Page 25 of The Wildest Ride

Smiling his TV smile, AJ stepped in before the kid could say something he’d regret, “He’s married to rodeo, of course.”

Every camera and outstretched mic spun around to face him.

“AJ Garza! How long have you known Lil Sorrow?”

“Do you train together?”

“Are you his coach?”

AJ’s easy smile never faltered. “No. We’ve only just met tonight, in fact. I’m just coming over to offer my congratulations on a great ride.”

The kid snorted, likely remembering exactly how they met, and the cameras flipped back around to him.

AJ sent the kid an almost imperceptible shake of his head, but it was too late. Scenting the potential for drama, the sharks were back to circling the kid, and the kid had no idea.

“Lil Sorrow, do you know AJ Garza?” The reporters had become a pack, united in their scent for a story. This was another question they all wanted to know the answer to.

Finally becoming alert to a trap, even if he still didn’t quite get it, the kid quickly shot a glance at AJ, uncertainty churning in his storm-cloud eyes, before saying cautiously, “Everybody knows AJ Garza.”

AJ barely held back a scowl. The kid’s hedging was obvious enough to imply bad blood. Had his tone been just a shade warmer, it would have put an end to any rumors before they started. At this rate, though, they’d have a manufactured rivalry on their hands by the end of the night.

AJ drew the attention back to himself, saying, “I’m trying to recruit him to CityBoyz, the nonprofit I’m riding for tonight. We partner young cowboys from underserved backgrounds with more experienced pro rodeo mentors. With the help of an old-timer, our boys go from wild, raw talent to the top of the rodeo game. I went through the program myself.”

It was a solid redirect to a good cause. AJ could feed them a few more lines about CityBoyz, they’d get bored and move on, and Lil Sorrow wouldn’t be starting his career off with a scandal—though maybe that was his intent? If it were, AJ would be disappointed. Many young cowboys these days thought they could make a name for themselves with the drama they got into outside of the arena over their performance inside of it. He hadn’t read Lil Sorrow as that kind of competitor, though.

Lil Sorrow cleared his throat, drawing the attention back to himself, the sound eerily reminiscent of the sound AJ’s mother used to make when she had just about had it with him.

When the shorter man opened his mouth to speak, eyebrows lifted, his voice was raspy, low, and steady—if tinged with irritation. “The ‘wild raw talent’ in question here is, in fact, twenty-seven years old, by no means a newcomer, and, perhaps most importantly—a woman. I manage a ranch, sixteen horses, a herd of cattle, and have been riding—on my own—since before I could talk. But don’t worry. If you’re so dead set on recruitment, I’d love to come work for CityBoyz—as a coach. All you’ve got to do is get a higher score than me tonight. Ladies and gentlemen.” The kid—or rather, theadult woman—tipped her hat to the crowd of reporters before spinning on her heels to walk away.

But if she thought she could drop a bomb like that and simply walk away, she was sorely mistaken.

However, for an instant, the entire group of them watched her go in silence, mouths open, an island of frozen time amidst the sea of chaos and noise outside of the arena.

Her hips swayed as she walked away from them and a part of him observed that he should have realized the truth of things immediately.

No cowboy he’d ever met walked like that.

And the hands, and the timbre of voice that he’d mistaken for youth trying to put on age—hell, even the way she rode a bronc screamed,“Woman!”

Taking her in in this new light, she transformed. Her thick black braid swung over her astounding vest, all the way down to the center of her back in perfect time with her hips, and he couldn’t look away.

Compact she may be, tiny really, he realized she was nonetheless perfectly adult proportioned with long, lean limbs and a gorgeous round ass he was only just now observing.

She was a woman, alright.

But she wasn’t just a woman.

She was the first woman he had ever heard of, in all of PBRA history, to score a 97 bareback on a bronc. The first woman to score on a bareback bronc at all. She was history-making, living, breathing, right in front of all of them—and all wrapped up in a sexy little package.

And just like the explosive ride she’d debuted with, she’d just detonated before his eyes.

AJ, as well versed in playing with fire as he was in getting burned, recovered first.

Giving a laugh that sounded relaxed and casual though it was entirely manufactured and controlled, and lacing his voice with a smile, he said, “Well, you heard her folks! Looks like I’ve got to show up on the bronc if I want to get Lil Sorrow, the PBRA’s first female rough stock rider, if I’m not mistaken, on the CityBoyz roster.” He winked, adding, “Good thing I’m coming up in the queue. Now you’ve got even more reason to watch me ride.”

He knew he wasn’t mistaken—a man didn’t dominate his field without knowing everything there was to know about it, and the PBRA had never seen anything like Lil Sorrow.

He’d known the Closed Circuit would be a rodeo unlike any other. He hadn’t expected it to change the very future of the sport—but that was just what would happen because there was no way Lil Sorrow wasn’t making it into the competition, and there was no way her presence wouldn’t rock the rodeo world to its core.

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