Page 38 of Rogue Cowboy
He looked at her, and she felt his perusal to her toes.He reached out and touched the end of her messy braid that fell over her shoulder.
“I’m just going to forget this morning’s drama happened,” she said.
“Done, except the part about the barbecue, dance tonight and the steak dinner tomorrow.I am hoping you’ll be my date for that.”
And then he was gone before she could agree or protest.
“You like him?”Boone asked.
He sounded curious.Not hostile, and she sighed, really thinking about it for the first time.“I barely know him.We…met—” she left it at that, marveling at how one word could sum up what felt like a life history “—years ago.Rohan served with him, and we spent a few days in LA together acting like tourists.He was—” she wasn’t sure how to sum up Cole “—like no one I’d met before.Quiet.Serious.But game for anything.He was a gentleman,” she stressed.“But he was heading home for a few days before deploying again, and we kept in touch by text…a little,” she downplayed.“That’s why he says he’s here.He wanted to see if there could be more.”
It felt weird to tell Boone so much, and yet so little.
“Can there be?”
If Boone had sounded astonished or dismissive, she would have shut him down, but he was so Boone—curious.Nonjudgmental.
“I… He lives in Texas.”
“You like him.”Boone answered his own question and then with his thumb he tipped her mouth that she didn’t realize was hanging open closed.
“I like him too,” Boone said, sunshine-smiling brother again.“I’ll make sure he survives Rohan’s interrogation.”
“Not funny.”
“Kinda is, little sis.”Boone tugged her braid like he had when she’d been a kid.He made a kissing sound and then walked away whistling a song that teased her, but she was sure the title would likely make her blush.
“Men,” she said again to Cinnamon, whose tail swished with irritation at being ignored and having her breakfast delayed.
*
Cole followed Rohanout of the horse livestock barn.The air was sharp with chill, the sky a crystalline swimming-pool blue, the air fragrant with pine, grasses, dirt, animal and camping cookstove griddles cooking up breakfast.The rodeo rigs and rodeo riders had more than quadrupled, filling up the large field and adding a sense of community.There was a friendly, organized reunion feel to it all.Rohan walked quickly, a rolling, fluid walk that had more of a hint of cowboy swagger than it had when they’d first served together and had become friends.
People greeted him, and while Rohan did call out, tip his hat or wave, he kept moving, and rodeo folks knew when a cowboy was intent on something more important than catching up.Still Cole felt a lot of gazes pinned to him.
“We walking to the next county?”Cole asked after Rohan had led him away from the parking lot, through the expansive fairgrounds and across a field liberally dotted with stands of ponderosa pines.
“It’s not that I don’t trust you.”Rohan stopped and swung around.
“But you don’t trust me.”
Rohan’s diamond-hard scrutiny cut into him, hotter than a forge fire.
“It’s just Riley came home from LA changed,” Rohan said.“I wasn’t home yet.Couldn’t get there and had my own…” He waved his hand around like he was aggressively swatting away a swarm of flies.“God, I hate that word ‘issues,’ but hell, I did.But my folks were worried.Are worried.She was subdued.Nervous and spending half her energy pretending she’s not.”
Cole wasn’t going to lie to his friend, but Riley’s story was hers to tell, though he was going all in to ensure she came clean with herself and her family because she was stuck.And that confident, glowing free spirit snapping with fun, energy and daring was going to sparkle again.She needed to drag her confidence out of her duffel bag and stuff the guilt she was packing away where no one would ever find it.
“She does seem more subdued from the girl who showed me around LA,” Cole admitted.“She had a fire and energy and enthusiasm that was… contagious.”Cole chose the word with care.And he’d drunk her warmth and energy in like a wilting plant.
Rohan stared at him, wanting more.Cole had learned long ago to keep his mouth shut unless answering a direct question and even then, to be spare with his words.
“And?”Rohan demanded, open-ended as if wanting him to choose his own rope to swing by.
“Told you.I kept it G.Friends,” he said firmly.“We stayed in touch.Texted.”Wasn’t going to lie.“She…contacted me a few months later.”He paused, choosing his spare words more carefully than even he usually did.“Asked me if I could drop her off home before deploying.”
Sort of true.
Rohan stared at him like he was crazy.So Riley hadn’t even mentioned how she’d arrived at the ranch—and he was supposedly tight-lipped.Admiration stirred.
