She gave Bullet another card with a number on it, for his trainer. She told him to call him right away and let him know he’d arrived. They’d start work that afternoon.
“There’s a steam room and sauna, workout equipment, and you can schedule massages or facials,” the woman said pointing to another building, south of the pond. “We have folks on staff year round for the spa.”
A massage sounded really good to Tristan, especially after spending the better part of two days on an airplane.
“Is there a hot tub?” Bullet asked, looking at Tristan when he did. He winked at her when her gaze met his.
“Yes, there is. And a lap pool.”
“This is quite a setup,” Tristan commented.
“People pay big bucks to spend a week with us. They come over from Vail and Aspen, or fly in like you did. A few years ago, business started to fall off. Research told us we had to offer the spa services along with gourmet food, dancing, hot cowboys, easy and healthy horses, and loads of options for daily activities. The owners paid attention. Now we sell out just about every week we’re open.”
“Do you know anything about a private line of clothing?” Tristan ventured.
“Oh, I’m glad you mentioned that. Yes, I’m supposed to arrange a meeting with you, me, and Stewart. He’s the owner. I understand your company has a new woman’s line in the works. We’d love to be among the first to offer it.” She picked up a catalog that had been sitting on the coffee table in the cabin. “This is the majority of what we offer now. We sell to folks around the world through this and our website. Take a look through it, and see if you think your pieces would be a good fit, although from what we’ve heard from Liv Rice, they will be.”
Tristan glanced at Bullet who had an “I told you so” look on his face. She looked at the card.
“Thank you, Piper. That’s you, right?”
“Oh, goodness, didn’t I introduce myself? Yes, I’m Piper.”
Tristan and Bullet shook hands with her, and she left.
“Guess I’ll see you around.” Bullet walked toward the cabin door.
“Sure, see you.”
“If you’re interested, I can let you know where I’ll be practicin’. When I know, that is.”
Once again Tristan was reminded how different Bullet was from Harris. Seeing the lecher who had broken her heart really put their differences in perspective. Bullet was his own man, but she’d never given him a chance. Instead, she’d thought of him as Harris Jones’ clone.
“I’d like that,” she said after too long a time. She saw Bullet visibly exhale, as though he’d been waiting for her answer to breathe again. “Maybe we could check out the hot tub later, too,” she added.
If only she had a camera to capture the stunned look on Bullet’s face. It was priceless.
“Yeah? Did you bring your bathing suit?”
Bullet stepped over the threshold of the door, onto the porch.
“Nope, I sure didn’t.” She could only imagine the look on his face, now, was even more priceless as she closed the door behind him.
She wasn’t sure what had gotten into her, other than she felt like giving him back a little of what he gave her. It had been a long time since she let herself flirt so brazenly with a man. It felt good. Instead of feeling like a nun, she felt like a woman.
Bullet could barely walk, let alone remember how his phone worked. The last thing, the very last thing, he’d expected from Tristan was for her to flirt with him, and so brazenly.
How the hell was he supposed to focus on bulls now? Maybe he should go back, knock on her door, and wait a few hours to call his trainer. In fact, maybe he should wait until tomorrow to call him.
“Hey, there, you Bullet?” a man shouted from down near the corral.
“Yes, sir, I am.”
“I’m Buck Bishop. I understand you’re quite the young bull rider.”
The two met halfway on the path between the cabins and the corral. “Don’t know about that, but I sure want to be.”
“Let’s get to work, then.”