Page 10 of Cowboy Friend Zone for Christmas

She was gazing into the distance with a troubled expression on her face. “I know you don’t like what you’re hearing right now, but the more I get to know you, the more precious you’re becoming to me. I don’t want to lose you, Nash.”

Her words reached deep inside him, squeezing his heart like a warm glove. Don’t mind hearing that part one bit, babe. He sensed there was a but coming, though, and decided to ward it off with an argument of his own.

“I want one last shot at the circuit for old-time’s sake. For proper closure, I guess.” Desperately needing her to understand, he reached out to pinch her chin and force her gaze back to him. Maybe she’d be better at reading his thoughts, since he was having so much trouble putting them into words.

“Nash,” she pleaded softly.

“I don’t want to do it without you.” He lightly rubbed his thumb against the underside of her chin. “I want you in the stands cheering me on. I want to do this together.”

“Are you sure you’re capable of doing it just one time?” She looked skeptical. “Once a cowboy catches that kind of bug, it can be addictive. I’ve seen it happen time and time again. You’ve experienced it firsthand.”

“I give you my word.” What she said was true, but his desire to keep her good opinion of him was stronger than all of those kinds of pressures. Plus, he genuinely enjoyed running Canyon Creek Ranch, much more than he’d expected to. No, it wasn’t the same as being yanked around on the back of a horse to the tune of a roaring crowd, but it was challenging and fulfilling. With Noelle at his side, it was more than enough.

She was silent for so long that he was afraid she was going to turn him down flat. He was wrong.

“Okay, Nash.” The words eased out of her, as silent as a whisper, but infinitely more powerful. What she left unsaid was equally powerful. She was agreeing to his terms. All of them.

The breath he’d been holding slowly left his lungs. Though he could still sense the reservations she harbored, she would make every effort to hide them for one evening. She would attend the rodeo with him and cheer herself hoarse, like she often did for him and his brothers while they were in the practice ring. It was just the kind of woman she was.

“Thank you.” He reluctantly dropped his hand from her chin, wishing he could find a way to tell her just how much her continued support meant to him. There were no words to do the sentiment justice, though, so he silently opened his office door for her.

She paused in the doorway and spoke without turning to meet his gaze again. “What time should I be ready?”

“Five o’clock, if you don’t mind. I’d like to get there early and get the lay of the land.”

“I’ll be ready.” She walked away without looking back.

He stared after her, wishing she hadn’t sounded so dejected.

Friday evening rolled around much sooner than Noelle wanted it to. Her heart strummed with trepidation as she ended her work with the horses an hour early. She trudged back to her loft apartment to shower and change.

The quarters for the ranch hands were in a smaller horse barn located about a quarter mile down a gravel road from the bigger one. It had the same white steel walls and red metal roof, but there was no brick front office attached to it. Since she hadn’t gotten around to having her car shipped from Pinetop, she usually walked the short distance.

A few ranch hands called greetings her way, but nobody tried to stop her. There was a prickle of excitement in the air, probably because everyone on the ranch had heard Nash’s big news by now.

“You going?” one of the younger guys shouted to a friend.

“Everyone in Dallas is gonna be there, dude,” the other guy called back. “It’s blowing up all over social media.”

As soon as Noelle was back in her apartment, she whipped out her cell phone to see what they were talking about. Sure enough, several local news stations were reporting Nash Carson’s “big return” to the rodeo circuit. It didn’t sound like any of them understood his performance this evening was going to be a onetime thing.

If he doesn’t change his mind afterward.

The thought made her sick to her stomach. She kicked off her riding boots inside the door and padded in sock feet to the bathroom of the cozy studio apartment. She reached inside the shower and turned the nozzle to just shy of scalding. Unfortunately, when she stepped beneath the spray, it wasn’t nearly hot enough to melt away her misgivings.

She prayed as she sudsed up her hair. “Keep Nash safe this evening, Lord.” Her anxious tears mingled with the water sluicing down her face. She hadn’t been kidding when she’d told Nash she couldn’t bear the thought of him becoming injured again. “And please help him keep his word about making tonight his last official ride.” She didn’t think she had it in her to watch him being yanked around on the back of a bucking bronco, over and over again all season long —not while knowing that every jerking movement risked creating hairline fractures in the bone of his upper arm. Every tumble to the ground risked even more extensive injuries.

After toweling off, she had to wave her hands frenziedly at her face to bring her splotchy cheeks back to their normal color. She applied a light layer of eye makeup to cover any remaining evidence of her bout of weeping.

He gave me his word, and I gave him mine. She reminded herself of that a dozen times as she dressed. Since it was a warm day and a special occasion to boot, she sprang for a white denim shirt dress. It was heavily embroidered on the front and back with silver and gold threads, along with countless seed pearls. She added a straw Stetson and stepped into a pair of brown leather boots. Though it was windy outside, she opted to keep her hair down. If nothing else, the reddish highlights would provide a nice contrast to the color of her dress.

Oh, who am I trying to kid? She made a face at herself in the mirror, finally admitting that she wanted Nash to feel proud having her at his side tonight. I know we’re just friends, but… Sometimes it felt like more than that.

It had certainly felt like more when he’d laced his fingers through hers and called her babe. He’d turned a little red afterward, like he hadn’t meant to say that out loud. But he had. She hoped she wasn’t reading more into it than what he’d intended.

A sharp honk of a horn alerted her to the fact that the cowboy she was daydreaming about was waiting for her outside in his truck. She hurriedly left her apartment and jogged down the stairs. She paid extra close attention to each of the steps, not wanting to trip and take herself out of the game by breaking another bone on an important night like tonight.

She was out of breath by the time she reached the passenger side of Nash’s pickup truck. He leaned across the seat to push open the door. Black graphics adorned both sides of the juiced up red Dodge Ram, advertising the horses they bred and trained at Canyon Creek Ranch. Just for kicks, he’d sprung for oversized tires, fancy fender flares, and a heavy-duty LED light bar.

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