Page 25 of Rogue Cowboy
“She’s a diva,” Petal noted.“Needs the personal touch.”
“Spicy,” Arlo added.
Riley tried to think back to her own middle school years.Had she had a friendship as tight as Petal and Arlo’s?She’d always had friends.She’d been popular enough, but she’d been so busy.Practicing guitar, writing songs—signing up for rodeo talent shows and open mics, chores, schoolwork, barrel racing, and then when she’d added trick riding, friendships had taken a back seat.
Maybe if she’d socialized more with kids her age, she wouldn’t have been so naïve and gullible.Or if she’d tried to make friends with the other female artists in development instead of pushing herself so hard, she would have been more savvy, protected.
She pushed the negativity away and looked at her watch.Cole had been gone a while.Then she saw him walking toward her, carrying the specialized saddle, with Rohan walking alongside him.She searched for signs they’d gone another round, but Cole looked as calm as ever, and Rohan was talking, expression open.
Her shoulders relaxed.
“Catch up, boys?”she teased, injecting a smile into her voice.
“Getting there,” Rohan said.“I invited him for dinner at the house after the rodeo.Dad, Boone and I can grill him about the weekend you spent together that wasn’t a date but probably was.”
Rohan was teasing, but Petal and Arlo’s attention perked up.
“Ha.”She forced the syllable out.“Big brother spying on me by sending one of his big soldier buddies to check up on me when I was in LA working.”
She thought she’d hit the right note of friendly dismissiveness, but somehow ‘big’ came out sounding far too sexual.She could feel Cole’s attention like a touch, and to distract herself, she expertly saddled Cinnamon, playing close attention to the details.
“Who wants to start?”
“You, Riley, you,” Petal and Arlo sang out as if they’d practiced it.
“Run through your moves for the exhibition,” Petal cajoled.
“I’m not exhibiting,” Riley denied.“You and Arlo wanted to perform a few tricks to show other kids what you’ve learned and introduce them to trick riding.”
“We want to show off, but also to be your coaching assistants when you grow your business,” Arlo clarified.
“And we wanted to earn more horse time,” Petal added.“As the teacher and coach, you need to show off.”
Showing off was no longer on Riley’s to-do list and hadn’t been for a long time.The few times she’d been on stage over the last few years had been to cover for a sick musician or as a favor for a longtime friend or for a charitable cause, and the attention made her sick with anxiety.
“C’mon, rodeo queenie.”Rohan pulled out his smooth country hick voice, calling her the childish nickname that he’d tormented her with when she’d been a kid.“You love the stage.”
“Yeah, Riley, show us some of your gymnastic moves before you’re too old and dusty to pull them off.”Arlo grinned in challenge.
“I’m not biting,” Riley waggled a finger at her, so aware of Cole watching all the byplay.He was practically taking notes.
“We should get pink saddles.We can be members of Chappell Roan’s ‘Pink Pony Club,’” Petal said, looping on one of the grips and checking it.
“Please no,” Riley muttered.“How ’bout you flip for who goes first,” Riley suggested, stifling an unexpected urge to show off in front of Cole.No.That would be disastrous.
But maybe he’d realize she was fine, and he could take his white-hat-cowboy complex somewhere else.
“Na-uh, you’re up.Show us how it’s done.”Petal dramatically gestured toward Cinnamon, and Arlo cupped her hands like she’d toss Riley up.
She didn’t want to disappoint them or make it weird, and it wasn’t like she didn’t keep herself in shape or practice.If she wanted to add trick riding instruction to the horse programs at the Telford Ranch, she needed to be comfortable demonstrating.
She stroked Cinnamon.“Hey, girl, new plan.”
Her heart and head settled as her whole body calmed.Cinnamon was a beautiful paint she’d raised and trained since she was a filly—probably her best friend after her mom.
But as she moved to hoist herself up, Cole stepped forward and ran his hands over the girth.Then he touched the saddle.
“Meet your approval cowboy?”She wasn’t sure if she should be charmed or pissed.“Next time you take me shooting, I’ll check your…ah…clip?”
