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"I didn't care," he said, his voice as sure and confident as it always had been "I always kneas you I loved you from the very first day I saw you" He bent down to the hospital bed, brushing his lips againstthat place inA flood ofover hts of pleasure no other ainst h the dull haze of the morphine
"Alright, nowith the patient," came a voice A doctor appeared in the roo an to work onus X-rays that I barely re taken "Looks like this lady has a hairline fracture, and it looks like her tendons never properly healed from an old injury There's also a slipped bone in her foot, and quite a lot of stress on the toes Are you a forain Doctors never liked to deal with professional dancers since ere so likely to power through the pain instead of getting et you a boot on this foot,” the doctor continued, “And you'll have to come back for both physical therapy… new cast… all that”
"Could she do that in Austin?" Billy squeezedcompletely dry
"I don't see why not Are you her husband? You two live in Austin? It says here you live in LA, Miss Taylor" I openedup to what Billy had said
"Fiancé," he said "We'reback to Austin soon"
"Well then, you're the one who needs to ets physical therapy And then she'll be able to do whatever she wants in a few inal injury was taken care of how it should have been"
"Billy," I whispered as the doctor walked off "I can't go to Austin My life is here Besides, doesn't your family live in Dallas?"
"Screw my family I'll take you back andabout it By the time you're et worried about you not having any money"
"Billy," I said with a frown, pushing through the strange haziness of the painkillers "I said eight years ago that it wouldn't work I' to join a family that doesn't want me"
"What about joining a rateful that the doctor had come back into the room Billy was all I'd wanted for years, and here he was, ready to takeago The nurse brought us the papers to sign out, and Billy helpedan to push h the blank, sterile halls
"You can taketo keep nored me or didn't hear what I'd said
"There's a ranch outside of Austin I've had ht now, but that ranch The house has eight bedrooms, and there's two hundred acres of land For cattle and horses And goats you alanted to learn how to oat cheese"
"Billy" I said I closedthat old vision swirl before me
"It's Joseph now Or Joe Billy is my father's name, and I ain't that type of man I'm the type of man ants to buy a ranch for the most beautiful woman in the world, the only woman I've wanted for the better part of a decade And fill that whole daht out front so we can teach all those kids how to dance And you can do whatever kind of lessons you want We can probably even bring a physical therapist out to the studio to get you all healed up The ballet ht not want you, but I do You hear me?" He rolled the wheelchair up to the side of the li me in the eye
"Billy Joe, I mean This is all a little much"
"Well, you were always a little ether" I stifled a laugh He kissed hter in his body That shock ran through an to reood those strong, rough hands couldskirt to the side so that the fabric didn't get caught on the bulky boot His lips parted frohis arm around me "Just tell me you'll consider it"
"I'll consider it," I said, sighing So about the faint buzz of ht the rouessed that this would all happen so quickly My head sith the thought of it Before Billy Joe could say another word, I gave Donny the driver htail it I couldn't leave ht, no matter how fabulous this cowboy billionaire's hotel was And I was betting it certainly was
"You takin' et to see the fabulous Los Angeles home of the famous dancer and millionaire matchmaker?"
"Sure," I said "You can even stay for five or ten minutes"
"Hell, that's no way to treat an old friend" He drewsince a ht years since it was the man I loved had taken me and made me screa around a corner
"That's my tiny little house" I s and one cat were sitting at the front , probably wondering where my car had been for the last few hours "You can drop et back to Austin"
"If you think for one second I'ot another think coo back to the rooms, and you can have my suite if you want" Joe tossed Donny a set of keys
"No, Billy I mean, Joe I want to be alone I have a lot to think about" I let my voice trail off, fully aware that Billy Joe Wootton intended to stay at ht I hoped he liked animals as much as he used to Without another word, he opened the car door and hoisted me out In all the times he'd lifted me in the past several hours, he hadn't even ht ballerina anymore -- my curves had filled in over ti as he ever was And just as prone to sweep a girl off her feet He placed ently in the wheelchair and pushed me up to the house
"I don't want to hear another word about it You can make me sleep on your little porch there if you want But I just found you and I'm not about to leave you"
"Eleni texted me and told me she would come"
"Tell her that no pregnant wo around Y'all would be fallin' all over each other in no tiot time to take another trip to that fancy LA hospital"
"I told her you'd probably be staying anyway" I s to lift me up any more than Billy Joe did But still, there was that little proble with ettingto a ranch in Austin I sighed and handed Joe the key
"Wait a second before you open--" Before I could finish s were on hi noises The one-eyed cat na
"I guess this here's the welcoo on and scoot for a second Your et her on inside" Joe leaned down and scratched the retired greyhound behind her ears The pug ran in circles, vying for the handsome cowboy's attention too
"Looks like they already got a crush on you, Billy I mean,
Joe I can't quite wrap my head around this new na the wheelchair into the house