Her Texas Rodeo Cowboy

by Trish Milburn

  * * *

  JASON JERKED AWAKE, a result of what he realized was a loud sound. It took him a few seconds to process where he was—in the cab of his truck—and that the noise had been the horn of an 18-wheeler passing by the rest area where he had pulled over to catch a few winks when he could no longer see the road for the rain.

  Judging by the clear blue sky that greeted him now, the rain had passed right along with several hours. He should be much farther down the road, but he’d only managed a couple of hours of driving after leaving Poppy before the weather had forced him to pull off. While he’d waited for the rain to slacken, he’d kept reliving the kisses he’d shared with Sloane. Damn, those had been some good kisses. And he’d been surprised by how much he had wanted to turn around and go right back to Blue Falls. Which, of course, was crazy.

  After a quick trip to the men’s room inside the rest area, he got back on the road. When a few minutes later he got into line at a fast-food place, his mouth watered not for the biscuit he was about to order but at the memory of the delicious breakfast he’d had at the Hartleys’ house. A familial warmth filled their home that made him miss his own family. He’d been oddly comfortable at the Hartleys’ table, sleeping in their home, considering he barely knew them.

  Comfortable wasn’t exactly the word he’d use to describe how he felt with Sloane. Yes, he’d had fun with her, appreciated how beautiful and hardworking and kindhearted she was despite her sometimes prickly nature, but he’d not really been able to relax with her. His entire body had hummed when she was near, urging him to pull her close.

  Man, he needed to put more distance between them so that effect wore off soon. He had a job to do, one that required all his concentration and absolutely zero body humming.

  He’d only driven a few miles away from the rest area when his phone rang. The first image that popped into his head, along with a jolt of anticipation, was Sloane’s face. Good grief, that had to be the fastest case of infatuation ever experienced. But that was all it was, and he just needed time, distance and the distraction of another rodeo to get him past it.

  Instead of Sloane’s name on the phone’s screen, he saw his sister’s.

  “Hey, sis,” he said in answer.

  “Hey, I see you did halfway decent this weekend,” Shannon said.

  His entire family followed rodeo news like other people followed pro football or college basketball.

  “Could have done better but had an off night Friday.”

  “Where are you now?”

  “On my way to New Mexico.”

  They chatted for a few minutes about how he thought he’d fare in the upcoming rodeo, how the kids were doing, the plans for his parents’ anniversary party and finally a big project she was working on at the office.

  “Speaking of your work, can I ask you a favor?”

  “What, you need a website singing your praises or something?”

  He snorted at the very idea. “Nope. I met someone who runs camps for underprivileged kids. I actually went out to tell the campers about life in the rodeo during my downtime over the weekend. They’re looking for ways to raise funds to expand the camps so they can bring more kids out to their ranch. I said I’d ask you for some ideas.”

  “What’s their budget? Their goals?”

  “No idea, other than Sloane wants to expand.”

  “Sloane, huh? Is there another story I’m not hearing, little brother?”

  “Just trying to help out someone doing something good. Thought you’d like the idea.” He couldn’t let her think there was something romantic going on between him and Sloane. She’d been trying to set him up ever since her wedding when she’d suggested he ask out one of her bridesmaids. It didn’t matter that the bridesmaid in question happened to live in Rhode Island and knew as much about rodeo as he did about...well, Rhode Island.

  “Okay, I’ll stop teasing. Tell me more about this camp.”

  As he shared everything he knew about Sloane’s camps, he was careful to keep his tone neutral and stick to the facts only. There was a part of him that feared Shannon could read his mind through the phone, see everything that he was omitting.

  “Sounds like a good program,” Shannon said. “When I get a few minutes, I’ll brainstorm some ideas.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Don’t thank me yet. You’ll owe me one.”

  “Why does that sound ominous?”

  “Because I’m going to think of a doozy of a repayment.”

  After telling Shannon he’d text her Sloane’s number the next time he stopped, he ended the call. And discovered that having talked with his sister about the camps, his thoughts refused to focus on anything but Sloane. The next time he stopped for gas, he not only texted Shannon but also Sloane to tell her about his conversation with his sister. He knew the latter was just an excuse to contact her, but it couldn’t hurt, right? He was putting more and more distance between them, and the subject of his text had nothing to do with their date. Or the way he wished he could kiss her again right now.

  Though he needed to get back on the road, he hesitated. He drew the line at staring at his phone, waiting for a response, so he passed a few minutes washing his windshield and checking on Oscar, his horse.

  “So, what do you think, fella?” he asked as he scratched Oscar’s forehead through the slats in the trailer. “Have I lost my mind?”

  Oscar didn’t seem to have an opinion one way or the other.

  When Jason’s phone buzzed in his pocket, his heart gave an extra thump. He didn’t need Oscar to confirm what he already knew—Sloane Hartley had somehow managed to take up residence in too much of his head space. Even knowing that, a sense of excitement thrummed through him as he pulled out his phone and checked the text.

  You didn’t have to do that, but thank you.

  You’re welcome, he replied. He held his thumbs over the screen, feeling as if he wanted to say something else but didn’t know what.

  When he got no further response from Sloane, he took that as a sign he shouldn’t have needed that he had to stop thinking about her and get his mind back on the right track. Rodeos didn’t win themselves, and he needed wins to make it to the Finals.

  * * *

  SLOANE STARED AT her internet browser, debating whether or not to type in the web address that would provide the answer to her nagging question. It was probably best if she didn’t indulge her curiosity. Doing so would only prolong her fixation on Jason. Best just to do everything she could to forget he even existed.

  Of course, that was hard when she had somehow managed to dream about him every night since their date. A full week of dreams that ranged from their walking hand in hand along the river to things that were a lot more active and required a good deal more energy. She alternated between replaying those dreams in her mind and chastising herself for wasting so much mental energy on someone she’d gone out with once and who was currently somewhere between New Mexico and wherever his next rodeo was to be held.

  She placed her fingers on the keyboard but didn’t type anything. What could it hurt? After all, he’d helped at the camp and put her in touch with his sister, who had already given Sloane several interesting ideas to think about regarding funding for the camps. Of course, in return Sloane hoped that he did well in competition. And no one would know if she sneaked a peak at the rodeo results from the weekend and the standings.

  The keys clicked softly as she typed in the web address. She didn’t even have to scroll to see his name. He’d evidently been able to refocus on his regular life easier than she had. She’d caught herself daydreaming more times than she could count in the past week, sometimes nearly getting caught by her family. Jason...well, he managed to go out and win first place in a rodeo like there was nothing else in the world occupying his mind other than getting the best time in his event.<
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  A knock on her half-open bedroom door startled her so much that she slammed her laptop shut without thinking how guilty that made her look. She turned in her chair to see Angel grinning at her.

  “Were you looking at half-naked pictures of a certain Norse god again?”

  “Busted.” She’d a million times rather her sister think she was feeding her celebrity crush than what she’d actually been doing.

  “Uh-huh.” Angel didn’t sound convinced, but thankfully she didn’t press the issue.

  “Did you need something?”

  “Yeah.” As Angel walked into the room, Sloane noticed she had her own thin laptop. Angel placed it next to Sloane’s on the desk and opened it. “I’m entering a competition at a magazine, and I need to know which picture I should enter.”

  “What’s the prize?”

  “Five thousand dollars and the winning image on the cover of the magazine.”

  The money would be nice, but that kind of exposure for Angel’s work could be worth a lot more. “Let me see.”

  Sloane examined the two images side by side. One was a line of cowboys in silhouette sitting atop an arena fence with the setting sun bathing them in golden-orange light. The other was a close-up action shot of a bull rider that made Sloane feel as if she were riding the bull right along with him.

  “These are both great. If you’re going for action, definitely this one. But the other has beautiful atmosphere.”

  “Which one do you think would be unlike anything else entered?”

  Sloane sat back in her chair and stared first at one shot then the other. Her sister’s talent for capturing not only images but mood and realistic slices of Western life made the decision difficult, but she finally pointed at the silhouette shot. “This one.”

  “Oh, good. That’s the one I liked, too, but I feel as if I can’t judge my own work.”

  “You should trust yourself more.”

  “That’s some advice that could go the other way, too.”

  “And with that I have work to do.” She started to stand but Angel stayed her with a hand on her shoulder.

  “You might want to check your email first.”

  Without further explanation, Angel headed for the door. “Thanks for the help.”

  Sloane wondered why her sister had suddenly gone cryptic, but for the second time in the past few minutes her curiosity got the better of her and she opened her laptop again and logged in to her email program.

  The body of the email didn’t contain any text, making Sloane scrunch her forehead in confusion. Then she noticed the attachment and clicked on it. After a couple of moments, a photo opened and her heart gave a hard thump in her chest. She didn’t know when Angel had taken the photo, but a smiling image of Jason standing next to Brent, who was mounted on a horse, caused an unfamiliar warmth to spread outward from her heart to every part of her body.

  Angel’s photos always managed to tell a story, and this one showed how much Brent idolized Jason and how the man would do anything to protect the boy. Jason had never said those words, but there was something in his eyes that was more powerful, more expressive, than anything he might have ever said out loud.

  Setting aside the caring and kindness, the picture also showcased just how handsome Jason was. If he didn’t have women panting after him at every rodeo, it would only be because no women were in attendance. A flicker of jealousy led to her making a frustrated sound at herself. Looking at pictures of Jason wasn’t going to make her infatuation go away, and she needed it to go away. Far, far away.

  Even knowing that, she couldn’t take her eyes off the image of him. The feelings coursing through her were so unlike her, at least the person she’d been once she’d gotten past Blake’s abandonment. She’d grown up after that, become someone who didn’t need a guy to make her feel important. Not even the ones she’d dated more than once or twice. Of course, there was no way to totally banish the innate need to feel desirable. She’d be lying if she claimed otherwise. Over the years, she’d worked hard to become the person she wanted to be—independent, hardworking, caring—but she couldn’t carve out the human need to be wanted and throw it away. She’d admittedly pushed it down whenever it attempted to force its way to the forefront, sometimes taking longer than others, but it never totally went away.

  Forcefully pulling herself out of the past, she shut down her laptop and left the room. But even though she was no longer looking at the photo of Jason, the image stuck with her and refused to be dislodged. It took up what felt like permanent residence right next to the memory of how it had felt to be kissed by him.

  “Damn it,” she said as she stepped into the barn and immediately came to a halt. As she scanned the interior, she wondered if her brain was ever going to operate correctly again.

  Because even though she’d left the house and crossed the distance to the barn, she realized she had no idea why.

  Chapter Ten

  Jason sang along with the song on the radio as he drove down another long Texas road. He didn’t want to examine the why too closely, but he’d been in a damn good mood the past few days. Ever since Sloane had texted him congratulations on his win. That talk he’d had with himself about focusing on his work and not on the memory of how she’d felt in his arms didn’t have the lasting effect he’d intended. He’d made it through the rodeo successfully, but he hadn’t been off his horse five seconds before he’d wished she was there so he could celebrate with her.

  Though it was all kinds of crazy, he’d canceled his next event in California and replaced it with yet another rodeo in Texas, near San Antonio, in the hope that he could see her again. He didn’t even mind all the extra miles of driving to get back to the Lone Star State. That alone told him he was being irrational.

  But irrational felt good at the moment. It would feel even better if Sloane agreed to come see him ride. Of course, he had to ask her first.

  He put off the asking until he arrived at the rodeo grounds and unloaded Oscar into the barn and parked his trailer, then again while he checked into his hotel. He knew it was procrastinating because he liked anticipating seeing her. If he asked and she declined, he was pretty damn sure his mood was going to sour.

  Jason sank onto the side of his bed and resisted the sudden need to stretch out. He’d spent the night before at a crappy little motel in a town he was fairly certain wasn’t on a road map. A morgue slab had to be more comfortable than the bed he’d attempted to sleep in.

  I’m getting too old for this crap.

  He refused to put off the call any longer. If she said yes, he wanted to be able to spend as much time with her as possible. Ignoring how nervous he was, he hit her number. After three unanswered rings, the call went to her voice mail.

  “Hey, it’s Sloane. You missed me, so leave me a message.”

  The way even her recorded voice caused him to get to his feet and pace was evidence enough that he should be in California right now.

  “Sloane, it’s Jason. I’m competing down near San Antonio. Thought you might like to swing by.”

  Swing by? What the hell was he saying? It wasn’t as if he was asking her to pop over to the other side of Blue Falls. She could very well be too busy. Might not be interested in seeing him again.

  She’d seemed interested enough to kiss him with more than a little heat.

  He realized he’d left a long pause in the message. “I’ve got some extra time, so give me a call if you want to get together.”

  Before he made himself sound like even more of an idiot, he hung up. That’s when he flopped back on the bed and discovered that it was every bit as soft as it looked. As he stared at the ceiling, his lack of sleep and the long hours on the road began to catch up with him.

  He closed his eyes, which only gave him a dark backdrop against which to replay their first kiss.
His lips stretched into a smile at the memory. He’d kissed a number of women over the years, but none of those kisses had affected him the way Sloane’s had and he couldn’t articulate why. They just did.

  All he knew was his attraction to her had the power to scramble his brain, to make him discard decisions that made sense for ones that made him question his sanity. It was as if the two halves of his brain were in a tug-of-war, one that included a lot of trying to convince himself that spending time with Sloane wouldn’t affect his riding. One half pointed out that he’d done poorly the night he’d met her, but the other argued that memories of their kiss had been bouncing around in his head last weekend when he’d won his event. Maybe this weekend would be the tiebreaker.

  If she showed up. Which, judging by the silence of the phone still in his hand, didn’t seem promising.

  Needing rest and not wanting to dwell on the way his phone wasn’t ringing, he allowed himself to drift off toward sleep. Maybe Sloane would at least greet him in his dreams.

  * * *

  SLOANE’S HEART WAS still beating fast as she tossed her phone onto the kitchen counter and went back to chopping vegetables for a big pot of soup her mom was making as soon as she got back from town with a couple of ingredients she’d been missing.

  “Who was that?” Angel asked as she mixed the batter for a batch of chocolate chip cookies.

  “Nobody. Wrong number.”

  Sloane pulled a couple of carrots from the refrigerator, and when she turned back to the cutting board she spotted Angel with her phone.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Checking out who nobody was.”

  Sloane grabbed for the phone, but Angel spun away with a knowing smile on her face. “Funny how ‘nobody’ is showing up on your phone as one Jason Till, who happens to be programmed into your contacts.”