The Celtic Cowboy: Bear Creek Rodeo

by Jessica Marin

  Once I let my guard down with Ryan and told him about my feelings regarding my family, I was surprised to learn we had more in common than I thought. Ireland doesn’t produce many successful professional cowboys, so Ryan and Rhett have become somewhat famous back home. Their family is also well-known for their horse farm, and while that isn’t the same as being a child of a football legend, it still left them with doubt on who to trust.

  “You do realize that you girls are dating guys that are kinda big deals back in Ireland, right?” I gave him a funny look, not knowing if he was being his usual arrogant self or speaking the truth.

  Wait, did he just say we’re dating?

  “People just look at us and see dollar signs and the connections we have into the elite world of horse breeding, so I understand your lack of trust when meeting people. But Adi, life’s too short. Not everyone is going to be after you for your family’s name and money. Not everyone is going to be interested in you just because of who your dad and brothers are. You need to start letting people in. Be a little bit guarded, but give people a chance,” he told me, making me wonder how he would react knowing that by me letting him in, he’s starting to capture my heart.

  It’s not lost on me the irony that the one guy I let my guard down with is the biggest playboy of them all.

  But Ryan has been acting anything but a playboy. He’s made plans with me every night this week. Rhett and Tessa usually join us, which has actually been quite entertaining. We all eat dinner together, play a game that involves us getting to know one another better, and then go our separate ways to have alone time. Besides getting acquainted with each other mentally, we’ve been physically getting to know each other’s bodies as well.

  Tonight is the night before they leave for the rodeo in Belton. I’m lying back on the couch, my eyes closed and my breathing ragged as I try to come down from the most explosive orgasm I’ve ever had from oral sex. I knew Ryan was talented with his tongue, but he took it to a whole other level tonight. I slowly open my eyes and see him staring down at me, an expression of raw, honest hunger blazing in his eyes. I don’t know how much longer I can hold off my need to feel him inside of me. Physically, that’s the next step, but mentally, my head and heart are still fighting over what I should do. If this is how my heart is reacting to him without us having sex, I know he’ll completely dominate me once we do.

  He will own me — mind, body, and soul.

  Giving that much power to a man who isn’t committed to me is frightening, but what if I never feel this way again for someone? I push these thoughts aside, not wanting him to sense my inner turmoil and ask me about it.

  Not like you would tell him the truth anyway.

  “Do you have any plans this weekend?” he asks, his expression so intense that I feel like he’s trying to read into my soul.

  “Yes, I do,” I confirm, his eyebrows shoot up in surprise at my response. “I’ve got a hot date with Netflix and this really comfy couch.” I give him a mischievous smile while patting the cushions.

  He smirks at me, grabs my hand and places it over his growing erection. “Can you feel what your sassy little mouth does to me, Minx? I want you to come with me to Belton.”

  My mouth drops open in surprise, not expecting an invitation from him. “Really?” He laughs at the skepticism in my voice and pulls me up into a sitting position.

  “Yes, really. It’ll be like a mini holiday and you can see what a stud I am on the bull.” He winks before searing my lips with a hot kiss. “I haven’t talked with Rhett yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he invites Tessa.”

  “Tessa has to work Friday. Oh shoot,” I cry out in frustration, forgetting about my family obligation. “Since I missed my brother’s football game last week, I promised I would go to his game tomorrow night.”

  “The rodeo isn’t until Saturday, we just have to attend the events the night before. What if you girls drive up Saturday afternoon? That way you can still see us ride, we can have dinner and spend the night. Not in the same room as Rhett and Tessa, of course.” He smiles wickedly at me and my imagination goes wild with all the naughty things we can do in our own room.

  I’m in trouble.

  “Of course,” I say in a shaky breath, gulping down my nervousness.

  “So, what do you say? Will you come to Belton?” His eyes are hopeful as he waits for my response. After this, he and Rhett travel for four weeks to rodeos in Northern Texas. What if he loses interest in me while he’s away? The thought of this being our last weekend together decides my answer for me.

  “I would love to come to Belton.”

  I woke up early on Saturday, my excitement at seeing Ryan preventing me from sleeping in. My mother was relentless with her endless questions about Ryan while we were at my brother’s game last night. I thought I had pacified her with my answers long enough to leave me alone, but her questioning continued at dinner. Even though I tried to play it off as nothing serious, my mother could tell it was more than just that.

  “Be careful, Adi. I don’t want you getting hurt,” she said.

  Too late for that!

  As soon as I got home, Ryan called and we talked about how our day went. I loved hearing how he prepares himself, both mentally and physically, for his rodeos. Even though he’s been gone for only a day, hearing his voice made me realized that I missed him.

  Of course, I didn’t dare admit that to him!

  Seeing that I have my whole day ahead of me since we don’t leave until this afternoon, I get up to make coffee and start a load of laundry. I try on a couple of outfits to wear tonight, wanting to look good for him, but not too over the top. Once that’s picked, it’s time to decide on bedtime attire. I look through my collection of nightgowns and pull out my sexiest ones. I stare at my two options, wondering if bringing them would be insinuating that we’re going to have sex. I start to get way too deep into my head about should I or shouldn’t I bring them with the final decision being to bring one sexy nightgown and one set of pajama pants with a tank top.

  When my overnight bag is ready, I clean the apartment, trying hard not to wake up Tessa, who didn’t get home until late. I forego vacuuming and go back into my room to see it’s not even lunch-time yet. With at least two more hours to kill until I need to start getting ready, I grab my laptop and research bull riding. I’ve only been to the Bear Creek Rodeo a handful of times and never bothered educating myself on the riders or the individual events. If I’m going to watch Ryan in action tonight, I need to at least know what all of the terminology and rules are.

  Ten minutes into watching YouTube videos and my anxiety level is through the roof. How Ryan hasn’t broken every single bone in his body is beyond me. Just seeing the way their bodies flap around like a fish out of water makes me dizzy. I don’t know if I’ll be able to handle watching him. It’s one thing when you don’t know the person, but when it’s someone you care about, those eight-seconds of him on that bull are going to be grueling.

  I click out of YouTube and go back to my main internet page. The cursor in the Google search engine box taunts me, daring me to type in Ryan’s name. Don’t do it, my mind is screaming, but my fingers seem to have made the decision for me. The first couple of articles are interviews of him and Rhett coming to America. Then there are videos of some of his rides. I continue scrolling down and click on the next page when articles from gossip columns start appearing. There are pages and pages of stories about him and all of them contain pictures of him with different women. Not wanting to be tempted to read all of them, I click on the “images” tab instead.

  Big mistake.

  Hundreds of photos appear of him with different women, ranging from local socialites, models, and celebrities. It’s rare that I can find more than five photos of him with the same woman and the one woman who does appear in more than five turned out to be his sister, Shannon, who’s gorgeous. I was relieved when I discovered it was his sister, but the more I kept digging, the more disturbed I was to see t
hat he’s never really had a serious girlfriend, that all these women were just casual flings.

  And I was his next one.

  I slam my laptop shut, tears threatening to spill down my cheeks. I don’t know why this is so devastating to me. Tessa warned me about his reputation, even telling me that Rhett inflicted a “no-girls” rule at the beginning of their season and the only reason Ryan has stuck with it is because Rhett has been all over him about it.

  I’ve been that one exception to the rule because of Rhett’s interest in Tessa.

  I try to look at the bright side - Rhett will probably uphold this rule while the boys are away from us. But my heart wants Ryan to stay away from other women because I’m the only one he wants. Sadness invades my heart and all my excitement for tonight quickly vanishes.

  I debate whether or not to feign sickness and not go, but despite my anguish, I still want to see him. I still want to gaze into those green eyes, listen to that husky Irish accent and be tortured by the touch of his firm, warm lips.

  It’s okay, Adeline, you’re a strong girl. You can handle casual, my heart sings out.

  No, you stupid twit, you cannot, my brain yells back.

  It appears that I’ve foolishly fallen in love with Ryan Kearney. An unrequited love that with one hundred percent certainty will devastate me.

  I take a couple of deep breaths and know that deep down, I would regret not going. I start getting ready, my movements slow and hesitant, my confidence completely shattered by those images.

  “You ready to go?” Tessa calls out an hour later, her face glowing with happiness at the idea of seeing Rhett again.

  I plaster a smile on my face and nod my head with fake enthusiasm. We grab our belongings and head out to Belton.

  Chapter Eleven

  RYAN

  I pace back and forth in the holding area, waiting for my turn to compete, trying to shake off this nervous energy that is brewing within me. Rhett just finished competing and managed to nail his ride, despite being in a black mood with the discovery that Tessa’s ex-boyfriend is here competing with us. I had to talk him off the ledge, which is no easy task with how hard-headed he is. I’ve never seen my brother so possessed with jealousy and rage before and if I hadn’t held him back, he might’ve gotten disqualified for punching the crap out of Ty George. The wanker deserves to be punched, but we’re so close to qualifying for Nationals that we can’t let our emotions get the better of us.

  Which is easier said than done at the moment.

  I spend one day away from Adeline and she’s all I can think about. Training for today was only a temporary distraction since she’s ingrained herself into my blood, my need to have my fix of her consuming my every waking moment.

  Who the hell am I?

  No woman has ever grabbed my attention like this as she has. Excitement and anticipation at seeing her gorgeous face got me up early and ready to start my day. As the hours started ticking by, my energy changed and I became jittery. I’ve never been anxious before a rodeo, but for some reason, I was antsy and moody, checking my phone for messages of her arrival, doubt starting to creep in if she was even going to show up. The feeling was so strong that relief washed over me when I did get a text saying she arrived. I’ve never been one to believe in intuition, but when I saw doubt and sadness reflect back at me in those chocolate brown eyes, I was hit by a massive wave of fear.

  Fear that she didn’t want me anymore.

  This particular fear was so foreign to me, so disturbing, that it left me sick to my stomach. The only way I knew how to squash it was to kiss her. Before even speaking one word to her, I grabbed her roughly, hauled her against my chest and crushed my mouth to hers. I didn’t care that we were in public, that the other guys were making lewd comments. I needed to feel her respond to me, to feel that she still wanted me just as much as I wanted her. When I finally ended the kiss and she opened her eyes, passion and hunger were smoldering back at me. She gave me her naughty smile and I knew that I still had my little minx in my clutches.

  “I missed you,” I whispered to her, her eyes widening in surprise.

  “I’ve missed you too.” I didn’t realize how much I needed to hear that from her until the words were out of her mouth.

  I’ve never wanted anyone as badly as I want Adeline Murphy.

  And it scared me to my core.

  I’m not supposed to feel this way over someone I just met. I thrived on my reputation of being the playboy cowboy. I loved the attention, the game of seeing how many women I could get in my bed. Yet, this lass had spun my world around. All those desires of freedom to do what I want with whomever I want are gone and in their place are just desires for her.

  Only her.

  This obsessive need of ownership over her is a dangerous distraction, one that I must find a way to handle better. Maybe this upcoming break from seeing each other every day will do us good.

  Do me good.

  “Kearney, you’re up!” My name being called breaks through my thoughts and I walk over to the chute where the bull is. I have this tradition of looking into the bull’s eye and giving them a pep talk before we ride.

  “Hello big fella,” I say to the bull in greeting, using a soft tone of voice with him. “I’ve got my girl here with me, so I’d really appreciate it if you can go kindly on me.” The animal blinks at me and looks away.

  “Okay, well, good chatting with you. Let’s go do this!” I say more to myself than to the bull while I mount it. I let my weight settle onto it’s back, gain my balance and secure the rope in my grip. I take a couple of deep breaths and close my eyes, my heart hammering in my chest as I say a silent prayer for a safe and successful ride.

  I imagine my victory and when I open up my eyes, focus and determination have taken over me. I nod to signal that I’m ready.

  The chute doors open and the bull storms out into the arena, making me hold on for dear life for those eight-seconds.

  “Cheers to the Kearney brothers for dominating Belton!” Adeline cheers us in a toast at dinner. Both Rhett and I had picture perfect rides, placing first in our categories, and helping us move slightly higher in the overall money earning ranks for Nationals. The top fifteen qualify for Las Vegas and we are sitting pretty in the top ten.

  Once we calmed down from the highs and lows of the rodeo, we started to relax and enjoy our celebratory dinner together. Rhett and Tessa decided to leave as soon as they were done eating, their craving for alone time with each other made evident by their public displays of affection. I was ready to go when they were, but for some reason, Adeline stalled and suggested we have one more drink. She seemed nervous to be alone with me, so I indulged her by going to the bar to order our drinks since we’d already paid our dinner bill. I place our drink order and pay the bartender once they are ready. With drinks in hand, I maneuver myself out of the crowd and stop dead in my tracks when I see a strange man sitting with Adeline at our table. I watch him place his hand on her thigh and anger starts to rage inside of me.

  “Take your hand off my thigh before you lose a testicle courtesy of my heel,” I hear her tell him and if I wasn’t feeling so violent right about now, I would’ve laughed and enjoyed seeing the appearance of Adeline the Firecracker. But seeing this asshole’s hand on her makes me see red.

  “You heard her, take your hands off her,” I growl as I approach the table, slapping down the drinks so hard that beer spills out of them, splashing onto his pants.

  He looks me up and down with a menacing look. “And who in the hell are you to tell me what to do?”

  “I’m her boyfriend, that’s who.” I take a step forward, the tips of my boots touching his own shoes. I mentally count to ten, hoping this guy leaves peacefully.

  “Chill out, man. I didn’t realize she was with someone,” he sneers while standing up and getting into my personal space. My hands fist at my sides, ready to pound him into oblivion, but Rhett’s words of no trouble resonate through me.

  “I think you
’re the one who needs to chill out.” Before I realize what’s about to happen, Adeline grabs one of the beers and pours it over his head. He screams and closes his eyes from the sting of the beer and that’s when I use the opportunity to punch him in his nose. He goes down hard, but I don’t look back as I grab Adeline’s hand and we race for the door. We don’t stop running until we get to her car and throw ourselves in it. She turns on the engine, reverses the car with a jerk and races out of the parking lot. Fortunately, the hotel is only two blocks away from the restaurant.

  “I can’t believe that just happened,” she exclaims in excitement, her chest rising and falling from trying to catch her breath.

  “I can’t believe you poured a beer over his head!” I laugh, my heart bursting with pride over her actions. I know I shouldn’t be promoting violence, but I’m damn proud of her for sticking up for herself. “That was sexy as hell, Adi.”

  She pulls into the hotel parking lot and jerks us to a stop in one of their open spots. She parks the car, turns off the engine and looks at me. “I’ve never had a man stick up for me the way you did tonight.” Her voice is husky, her eyes filled with desire as she stares at me with carnal need.

  Seconds tick by, the air in the car filled with electric, sexual tension. All of sudden, we’re both reaching for each other at the same time, our lips fusing into one, tongues thrashing against each other.

  “I need you, Adeline. I need you now,” I moan as she kisses along my jawline before latching onto my earlobe, sending shivers down my spine.

  “Let’s go inside,” I plead, my growing erection becoming unbearable. She nods her head and we untangle ourselves hastily to get out of the car. We walk briskly to our room in silence, no words needed as the anticipation of what’s to come grows inside us.

  I unlock my room with my card key, grab her hand and pull her inside. Once the door shuts, the room is encased in darkness, but I know exactly where she is by her delicious scent. I grab her by her neck and reclaim her lips, teasing them with my tongue until she opens for me. We moan at the same time, our hands immediately grabbing at each other’s clothing and pulling each item off. My shirt and her dress hit the floor while she guides me toward the bed and pushes me down. My breath hitches in my throat as my eyes drink in her beauty, my tongue ready to lick every single curve of that soft body. Her eyes are hooded with passion, telling me she wants me just as badly as I want her. She bites her bottom lip and reaches for my pants, unbuttons them, and slowly pulls down my zipper. She snakes her fingers inside my boxers to wrap around my erection. I gasp at her touch and sigh loudly when her fingers encircle me and squeeze. While she starts pumping me, my fingers skim over her satin panties, my thumb connecting with her clit over the soaked fabric. She moans and arches her back as I press harder over her sensitive area.