Page 90 of Rough Ride

I should have ignored it. I should have remained present with Sophie, lying in bed together where everything was perfect andright.

Instead, I checked my phone.

“Shit. I have to take this.”

Sophie sat cross-legged on the bed and pouted as I took the call. But when I hung up and slammed the phone down on the bedside table, her eyes widened in shock.

“What’s wrong?”

I swung my legs over the side of the bed, gripping the edge with tight fingers. I could feel my pulse in my bruised hand, thumping faster as adrenaline hit my veins.

“That was the rodeo coordinator,” I said, gritting my teeth. “They’re kicking me out.”

40

Sophie

I had been having a fantastic time with Johnny and Eli. They were earnest, and fun, and caring. Oh, and they wereridiculouslysexy, too.

But Sawyer was amanin a way that neither of them were.

Quiet and dangerous.

It turned me on in a totally different way.

I was so glad he responded the way he did to my… sexual request. Anal sex was something I had always enjoyed, but was difficult for me to outright ask for in bed. I was always afraid my partner would judge me for wanting something sodirty.

Chris Appleton certainly had. When I’d suggested it to him when we were together one night, he outrightlaughedat me. And when he realized I was serious, he made more than one unkind comment about my sexual appetite. I should’ve known he was an asshole then.

But Sawyer didn’t judge me. If anything, he seemed to love that I was so forward about it. That boosted my self-esteem in bed, making me feel sexy and confident. I was still basking in theafterglow of our raunchy morning together in bed. I could have stayed in that hotel room all day.

Then he got that phone call.

“They’re kicking you out?” I asked. “Of, like, the entire rodeo?”

He stood, fully nude, and paced the room while tapping on his phone. “Yeah.”

“Can they even do that?”

He didn’t respond—he just kept pacing while focusing on his phone. After a few moments he glanced over at me like he had forgotten I was even in the room.

“I don’t want to be a dick, but I have to make some phone calls. You’d better leave.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?” I asked.

He shook his head, then put his phone to his ear. “Callahan. It’s Sawyer. I need a lawyer.”

My heart was racing for him. I wanted to stay, to help in any way I could—even if it meant just being a comforting presence nearby. But it was obvious that Sawyer was an independent man who wanted to handle this himself. If I pushed, he would push back.

I quietly got dressed while Sawyer shouted at whoever was on the other end of the call. He was completely ignoring me, now. I began wondering if he blamed me for what had happened; I was the reason he’d gotten into a fight with Appleton, after all.

As I walked toward the door, Sawyer lowered the phone and held out his arm to block me. “Hey. Sorry it ended like this, but… this was really great.”

“Yeah. It was.”

He slid an arm around my waist and pulled me into a kiss, quick but full of passion, then returned to his phone call. “No,not you. This is anything but fuckinggreat, Callahan. When can you get down here?”

I felt guilty as I drove home. This was happening because he had chosen to defend me last night. If I had kissed Appleton, or defused the situation some other way, all of this could have been avoided.

---