She spun around to see Levi looking all rugged and beddable, the biggest, blackest horse she’d ever seen at his side. Of course it’d been the horse he’d used in the steer wrestling yesterday, but she’d been more focused on Levi then. Now, only a few yards away from her, it was hard not to notice the beast’s size.
“I like your horse,” she said with a smile.
Levi looked proudly at the stallion. “Yeah, Ry’s a good’un. Now, are you gonna give me a good-luck kiss before my first event?”
A delicious thrill swept through Selah at that thought as she glanced around them.
“I thought you didn’t care what anyone thought,” Levi said.
She didn’t. But she was a little worried about her heart. She was pretty certain she was over halfway in love with Levi again—maybe her feelings had never completely died—and she didn’t know how many of his hot kisses she could take before she went flying over the edge. Then again, if today was all they’d have together, shouldn’t she make the most of it? Decision made, she took a few paces to close the distance between them, pushed up on her tippy-toes and kissed Levi on the lips.
He wrapped one arm around her and drew her tight up against him. Her spine tingled and goose bumps covered her skin as his hand moved lower to cup her butt, and his tongue danced with hers. She never wanted the kiss to end.
“Now that,” Levi announced, finally coming up for air, “was one hell of a good-luck smooch. Wanna walk with me to the arena?”
Too tongue-tied by arousal to talk, Selah nodded and took Levi’s offered hand. She walked with him and Ry—waving at a few curious locals as they passed—to where the competitors were congregating for the steer wrestling and then rushed off to find a good vantage spot in the bleachers.
“Hey, Selah! Over here!”
At the sound of Jenny’s voice, Selah looked around and saw Jenny and Colton sitting a few rows back from the front. Jenny gestured to the space beside her, and Selah made her way over to sit with her friends.
“Where were you last night?” Jenny asked the second Selah’s butt hit the bleachers.
Selah blinked. If Colton hadn’t been sitting with them, she might have confessed, but she couldn’t bring herself to talk about her hot one-night stand next to her friend’s husband, even knowing Jenny would probably tell him later anyway. “I was tired.” She added a yawn for good measure. “It’s been a busy weekend.”
Jenny raised an eyebrow and then exchanged a look with Colton. “So the fact we just saw you lip-locked with Levi had nothing to do with it?”
Selah swallowed, unable to control the heat that rushed to her cheeks. Thankfully, at that moment Jake Kohl’s voice blasted over the loudspeakers, announcing the start of the steer wrestling and introducing the first competitor.
“Don’t think I’m letting you off the hook that easily,” Jenny whispered into Selah’s ear. “And have you spoken to Chels yet this morning?”
“No, why?” Selah shook her head, thinking of her earlier phone call.
Jenny grinned. “I’ll let her fill you in later.”
After refusing to share her Levi business with Jenny, Selah could hardly grill Jenny about what was going on with Chelsea, but she vowed to return her friend’s phone call after the steer wrestling ended.
“Man, that was close.” Colton whistled, and Selah pushed thoughts of Chelsea aside to concentrate on what was going on right before her eyes. One of the competitors had just stumbled and only escaped being trampled by the steer in the nick of time. Although Selah didn’t want anyone to get seriously injured, she couldn’t help a slight smile that this guy wouldn’t be serious competition for Levi.
As she watched a number of fairly competent cowboys wrestle steers to the ground, Selah found her mind drifting to Marly’s offer from yesterday. It seemed like so much longer since she’d chatted with the Courier’s editor. So much had happened, and although she was scheduled to return to Seattle tomorrow morning, her life there seemed a distant memory. The Copper Mountain Courier didn’t have a huge readership and would likely be considered a big step down from her current position as features editor at a national magazine, but she would be in charge.
That notion sent a rush to her head.
But was she seriously considering this only because of Levi? Maybe her hormones and her heart were angling for a vote in what should be a decision made by her head. And she needed a clear head to make such a decision. Would she have been leaning toward what some might see as a backward step in her career if Levi hadn’t been moving back to Marietta as well? Trying to leave him out of her decision-making process, she thought of the other things in favor of Marietta. Her family, her friends and the chance to spread her journalistic wings a little. She guessed the Courier job wouldn’t be all that demanding, and maybe she’d have time to explore some freelancing opportunities as well. She could build up a portfolio of more serious articles that would stand her in good stead for finding another job once Marly went back to work.
Argh! Thinking about this on the amount of sleep she’d had last night, the memory of Levi’s fingers on her skin still raw in her head, probably wasn’t the smartest move, either.
“Levi’s next.” Jenny dug her in the ribs, her tone smug, as if she expected a reaction from Selah.
Trying hard to keep a straight face—devoid of all the emotion churning through her head—Selah nodded. But her heart picked up speed as she waited for the chute to open and Levi and Ry to burst through.
“And they’re off,” Jake announced over the loudspeaker.
Perched right on the edge of the bleacher, Selah bit her lip, every cell in her body wishing and hoping for Levi’s success. Pride soared through her as he came up alongside the caramel-colored steer. When he glanced up and smiled at her, she thought she might burst with happiness.
She knew he could do this, knew he could win this event and likely All-Around Cowboy as well, so she couldn’t have been more shocked when Levi misjudged his leap onto the steer and came crashing down onto the dirt.
Around her, the crowd gasped. The animal turned, its horns aimed at Levi, and Selah screamed as she shot to her feet. Her heart felt as if it had exploded out of her body and was lying alongside him on the ground. She prayed he’d get back up or someone would take hold of the steer before it trampled him.
“Please, somebody do something,” she shouted, frantically looking around her for an escape route so she could get to him. If she had been closer, she’d have taken the animal on herself.
“It’s okay.” Jenny’s arm wrapped around Selah as the chaos in the arena was brought under control. Relief flooded through Selah as the steer was captured and led away from Levi.
“I need to go to him,” she breathed, clutching Jenny’s hand tightly. Because, although the steer had been removed, Levi still lay curled up on the ground, and Selah suddenly knew with absolute certainty that there was no place in this world for her if it wasn’t by Levi’s side.
Chapter Nine
‡
Levi winced as he tried to push himself up off the ground, but pain throbbed in his shoulder and his arm wouldn’t do as he required. He couldn’t believe he’d made such a simple error of judgment, and he wasn’t just talking about this event.
Footsteps pounded toward him across the dirt, and he looked up to see two paramedics—man-about-Marietta Daniel Garrett and a woman he didn’t recognize.
“Are you all right, Levi?” Daniel asked, peering down at him.
“I’ve hurt my shoulder,” he replied, realizing that the pain in his shoulder was nothing compared to the thought of Selah not being in his life. Forever. It was thinking of her that had caused him to fall. He’d done something he’d never done before during an event—he’d glanced up into the crowd and searched the faces for hers. She’d smiled back the moment he’d needed to jump from Ry to the steer, and although he’d done so, he’d been distracted and misjudged the distance or some crap.
“Is that it?” Daniel knelt
beside him.
“Yeah, and I’ve got a bit of a headache.” He pressed his good arm to his forehead.
“Not surprising.” Daniel chuckled. “You went down pretty hard. Lucky you’ve got a tough skull. Let’s get him onto the stretcher,” he added, turning to the female paramedic.
“I’m sure I can walk.” Levi didn’t fancy being wheeled out through the crowds. No chance of All-Around Cowboy now, but he didn’t want to draw any more attention to his accident than he already had, as such a stupid error wouldn’t look good when he started advertising his rodeo school.
“I don’t think so.” The female paramedic laughed and rolled her eyes. “You rodeo guys think you’re so tough, but until we’ve had the doctor check you over, we’re not taking any chances.”
Levi looked at Daniel pleadingly. “I’m fine. Really. I just need a hand up and then I can walk out of here.”
“Sorry.” Daniel held his hands out in apology. “But I can offer you some good pain relief.”
“Okay,” he relented, figuring that if he took the drugs, he might be in a better position to convince the paramedics he was fine. And then he could track down Selah.
Levi looked the other way as Daniel’s partner held a big needle up to his arm, checking that Ry had been taken care of. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Cole had entered the arena and was standing beside Ry, holding his halter and talking softly.
“You all right?” Cole called across to Levi.
“I’ll live,” he tried to yell back, but the needle jabbed into his arm at that moment, and he feared he groaned instead.
“I’ll take care of him,” Cole promised, referring to the horse, “and then Nell and I will follow to the hospital.”
“Hospital?”
“Yes, Levi, the hospital,” said the female paramedic, amusement evident in her voice. “Where did you think we’d take you? A resort in Hawaii?”
“I’m fine,” he argued, but no one listened to his protests, and he found himself being gently lifted off the ground and onto a stretcher.
Panic filled his chest as he glanced at the faces surrounding him. What if they wheeled him away, shoved him in a hospital and by the time he was discharged, Selah had gone back to Seattle? The pain traveled from his shoulder into his chest, and he thought he might be having a heart attack.
A group of concerned competitors and rodeo committee people had gathered, making it hard to see past into the crowd. Not caring about his injury, he tried to sit up again, but Daniel forced him back down. He was about to tell Daniel to back the hell off and step aside when he heard Selah’s voice.
“I need to see him. Let me in.” She sounded as panicked as he felt.
“Selah!” he cried out, and the officials trying to keep her out must have heard his plea, for seconds later she was beside him.
“Oh my God. Are you okay?” She grabbed hold of his good hand and brought it up to her face, kissing his knuckles as tears spilled down her cheeks. He wanted to lift his other hand to wipe them away, but it hurt too damn much.
“I am now,” he replied. Her beautiful face was better than any pain relief the paramedics could offer him.
“We’re going to have to clear the arena,” came an official-sounding voice.
“We’ll drop him off at the hospital and then bring the ambulance straight back,” Daniel told the man.
Their voices sounded like a distant echo. Levi couldn’t take his eyes off of Selah. She was beautiful, now and ten years ago, and if he was honest, he’d never managed to find anyone else who could make him feel the way she did. She turned him on, she made him laugh and he could talk to her for hours and never get bored.
“I’ll come to the hospital,” she said, walking alongside the stretcher as Daniel and his partner started to wheel him away.
“Marry me,” he blurted out, loud enough that Selah and all the people milling around to watch the show heard.
She blinked and snatched her hand away. “What?”
He wasn’t sure whether the look on her face was one of shock or surprise—there was a vast difference—but either way, he wasn’t backtracking now. He’d already made a fool of himself on his horse. If he made a fool of himself for love on top of that, so be it.
“Marry me,” he said again, realizing the paramedics had stopped pushing the stretcher and were listening eagerly, along with everyone else. “If you don’t want to live in Marietta, we’ll make the long-distance thing work somehow, or I’ll find land for my business closer to you. But I love you, Selah Davis. If this weekend has showed me anything, it’s that there’s never been anyone but you.”
He’d almost forgotten to breathe as he rushed out the proposal, and his hands felt clammy now as he waited for her response. Around them, people whooped and hollered. Someone called, “Come on, Selah, don’t kick a man when he’s already down.”
Looking at him as if they were completely alone, she whispered, “Are you serious?”
He nodded. “I’ve never been more serious about anything in my life.”
In reply, Selah leaned over the stretcher and gently touched her lips to his. “Let’s get you checked over and then we’ll talk.”
*
After all that had just happened, Selah was too shaky to drive, so Jenny got behind the wheel so they could follow the ambulance the very short distance to Marietta Regional Hospital.
“You’ve got some serious explaining to do, missy,” Jenny said, glaring at Selah as if she were years older instead of six months younger.
“Keep your eyes on the road,” Selah chastised as her friend reversed the rental car out of its parking space.
Ignoring her, Jenny continued her ambush. “What the hell happened between you and Levi last night? Last I knew, your date had been disappointing and nothing was going to happen between you. And now he’s asking you to be his wife?”
Taking a deep breath to try to regulate her breathing, Selah gave Jenny the condensed version of what had happened over the past twenty-four hours. Everything from Levi supposedly turning down her salacious proposition on Friday evening to practically dragging her from Jake’s arms last night. Everything right up to Levi asking her to marry him in front of half the town plus many more people who’d come for the rodeo.
“That is so hot,” Jenny said as they turned into the hospital parking lot. “So what are you going to do?”
“He probably didn’t mean to say it.” Selah’s heart broke as she said this, but she had to acknowledge this very real possibility. She’d seen the female paramedic inject him with something. Maybe it had been drugs speaking. “He might have a head injury. It’s likely just a concussion talking.”
“That’s not what I asked,” Jenny said firmly. “Do you want to marry him?”
For as long as Selah could remember, she’d been more focused on her career than looking for a man she might want to settle down with. Despite her religious upbringing, or maybe in spite of it, she hadn’t been sure she’d ever get married. It was just a piece of paper, after all. But when she’d been staring down at Levi on that stretcher—when he’d asked her something she’d never even dared to hope—she’d realized something.
Oh, yeah…she wanted to marry him.
She wanted it more than she’d ever wanted anything in her whole entire life. She wanted Levi, she wanted Marietta and she wanted the life they could build together here, out on their own slice of the McCullough spread.
“I think maybe I do,” she told Jenny simply. But she was terrified he hadn’t really meant any of it. Her hands still shaky, Selah unclicked her seat belt and pushed her door open. The ambulance entrance was around the side and not accessible by the general public, so she marched toward the main ER entrance. Jenny had to run to keep up with her.
“I’m here to see Levi Monroe,” she told the matronly woman behind the desk. Although she looked old enough to have been there forever, Selah didn’t recognize her. “The ambulance just brought him in from the rodeo.”
Levi hadn’t seemed too injured, but she’d seen his head connect with the ground, and it hadn’t been pretty. She wanted him checked over by a doctor, and then she wanted to run her hands over every bone in his body to make sure he was okay. And then she wanted to know if he’d meant even a fraction of what he’d said on the stretcher.
She’d barely been pacing two minutes when the entrance doors opened again, and in came Cole and Nell with Em McCullough, her son Sam and his new bride, Jane.
“Has he seen the doctor?” Em demanded.
Selah shrugged. “I guess that’s what’s happening now.”
Em nodded curtly, sat down on a seat and then looked up at Selah. “I was at the top of the bleachers, but word has it Levi just asked you to marry him. Are congratulations in order?”
Selah felt as if six pairs of eyes were boring into her waiting for an answer. She desperately wanted to say yes, but she didn’t want to put Levi in the position of feeling as if he had to follow through on a proposal he may not have meant. “Let’s hold off on the champagne until we know Levi is okay.”
“He’ll be all right.” Cole waved a dismissive hand. “He’s had worse injuries than this one. Can I get anyone a coffee while we wait?”
Selah didn’t think she’d be able to hold her hand still long enough to bring the cup to her mouth, but she was thankful for the distraction Cole appeared to have given everyone. He and Nell went off to find a coffee machine, and Sam and Jane sat down beside Em on the plastic chairs.
Selah waited for someone to grill her again, but Levi’s relatives went quiet. Just when she thought maybe she’d have five seconds to try to get her head straight, the entrance doors opened again and in walked her parents.
Tease Me, Cowboy (Montana Born Rodeo Book 1) Page 10
