Page 57 of Rough Ride

I was entranced by the way Sawyer rode the mechanical bull. Rather than fighting the machine, it looked like he was locked in a dance with it, the two of them moving together to a music only they could hear.

I clutched his hat to my chest, inhaling his scent. The timer ticked upward: twelve seconds. Thirteen. Sawyer hadn’t even comecloseto falling. It was like the bull was on a lowerdifficulty, although the neon sign showed eleven, and Williewasthrashing around with every bit as much violence as it had for the first two cowboys.

He was good.Verygood.

As the timer hit fifteen, I realized Sawyer was going to win easily. That shocked me… and also excited me. Not only was he willing to play what he called achildren’s gameto win a date with me, he was doing so with an ease that made Johnny and Eli look like amateurs by comparison.

“I thinkhe’sLeBron,” Johnny said next to me.

Sawyer had appeared bored up to this point, but now his eyes found me in the crowd. His lips curled in a vicious smile, one without humor.

And then he let go.

Sawyer smoothly rolled off the back of Whiplash Willie, landing on his feet on the mat with the grace and control of Simone Biles.

“Fifteen-point-nine seconds!” the attendant boomed over the loudspeaker. “Just shy of the previous time!”

The crowd sounded disappointed, and began dispersing from around the ring. Next to me, Eli pumped his fist in victory. But I couldn’t stop staring at Sawyer as he slowly walked our way.

“Thanks,” he said, taking his cowboy hat from my hand and placing it on his head before walking away.

“So,” Eli asked. “What are the options for our date, again?”

“One second,” I said, pushing through the crowd to follow Sawyer. I caught up to him halfway across the room, grabbing his arm and trying to slow him down. “What the hell was that?”

He glanced back at me, but kept walking. “A taste of what you’ll see at Dickies Arena in two weeks.”

“You were going to win easily!” I insisted. “You fell on purpose.”

Sawyer turned back to me so fast I ran into him. It was like bumping into a brick wall. He stared down at me, leaning closer until his eyes were just inches away. They were bloodshot, and he smelled like whiskey and fine oiled leather.

“Make the prize something worth my while,” he said with the sexiest little smirk, “and I’ll try harder. Enjoy your date with Elijah.”

He walked away, leaving me standing there with my jaw open.

25

Sawyer

Nothing made my dick harder than putting other rodeo cowboys in their place.

Johnny and Elijah were better than most. Cocky, but not huge fucking assholes about it like the rest of the field. They were competitive, a trait that was pretty goddamn mandatory in this business.

But I still loved wiping the smiles off their faces.

Doing it in front of Sophie, the woman they’d been falling over each other to impress? It made my goddamnyear.

Deep down, I knew that was a childish emotion. The kind of attitude schoolyard boys had. So-and-so had a new bike, so I wanted to take it for a ride, too.

But I couldn’t deny how I felt.

Sophie was still stuck in my head like a bad idea. I’d done my best to shake her out of there since the rodeo had started, but that turned out to be harder than knocking Chris Goddamn Appleton out of first place.

When I closed my eyes at night, it was her face that filled my dreams.

When I tried ignoring her, she followed me across the room and gave me a free drink.

When I tried distracting myself outside of the rodeo, she showed up at the gym wearing skin-tight leggings that made my cock stand up and pay attention.

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