Page 56 of Rough Ride

Johnny grinned, fingers tightening on the side of my hip. “Only a few times?”

I turned to look at him, my lips mere inches from him. “Only a few. But one of those times was last night in bed. When I was trying to fall asleep.”

“Is that so?” he practicallypurredat me.

I nodded. “I couldn’t sleep, so I let my imagination drift. Then my fingers started to drift…” I slid my hand down my belly suggestively, pulling his eyes down to watch. Then I took hold of his hand and removed it from my hip. “I’ll tell you all about it if your time ends up holding.”

As I placed his hand back by his side, I allowed my fingers to brush across the front of his jeans, just beneath his silver belt buckle. His cock was impossible to miss, practically radiating heat through the denim.

He sucked in a breath, then sighed. “Fourteen is a good time. I don’t know if Eli can beat it.”

The attendant called out, “Rider up!” and dialed up the difficulty again to eleven. An excited murmur passed over the crowd, then dimmed to silence as they waited for the bull to lurch into motion.

Eli glanced down at me and winked.

The buzzer blared. Willie shot backwards violently, nearly throwing Eli from the saddle in the first second and sending his brown cowboy hat sailing away, but he somehow regained his balance. The bull twisted and bucked, seemingly farmoreviolent than a bull made of flesh and fur. The brunette cowboy predicted every motion perfectly, taming it like he could see the future. And every time it spun Eli back in my direction, he met my gaze for a fraction of a second, smiling like he had already won.

I grinned up at him. It pissed me off howsexythat was.

Johnny let out a curse next to me as Eli surpassed his time. I held my breath. The record, seventeen and a half seconds, had lasted for over a decade. If he beat it tonight…

But the bull seemed to know the record was nearing, and intended to protect it. It shuddered like it was going to buck in one direction before chaotically moving the opposite way, and the move took Eli by surprise. The last thing I saw was a look of shock on his handsome face as he flew sideways through the air and landed on the padded mat.

“Sixteen-point-one seconds!” the attended declared. “Thatis the new 2025 record!”

The crowd reacted with a mixture of excited cheers for the impressive time, and groans of disappointment that he hadn’t broken the all-time record. Eli hopped to his feet with a massive smile on his face, though, eyes locked onto me and Johnny as he returned to the gate.

“Are we still measurin’ dicks?” he teased. “Because I think we’re gonna need a bigger ruler.”

“Well done,” Johnny admitted, sticking out his hand. Eli slapped his palm against it, and the two shook. “You’ve improved a lot since last year.”

“Been practicin’!” Eli said, still grinning. “Can’t wait for the real thing at the end of the rodeo. Gonna kick Chrissy Appleshit’s ass.” He turned to me. “When do I get my prize?”

“I’m a woman of my word,” I said. “We can go out next Tuesday, when I get off early, or if you want to take me out for lunch…”

“Hold up,” Johnny interrupted. “Looks like this competition isn’t over.”

Sawyer was standing next to me. “Hold this,” he demanded, shoving his black cowboy hat at me.

Then he brushed past us into the ring and climbed onto Whiplash Willie’s back. He seemed bored, like the whole thing was beneath him. But he was still up there, ready to compete.

“I thought you didn’t play children’s games!” I shouted at him.

He ignored me and turned to the attendant. “What are you waiting for?” he demanded in a voice that would make a lesser man cower.

“Rider up!” the attendant announced. The difficulty level cranked back up to eleven. A hush came over the crowd.

I held my breath, unable to take my eyes off the rugged cowboy.

The buzzer screamed.

Willie came to life.

Unseen machinery made the bull buck, twist, and jerk.

And Sawyer maintained the saddle with shocking ease.

“The fuck?” Eli whispered next to me.

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