Page 12 of Wild, Wild Cowboy

“I was thinking early June, before rodeo season gets busy in Colorado. Is that enough time to pull it together?” I glanced over at him while I stirred the soup. The smell of green chilis and salsa verde wafted upward, making my stomach growl again.

“Eight weeks?” His head tilted as he considered. “We could make it work if you don’t try to get fancy with all eight events. I suggest you stick to the ones where contestants bring their own horses. The roping events and barrel racing. It will be easier to get insurance if you’re not including the real dangerous events like bull riding and bronc riding.”

“That makes sense. Could we also include performances? Like the high school equestrian drill team? They have their own horses.”

“That’s a good idea. James is working with a vault rider now at Lodestar. Maybe she’d like to perform, too.”

With the soup bubbling, I turned off the stove and ladled it into porcelain bowls, then pulled the cornbread from the microwave. Zack was immediately on his feet. He somehow managed to balance both bowls on one hand and took the plate in his other. Having nothing else to carry, I grabbed spoons and a knife for the butter.

“Do you want anything to drink? I have water and white wine. No beer, sorry.” I had the occasional glass of wine, but mostly I stuck to water and lots of tea.

“Water is fine, thanks.”

I filled two glasses from the tap and joined him at the table. “So, what do the roping events entail? Do they bring their own rope or is that something we have to provide?”

He froze in the middle of buttering his cornbread and stared at me.

“I’ve never been to a rodeo,” I reminded him. “I don’t know what any of the events look like.”

He set his knife down. “Well, darlin’, we’re going to have to do something about that.”

5

ZACK

Zack:

Polish up those cowboy boots, sugar. We’re going on a road trip.

Hannah:

Where to?

Zack:

I found us a rodeo. It’s two hours from here, so we’ll leave early. I’ll pick you up at eight.

Hannah:

Two hours? I’ll bring a book.

Ileaned against the tail of my truck as Hannah proceeded to slather every inch of her exposed skin with sunblock. She was wearing a short-sleeve t-shirt, and even with the neckline that came right up to the base of her throat, it wasmore skin than I was used to seeing from her and my dick was having thoughts about that. Between the sharp sunlight and whatever was in that sunblock, her skin sparkled like one of those dumbass vampires.

“I feel obligated to warn you, darlin’,” I said. “It might cause a ruckus, me being here.”

Hannah’s pale eyebrows rose a fraction.

I grinned. “I’m kind of a big deal on the rodeo circuit. And since buckle bunnies have been deprived of my company for the past ten months, they might be a hair feral.”

She scrunched up her nose. “Buckle bunnies?”

“Rodeo champions take home a belt buckle, and bunnies take home the prize underneath.” I canted my hips for emphasis and of course her eyes went there. I smirked. “It’s a time-honored tradition.”

She glanced around the half-full lot. No one was paying us any mind as they ambled about, greeting friends and heading into the fairgrounds. She looked back at me dubiously.

“Just wait,” I assured her. “Buckle bunnies don’t tend to be early risers. They’ll show up eventually, and when they do, I’m counting on you for protection.”

She stared at me for a beat, then heaved a sigh as she slipped her bare, sunblocked arms into some shapeless brown sweater thing, which made no fucking sense in this world and also made my dick sad. Andthatmade no sense, either, because there was no shortage of bare arms and bare ankles right here in this very parking lot, some of them even attached to attractive women, but no. My dick didn’t care about any ofthose. Apparently they had to be Hannah’s bare arms and bare ankles to be of any interest.

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