Page 53 of Break the Barrier
I raise a brow. “So, you truly find your joy in just training the horses to ride?”
He nods, his eyes locked on mine. “I really do. I love getting a young horse and teaching it how to trust me, how to understand that I’m not out to hurt it. Then I get to see it go on and do even better things, and I get to see the progression of where they start to where they end up.” He pauses for a moment and shrugs thoughtfully. “Well, sometimes. A lot of horses I’ve worked with have gone off to live their lives far away.”
Studying him for a moment, I realize that what he’s saying could probably match up pretty well with how his relationship with his brothers is.
“So, you’re not interested?”
He sighs and looks to the ceiling as if some answer was going to magically appear out of nowhere. “No.” I nod my head, but he continues. “But I’m going to anyway. Stetson already signed us up for the Acton Rodeo.”
I lift a brow. “Wow, already? Isn’t the first one this weekend?”
This town was such a far cry from living in the city. During the warmer months, the fairgrounds put on rodeos every month. I have no idea what kind of qualification you had to have to compete in them, but people went crazy for them, and they were some of my best weekends of the year.
People pre-gamed at the rodeos, and then by the time they were here, they were a little looser with their wallets.
“Yup.” Logan sighs and leans back. “Which means I have about four days to see if I can rope under pressure.”
“You can’t rope?” I tease, letting myself be, well, myself for one vulnerable moment.
“Oh, I can rope,” he teases back, resting his elbows on the bar and leaning over far enough that our noses are almost touching. “As a matter of fact, I’m damn good with ropes.”
I feel the heat rush over my skin. No doubt if the bar lighting was any different, he’d be able to tell that I was red as a tomato right now.
Clearing my throat, I glance to the side, making sure my customers are taken care of before returning my attention to Logan again.
“Well, hopefully good enough that you can rope a cow, right?” I lift a teasing brow.
“Oh, it’s gonna be like that, huh?” he returns, his bright white teeth showing with his smile. “You busy this weekend?”
I pause at the change in subject. “Uh, working as usual.” My days off were totally messed up now that I took Sunday off to be with him.
“Can you spare me a couple hours on Saturday?”
I let a small grin cross my lips. “You need moral support for your first rodeo?”
He scoffs. “It’s not my first. But what kind of girlfriend would you be if you didn’t come support your cowboy?”
“Girlfriend?” I ask, shock clearly evident in my tone.
He reaches into his pocket, still half-leaning on the bar, and checks his phone. “Shoot, gotta go.”
Then he leans across, kisses me quickly but efficiently, hishand finding purchase on the back of my neck briefly before he lets go, and then he’s gone.
“Oh boy.” I turn my head to where Annmarie is suddenly leaning against the bar. “You are in big,bigtrouble, sister.”
It was Saturday afternoon, and I was at a rodeo. That’s something I never thought I would say.
Growing up, I was more of a city kid. We lived just outside the city in the suburbs, but if my parents could have had it their way, we would have been in a penthouse.
Probably some ostentatious sky-rise that would have cost a fortune per month to live in.
It was why, when the time came, I decided that living in a big city wasn’t something I wanted to do. Ophelia didn’t feel that way, which was why it was great that her dreams aligned with where she wanted to live.
Tori wanted to live anywhere not near me, so it didn’t matter to her where I ended up.
And Annmarie and June were happy to be settled in this small town, at least for now. Though I did wonder if someday their plans might change, if the small-town life would grow boring for them.
I walk through the fairgrounds, noting there’s one concession stand open with a line five deep, and there’s someone with a huge smoker grill off to the side making something mouthwateringly good.
