Page 31 of Take Me Please, Cowboy
“Hey, hi.”She reached up and tugged the elastic out of her hair letting the ponytail down.“How did you do?”
“Won in steer wrestling, placed well in two other events.”
“Oh, Rye, that’s fantastic!”
His smile was bashful.“It feels good to be taking some money home.”
“And no broken bones,” she said, closing the distance all the way so that she could hook a finger over his leather belt, her thumb sliding across the big silver belt buckle.“That’s a win in of itself.”
“True.My mom will be relieved.”
“You’ll have to tell her.”
“I will once I’m on the road.”
“She worries?”
“About everything, but to be fair, she has a lot on her plate.I don’t want to add to her troubles.”
“You’re not going to get home until it’s late,” Ansley said, feeling his hard flat abdomen against her knuckles.He was so warm and lean and hard.His body was a thing of wonder.If only he was sticking around another week maybe they would have had a chance to get to know each other better, to grow even closer.
“It will be seven hours if there’s no traffic, and I don’t expect a lot of traffic.I encountered road work on the way down, that’s why it took me forever on Thursday, but not on a Sunday night.”
Thursday, was it only Thursday when she first laid eyes on him?Friday when they spoke?Crazy.It seemed like he’d always been in her life, or maybe she’d always wanted him in her life.
Ansley swallowed around the lump in her throat.“Are you hungry?Can I make you anything?”
“Not hungry but I wouldn’t say no to something cold to drink.”
“I’ve water and iced tea,” she said.
“Iced tea sounds good.”
She led the way to the kitchen, not that he needed to be shown how to get there, not after being here last night, but neither of them mentioned last night.Everything seemed so different already.
In the kitchen, Ansley pointed to the big pot on the stove.“If you change your mind about food, I have enough beef burgundy to feed an army.Mr.Wyatt brought it over.”
“You mentioned that name last night.Wyatt.Any relation to the professional rodeo cowboy Wyatts?Sam, Billy, and Tommy Wyatt?”Rye asked, leaning against the kitchen counter.
She glanced at him surprised.“Yes.You know them?”
“Have competed with all of them, but Tommy and Billy are in a class of their own right now.They’re some of the best ever.”
“The Wyatts are our closest neighbors.I haven’t met all of them yet, but I do know Joe and Sophie, Briar, who is Tommy’s new wife, and Sam and Ivy—”
“I know Ivy quite well.She’s an outstanding barrel racer.Her mother was, too.”
“Such a small world,” Ansley marveled, pouring the tea over ice cubes and presenting him with the glass.
“Especially for those who compete on the rodeo circuit here in Montana.”
He was leaning against one of the kitchen counters, looking absolutely gorgeous against the vintage cabinets.Every kitchen needed a handsome cowboy, especially one with soulful dark eyes like Rye Calhoun.“Do you think you’ll always compete?It’s tough on your body, isn’t it?”
His lips quirked.“And I thought I was hiding my limp pretty well.”
“Are you in pain?”
“There’s always pain, that’s just part of the job.”
