by Claire Adams
I laughed and shook my head. “No, I mean, are you sure about…all of this.” I gestured between us. Then, I blurted out the real question. “You’re not just doing the bull riding competition for me, are you? Because I can get the money some other way. I couldn’t live with myself if you got hurt because you were just trying to help me out.”
“Oh, darling,” Trethan sighed, kissing me gently. “I want this. I’ve always wanted to ride bulls. I’m good at it, and it’s exhilarating. The prize money is just a bonus.”
“Are you sure, though?”
“I’ve never been more sure about anything in my life,” he said, looking suddenly serious.
I sighed and dropped my forehead onto his collarbone. “What happens if you win?” I asked. “Are you going to keep doing it?”
Trethan was quiet for a long moment. “I don’t know,” he finally said. “I owe a lot to your father, and I wouldn’t want to leave the Lazy J in a lurch. If I did leave, it wouldn’t be right away.”
I swallowed hard and forced myself to nod. “Okay,” I said. I ducked my head. “Whatever you do in the future, I want to be there with you. You know that, right?”
He stared at me. Then, a slow smile broke across his face. “Good,” he told me. Then, he spun us around and walked me down the hallway and into the bedroom, laying me gently back on the bed and dragging my dress off over my head. He kissed his way down my skin, moving carefully, as though I were made of spun glass and might shatter if he made the wrong move.
I clutched at him, dragging my fingertips down his back and guiding his hips into position between mine. Where normally he’d tease me more, he did a cursory check to make sure I was ready for him, and then he pushed inside me. He thrust deep and slow, pulling nearly all the way back out before pushing inside again.
His hand came up to cup my cheek, and he stared down into my eyes, his gaze searing. It felt like the promise of something more, and although those three words hadn’t been spoken, I could feel them hanging in the air between us, practically tangible. I love you, I love you, I love you.
With each thrust, my pleasure spiked higher, until I practically vibrated with it, with the need for him. I couldn’t stop little whimpers from falling from my mouth, but they only seemed to spur him on. He clutched my hips with a bruising grip and sped up his thrusts, rocking his hips upwards with each thrust, his head dragging at my walls, sliding through my slickness.
I gasped and clutched at his fingers, my eyes falling shut as it all became too much. I shuddered, feeling him coming in unison with me, a muffled cry on his lips.
I trembled as he pulled out of me, and he pressed a soft kiss to my temple. “You okay?” he asked softly, his voice gruff.
I nodded, curling into his arms. If I opened my mouth, I knew I was going to let those three words fall free, but I wasn’t ready for that just yet. Wait until after the competition, until we knew where we were going with this relationship. That was for the best.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Trethan
I looked carefully at the other competitors, bouncing a little on my toes. About thirty of us gathered there, all dressed in our best Western wear and ready to get this show on the road. There wasn’t really any sort of “type” to us. Some of the guys were young and muscular like me; other guys were older, and some of them had a stocky paunch to them that looked like it would fit better on a barstool than on the back of a bucking bull.
I tried to pick out which of the guys were going to be my biggest competition, but I had to admit that with the lack of experience I had, it was anyone’s guess.
“You nervous?” Vanessa asked from my side.
I smiled over at her, noting how pale and nervous she looked and knowing that I couldn’t let on exactly how worried I was. “Nah,” I lied. “I’ve been doing well in practice. Even Larry admits it. This is just like another practice. I just have to watch a bunch of other guys ride first. No big deal.”
“Yeah,” Vanessa said, but she still didn’t sound certain. “Are you sure you want to do this? What if you get hurt out there?”
“Then I guess I’ll need you to play sexy nursemaid to me,” I told her.
She laughed, but I could see that the smile didn’t quite reach her eyes, which were still pinched with worry.
“I’ll be fine,” I promised. I pulled her into my arms and tipped her hat back so I could kiss her. “You look hot dressed all Western like that.” I slid my hands into the pockets of her jeans.
She wrinkled her nose. “Dresses are more comfortable,” she complained. “But I wanted to look the part today.” She suddenly grimaced and stepped hurriedly away. I followed her gaze and saw John approaching us. John, who still didn’t know that we were dating.
John just gave me a mild look, though. “There you are,” he said to his daughter. “I almost didn’t recognize you.” He reached out to tap the brim of her hat. “You look like a genuine cowgirl. Don’t tell me you’ve decided to start riding bulls, as well.”
She laughed, still looking embarrassed. “Definitely not,” she said, shaking her head. “I don’t even get out on the horses enough anymore; you know that.”
“Hmm,” John said, shaking his head. “Well, as much as I might wish that you’d decided to follow me into the family business, I have to admit that with Trethan’s capable hands helping out around the Lazy J, we’re doing better than we ever have before.” He narrowed his eyes at me. “So you just make sure you don’t get yourself injured today, all right? I don’t know what I’d do around the ranch without you!”
I laughed and shook my head. “I’m sure you’d do just fine,” I said. “But I’ll be careful out there.”
“Good,” he said. He looked pointedly back and forth between the two of us.
I cleared my throat awkwardly, glancing at Vanessa. “Sir, I guess I should have told you that Vanessa and I were starting to date again,” I said. When he didn’t say anything, I hurried to continue. “I know that I probably should have asked your permission, what with the history that I have, but you know that I’ve been a lot better lately, and Vanessa is keeping me on that track. I haven’t even really been down to the Roasted Bison lately.”
“I should have known there was some ulterior motive to your sudden interest in entering a rodeo competition,” John said, shaking his head. He looked at Vanessa. “And, I should have known there was some ulterior motive to your putting on a pair of jeans for once.”
Vanessa blushed and ducked her head. “Dad, we were going to tell you, we just...” She trailed off, looking over at me. “We haven’t really talked about what we’re doing,” she admitted. “We’re just having a bit of fun. It’s just like old times.”
John continued to look between the two of us, and then he cracked a smile. He lightly shoved at my shoulder. “Go out there and impress her, then.” He held out his arm to his daughter. “Shall we go find our seats? I’m sure Trethan wants to get his head into competition mode.”
“Okay,” Vanessa said. She glanced toward her dad and then turned back to me, standing up on her tiptoes and kissing me. “For good luck,” she said breathlessly as she pulled away.
I smiled at her and tipped my hat toward her, watching that sexy, denim-clad ass as she walked away.
There was a low whistle off to my left, and I turned to see Mike standing there, watching Vanessa walk off, as well. “That’s your girl, then? Her pussy as tight as it looks?”
I growled wordlessly at him. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Mike raised an eyebrow at me. “I’m a rodeo man,” he said. “And George is one of my good pals. He’s invited me here to ride one of these bulls, not that it’s any business of yours.”
I snorted. “Well, get ready for me to trounce you again, just like I have at the Roasted Bison,” I told him.
He grinned. “Riding a real bull isn’t the same as riding a mechanical one,” he said. “You think you’re hot shit in the bar, maybe, but you’ll be singing a di
fferent tune once you get done with a ride out here.” He glanced after Vanessa again. “Maybe we should spice things up a little. Instead of betting cash, we’ll bet on your girl. She could do with a ride on a real man.”
I lunged at him, but before I could land a blow, some of the other bull-riders were pulling us away from one another. “Come on, come on,” Larry said, scowling at me. “Save your anger for the bulls.”
Mike laughed and shook his head. “This your trainer, then?” he asked, sneering at Larry. “Some washed up, crippled has-been. Should have figured.”
“Motherfucker,” I snapped, trying to lunge at him again, but the guys holding my shoulders kept their grip, and I didn’t make it more than a couple inches.
Larry looked unimpressed as ever. “Better to be a washed-up has-been than whatever we might call you, Fat Mike.” He caught me by the shoulder and steered me away from the crowd.
“You guys know each other?” I asked Larry.
“Yeah, we go way back,” he said, glancing over his shoulder to where Mike was still fuming. “Guy’s always been a douchebag. But listen, don’t think about him right now. I want you thinking about the bull you’re about to ride. Focus.”
“But doesn’t that piss you off?” I asked incredulously. “I mean, he just insulted you.”
He snorted. “He’s not the first, and he won’t be the last one to call me that,” he said unconcernedly. “See, this is exactly what your problem is with the bull, and why if you don’t change things, you’re never going to make it beyond an amateur level: something spits a fight at you, and you go in guns blazing. The thing about riding a bull is you can’t just go in for the kill. You’ve got to roll with the punches a little, too.
“It should be more like a dance. Kind of like when you’re wooing a girl. You can’t just grab her and take a tumble in the hay; there’s a certain amount of lead-up that needs to go into it. Do you get what I’m saying?”
“Kind of,” I admitted, watching as the first contestant went out into the ring. He put up a respectable time, but after one buck, his hand dropped down to rest against his thigh for a moment, and he was disqualified.
Mike went up next.
“Now here, watch him go,” Larry said, pointing to the other man. “Like I said, Mike and I go way back, and I know how he rides.” He grinned crookedly. “I could probably tell you the exact moment when he’s about to come off. But see how he pivots his hips? I want you to loosen up out there, like that.” He made a noise. “There it is, though. See the way his heels just turned inwards, the slightest bit? There he goes.”
Sure enough, Mike went flying a respectable distance through the air, but he rolled through the fall with surprising grace and ran for the fences as the clowns ran in to distract the bull.
“I tried to tell him to watch his feet, but he never listened,” Larry muttered under his breath.
“You used to coach Mike?” I asked in surprise.
He grinned over at me. “Where do you think all the bad blood comes from?”
“So, what do I need to do if I’m going to beat him?” I asked, watching as his score got put up on the board. Mid-eighties. It was a respectable score. Not impossible for me to beat, not if I got a good time and had a clean ride, but I’d have to have a good time and a clean ride.
It suddenly hit home to me that this wasn’t just practice. I looked nervously out over the crowd, managing to pick out Vanessa by her bright green shirt.
“What you need to do to beat him is to focus on your own riding and forget about him and everyone else,” Larry said, tapping me on the shoulder to get my attention. “You’ve been doing better in practice lately. Just go out there and give it a ride like you have been. That’s all you have to do.”
I nodded grimly and went to line up as we got closer to my number. I would be the last rider to go, which meant that I had plenty of time to think about what Larry had said, about rolling with the punches or giving it a little bit of a tease, rather than just going in for a fuck. I glanced back toward Vanessa, thinking again about how proud she was going to be if I managed to win. If I could get the prize money for her.
I smiled and nodded my head a little to myself. I was going to win this thing.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Vanessa
I watched yet another rider get thrown around the five-second mark and turned toward Dad, starting to feel a bit impatient as I waited for Trethan to ride. “Is this normal?” I asked him. “I’ve never really been interested in bull riding before, so I don’t know, but it seems like a lot of people are getting disqualified.”
“It’s an amateur competition,” he reminded me.
“Still. You’d think more than a handful of riders would have made it longer than eight seconds. Or you’d think that the organizers would change the minimum amount of time. At this point, they’re hardly going to have enough guys to give prizes to.”
Dad snorted out a laugh. “They’ll have plenty of guys,” he said. “We’ve got five guys who have already made it over eight seconds. And they’re each going to get three rides to prove themselves. It’s not over yet.” He paused. “Anyway, it’s been a good day of rodeo. I don’t want to jinx it, but at least no one’s been seriously injured yet.”
I hummed in agreement, even though I knew that meant Trethan’s odds were worse. I regretted agreeing to this plan. I couldn’t stand between Trethan and his dream of being a bull rider, but I would feel horrible if he got injured when he was doing this just to get me the money for the gallery.
I swallowed hard and tried to take my mind off it. “Dad, you don’t mind that Trethan and I are seeing one another again, do you?”
He was quiet for a moment. “I want you to be careful,” he finally said. “You know Trethan’s history, maybe better than I do. I’d hate to see him go down that path again. He was in a bad place when you left, you know.”
“He told me,” I admitted, watching him bounce on his toes on the edge of the pen. “I don’t plan on leaving again, though.”
Dad whistled softly. “You’re really serious about him, are you?”
I rubbed at my wrist. “I don’t know,” I said, but I was sure he could hear the truth in my voice. I glanced over at him. “We haven’t talked about any of this, though. We haven’t even really said if we’re boyfriend and girlfriend now or anything like that.” I shook my head and then grabbed at his arm. “Look, there he goes, he’s mounting up.”
I bit my lower lip, watching as Trethan, seemingly impervious to nerves, waved out at the crowd and then tipped his hat in my direction. Then, the buzzer sounded, and the bull burst out of the pen and into the center of the ring.
“That’s it,” Dad said under his breath, watching Trethan move with the bull.
I didn’t know enough about bull riding to know if he was doing better than any of the other riders, but he was staying on the thing pretty well, and I supposed that was something.
My breath caught as he fell forward over the bull’s head. The bull bucked backward and tossed his head, and Trethan went flying off to one side, looking as limp as a rag doll. At the last second, he collected himself and rolled with the impact, coming up in a crouch. He assessed the movement of the bull and then darted off toward the edge of the ring, jumping up high on the wall.
Then, his eyes found mine, and he flashed me a thumbs up.
I swallowed hard and looked toward the scoreboard. He had hit his scoring time, and the judges were nodding approvingly.
Ninety-two.
I stood and cheered before the score even registered in my brain. Dad clapped and whistled as well.
I slipped out of the stands and ran down to where Trethan was. He swept me up into his arms and kissed me. “Hey, darling,” he said as he set me back down on my feet. “What did you think of that?”
“You’re amazing,” I gushed. “You’re in the lead right now, right? So, what happens next?”
Trethan shrugged one shoulder. “Now we do it all over
again,” he said. “Everyone gets two rides. Same order for the next round. But for the third round, it’ll just be the people who have managed to put down a score already, myself included.” He grinned cheekily at me. “So, what did you think? I look pretty sexy out there, huh?”
I giggled and pushed at his shoulder. “I guess so,” I told him, rolling my eyes as though I didn’t care one way or the other.
Trethan raised his eyebrows at me. “Well, if you didn’t think so, I’m sure there was a whole line of girls who did,” he teased, looking around as though his fangirls might suddenly appear.
I made a face, fighting back a stab of jealousy. “Oh,” I said quietly.
“Hey,” he said, running his hands up my arms. “Come on, Vanessa, you know that’s just a joke. I’m not looking at anyone other than you. Why do you think I told your father we were together?”
I nodded. “I know that,” I said. “But I also know that you probably could get someone better if you wanted to.”
“No, ma’am,” he said, shaking his head. He stroked my hair. “You’re my high school sweetheart. Nothing sweeter than that.”
I smiled at him, still feeling uncertain. I tried to change the subject. “So, if Dad knows that we’re seeing one another, maybe you could come over for dinner tonight? I imagine that all that riding probably works up a pretty sizable appetite.”
“Hmm,” Trethan murmured, tugging me toward him. “And what were you thinking of making?”
I shrugged. “The weather’s pretty nice, so maybe we could grill up some steaks. I seem to remember you always liked my mom’s pasta salad, too, and I came across the recipe for it the other day. And maybe some mashed potatoes and corn on the cob. A real post-rodeo celebratory meal.”
“That sounds really tasty,” he said, bending down to kiss me. “Definitely a celebration.”
“Maybe a little pie for dessert, too,” I suggested.
“Not sure I need that,” Trethan said, bending his head down for another kiss. “This is sweet enough as it is.” He nipped at my lower lip, his hands coming up to cup the back of my head.
