Page 34 of The Wildest Ride

Sierra opened her mouth again, but Lil beat her to speaking. “But you’re so right—you know. It was so nice to get a chance to freshen up after the ride. I may be the high score of the night, but I’m still just a girl.” Her words landed in time with their boots hitting the stage, and the combination of timing, and lighting, and the perfect kismet of Gretchen Wilson coming on over the PA system, had the women of the audience leaping to their feet roaring.

Despite all the fierce feminine energy of a rodeo—from the barrel racers to the ultracompetitive queens, and all the girl dreamers in between—Lil would have said the Houston Blue Ribbon Arena was the last place she’d expect a girl power riot to erupt, but faced with these women tonight, she wouldn’t be surprised to stand corrected.

Swept up in it in a way she would have never expected of herself—would likely be ashamed of later, even—she gave in to the urge to stomp her foot and clap her hands in time to the music, moving in unison with the arena full of women who were going to go home tonight and show their men who was boss.

The camera crew zoomed in on her, her image, long curls falling in front of her shoulders to blend with her black vest, eyes laughing, diamond-nose stud catching the arena lights and sparkling, in a Stetson but still pretty and adult about all of it with the help of makeup, with, at least for the moment, the attention of each and every person in the audience. She had shown them all tonight.

The only thing that could have made it perfect was if her granddad had been there to witness it. Instead, she had a crowd of twenty thousand and her teen idol, AJ Garza.

He wasn’t her granddad by any stretch of the imagination, but it was a different kind of dream come true. She’d had the chance to watch her hero, the greatest living rodeo cowboy, ride up close and personal.

And that was after she’d beat him.

And then he’d kissed her.

It almost made up for the missing.

At the very least, it was proof that even impossible dreams could come true.

As the song died down, Lil’s moment with the audience drew to its natural conclusion, and she turned to Sierra, who stood smiling out at the crowd. Blinding lights prevented anyone on stage from really seeing the people there, but, in this case, Lil wasn’t sure it mattered.

Sierra’s face might wear a smile, but she was anything but happy.

Whether it was due to the fact that Lil had momentarily stolen her stage or simply because she’d successfully maneuvered around her questions, Lil would never know. And quickly, it was out of her mind to even wonder.

Sierra swept her arm grandly, drawing the cameras back to her before shouting brightly, “And here she is folks, the one, the only—and I mean that quite literally—Lil Sorrow! PBRA’s first female rough stock champion! Give it up for Lil Sorrow! The mysterious little cowgirl that swept in out of nowhere and reminded us all how to ride a bronc!”

Following her gesture, Lil stepped onto the top step of the small riser, and the arena thundered, filling Lil’s bones with a tingle of restless power she didn’t know what to do with.

“And hereheis, folks!” Sierra called, voice curling around thehelike a cat in a lap. “The one, the only, AJ Garza, our undisputed king of rodeo!”

If the crowd had thundered before, its roar now threatened to tear down the stadium, rattling the stage and risers.

AJ stepped onto the step below her and still stood taller.

Next to him, Lil shivered.

This close, she caught his scent: desert pine, with a hint of tantalizing wildness, like riding off into a sunset—with the top down in a convertible.

For the fourth time of the night, their eyes locked, and it occurred to her that standing on the top step of a tiered podium while he stood in second place was likely the closest to eye to eye they were ever going to see.

AJ reached out a hand with a friendly smile, completely nonchalant for the fact that he’d held her far more intimately with that hand less than an hour before. “From where I’m standing,” he said, “it looks like CityBoyz won’t be getting a new coach after all.”

It was a peace offering.

Lil opened her mouth to respond, but as the crowd finally settled down, Sierra announced the third-place contestant. “And in third place, nipping at AJ’s heels like always, that old dirty dog, the unshakeable, Hank DeRoy!”

As the noise settled back to a normal rodeo level, Sierra went on, “With the awarding of these buckles, the PBRA Closed Circuit goes live! Stay tuned folks, we’re coming to a town near you, and if you want to get an even closer, electrifying look, don’t forget to follow the show on all your favorite social media channels!”

And quicker than seemed fair, given how long Lil’d waited for this moment, Sierra pressed a buckle in her hand and moved on to AJ.

The buckle was cold and heavy in Lil’s palm, as alive as it was dead, and more precious than gold. Lil held it to her heart and closed her eyes. AJ caught the move and smiled at her, no trace of mockery in his warm brown eyes.

The same couldn’t be said for Hank.

“Now, sugar, you didn’t have to risk your life on a bronco to find a good ride. All you had to do was let Ol’ Hankey here know, and I could’ve taken care of you.”

Lil replied between her teeth, speaking through her picture smile as she said, “You didn’t even recognize I had the equipment. I doubt you’d know how to handle it.”

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