Page 93 of The Wildest Ride

“You’re just going to ride here the whole day, aren’t you?”

He nodded and started to whistle a tune.

“And what happens if I take rear?” she asked.

“I’ll be there,” he said.

And so she did the smart thing and let it go.

The adrenaline of their mini scatter was fading.

Lil stole a glance at AJ.

He was strong and firm outside, and good and upright inside, and it showed all over.

His square jaw was clean-shaven and golden brown, a perfect warm canvas for the works of art that were his mouth and dimples. His body was honed and tough, not the mere product of a gym, as she’d initially pegged, but from doggedly perfecting the same skills that she used every day on the ranch—thatanyoneused on a ranch on any day.

So maybe it didn’t matter that the circuit had set them up with tame cows and fully packed sacks. Maybe the challenge proved something after all.

AJ was a cowboy, even if he didn’t believe it deep down. He was a tall, dark, and gorgeous cowboy who kissed like the devil that lived inside him.

And she needed to think about something else.Anythingelse.

The task at hand was generally the most responsible, so she dragged her mind away from AJ and back to the challenge.

They would have to sort and pen the cows at the end of challenge, so she might as well start getting a sense of their numbers and marks. Pushing AJ’s strong hands out of her mind, she scanned the cows, matching each number with a distinctive feature of the cow it was attached to. When she had that down, she memorized which numbers were marked. Things wouldn’t be near so calm when it came time to actually sort them, but she’d have an easier time finding them once she knew where they were to go.

She would share the trick with AJ.

He broke into her thoughts, putting an end to the worry. “What’re you brooding about over there?”

She snorted, breath shallow. “We’ve got a lot of ground to cover, and not a lot of time.”

The grin he flashed her could be described as nothing short of boyish. “Well, let’s get to it, then!”

And they did. A respectable distance behind them, the film crew followed.

When the pens were in sight they picked up speed, moving in sync with one another.

After the intensity of the overnight portion of the challenge, sorting and penning flew by in a strange dazed blur, their motions a smooth duet.

Afterward, a few claps on the back and cheering amongst the greenies and filming crew simply added to her sense of the surreal.

She and AJ were the first team back, returning a full hour before any teams were expected, their top positions now ironclad after a challenge whose job it was to eliminate all but the top three cowboys. She heard the news dimly, mind bouncing from one thing to another, and always, back to AJ.

25

The hot water of the shower when she’d finally made it back to the RV had been both a miracle and sin: A miracle to a full body’s worth of muscles chastising her for doing more than she should have on less than a full tank. A sin because the hot water rushing over her skin set off memories of other things...

She shook the momentary fog off and reached over to flip the lever that held the RV bathroom door closed. The door popped open. She walked out and rummaged carelessly through her duffel for something to wear.

Clean, fully clothed, and comfortable for the first time in twenty-four hours, she took a bag of popcorn out of the box and tossed it in the microwave. It was too late for a real dinner, but after the whirlwind of the overnight challenge, she needed sustenance.

Moments later, the sounds and smells of popcorn filled the camper and she took a deep breath.

She hummed as she waited for the microwave, not particularly concerned with following an established tune, hum turning into a squeak at the knock on her door.

She called, “Just a minute.”

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