Page 17 of The Wildest Ride

Gran always said showing what you really thought on your face was inviting enemies, so Lil held back her disdain, but it was hard.

Beside Lil, the intern whispered, “That’s got to be AJ.”

Unimpressed as she was, Lil still leaned forward when the door cracked open, just like the girl next to her.

Everyone else did too, a strange hush settling over the crowd that had only moments before been as restless as a yard filled with horny cats.

The passenger-side door opened farther and a gleaming boot stepped down. It was chocolate-brown leather, supple, and obviously expensive. The door swung open and a sigh of disappointment rippled across the crowd.

Hank’s volume lost some of its potency as people returned to what they had been doing before the truck pulled up. Lil used the intern’s lingering distraction as an opportunity to slide around and get back on her way.

Hank DeRoy—the cowboy from the truck—might be a three-time second-place PBRA world champion and rodeo legend in his own right, but he was no AJ Garza.

Lil arrived at the registration table without any further interruptions, but by the time she got there, the lines that waited for her looked like they were in a competition to rival the Great Wall.

Brow creasing, Lil gauged the line’s progress. It had taken her about fifteen minutes just to make it through the crowd to get to the table. It’d take at least twice that to get through the line. The amount of contestants was almost as absurd as the whole scene.

She closed her eyes, breathed deep, and focused instead on the old familiar sensations woven in among thisfirst of its kindrodeo.

The smell was the same. Dirt, leather, beer, hot dogs, metal, livestock.

The cowboys were the same. Cowboys were always the same: Work hard. Play hard. Rise hard. Fall hard. Whatever you do, do it hard.

The wildness in the air was a remembered friend, as well. It was as if the energy of the stock permeated the atmosphere, bringing out a little bit of the untamed in everyone.

Even with her eyes closed, all around her, she knew that people laughed louder, drank too much, flirted, envied, dug in, grabbed on, and held on with more force and passion than they allowed themselves in their daily lives.

A thread of that wild lived in her, too—it was the part that wanted to hoot and holler and dance with a raging bull.

“Move!”

Lil’s eyes shot open. The command belied the frustration of having said something more than once. She had been totally zoned out.

Ahead of her, there was a foot-and-a-half gap in the line. She whipped around and dipped her head in apology toward the disgruntled voice behind her, then hurried to close the gap.

Back in place, she laughed at herself for her beating heart. Getting spooked served her right for daydreaming on other people’s time.

“You laughing at me?” The voice from behind was less commanding this time, but no less disgruntled.

Lil turned around, this time getting a better look at the speaker. He was short, for a man, but still taller than her, and at least three times as wide, a solid brick wall of muscle.

Lil held her palms up. “No, sir.”

Beady black eyes glared at her from below a weathered and bushy brow, but, judging from the huff and shrug of his response, he seemed satisfied with the explanation.

She got to the table without further incident and pulled out her ID. The curly-haired blond teenager had silver tinsel and green yarn braided into her pigtails and a bright green T-shirt on. She looked up at Lil, panicked, and blurted, “You have to be at least eighteen years old to take part in the Closed Circuit qualifier.”

Lil shoved the grimace deep inside and smiled instead. “Yes, miss. I’ve got ID to verify my age.”

The girl’s face transformed into a bright welcome. “Oh perfect. Thanks.”

Lil handed over her driver’s license and stood back.

The young woman glanced at the date and started to hand it back, but pulled it back to look again a second time.

Lil took a deep breath, heart picking up.Here it comes...

She and Gran had poured over the fine print. Nothing excluded women from entering, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that that was a far cry from it being allowed.

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