also realized she’d never really know Chase except on a superficial level unless she studied his obsession and profession frole Not from fear, but from curiosity She turned on her computer and searched for Chase McKay’s previous year’s rides, creating a separate disk with those, so he could coot away from her as she edited, copied folders and burned a DVD, so the knock on the bunkhouse door startled her Sweet Ella stood on the porch, bouncing with io see the kitties?”

She could use a mental break “Sure”

They messed with the balls of fluff until Gemma called Ella for supper When Ava returned to the bunkhouse, she noticed Chase was in the bathrooet the disks up to the house without running into hiure out how to deal with these conflicting feelings, whether the e her normal life orth it for the short ter, but she intended to try

Chapter Nine

As Chase dished up a helping of sausage and fried potatoes, Gemma said, “Ava dropped off the disks she made of your rides today One of the disks has all your previous good rides in the PBR and your worst rides to coainst your rides today”

Chase’s fork stopped halfway to his mouth “She did? That’s above and beyond”

“Maybe slo-ive an idea of what you’re doin’ differently,” Colby said “So is off in your ridin’, but I’ll be damned if I could pinpoint exactly what it is”

“That’s because there were tooto focus on just one,” Cash said with a smile

If Cash’s kids hadn’t been at the table, Chase would’ve flipped hi bad to even lift up “I’onna blame some of my altered performance on the safety helmet”

“If you wanna train here, you have to wear it The sooner you get used to it, the sooner we can get you back on track Besides, you were havin’ troubles long before the headgear switch”

Colby pointed at Chase with his butter knife “I’m with Cash on this”

“So you’d wear the helmet without complaint to every performance if you were still on the road?”

“Yep”

Chase snorted His big, macho cousin wouldn’t have worn one Period