Page 8 of Hooking Up

In the meantime, the poodle got away. Bella disappeared from the arena, along with her tooled-edge chaps and her horse sporting streamers on its tail.

Quint folded his arms, bracing his legs wide. He might not have gotten to her in time, but neither had Carter.

*

Bella paced the passageway, trying to keep her mind off…well, everything. Her ride, her score that was about to be announced and especially that pair of ropers determined to drive her batty.

Last time she’d seen them, they were standing together. She hadn’t known two solid walls of muscle could stare like that. How was a woman supposed to keep her wits about her with hunks like them giving her the come-hither look?

“Great ride, Bella!”

She glanced up to see a tall drink of water loping toward her flanked by giggling little girls. Bella dropped her personal life and smiled at the girls. They couldn’t be more than eight years old, and they hid their smiles behind their hands.

“Well aren’t you two ready for the rodeo? Look at all those rhinestones! And is that a turquoise ring I see on your finger, little one?” She crouched before the girls.

“Sarah and Beatrice were itching to meet their favorite barrel racer,” the man drawled.

Bella fawned over silver rings and silky curls before standing again and looking at the man. “Do you have something I can autograph for them?”

“Sugar, I’ve got a lot of somethings you can lay your ink on.”

After years of comments like this, Bella had her bored expression set on redial. She conjured it now and stared at him until the tips of his ears reddened.

At least he has the grace to blush. The nerve—bringing his little girls as a reason to flirt with me. Or saying that in front of them.

“I’ve got a pen if you have some paper? A receipt or a business card?” She whipped a pen from her front pocket and held it up.

“Sure do, miss.” He rooted in his pocket and came out with a business card with an oily fingerprint on it. She didn’t bother reading the card—she just flipped it over and signed it to Sarah and Beatrice.

When she handed the token to the girls, they squealed. One tugged her hand, and Bella offered them each a big hug. As soon as she straightened again, the man extended his arms.

“Where’s my hug? A single dad doesn’t get many chances to touch a pretty woman such as yourself.”

Ugh. She was really running out of people she actually liked.

He reached for her, and she stepped back. “Why don’t you try and see how many women you get to touch with no hands?”

At her threat, a twinkle appeared in his eyes. Damn these men who thought she was just playing hard to get. They looked at her responses as a challenge, but she was no prize to be won.

“Sarah, Beatrice, follow your dreams, lovely girls. And enjoy the rest of the rodeo, you hear?”

Beaming, they nodded. She whirled and took off deeper into the building where nobody could find her. A few steps in, she realized she hadn’t heard her score.Screw it.She knew she was right around the sixteen-second mark. Not her best time, but it would get her in the standings. Her only real competition was Wynonna Calhoun, and she wasn’t here tonight.

A hand locked on her shoulder. Instinct made her whip around, her fist connecting with a hard jaw. Pain sliced through her knuckles and up her arm, along with a deep satisfaction. She couldn’t believe that single dad had followed her. She couldn’t believe—

She blinked at Carter, who was shaking off her punch. His hat sat askew on his head, giving her a glimpse of his jet black hair. When he met her gaze, amusement ringed his equally black eyes. All that Argentinian blood was no good for her libido. It purred like a big cat about to win a prized slab of meat.

“What the hell are you doing, sneaking up on me like that?” Her words came out too breathy, but none of them sounded like fear. And her racing heart definitely had nothing to do with it.

“I wanted to congratulate you on top score.”

“Top?” Her chances of winning this thing in Henderson were about to be realized. Only a few more competitors and none of them could throw her out of first place unless they got lucky and had the run of their lives.

He gave a cocky jerk of his head that was supposed to be a nod. To her, it was like a damn mating call. Her body geared up, and her fingers twitched to touch him. To feel the coarse stubble along his angular jaw and imagine how it felt between her thighs.

A shiver ran through her.

He mistook it as emotion about her standings. “I know you’re excited. Did you hear the place go crazy when they put your name on top?”

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