Page 8 of Protective Cowboy

Autumn, easily keeping pace with him in her ballet flats, turned her phone to herself. “You heard it here, folks! Daisy the Goat is giving Snowberry Springs a run for its money. And so is our local police department!”

Sunlight flashed off the screen and dazzled him as she turned the camera towards him.

“She may be fast, but I’ve got the badge!” he declared, playing along. He added, “Though it doesn’t seem to impress her much.”

Autumn grinned at him. “Let’s hope Daisy doesn’t have any accomplices back at the petting zoo waiting for their turn to raid the festival!”

Matt fought to keep his gaze on her face, and not the tempting jiggle south of her neckline as she jogged.

“Thanks for fueling my nightmares!” Matt’s pulse quickened at her nearness. “Now, are you gonna help me catch this little delinquent, or are you just here to just document my epic fail?”

Autumn’s laughter rang out. “Either way, it’s going viral!”

Despite himself, Matt grinned back at her. Her playfulness was contagious, just like it had always been.

It reminded him of long-ago summer afternoons cruising the area’s back roads, talking about everything and nothing.

A pang of nostalgia caught him off-guard, along with the sudden, vivid memory of Autumn’s legs wrapped around his hips, and her slick heat squeezing his cock…

Daisy bleated from somewhere up ahead, accompanied by more crashing sounds and angry exclamations. It jarred Matt back to reality and reminded him he needed to focus on the task at hand.

Getting lost in the past was dangerous, especially when it came to Autumn Snowberry.

“Gabe’s waiting to catch Daisy at the end of the street,” he explained as Autumn continued to run at his side.

“Spring was headed that way, too,” Autumn replied. “Great minds think alike!”

Spring was Autumn’s older brother. His real name was Zack, but no one ever called him that.

“Your mission, should you choose to accept it,” Matt informed her solemnly, “is to help me keep Daisy moving up the street. We need to make sure she doesn’t double back on us.”

“Of course, Deputy Parker,” she said, her phone held high to capture every second. “Happy to help!”

Without breaking stride, she turned the phone camera back on herself. “You guys might remember that Daisy is one of the goats my dad and brother use for brush control. It’s a green solution to the problem of wildfire management, especially on steep slopes. Daisy was a bottle-fed kid, and she really bonded to people. So, she’s always been more of a pet than the other goats on the ranch, though she does her fair share of work.”

Up ahead, one of the festival booths went down in a tangle of aluminum poles and canvas.

Bleating loudly, Daisy vanished beneath the collapsed awning. A tall stand with pretzels and circle-shaped churros hanging from hooks hit the pavement with a clang. Someone shrieked.

Matt winced and picked up the pace.

Autumn added, her phone held high to capture the collapsed booth, “She’s also a troublemaker, but we love her anyway.”

“Speak for yourself,” growled Matt under his breath as he poured on the speed, his boots pounding on the asphalt.

The falling canvas had trapped Daisy beneath it. If he could get to the little goat before she wriggled free, he could end her reign of terror at the festival.

He and Autumn were still fifteen feet away when Daisy’s furry face, topped by a pair of short, curving horns, appeared from beneath the green fabric printed with “El Churro Redondo.” Her shoulders followed almost immediately.

Shit! As Matt lunged forward desperately, Daisy scrabbled free of the heavy fabric.

She charged for freedom, nearly bowling over a woman holding a tray of cheese samples.

Matt reacted quickly, catching the woman’s arm to stabilize her before the tray hit the ground.

He flashed her an apologetic grin and kept running after the taunting flick of Daisy’s bushy tail, held upright like a flag. The town’s lone traffic signal came into sight, marking the end of the festival’s temporary pedestrian zone.

To Matt’s relief, he spotted two tall figures standing guard there. One of them was Gabe in his tan uniform. The other was Spring, wearing a fancy pearl-buttoned shirt and a straw cowboy hat. He held a coil of rope in one hand.

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