Ride Me Cowboy #2 (The Cowboy Romance Series - Book #2) Read online

  RIDE ME COWBOY #2

  BOOK 2

  By Alycia Taylor

  Copyright 2015. All rights reserved.

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  CHAPTER ONE

  LEXI

  I woke up aware first of the coolness of the air and wondered why it was so cold in the house. There was a strange smell to it, too, like manure and hay…weird. My bed felt lumpy like I was sleeping on dirt and rocks. I opened my eyes slowly, still half asleep, and wondered at first if I was still dreaming. I could see shards of light coming in through planks of wood overhead which was weird, too. I sat up and looked around with bleary eyes. My head was pounding and my mouth as dry as cotton. I realized I was naked and in a pile of hay in the middle of something that looked like a barn. Where the hell am I? Then I looked over and saw Mark. He was still sleeping and as naked as me. My brain went into panic mode and now I was wide awake. Oh Jesus! What did I do? What did he do to me? I slept in a barn! Oh my God, what is happening to me? I don’t even go camping. I don’t do tents or trailers…I’m in a barn? God… I had sex with my stepbrother…maybe…I’m sore. I definitely had sex with my stepbrother. Ew! Why don’t I remember it? Or do I? Jumbled memories and a deep tickle in my core are there…just not close enough to the surface for me to grab them.

  I thought back to last night…or at least, I tried. My head was so damned foggy! Shit! Why did I drink so much? I remember shooting darts with him. That was fun. We were talking and laughing and having a good time. Then I made some comment or other about beating him at pool…I think. Then he kissed me…or did I kiss him? I know I wanted to. Did I throw myself at him…or did he take advantage of me? Oh God! I jumped up to my feet and stumbled or slipped on the damned hay and nearly fell over.

  “Damn it!” The movement and likely my cursing woke up the sleeping cowboy.

  He grinned at me as soon as he had his sexy blue eyes half way opened. Then he yawned and stretched like he’d just gotten the best sleep of his life. He was really pissing me off. “Good morning,” he said, as if this was a pleasant way to wake up.

  “Good morning? Good morning? Are you insane? Look at us! What is good about this? Where the hell are we? What happened last night?”

  He pushed himself up on his elbows. My traitor body went completely against me and my heart began to speed up. The way he was laying looked like a pose right out of a Playgirl magazine, only hotter. Damn, he was hard to look away from with his dark hair all mussed and his sexy arms and chest all exposed like that. God that tattoo is hot. I tried to keep my eyes above the belt, but there was something below it that seemed to be standing at attention. I felt a tingle low in my belly. Damn it! I’m getting off track.

  I gave myself a shake and said, “Mark! What happened?”

  He squinted up at me because the sun was hitting him in the face and he said, “Seriously? You don’t remember any of it?”

  Yes. I had even more bits and pieces of it in my head and that distinct flutter in my core. My body remembers it clearly, if not my mind. I didn’t want to tell him that though, if I remembered it that made it real. It couldn’t be real. It was too…bizarre. If someone told me a month ago I’d be waking up in a barn of all places after a night of drunken sex with my stepbrother, I would have had them committed.

  I reached down and picked up my blouse. I had to shake the hay off of it. I held it to my chest in front of my boobs as I looked for my bra. All the while, he just sat there and watched me with an amused expression on his face. I think he must be a little bit crazy.

  “What is so damned funny? You think it’s funny that I can’t remember what you did to me last night?”

  One side of his mouth quirked as he said, “What I did to you, huh? Well, I guess I wouldn’t think that was too funny. That actually doesn’t say much for my skills.”

  I’m naked and panicking and he wants to talk about his skills? Typical man. “Oh shut up. Where’s my bra?” He looked around and then reached behind him and plucked it off a hay bale. He tossed it to me, and I had to drop my blouse to catch it. He didn’t even pretend not to stare at my chest. What a pervert! “Do you mind?”

  “Not at all,” he said with a grin.

  “Oh my God! You’re like a teenager!” I turned my back to him and got dressed. I’m sure he was staring at my ass, but somehow it seemed less intrusive than my boobs. I finished dressing and turned back around. He was still lounging in the nude like maybe we were in a resort hotel and this was all non-incestuous, instead of in a stinky old barn…doing taboo things. “Why are you still naked?”

  “Just waking up…”

  I picked up his discarded jeans, boxers, and shirt and threw them at him. “You’re awake! Get dressed and take me home.”

  He didn’t say anything, he just did as I asked…or ordered, I guess. A wave of nausea hit me all of a sudden, and I went over in the corner, thinking I was going to be sick. I stood there with my head down, staring at a pile of…God I didn’t even know what that was…until the wave passed. Then I suddenly felt a warm hand on my back. “Are you okay?” Mark’s voice sounded so concerned and so sincere that I almost decided not to be mad at him – almost. I resisted the urge to lean back into the touch. Instead, I pulled away from him.

  “I’m fine. I want to go home,” I said and felt tears brimming in my eyes. I do want to go home. I want to go to my home! I want to go back to the city where there are no stinky barns and no hot stepbrothers. He at least didn’t look amused any longer. I think the gravity of what we had done was setting in.

  CHAPTER TWO

  MARK

  Lexi was pissed. She was cute when she was mad. I had a hard time keeping a straight face when she was throwing clothes and snapping orders at me. It’s always funny to me when a tiny little woman gets all spunky like that, but never laugh at one while they’re in the midst of chewing your ass – that’s a mistake that a man might not live to regret. I did as I was told and put on my clothes. I’m pretty damn sure we had some amazing sex last night. I have one of those headaches that just sit on top of my head, causing everything to be all mushed and foggy – I’m sure that’s from the beer. But everything else feels damned good…and that’s probably not so good.

  “I’m ready.”

  “Good, let’s go,” she barked at me. I hid a smile again behind her back, and I followed her out into the bright light. The sun was hot already and so bright that the top of my head headache wanted to explode. My eyes were burning, too – definitely from over-indulging last night. The bar wasn’t open yet and my pick-up was the only one out front. I tried to open Lexi’s door for her, but she snapped at me again, “I can do it!” With a twitch of my lips I stepped back. For that, I got a glare. Damn, she’s pretty. We got in, and I fired up the old pick-up and then sat there while I waited for her to warm up. “What are we doing?”

  “Warming up the truck,” I told her.

  “It’s not cold.”

  “The engine is cold. The truck is twenty-two years old. She needs a little warm-up time.”

  She rolled her eyes and folded her arms. This was the city attitude I was expecting when she first got here. I’m not sure what it is that she’s pissed at me about, though.

  “Lexi?”

  “What?”

  “Are you mad at me?”

  “Of course! I can’t beli
eve you let that happen!”

  I had to raise an eyebrow on that one. She wasn’t doing any resisting and if my foggy brain is remembering correctly, she even made a few first moves. I let that go for now though, she was obviously embarrassed. No use in rubbing it in. I put the now warmed-up truck into reverse and pulled out onto the road.

  “So, you had fun at the rodeo? Think you’ll want to go to another one someday?” I asked as I put her in drive. She gave me a look…not a nice one. I guessed that she wasn’t in the mood to talk, so I just started talking to ease the awkwardness. “I have a passion for it. I guess you’re just kind of born with that, you know? It’s not just a sport, it’s a whole way of life. It satisfies you on so many different levels, you know?” She was staring out the window and not acknowledging me. That’s okay. I’ve been ignored before. “My mama used to say I was gonna run them broke with the money it took to keep me in clothes. I was constantly ripping or staining my jeans. I thought it was cool. Every scrape or bruise I got was like a trophy and there was nothing better than getting tossed off head first into a puddle of mud.” I think she rolled her eyes and sighed that time. It was a response, at least. “When I’m on the road, I’m in the arena before the dawn breaks, exercising the horses or practicing roping which I do sometimes, too. The competitions sometimes go until sunset or later, so it makes for really long days, but it feels damned good to lie down and sleep that night, you know?” I got a snort that time…Almost there. “Even after they hand out our checks, there’s a lot of work to be done when you’re staying on the road for a while. The horses need to be cooled and fed and untacked. The gear all has to be cleaned and oiled. It’s a lot of physical work, but that’s a good thing for more than one reason. Like I said, it makes for good sleeping at night. Plus, cowboys ain’t really given the credit for their musculature, like say a pro ball player is. Not just anybody can get up in a saddle or on the back of a bull and not completely tear their body up the first time out. You have to be in good physical condition to do it.” I admit that I was hoping for a kudo from her…I got nothing. “I ain’t really got the time to be pumping iron in a gym. The hard work compensates for that.

  “The other thing you have to be real careful about is the food. Food on the circuit can be rich and delicious, but full of nothing but fat and calories. I’ve seen more than one cowboy and cowgirl fall victim to it. Excessive weight can affect the hell out of your balance and coordination. Even ten pounds would throw me way off my game. Then there’s the practice time, too. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been doing it…if you get out of practice, you’re screwed. During the season, I’ll go to three or four rodeos a week. The paycheck is nice, the purses I win, but even with the little rodeos that ain’t about the titles, it’s about the practice. One of these days, I intend to make it to the National Finals in Vegas. I don’t think it will be much longer now. I’m on my way.”

  “Damn, you talk a lot.” She still wasn’t looking at me, but she was talking. I tried not to look amused, just in case she looked my way.

  “In my defense, I paused a lot and gave you ample opportunity to jump right in there. You chose not to. You got something to say, just come on out with it.”

  “Why do you live with your father? You’re a grown man.” Harsh, but I guess it’s a logical question.

  “I travel a lot. It just doesn’t seem to make sense at this stage to buy a house or even rent one and let it sit there empty when I’m on the road for over half the year.”

  She looked at me. Progress! She still had that glare on her face like she’d rather be with anyone else but me… “So what do you do when you’re at home – besides hit the local rodeos and seduce drunken women?” I couldn’t help it, I laughed.

  I avoided the last part though for now and said, “I work on the ranch. There’s always work to be done around there. I don’t need the money. I make enough on the circuit that I could probably settle down now and never work again, but I don’t see the point in that at my age.

  “A few times a year the hands spend a week or more herding the cattle from one range to the other. It gives the land time to recuperate in between.”

  “So you’re just out in the wilderness on a horse for a week?”

  “Well, kind of. I mean, we don’t stay on the horses twenty-four seven. Sometimes we get to lie out underneath a big old pine tree and take a nap after lunch. I love that.”

  “You love taking a nap on top of pine needles outside?”

  I smiled. She said it with such distaste. “I do. I also love cooling down with the cattle in the reservoir when it’s hot and the thrill of pushing a herd across the highway or pushing a group of calves up a trail. Hell, I even enjoy giving them their medicine. It’s a good life…but I get stagnant if I stay in one place too long, so the rodeo is more for me in the long run.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  LEXI

  I swear he talked for half an hour straight without taking a damned breath. I thought I was going to scream. It wasn’t that what he was talking about wasn’t interesting…it actually was, but I was still pissed at him and I wasn’t about to have a casual conversation with him about his “passion.” I finally just snapped that rude question at him because I couldn’t take it any longer. He’s so funny. Nothing seems to faze him. I’ve been nothing but rude all morning and he’s still smiling. I wondered what it would take to make him mad.

  “So what about when you decide to get married and have a family? Are you going to drag them along with you from place to place?”

  “No, probably not every place. Most cowboys just buy a nice house for their family and the wife and kids go to the rodeos they can make and live the good life when they can’t make it.”

  “How is that a good life? Why even get married if you’re going to live apart? It makes no sense.”

  He shrugged. “Maybe not. But a lot of people choose to live their lives in ways that makes no sense to me, either. As long as they’re not trying to force their lifestyle on me, I’m cool with whatever they choose to do. I’m sure that they miss each other, but if a lady is pregnant or the kids are in school, it doesn’t make any sense to disrupt their lives.”

  “None of it makes any sense to me. It’s like a Peter Pan syndrome or something.”

  He looked like it was putting stress on every muscle in his face not to smile. “Peter Pan, huh? You think I’m not a grown up?”

  “You live with your father. You make your living riding on the backs of animals, and you said yourself that you’re not interested in putting down roots. That doesn’t sound grown up to me.”

  “What would you call grown up? Being in a suit and tie and working in an office all day?”

  “Yes. But you don’t have to do that. I mean, look at your dad. He’s successful, has a nice house, gives to charity, goes on vacations, and sleeps in hotels…”

  “So your measure of a grown-up is if they live a conventional type of life?”

  I kept waiting for him to get mad,or at least look a little bit insulted. He still looked like he wanted to grin. I think my rudeness was the only thing keeping him from it. He was probably afraid I’d sock him or something. I had to give him credit. He was definitely the most even-tempered guy I had ever met. “I don’t know. It just seems to me like all you’re doing is having fun and not moving forward at all.”

  “I am having fun. I’m having a ball. Isn’t that what life is supposed to be about? I mean, we only get one shot at it, right?”

  “I suppose.” It was hard to argue with that. He was right. If I really gave it some serious thought, I’d have to admit that I didn’t want to spend my life doing nothing but working in a job I wasn’t happy in. I wasn’t going to tell him that, though. He was still on my list.

  “What do you want to do with your life, Lexi?”

  “Finish school, get a job, have a family...I’m sure that all sounds boring to you.”

  “Not at all, I want to have a family someday. I already did school. You nev
er know when you’re gonna get hurt or too old to ride. I have a back-up plan.” Of course he does. I want him to say something that will justify my anger. I want him to be unlikable. So far…nothing. “What are you passionate about, Lexi?”

  “Passionate about?”

  “Yeah, what lights your fire and makes you want to just go out there and grab life by the horns?”

  I had no idea. It pissed me off at him for asking. I know that’s ridiculous, but he acts like he’s known what his own passion was his entire life. I spent my entire life just trying to survive. “Oh look! We’re here already.” We were turning onto the long dirt road that was almost impossible to find. “Maybe on one of your stints home for a few weeks, you could make a new sign for this road.”

  He laughed. “I guess I could at that. Since this is your mother’s house now, too, you can come out as much as you want. You could always make a sign. It could say, ‘Welcome to nowhere,’ or ‘My stepbrother takes advantage of drunk girls.’” I laughed, then I got mad at myself for laughing. “Lexi, I’m sorry about last night. But I hope you know that I was drunk and as far as I can recall…neither of us was saying no.”

  “I was too drunk to say no.”

  He raised an eyebrow and said, “I hope you don’t drink too often then.” His lips were quirked around the edges again. He was joking – but he’d made a point that kind of hit home. I did need to take some responsibility for it. Ugh! I was looking for reasons to hate him and he was being impossibly nice and rational. I think I might hate him for that.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  MARK

  I know this is a weird thought, but I was beginning to get the feeling we were starting to bond. At least, she was making conversation with me – albeit, most of it was on the negative side of the spectrum where I was concerned. The closer we got to the house though, the more worried I got about what she was planning on telling her mother about last night. I’d be willing to bet that she didn’t want the truth coming out to our parents any more than I did…but we should have come up with a cover story we could back each other up on.