Love Somebody Like You by Susan Fox Page A

course it changed you, but it didn’t have to turn you into a different person.
    Or was there something more going on with Sally, tying into her wariness around men?
    The woman fascinated him. She always had, but back then the fascination had been superficial. He had been superficial, a cocky wannabe rodeo cowboy. She’d been the queen, the glittery flame that drew all the moths. Now, the fire in her was banked down so far that he barely glimpsed a glowing ember every now and then. Damn it, he wanted to see her come to life again. He wanted to see her fire, her warmth, her passion. But if he poked too hard, he might scare her.
    â€œLook,” he said, “you like efficiency, right? We need to talk about ground rules. And we need to prepare dinner and eat. You do salad, I do burgers, dinner’s prepared in half the time. We talk while we eat, so we’re multitasking. And you get to share my fudge brownies.” And maybe she’d share her smile with him.
    Well, damned if it didn’t work.
    She actually gave him a grin. “You always were persuasive, Ben Traynor.”
    â€œHah. The most I could persuade you into was a dance now and then.”
    â€œYou were too young for me.”
    He chuckled. “Maybe. But you put a major dent in my ego when you pointed it out.”
    She snorted. “Someone had to. You had enough cowgirls and buckle bunnies after you. If your ego’d gotten any more swollen, it would’ve burst.” She studied his face, for once not looking guarded but curious. “You seem different now. Confident, but not so cocky.”
    â€œIt’s been a lot of years. I did some growing up.”
    â€œNot all rodeo cowboys do. What with the buckle bunnies and all,” she drawled.
    â€œYeah, well. Different guys want different things. When you can’t remember the name of the woman you wake up next to, seems to me there’s something wrong.”
    â€œYou think?” she said drily. “So are you in a serious relationship now?”
    He shook his head, pleased that she was interested enough to ask. “Winter before last, after the rodeo season ended and I was back home, I dated a woman I’d gone to high school with. We got along pretty well, but she was looking to settle down and start a family. Didn’t want to do that with a guy who spent most of the year driving from rodeo to rodeo.”
    â€œNo, I can imagine not. And for you, life’s all about the rodeo?”
    â€œYeah.” That was the short, easy answer.
    She nodded, apparently willing to accept that. A private person, respecting his privacy.
    Damn it, that wasn’t how he wanted things to be between them. So he went on, speaking slowly as he sorted out his thoughts. “For now. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t thought about settling down at some point. I can see the appeal, some years down the road, of being with one woman, of raising kids and teaching them to ride.”
    â€œYeah.” Something glinted in her green eyes, maybe a hint of yearning. “What kind of work would you do? Ranching?”
    A lot of rodeo cowboys were into ranching, often because their families owned a spread. “Maybe, if I make enough money to buy a ranch. My folks sold theirs a while back. It was grinding them down. Or I could train horses, maybe buy into a partnership with the guy I’ve been working for. Do some weekend rodeo and keep my hand in. It would be okay, I guess.”
    â€œToo bad the timing was off for you and your ex-girlfriend.”
    â€œIt wasn’t just the timing,” he admitted. “I couldn’t see doing all that stuff with her. The kids; building a life.”
    Sally’s eyes urged him to go on.
    â€œJana was great. We were pretty compatible, but there was something missing.” For him, anyhow. “I liked her a lot, but it didn’t go deeper than that.” They sure hadn’t had that “you’re my one