Page 69 of Wild and Unruly
Either way, I wasn’t going to waste time worrying over moving too fast or pushing too hard.
This woman is mine. When she giggles and looks back over to me, the horse still sniffing on her and the sun catching the golden strands that fall throughout her brown hair, I know that no matter what, I will work every day to make sure she knows it.
“You ready?” Bonnie asks me, hip-checking me and giving a teasing smile. I reach for her, wrapping my arm around her waist and tugging her in.
We were situated between our two saddled horses, ready to go warm up and show one last show. At least, this was the last rodeo we signed up for, unsure when the next time we would be together again would be.
I was excited to see how far we’ve come. It is only our third rodeo, but we practice at the ranch as much as we can. When we weren’t spending time in bed, with me learning every inch of her body and telling her, even without words, how much she meant to me, we were in the arena working on our timing.
She was a fucking powerhouse.
I knew that if she put her mind to it, she would be one of those women who went all the way to a championship one day if she wanted to. I would be there right there with her if she allowed me to.
I love her writing too.
We spent time looking at her articles, and she showed me some of her favorite ones, letting me get a glimpse of what she did with the Three Rivers article even though she technically wasn’t allowed to do so.
It was fucking amazing, and she was agreat writer. But while she was amazing at her job, her hobby and her love for riding and roping were unmatched.
I want to get her to admit it. I want to get her to be able to feel free to get to a point where competing is a big part of her life again.
We stayed away from conversations about her brother, not wanting to add any negativity to our last few days together. I was pissed he threw that mug near her, pissed he spoke to her with such disdain when she did nothing but try and get him help.
He wasn’t my favorite person, but he was one of Bonnie’s, and if this was going to work, he was going to have to step it up. Otherwise, there would be change that needs to happen.
She didn’t deserve to be treated like shit—ever. She was a pure heart, a good person who had a bit of trauma and baggage, but other than that, she was an amazing human being.
My mom was in love with her as a future daughter-in-law, and when I told my mom that a future with Bonnie was on the table, you would have thought the woman had just found a winning lottery ticket.
My family has seamlessly fallen for the woman that I was claiming as my own, only solidifying the fact that she was meant to be mine.
“I’m ready.” I wink and hold up a hand for a high five, my other arm still around her as I watch her blush and return the high five.
“Good.” She winks back and says, “Let’s go kick some ass, and then maybe we can have a trailer repeat.”
I lift my brows when she steps out of my hold. “I’m going to hold you to that.”
“Maybe I’m going to hold you to it,” she sasses back, and Ifrown with a small smile on my lips. Flustered, she shakes her head and her blush increases tenfold. “I—I mean, I don’t know what I’m saying.”
I chuckle at her fumble and shake my head, loving this part of her that has absolutely no filter whatsoever.
“Favorite thing about you, Bo,” I remind her, heading over to my horse.
We get our horses warmed up. The fairgrounds are full this time of year with weekend tourists. It was fun for people to come and watch these things, not knowing how to do it themselves, but we always appreciated it when people came out just to support our sport.
This was one of the bigger rodeos of the summer, which meant there was a real grandstand with announcers, there were three times as many team roping entries as back home, and we had a lot of extra time to warm up.
Bonnie was like me though, wanting to get them warm with a break in between that and the ten seconds or less that we ran them hard.
We wait outside the show arena on horseback, watching the competition, and I glance over at her, my heart thrumming loud in my ears as I take in her casual blue button-down, straw hat, and gorgeous hair back in a long ponytail.
I reach my hand out for her, and she glances over from watching and smiles at me, aiming the glowing, gorgeous smile that she only uses for me and reaches out, winding her hand around mine as we wait.
I want to say it right now. I want to tell her how much I love her, how I’d move to Mars if it meant being with her.
But fuck, it was so cheesy. And I wasn’t in any position totake her for myself right now, unable to rip her off her horse and take her to the trailer for exactly what she had promised.
Before I can even utter a word, she tugs on my hand and nods to the chutes, telling me that while I was daydreaming of telling her I love her and then rounding out that promise of love with a few hot rounds of sex in the trailer, our numbers were up.
