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They’d booked stalls in the barn for both horses for the weekend, but after Odessa and now this, it didn’t seem safe anymore. ‘We’ll move tonight,’ TJ said. ‘Camp somewhere. Come back tomorrow.’

Skye left Kai tied outside and stepped into the trailer. She moved past TJ to go and check her horse over. ‘I have sleeping bags. We’ll camp out with them.’

‘You need to sleep,’ TJ argued.

‘So do you,’ Skye countered.

‘Skye—’

‘No.’ She looked at him, her eyes burning blue with rage. ‘This is personal. If you feel uncomfortable sleeping next to me, then you sleep in the trailer. I’ll be outside with the horses.’

TJ couldn’t even think of a good argument; if their situation had been reversed, he’d have done the same. ‘How many spare tyres do you have?’

‘Two for the truck. Only one for the trailer because they were new, damn it.’

‘I’ll text around, let people know what happened and see if we can borrow a spare for the trailer. We’ll go into town tomorrow and pick up some spares.’

‘I looked around before my stall was confirmed,’ Skye said. ‘Cherry Creek State Park is about an hour from here; they have RV hook-ups and allow horses. We’d have to drive there and back every day.’

‘Doesn’t matter.’ TJ was done risking it. ‘The safety of being in the middle of nowhere will be worth it.’

Skye sighed tiredly. ‘Agreed.’

‘While I hunt up some tyres for the trailer, why don’t you offload Smokey? Let her walk a bit.’ When Skye moved off, TJ caught her by the wrist. She raised her eyebrows at him, but he didn’t let her sass bother him, just said, ‘Stay in sight.’

He knew she was spooked by the fact that she didn’t argue, just nodded, murmured, ‘Okay.’

TJ waited for her to walk off with both horses and the dog before hauling out the spare truck tyres and the jack. He stared at the first slashed tyre with dread, knowing that his back would scream in protest with every movement. And even though he understood that he could ask any cowboy there for help, TJ couldn’t bear the thought. So, he took a deep breath, braced himself, and then slowly lowered to the ground to loosen the bolts on the tyre.

Every twist of the lug wrench torqued his spine, and by the time TJ had loosened all of the bolts enough to jack the truck and replace the tyre, he was drenched with sweat from the effort of resisting the pain. His back, shoulders, and arms spasmed. A pounding headache started beating behind his eyes.

When Skye approached, her first words, ‘Are you okay?’, TJ snapped.

‘I’m fucking fine. Stop asking me that.’

A cold silence slipped between them.

But TJ couldn’t let it bother him. He just needed to finish the job.

He kept working through the spasms and the fire spreading down his right leg, and by the time he had changed both tyres on the truck and sourced another for the trailer and changed those, he could barely breathe through the pain.

The moment he pulled the jack from beneath the trailer, he sat back against the tyre and closed his eyes.

He couldn’t think, couldn’t focus on anything but the next agonizing breath.

When he heard Skye coming back, her booted feet crunching over the ground, he forced himself back to calm and opened his eyes.

She stared down at him, not with any fondness or affection, only pity.

‘If you want to say anything about my back, please don’t. I promise you, I’m aware.’

She didn’t listen to him. ‘Why don’t you take pain meds?’

‘I liked the numbness too much.’

‘Why are you so stubborn about this?’

‘Genetics.’