Page 61 of Stirring Up Trouble
“Wanted to look some more,” he mumbled, his gaze going back to the animals.
I stepped away, wanting to give them some privacy. Even so, I still caught “Daddy” and some type of squeal that told me Jace was definitely getting his wish.
“Baby, come look. This is something else. I couldn’t imagine having any of these on the ranch?” Daddy called out to me as he pointed to the alpacas.
“Nope. I can’t either. I don’t have the patience for all that. Plus we’d have to shear them too, right? That would be a lot of work.”
He nodded. “It would. Let’s stick to what we know right now. I’m happy with what we’ve got going.”
“Same, Daddy. I’m content as a cucumber.”
Epilogue
Blaze
There is nota chance in hell you could convince me to come back to this thing. I’ve never seen so many human beings in one place. Yesterday was one thing but today was utter chaos.
I’d thought being herded out of the stadium like cattle was rough. Being stared at by thousands of eyes as I judge people’s chili was worse. It made enjoying said chili damn near impossible. How was I supposed to take in all the flavors when everyone was waiting for my reaction?
Since I didn’t want to give any of my judgment away as we went, I forced my expression to remain neutral. No way would anyone guess what I was thinking.
My saving grace through it all was the adorable man in the front of the crowd.
Robin had perched himself up front to ensure he had easy access to me. He also wanted to be one of the first to sample the treats as they were given to the audience.
While I might have had a handle on my reactions, my boy did not. I could easily decipher which he liked and which he didn’t.Taking both of our opinions into account, it was easy to declare the winner.
As they called the young man up to claim his prize, he appeared shocked to get the title. I’d been asked to hand out prizes, but since I didn’t want to commit to anything else, I stood off to the side clapping with the audience.
I did hear the exchange between Cam, the winner, and the man who took my spot. “Um. Are you sure you weren’t bribed?”
Did he really think someone paid the judges to let him win?
He’d had to clear his throat as he spoke. If I had to guess, I’d say he was the anxious type. As if that weren’t clear, the lean man with the razor-sharp jawline behind him looked ready to take down anyone who hurt the young man.
Oh, yeah. He definitely could have bribed someone with how protective he’s being.
It felt like everywhere we’d been so far, there were other Daddies around. I could definitely tell these two had a thing going, just like I noticed the alpaca cutie from yesterday that my boy talked to. There’d even been a couple who’d caught my attention near the cows yesterday after we left the alpacas. The younger of the two looked so out of place, it was hard to ignore him. And the way he was moon-eyed over the cows had the much older man beside him beaming.
Was there some type of beacon summoning all the Daddies to one place?
Ignoring my inner ramblings, I turned to find my boy. We needed to track down the others. I might not be all that hungry, but we only had a limited amount of time before we all needed to get back to our normal lives.
Even though the rodeo lasted two weeks, we’d decided to block off three days to enjoy ourselves. Since I intended to spend tomorrow buried inside my boy, we needed to get the rest of our visiting time under way.
“Jake texted me,” Robin said as soon as I was close. “He said they’re in something called Stampede. He wouldn’t give me any information.”
Before I could tell him we’d hunt them down, the guy behind Robin spun around. “Oh, yeah. Stampede is across the lot in that direction. They’ve got a huge flag and a long line. You won’t miss it.”
We didn’t get the chance to thank him since he took off towards the stage after giving the advice. I tilted my hat in appreciation anyway, then I wrapped my boy up in my arms and stalked towards the way he’d pointed.
“A flag should be easy to find, right, Daddy? Plus, it’s Jake. He’s not going to be quiet.”
Within a few minutes, my boy was proven right. Jake Bellport was loud as could be as he sat atop a mechanical bull operated by someone who was obviously scared of the two massive men currently staring a hole into the side of his head.
For all his love of attention, Jake didn’t seem to mind his Daddies not watching him. Likely because he had loads more eyes on him. Or maybe because he knew they’d be all over him once this was over.
Thinking of how they’d react made me miss my days of riding. It had been a long time since I’d gotten on the back of a bull.
