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

  “I’m assuming so. It’s a four hour drive each way and it’s a two day event…”

  “Okay. I just wanted to know so that I won’t worry. You go and have fun. I appreciate Mark trying to keep you entertained while you’re here. I know he gets lonely on his trips, too. The company will be good for him.” If she only knew how entertained he was trying to keep me.

  I got up and kissed her cheek. “Thanks, Mom. We’re going to be leaving early in the morning. I’ll text you when we get there safely.”

  “I love you, Lexi.”

  I smiled and once again the guilt over my actions with Mark clawed at my chest. “I love you, too.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  MARK

  I was almost finished loading up my gear and I had yet to see Lexi. I told myself to stop looking over at the house every five minutes and accept the fact that she wasn’t going to come with me. I closed up the trailer and was about to get into the truck when I heard, “You’re leaving without me?” I looked over and there she was. Damn! She looked good. She had on a faded pair of Wrangler jeans that hugged her tight curves, leather cowboy boots, and a sleeveless snap-front cowgirl shirt. That was all hot. But, the hottest was a straw cowboy hat that she had sitting on top of all of that thick, dark curly hair. I had to tell my pants to be still.

  “Hey, you look…country.”

  She smiled and my belly did all sorts of weird things. “Thanks…I think,” she said with a grin. “Mom insisted on buying me things when we went shopping, so I thought I’d try and at least fit in.”

  “You look great. I’m glad you decided to come.” I realized I was still standing there staring at her like an idiot when she cleared her throat and said,

  “Where should I put my bag?”

  “Oh, sorry.” I took it from her and put it in the truck. “You ready?”

  “Yep, let’s get this show on the road.”

  For the first five or ten miles we drove in silence. Lexi reached over at one point and changed my radio station from country to some weird pop stuff. Then she looked at me to see if I would protest. Sometimes I think she’s trying to see how much I’ll take before I blow up. She’s going to have to push a lot harder than that.

  “So what made you change your mind about coming?” I asked her.

  “I’m bored,” she said, simply. I guess that was as good of a reason as any.

  “I’ll bet it’s nice to spend time with your mom though, huh?”

  “Yeah, it is. I’ve missed her. I’ve had fun hanging out with her the past few days, but feeding calves and sloshing through the mud to slop the hogs is not really my thing.”

  I laughed. “So what is your thing, Lexi? What do you like to do?”

  “I like to go to the movies, out to dinner, dancing, and I like concerts. I like staying in nice hotels and ordering room service. I like swimming and lying out in the sun by the pool…”

  “You can do all of those things and still enjoy the solitude of the country.”

  She looked at me suspiciously and said, “How’s that?”

  “You can watch a movie under the stars every Friday night at the church in town. You can have the best dinner you’ve ever at over at Miss Millie’s café. You can swim in the pond and stretch out on a towel along the sandy bank and soak up the sun…or if you’re the skinny dipping sort, there’s a private river right there on the ranch.” She rolled her eyes at that and I said, “And down at the park in town they have jazz concerts in the moonlight every Saturday night during the summer. I can’t imagine the city has a lot more to offer than that.” She smiled. It was encouraging.

  “That all sounds great,” she said with a mischievous grin, “But you failed to sell me since there was no dancing involved.”

  “Oh well, dancing we’ve got covered. There’s a rodeo dance before every event. They’ll be having one tonight and if you want, you can go and dance yourself blue in the face.”

  “Who would I dance with?” she said. I think she was flirting with me.

  “Anybody you want, I imagine.” I had to ask myself why the hell, out of all the women in the world, did my father have to marry this girl’s mom? I’ve never wanted a woman this badly in my life. I’m not sure if it’s because I know I can’t have her or if maybe she’s just the one I’ve been waiting for all along. Either way, it’s a moot point. I’d do my best to enjoy the time I did have with her because if I try and venture into the other, I was going to push her completely away. We stopped for gas and I couldn’t help but watch her walk towards the little mini-mart. I was trying hard to keep my mind off of everything I’d love to do to her, but it was hard. When I finished gassing up and she wasn’t back yet, I went online and made reservations at a hotel near the rodeo grounds. I was just signing off when she came back and jumped up into the truck.

  “What are you looking at?” she asked.

  “Nothing. I just made reservations for us at a place near the rodeo grounds called the Northern Express.” She gave me a worried look and I said, “Don’t worry, I got two rooms.” By the look on her face I couldn’t tell if she as worried – or disappointed.

  “Oh good,” she said.

  “Maybe after we rest up a bit we can make it over to the rodeo grounds in time for the barbecue that kicks it all off. Then there’s the dance and tomorrow the rodeo.”

  “Sounds like fun,” she said. I wondered if it really did or if she was just being polite. When we got to the hotel which was in an old historic part of town in a building that looked like a renovated mansion, Lexi said, “Wow! This is a great place. Have you stayed here before?”

  “No, but I had some friends who stayed here last time we were up for an event. It’s a nice place. I think you’ll like it.”

  “Thank you. I’m sure you don’t usually do so fancy when you’re on your own. It’s been a while since I’ve stayed in such a nice place.”

  It warmed up my blood to know that I made her happy. I know, I was supposed to avoid things with her that warmed up my blood, but I just couldn’t help it. Seeing her pretty face smile and her pretty eyes light up and knowing I did that gave me a perverse sense of pleasure I knew it shouldn’t. I tried to tell myself that it was okay. I should want to make my “sister” happy. But in my heart I knew that wasn’t it. Right or wrong – I wanted her to like me as much as I did her.

  We checked into the hotel and went to our separate rooms. I told her I would pick her up for the barbecue at four which was in about three hours. I headed to my room to take a little nap and get cleaned up. The nap was a futile attempt. I couldn’t think about anything but Lexi and the shower ended up being a cold one. Jesus, what the hell am I going to do?

  I put on my nicest shirt and a new pair of jeans and after pulling on my boots and slapping on my hat, I was ready. It was a little before four when I knocked on her door. She pulled it open and in an instant I felt like there was a clawed hand clamped down across my neck and I had to struggle for breath. She was wearing a pink western-style skirt that came down to her knees with black cowboy boots and a black blouse with short sleeves that looked like silk. It was fitted in the waist to show her curves and had a rounded neckline that let the top of her soft mounds show just enough to make me want to see more. Her hair was as shiny as ever and lay in soft curls around her pretty face. I didn’t have enough breath in my body to talk, so I just stared at her.

  “You look nice,” she said, probably thinking it was odd that I was just standing there gaping at her.

  “Um…” Slow, even breaths, Mark. “You look…wow. You look amazing.” As soon as I said it, I thought maybe it was too much. But she looked pleased that I thought so. I took another deep breath and wondered how I was going to not touch her all night. “Are you ready?”

  “Yep.” She grabbed her bag and we headed out. In the elevator on the way downstairs, I was overwhelmed by her sweet fragrance and just the presence of her warm body next to me. I could literally feel the electricity surging between us. I breathed a
sigh of relief when the elevator opened and we could step out into a public place.

  We drove down to the rodeo grounds which were only about five miles away from the hotel. The dinner and dancing would be held in the big event center on the grounds. The line for dinner was already forming when we got there. I wanted to take her hand and lead her through the crowd, but I thought better of it and just made sure she stayed beside me and didn’t get lost, instead. We were almost there when I heard the sound of a voice I knew well.

  “Hey, Mark! How’d an ugly cowboy like you get such a pretty lady to join you for dinner?” It was a guy named Rusty who I had known since I was a kid and who had taught me a lot about rodeo and bull riding.

  “I paid her,” I told him. I glanced at Lexi and she had an eyebrow cocked and a hand on her hip.

  Rusty is a big guy. He’s about six foot four and two-hundred plus pounds. He grabbed me in a hug and nearly smashed the life out of me. When he let me go, I looked at him. Rusty was the kind of guy that never aged. He was perpetually thirty years old. He had rust-colored red hair and freckles. The only thing different about him from the last time I’d seen him was about twenty pounds. “How the hell are you?” he asked me.

  “I’m good,” I said. “Lexi this is Rusty Williams. You’ll have to forgive his manners. He was born and raised in a barn. Rusty, this is my friend, Lexi.”

  Rusty took Lexi’s hand and shook it firmly. “He’s telling the truth, I’ve spent most of my life in a barn, but so has he. The only difference between him and me is that I clean up better. So, if you want to be seen with a better looking man…I’m available.”

  I rolled my eyes and Lexi laughed. I was glad to see that she didn’t correct me about being my “friend.” I’m not sure why. I just wasn’t ready to give up hope that someday she would be more than my stepsister, as stupid as I knew that was. “Nice to meet you, Rusty.”

  “It’s a pleasure, little lady,” he said. “Will y’all be at the dance tonight?”

  “We’re thinking about it,” I told him.

  “Good, I’m sure the little lady will need a real man to dance at least one or two dances with.”

  I laughed. “Hopefully she’ll be able to find one. I’m starving. Rusty, it was as good to see you as ever…which is not very.” He threw his red head back and laughed that deep, boisterous laugh of his as we walked away.

  We got into the food line and when we reached the food tables I was surprised to hear Lexi tell the man carving the tri-tip that she’d take two pieces. They were large chunks and I couldn’t imagine how she’d be able to eat all of that. She looked at my face and said, “What? I’m hungry, too.”

  I shrugged. “That’s perfectly fine with me. Hell, I don’t care if you eat the whole tri-tip. You just don’t look like you eat that much.” Before I realized it, my eyes ran across her body again. I saw her shiver and wondered if there was any possibility that she’d been thinking about me the same way I’d been thinking about her.

  He laid two thick slices on her plate. It looked delicious with the edges darkly crusted with rubbed spices and the juice running out of the pinkish center onto her plate. At the next table we got our baked beans and cornbread and salad. She followed me over to a table where there were a couple of empty seats where we could sit down to enjoy our meal.

  CHAPTER NINE

  LEXI

  I was impressed by how Mark maneuvered us through the crowd, pausing long enough to say hello to people he knew and introducing me. Then he moved us along until we were finally near the front of the food line. While we had waited, I looked around and took in the scene. The place was filled to capacity and if I’d been observing it from overhead, I bet I would have seen nothing but the tops of big, felt cowboy hats. Everyone seemed to be talking to someone and although this was an event that people were likely to have come from all over the state and further for, none of them acted like strangers. It was a far cry from an event of this size in the city where people tried to avoid eye contact in most instances.

  While we ate, a guy named Tuck and his wife sat with us and I listened to him and Mark talk about the bulls that would be at this rodeo. I couldn’t help but enjoy watching Mark talk about it. He had so much passion in his eyes and that coupled with the fact he was already drop-dead gorgeous…well, none of it was helping my resolve not to want him. Tuck also asked him how the ranch was holding up in the drought.

  “The river on our property is fed by a reservoir from upstream. So far they haven’t taken it away from us, so we’ve had plenty. We have water year round,” Mark said.

  “You are lucky,” Tuck told him. “Our rivers are nothing but dry sand beds. We’re begging the state for water.”

  Tuck and Mark talked for a good half hour and when he and his wife finally left, Mark said, “I’m sorry. I’m sure that wasn’t fun for you.”

  “You know, I’ve been on the ranch for a couple of weeks so far and all I really know about it is what’s right there around the house. I wouldn’t mind knowing more.” I surprised myself, but it was true. Besides, whether Mark believed he was a rancher at heart or not, he got almost the same passion in his eyes when he talked about the land as he did the rodeo. I liked it.

  “You really ought to let me take you on a ride up to the foothills while you’re here. It’s green and lush and dotted with the prettiest old oak trees you’ve ever seen.”

  “What about animals? Are there wild animals up there?”

  “Some. Every so often I see coyotes and a bobcat here and there. There are lots of little ones like possums and rabbits…the occasional snake.”

  “Snakes? Poison ones?”

  He laughed. “Yeah, rattlers mostly.”

  “And you want to take me up there?”

  “You would be on horseback. The horses know to watch out for them.”

  “Hmm, I’m not so sure about all that,” I said.

  “Well, the rattlesnakes are a really small part of ranch life as a whole. In the fall, the calves are born and in the spring they get branded and go out to pasture. The ones that aren’t hearty enough to make it out there get sold at auction. Then there are the sick babies that get taken up to the barn, like the ones your mom bottle feeds, and there are the pigs that she loves taking care of,” he said with a smile.

  “You and my mom are really close, aren’t you?” I asked.

  He shrugged. “I wouldn’t say close. We’re still feeling each other out a bit. I think she feels sorry for me.” He laughed, but there didn’t seem to be any humor in it.

  “Why would she feel sorry for you?”

  “She thinks my dad is too hard on me.”

  “What do you think?” Before he had a chance to answer it was announced overhead that the “Dance Under the Stars” was beginning.

  “You ready for that dancing?” he said.

  “Sure.” Why not?

  We cleaned up our table and headed outside. There was a stage set up and lights strung around a temporary dance floor. A country music band was already playing and there was a long bar on one side of the dance floor with tables set up all around it. We found a table and Mark asked, “Do you want a drink?” I remembered what happened last time we were alone together and I drank.

  “Just some water, please.” He raised an eyebrow at me, knowing what I was thinking, I’m sure. As hot as this guy makes me sober, I needed to avoid being drunk around him at all costs. While he was gone, a young guy who was probably not even twenty yet came up to the table. I could tell that he’d already had a considerable amount to drink.

  “Hi there.”

  “Hello.”

  “I’m Blaine.”

  “Hi. Lexi.”

  “You sure are pretty, Lexi.”

  “Thank you.”

  “You want to dance with me?”

  “No thanks.”

  He looked perplexed. The word “No” was obviously one he wasn’t used to. He had on a hat so it was hard to see his hair, but from what I could see it wa
s a sandy blond color. His eyes were a pretty shade of light green and he was built like a quarterback. I could see why he wasn’t used to it, but I wasn’t interested. He grinned then, showing a mouth full of teeth that probably cost his parents tens of thousands. “Come on pretty lady. Just one dance.”

  “I think she said no already.” Mark was standing behind the kid. He spun around, but as soon as he saw Mark, his posture went from aggressive to practically submissive. It was a sight to behold.

  “Hey, is she with you?” When Mark nodded, the kid turned back to me and said, “I’m real sorry, Miss. I didn’t mean no harm.”

  “It’s okay.”

  He turned back to Mark then and said, “Are you riding in the morning?”

  “Yep.”

  “Good luck!”

  “Thanks Blaine, you too.”

  Blaine scurried away and looking amused once more, Mark sat down with me and handed me my water. “Wow! Was he that afraid you would kick his ass?”

  He laughed. “No, it’s a respect thing. This is his first year on the circuit. He’s looking for tips and tricks to pick up all the time. He doesn’t want to get on the bad side of anyone he thinks may be able to help.”

  I got the feeling Mark was taking less credit than he deserved. What I saw in that kid’s eyes was more than respect, it was adoration. “You’re just drinking water, too?” I asked him, noticing he had the same as me.

  “Yeah, I don’t drink the night before a ride. It bloats me up too much.” I strangely was hoping that he wasn’t drinking because he didn’t trust himself with me any more than I trusted myself with him. I knew that was messed up since neither of us should be thinking about the other one that way, but my thoughts were all over the place where he was concerned. The band struck up a loud, fast song and the dance floor began to fill up. “You know how to two-step?” he asked me.

  “Um…no.”

  He grinned. “Come on,” he said, putting his hand out to me. “I’ll teach you.” I had no desire to two-step, but I had every desire to touch his hand, so I did. He led me out to the dance floor and we stood in a line while he talked me through the dance. “Okay, two forward…to the side…back…to the other side…forward…there you go!” I was tripping over my own feet, and sometimes his, but I was surprised to see how much I was really enjoying it. When the two-step was over, the band went immediately into a slow song. Instead of going back to our table, Mark pulled me into his arms and with one hand out and the other on my waist, he began to lead me in a slow dance. We were an appropriate distance from touching anything private, but damn if it wasn’t all aching. I had to physically hold myself back from letting my breasts crush into his chest. This is ridiculous…I have to stop. It’s sad though, because I really don’t want to.