Chasin' Eight (Rough Riders #11)(21)

“Ooh, that’s mean. But understood.” She fiddled with the camera. “My first question is, what’s the best thing that ever happened to you? On a personal level or on a professional level.”

“One and the same for me.” Did that make him sound one-dimensional? “The best thing was when I won the Man of Steel competition last year.”

“What about the worst thing that ever happened to you?”

“Getting kicked off the PBR Tour.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, why?”

“I thought you’d pick something else. Something tragic.”

“Not everyone has tragedy in their lives that defines them.” And even if he did, he’d never share it. “Same questions back atcha.”

“Best thing was landing a role on Miller’s Ridge. Worst thing? When my Grandpa Cooper died. All people talked about was my inheritance. Like I was so greedy and entitled I’d blow every penny he’d worked so hard for on stupid shit.”

“What kind of stupid shit?” Chase asked.
A beat passed. “I didn’t realize my battery is low. Enough for today.” She yawned. “I think I might take a nap when we get back.”

Interesting how quickly she shut down his questions. He let it slide. This time. “Sounds good. I’m dragging a bit myself.”

The remainder of the drive was quiet. At the trailer, Ava grabbed her laptop and retreated to the bedroom.
Chase was restless. He’d left his phone and saw he’d missed a call from Elroy. And from his former traveling partner, Justin Donohue. And from his brother Ben. None left messages.
Probably because they know you won’t call them back.
With nothing else to do, he brought up the search engine on his phone and typed in Ava Cooper, just to see what shook loose.
Chapter Five

Ava downloaded her footage to her computer. Groggy from the heat in the trailer, she stripped, stretched out on the bed and fell sound asleep.
She woke at eleven o’clock at night feeling refreshed. After slipping on her clothes, she wandered into the kitchen.
Oh, looky there. The delicious dish known as Chase McKay sat on the counter, looking good enough to eat.
Why yes. I’d love to be your appetizer, entrée and dessert. One serving of hot, hunky cowboy coming right up.
Behave, Ava.
“I figured you’d gone to bed,” Chase said.
“I’ll admit I did crash for a while. Before that I had some things to catch up on. Takes a boatload of time to download everything from my cameras into the right folders on my laptop. Then I transferred the notes I jotted down so I don’t forget things.”

“Sounds tedious. Why are you doin’ this again?”

“I’m trying my hand at having a hobby,” she said sardonically. “And no, I’m not getting paid. Don’t you ever do something just because you’ve always wanted to?”

“Can’t say as I have. In fact, it’s just the opposite. I find myself doin’ stuff I don’t wanna do all the damn time.”

Ava’s smile vanished. “You could’ve said no if you didn’t want to squire me around today.” She turned and walked away.
A thump sounded and then strong hands circled her waist, spinning her around. He got in her face, as much as he could despite her height advantage. “Will you let me finish? I wasn’t talking about you. Or today. Today was great, Ava. I had a blast.”

“But?”

“No buts. Seems I never do things like that. At least I don’t take the time to do them because I’m so busy doin’ other things I don’t wanna do. These last two weeks off have shown me I’m not really living my life. I’m just killing time between bull ridin’ events. And I don’t make the best decisions on what to do with that free time.”