Page 112 of Rough Ride

Then his head tilted up, eyes locking onto me despite the darkness.

Once again, my breath seized in my chest. Somehow, he made me feel like I was the only spectator present. Like I was cared for in a way I hadn’t experienced in a long,longtime.

This was the beginning of something special. Of a deeper feeling. I wasn’t going to say the L-word, not yet, but it was the burning ember of it.

It was a start.

I tried not to think about the fact that the rodeo was now over… which meant they would be leaving.

*

We celebrated at Billy Bob’s that night in the main room, which had been reserved by the rodeo coordinators. Beer flowed and whiskey shots were poured as dozens of cowboys toasted to the end of the rodeo.

And when Johnny and Eli arrived, the place wentnuts. It was like they were war heroes returning home for the first time—everyone wanted to shake their hand and give them a few words of congratulations.

“I don’t like sharing my cowboys with all these adoring fans,” I told Liz.

She snorted.

“What’s so funny?” I demanded.

“You don’t like sharing them,” she observed. “Yet they’re fine sharingyou.”

Yeah, okay. I didn’t have a snappy retort to that.

“I’m still mad I got third place,” Eli told me after making his way through the crowd to hug me by the bar. “My performance was better than Applesauce’s. Right?”

“It definitely was,” I agreed. “You got robbed.”

“Good thing Johnny’s ride was too good to cheat!” Eli said, clapping the blond winner on the arm. “Look at that blingaround his neck. First place. Beautiful. You should’ve worn your Steer Wrestling medal, too. Show italloff tonight.”

“Let’s not get carried away,” Johnny replied with a smile.

They both joined the line dancing group on the dance floor, which was hilarious to watch because Eli hadnoidea what he was doing. But he didn’t care about looking ridiculous—he just grinned and shrugged while trying to keep up with everyone else’s moves.

Johnny, meanwhile, looked like he’d been dancing since he was old enough to walk. And when he tipped his hat to me from across the room, I couldn’t help but blush.

It’s okay to swoon, I told myself.I’m already sleeping with him, after all.

The party had been raging for an hour when Jessica, my manager, came around the bar. “Two things,” she said. “One, you can take the rest of the night off. We have plenty of staffing, and you deserve to relax a little. Especially after what happened the other night with Chris Appleton.”

“Are you sure?” I asked, looking around at the crowded room.

“Positive.” Jessica tapped her code into the computer behind the bar, clocking herself in. “And second, you have a special visitor.”

I started to ask who, but then Sawyer strode up to the bar with a wry grin on his face.

I turned to Jessica. “I thought he was permanently banned from Billy Bob’s.”

“I used my managerial discretion to let him in,” Jessica replied. “Just for tonight. By the way, cowboy, I told the police you weren’t the aggressor in the fight. I also told them you neverreached for your knives or threatened to use them. I don’t think the cops cared, though.”

“Thanks for trying,” he told her.

“Thanks for defending Sophie. I can’tofficiallysupport customers getting into bar fights, no matter the reason…” She poured a glass of whiskey and set it on the bar in front of him. “But unofficially, tonight you’re drinking for free.”

Sawyer raised the glass. “Mighty kind of ya.”

I poured myself a pint of beer, then left the working side of the bar to join Sawyer. “I heard about what you did at the rodeo. Defending Johnny and Eli.”

---