Page 51 of Rough Stock
With a pinch to one of his nipples, she announced, “Anything you can dish out, I can take.”
“Oh, yeah? We’ll see about that.”
Ten minutes later when he lifted his face from between her legs, Shyanna was writhing with need, and when he thrust deep inside her, she cried out. “Can you take it, babe?” he whispered, pinching her nipples viciously.
“Yeah. I want more, baby, please?” Then she gave him her sexiest grin. “And make it last more than eight seconds, cowboy.”
“Then you’d better hold onto your hat, cowgirl, because I’m about to give you the ride of your life,” Jensen growled into her ear and tore into her like a five-year-old tearing into a present on Christmas morning.
Two hours later and more orgasms than she’d ever had in her life in one evening, Shyanna lay in Jensen’s arms and listened to his soft, even breathing. She wanted him in her life?sheneededhim in her life. She didn’t think she could live without him.
And she hoped she never had to find out.
“Calm down,calm down! All of you!”
“We want some answers! She can’t do this!” a tall, skinny cowboy said as he pointed at the list.
“Technically, she can,” Dale said, but Jimmy stepped in front of him.
“Look, we can’t keep her from signing up. There’s no guarantee she’ll make it into the event though, so don’t panic!” Jimmy announced.
“What do you mean?” another older cowboy asked.
“I mean just because she signed up doesn’t mean she’ll actually ride,” Jimmy said, and he turned just in time to see Dale frown.
“But if she does any good at all, she’s going to ruin the winnings for some of us! You’ve got todo something!” one of the other guys shouted.
“Our regulations state she can ride in rough stock events if she wants. And you know full well that in most of the associations, only cowboys who work both ends of the arena can go for a championship. End of discussion. Let’s all worry about our own performance and stop worrying about somebody else’s, okay?” Dale turned to leave. “She’s one woman. It’s not like there’s going to be a wave of women coming into the sport. Don’t piss your pants about it.” He stepped into the little room the arena staff let them use as an office and closed the door behind him.
One of the men in the back yelled out, “But?”
Jimmy interrupted them with a quiet voice. “I’m not going to tell you what to do. I’m not going to even suggest anything. But she can be kept from competing, if you know what I mean. Just be creative and, for the love of god, don’t tell us anything about it, okay?” Jimmy turned to step back inside the office, but when he did, he caught sight of JensenStrader standing a distance away, glaring at him.Great. Now I’m gonna havehimon my back too, he thought.Why won’t that bitch just go away?
“I really don’t understand what all the fuss is about,” Dale said as soon as Jimmy walked in and closed the door. “Hell, she’s just getting started in rough stock. If they don’t want her to win, they’ll just have to be on top of their game. That would be good,seeing as how they’ve been getting sloppy lately. Nobody wants to come to a rodeo where all the cowboys act like they don’t know what the hell they’re doing.”
“They’re just shaken up, that’s all. They don’t want a woman in their events.”
“They’re nottheirevents, Jim,” Dale said forcefully. “They’re the association’s events, and the bylaws of the association say women can participate in any event they please. Matter of fact, the only?”
“I know, I know,” Jimmy groused and plopped down in a chair. “The only restrictions were for men, and they couldn’t participate in barrel racing and breakaway roping. I think that’s why they’re having such a fit.”
“Those were changed so no, they’re having a fit because they’re afraid a woman is going to show them up. Like I said, they need to up their game anyway.” Dale turned away and picked up a large ledger. “I’ve got to work on payroll for this weekend. Are you going down to supervise everything?”
“I am.” Jimmy rose and started to leave, but when his hand hit the knob, he turned back to his lifelong friend. “You know, we’ve had something good here for a lot of years. Please don’t go and screw it up.”
“I’m not screwing up anything, but according to our bylaws?”
“Yeah, yeah. I know. Later.” He threw the little office door open, then slammed it as he left. When he passed by the roster of riders and animals, he found someone else glaring at him. “I know. Fuck it. Dale won’t back me on it, so that’s that.”
“Back you? Look, we’re going to have to get this little plan in gear. Zesser’s getting a little antsy and we can’t let this fall through. I’ve got an idea, but we’ll have to sit down and talk about it.”
Jimmy stood, unmoving and silent, for a good bit before he said, “Okay. But we’ll have to go to my motel room. It’s too risky here.”
“Okay. Whatever. We just need to get this show on the road, Jim. I mean it. They’re going to another association if we don’t get this done pretty soon. But first, I’ve got competitions to cover. We’ll get together this evening.” Max disappeared down the stairwell and Jimmy breathed a deep sigh of relief.
He wasn’t sure what Max was planning, but he was pretty sure he wasn’t going to like it. And he wasn’t sure what Max was capable of, but he had a feeling if he knew, he wouldn’t like that either.
No matterhow hard he tried, he hadn’t managed to get Shyanna to sign up for the steer wrestling event. She’d decided if she was going to take shit off the guys, she’d concentrate on the two events she wanted to do most, bull riding and bareback broncs, and the one she was already doing well, team roping. They were headed for the arena for Jensen’s slot in steer wrestling when he heard someone call Shyanna’s name. They both spun toward the voice, and her face broke into one huge smile. “Oh my god! I didn’t think you’d make it!”
