“I don’t know,” she said, making as good of friends with that word as she could.

She felt frozen and unsure and she hated it. So very, very much. But she wasn’t brave enough to say anything more.

“Get back to me when you do.”

And then Gabe Dalton turned and walked back into the bar, and for the first time in her memory, Jamie Dodge stood frozen, unsure of what she wanted, or how to get it.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

GABE WENT BACK into the bar and walked right up to Crystal.

He’d had every intention of proceeding with his plan when he’d left Jamie standing outside. Never mind that what he had been attempting to do had felt a whole lot like trying to force himself to eat broccoli when what he really wanted was cake.

And it was a damn thing, because honestly, very few men would look at Crystal and see broccoli. But for some reason, his entire world felt like it was standing on its head and...

He wasn’t even all that pissed off about it.

Not like he should be.

Because Jamie was interesting. She had a passion about her, and it had touched something inside him he hadn’t accessed in years.

And she’d gone and made him feel. Made him feel things about the ranch, the horses, about the life he’d left all those years before.

And then she’d done this. Walked up and broken into his routine. And it was a routine, no doubt about it. The same kind he’d performed out on the circuit. Crystal was just his type. Game for a good time and playing a part, just like he was.

Not Jamie.

Jamie had walked right up and started talking about taking a horse’s temperature.

He’d had to take her outside and be real with her, and he couldn’t seem to find his way back into character now.

He’d...he’d almost kissed Jamie Dodge. And now her face, her mouth, was all he could think about.

He bit back a curse as he faced Crystal. “I think we both know this isn’t going to work out.”

Crystal frowned, the expression more of an adorable pout. Of course it was. She was the kind of woman who could make a sulk pretty. Not a boot-stomping terror.

And yet.

“Because of that horse girl?”

“I think so,” he said, knowing his tone sounded about as defeated as he felt.

She lifted a shoulder. “Everybody has their kinks, I guess,” the woman said, looking him up and down.

Then she turned and walked away, clearly pissed off. He looked over at the table where Jamie had been with her friends and saw that it was still empty.

He could still see her standing outside the bar, her arms crossed over her chest, her head bent low.

And right about then something snapped inside him. Then a fire began to blaze. One that was unlike any he’d felt in far too long. It wasn’t just sex. Not just attraction.