Ride Me Cowboy #5 (The Cowboy Romance Series - Book #5) Read online

  “Wow,” Lexi said. “There are cowboys everywhere you look.”

  I laughed. “Yeah, this is a cowboy town. Cody is the rodeo capital of the world. Even when there’s not a rodeo going on, this is just who they are. The funniest one to me is Vegas. During the finals, cowboys from all over the country invade the strip. You even see nothing but cowboy hats at Starbucks.”

  “When is that one again?” she asked.

  “December twelfth.”

  She clapped her hands together like a little girl. “I’ll be on winter break…which is good because if I had to quit school to go with you, I was going to do it.”

  “I’m glad it’s during break too then,” I told her. “You’re way too smart to quit school for an old cowboy.”

  She rolled her eyes. “This is a big one too though, right?”

  “Yeah, they kind of all are between now and December. But this one pays out big money, which is good. This rodeo has been happening for ninety years. Cowboys come from all over the continent to compete here. The purse is over four hundred thousand dollars.”

  “Are you kidding me? Almost a half a million dollars?” At least she didn’t add: “To ride a bull!”

  I laughed. “I’m not kidding. It doesn’t all go to one guy, but the winners get a pretty good chunk of change.”

  “Well, you know I’m not all about the money, but I will expect a lobster dinner.”

  “You can have two lobsters – win or lose.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  LEXI

  Usually on the Fourth of July, I went to a barbecue at one of my friend’s houses and then we watched the fireworks in the park. This year, I would be celebrating two holidays: the birth of our nation and Cowboy Christmas. If anyone had told me this a year ago, I would have told them they were crazy. The reality, however, was that I’m figuring out when you fall in love with someone, you fall in love with everything about them. Rodeo was a part of Mark. Without it, he wouldn’t be the man he is – the man I fell in love with. So here I am in Cody, Wyoming, sitting in the grandstands next to my mother at the Wild Bill Cody Stampede Rodeo and waiting impatiently for the main event. Our main event anyways, the bull riding competition.

  I was learning more about rodeo every day. Just before I came up here to sit and wait with Mom, Mark told me he drew a bull named Wildfire. The bulls are ranked like the cowboys and Wildfire was ranked number three in the United States. He’d never been ridden for more than seven seconds. That meant that every cowboy who had ever been on his back had been beaten by him. If Mark was able to beat him today, that would mean a really high score. It would likely mean a big money win here for him and a better chance when he got to the NFR. I was keeping my fingers crossed, but I knew in my heart that he didn’t need luck. He was awesome at what he did and every time I had the pleasure of watching him, I was more proud to be a part of it.

  When it was finally time, Mom and I clasped hands and held our breath. The announcer called out Wildfire’s name and read off his stats first. Then he announced that Mark was the rider and announced his impressive stats, as well. I couldn’t see Mark or the bull in the chute, but when it was pulled open, they both looked determined. Mark had his left hand tied on again. His right one still wasn’t ready after his injury. I closed my eyes and said a silent prayer. When I opened them, Wildfire was pitching forward, trying to throw Mark off over his head. Mark held on…and actually made it look easy. I focused on that right fist held above his head. His wrist had to hurt still, but he never complained. Sometimes I thought he was tough and other times stupid, but I loved him nonetheless.

  Wildfire was spinning now, first to the left and then to the right. I watched Mark move with him. It was a fluid movement, like Mark had anticipated what the bull was going to do ahead of time. He’s amazing. The crowd was getting louder the closer the clock got to eight seconds. It’s amazing how long those eight seconds can seem. Wildfire came up off of all four feet. The crowd was deafening and my mother was squeezing my hand so tightly it hurt – the buzzer rang and Mark slid, effortlessly, it looked, to his feet. Wildfire wasn’t done with him yet. I gasped and jumped to my feet as the two-thousand pound bull charged. Mark dodged and ran and the rodeo clowns who looked like two guys playing with their pet monster, chased Wildfire out of the arena.

  I looked back at Mark who was holding his hat up at the still screaming and clapping crowd. He looked in our direction. He bent his arm at the elbow, kissed his fingers and threw me a kiss. I caught it and threw one back. I couldn’t wait to taste his sexy lips for real.

  Mark, Mom, and I went out to dinner to celebrate that night. He took second place behind a guy who got just one tenth of a point better score than him. Mark thinks it’s because his form is a little bit awkward from using his left hand. He was tickled with second place and the fifty-thousand dollars he won. I didn’t care about the money, but I thought he’d ridden much better than the winner, so I wanted to complain.

  “It’s fine, baby.” Mark told me when I whined about it at dinner. “I’m happy with second. I’m still in the running for the NFR, so it’s all good.”

  “So, Mark,” Mom asked. “Where do you go from here?”

  “South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Florida, and Arizona,” he said. “Oh, and Utah.”

  Mom looked at me to gauge my reaction. Mark had already filled me in that this was the busiest part of the season, and he would be constantly traveling from now until December. I smiled at her and said, “I’m going to go with him to as many as I can until school starts again.”

  “Well, when you go to the finals, I will definitely be there. Now though, I need to go home and get my life back in order,” she told Mark.

  “Home?” I asked her. I thought she meant “home” to Rob. My stomach clenched at the thought.

  She smiled. “I sublet my place in the city, remember? Clarisse, the woman who sublet it understands my situation because she’s been through it herself. I’m going to move back in and I told her she could stay until she found another, suitable place.”

  “I’m so happy about that,” I told her. “I thought you sold the apartment to her. I’ve been so worried about where you would live.”

  “I’m sorry that I worried you, honey. I honestly thought you knew about the apartment situation.”

  “I didn’t, but you know why?”

  “Why?” she asked with a furrowed brow.

  “Because that was happening during my selfish stage. In case your selective memory about my terrible behavior fails you, that was the stage that lasted from age twelve to twenty-one. I’m sorry, Mom. I don’t know how you’ve put up with me.”

  She hugged me with tears in her eyes. When she drew back, she held me by my shoulders and said, “I never thought you were selfish…ever! You had so much on your plate for so long – of course it was difficult for you. I love you so much, Lexi. I’m so proud of the woman you’ve become.” I was selfish. She was just so amazing that she didn’t notice.

  That night when Mark and I lay in bed, he asked, “Are you sad that your Mom is leaving?”

  I shrugged. I didn’t expect her to finish out the summer going to rodeos, but I did have to admit that I was going to miss her…a lot. “I’m happy she has a place to go. I’ll miss her, but I am looking forward to going on the road with you for a while until school starts again. It’ll be fun, just you and me.”

  He pulled me in close and kissed my forehead. “I can’t even begin to tell you how happy that makes me.” He moved his lips down to mine and kissed me, sliding his sexy tongue into my mouth and exploring to the furthest recesses of it. When we came up for air he said, "Touch me, baby,” then he slid his hands up under my t-shirt. I wasn’t wearing a bra, and he cupped by breasts in his hands and just held them. I did the same to him, running my hands up underneath his shirt and letting them glide across the hard lines of his chest.

  He pulled my shirt up over my head and off, tossing it aside. I love the way the breath caught in his throat e
very single time he looked at me naked. It was like he was seeing me for the first time and he thought that I was beautiful. He cupped my breasts again and this time he squeezed and massaged them before scooting down in the bed and sucking one of them into his mouth. He used his tongue to assault my nipple as he sucked. “Oh, baby…that feels so good.” I had my hands in his curly hair and I was practically whimpering. Nothing felt as good as being this close to him, touching and being touched. He sucked on that breast for a while and then moved to the other one and gave it the same attention. “Baby…don’t stop, I love that.” He was so good. Sometimes I almost came just from him sucking and licking my nipples.

  I felt his hand on my stomach. The skin to skin contact was so hot sometimes that it nearly burned me. I felt him bring the other one down and tug at my shorts. He didn’t break his suction as he started pushing them down with my underwear, too. I reached down to help him and when they got to my knees, I wriggled out of them. He pulled his head up then and looked at me. “God, baby, you’re beautiful. I love you.”

  I smiled. “You’re beautiful, too. And I love you, too. I’m more naked than you, though.” He looked down and as if he just noticed he was still wearing his own shorts, he grabbed the waistband and worked them off. I felt his beautiful hard cock brush against my thigh, and I shuddered in anticipation of what was to come.

  He brought his lips back up to my mouth and kissed me. I melted against him. The kisses were another time where each one felt like the first. I love kissing him. I could do it all night and come away completely satisfied. I let my hand slide down and took his hard cock in my hand. While we kissed, I stroked. He moaned into my mouth. It was so sexy.

  “Oh my God, Lexi…that feels so good, baby. Yeah, just like that. You know what I like.” His moans and accelerated breathing let me know what he liked and I loved it. He was so responsive to my every touch, and it made me want to touch him over and over again. “Jesus…fuck…oh, baby!”

  He lifted his hips up off the bed and held himself there while I stroked. He used one hand to steady himself and the other to play with my nipples. He twirled, pinched, pulled as I writhed, groaned, tried to concentrate on the task in my hand. Suddenly, he pulled free and I felt his tongue on my hot skin as he traveled down my stomach and towards my pussy. I held my breath as I watched him. When he reached my mound, he used his hands to push my thighs apart and let out a soft growl. “Gorgeous,” he said. He used two of his fingers and spread my lips apart and then he leaned in and took a long taste. I was writhing again. It felt so good. Either he was an expert or we were just really good together. I preferred the latter, myself. I whimpered and pressed my pussy harder into his face while he tasted me. Then he started flicking my clit with his tongue and I nearly passed out because it felt so good. “God, Mark, you kill me. It feels so damned good.” He smiled against my flesh and then he went back to sucking, licking, and every so often, nibbling on my pussy. It wasn’t long before I was headed for another explosive orgasm, especially when I felt him slide a finger inside of me and begin moving it in and out while he flicked my clit back and forth quickly.

  My body shook convulsively as the orgasm flooded my system. He kept fingering me and lightly sucking on my clit until I was finished. Then he pulled his head up and grinned.

  “Come up here,” I told him. He moved up and put his mouth over mine. He kissed me hard and deep as he slid his cock inside of me. We both sucked in a hard breath. “Oh, baby…oh yeah…”

  He kissed me again as he slammed his hips forward and buried himself all the way inside of me. He pulled back a few inches and pressed back into me. I reached my legs up and wrapped them tightly around his waist, pulling him in with my calf muscles each time he pulled back. I was also bucking my hips up to meet him stroke for stroke. It was pure ecstasy, and I wanted it to last all night. Mark captured my lips again with his own and kissed me while he pulled out almost to the very tip of his cock and then slammed back into me. He captured my cries with his mouth and that was a good thing because as he sped up, I was crying out for more. I wanted harder and faster and if his mouth hadn’t been in place, the entire hotel probably would have known. I pressed my body up tight into his and dug my fingers into his back while he plunged in and out of me until suddenly I felt his muscles tense and his already throbbing cock grow even more inside of me. He grunted loudly as I brought my hips up and clamped my muscles down and held onto him as he climaxed.

  Wyoming…christened. Bring on South Dakota.

  CHAPTER SIX

  MARK

  I was having the best time of my life, traveling with Lexi. She had never really been anywhere, so after each rodeo we spent time exploring the cities where they took place. If we had time, and I tried hard to make it, we would stop at any of the more notable or interesting places we came to. The only regret I had was that time was passing quickly. She had to be back in the city by the end of August to start her next semester in school. Her friend Samantha wanted her boyfriend to move in with her. Since the apartment was technically hers, Lexi couldn’t say no. She didn’t want to live with the two of them together, though, she thought it would be awkward. I didn’t blame her. I offered to rent her a place and she laughed.

  “I’m not going to be a kept woman!” she told me, playfully.

  “Not even if I really, really want to keep you.”

  She laughed again. “You can keep me, but not like that. I’ll figure something out.”

  I could tell that Lexi was sad about losing her roommate. She was her good friend, as well, and it was different when your best friend was in a serious relationship, even for guys. She eventually told her mother what was going on and Lydia told her that she was welcome to stay with her and they would fix up the third room for me to stay in when I was home. I thought that was amazing, considering Lydia didn’t owe me a thing.

  For the most part, I was doing great. I was taking first or second in every rodeo and scoring in the high eighties. I was making money, which was always good. The last time I saw the rankings, I was number two in the U.S. I don’t know how to describe that feeling. Being ranked high enough to be included in the National Finals had been what I was working towards since the age of eight. Now that I was so close to realizing my dream, my head was spinning through a whole gamut of emotions. Of course I as happy and I was proud…and I was excited at the prospect of riding in that huge arena on National TV in the company of cowboys I had worshipped my entire life. Then, there was the anxiety and all of the “what ifs?” What if I got hurt before I made it there? What if I went through a slump between now and then…could I still hold onto my ranking? My main concern was that I was riding high as long as I knew Lexi was in the audience and that I’d be holding her in my arms in a few hours – what happened when she had to go back to school? Would I be too distracted missing her to concentrate? I’ve never been in love before, but I was rapidly discovering that being away from her was like having a part of me missing for an indeterminate amount of time.

  Lexi and I were in Florida as the end of August loomed near. The night before my rodeo in Tallahassee, she told me that the next day she would need to get headed for home.

  “Tomorrow? Already?”

  “Baby, school starts in two weeks. This has been amazing and I’m going to miss you like crazy, but I have to go home and get ready. I have to get my things moved out of Samantha’s place and into my mom’s and I have to go buy my books and…”

  “I’ll go with you.” I just blurted that out. I hadn’t thought it through, but I didn’t want to be away from her.

  She looked confused. “What?”

  “I’ll go home with you.”

  “No, you will not. You’ll move on to Mississippi tomorrow and from there back to Arizona and then Utah. In October when things are slow, then you’ll come home.” She knew as much about the rodeo schedule now as I did. She constantly amazed me. “We’ll have a grand reunion,” she said with a silly face.

  She was trying to
make light of it and make it easier, but the bottom line was that I was very much attached to her. “I don’t want to go on without you.”

  “Mark, we agreed I was going back to school.”

  “I’m not trying to stop you from doing that. You’re so smart. I’m so proud of you. That’s why I said I’ll go with you. You traveled with me all summer, now it’s my turn to follow you.”

  “Right now, you’re following your dream. I’m going to miss you like crazy, but you wouldn’t be whole if you came home with me now. Remember that missing someone gets easier every day if you know you’ll be seeing them again someday. Each minute I miss you is going to bring me one minute closer to seeing you again. Please, baby, stay and accomplish your goals. I’ll talk to you every day on the phone. We can Skype. It’ll go by so fast.” I felt like an insolent child whose mother was leaving him to go to work. I wanted to have a fit and see if that would make her stay. Instead, I just held onto her all night and by the time I woke up the next morning, I knew that this season was going to be it for me. I didn’t want to be a broken down old lonely cowboy someday. I wanted Lexi…I wanted a life with her. She had been right all along. Being away from the people you love is no kind of life.

  I struggled through taking Lexi to the train station and saying goodbye. As we stood on the wooden deck holding each other, listening to the last call for her train, her eyes filled with tears. “You know how much I love you?” she asked.

  “Almost as much as I love you,” I told her, forcing a smile. They called for her train again and she grabbed and hugged me tightly before turning and jumping on. I watched her pass the windows and find a seat and then I waved at her until she was out of sight. I felt lonely as soon as she was gone. I went back to the hotel and got my things and then to the rodeo grounds to pick up Sarge. I don’t know if it was my imagination or not, but even he seemed to be sad when he was put into the trailer and realized that Lexi wasn’t with us any longer.