“What are we doing here?” she asked.
“I thought we were having a good time.”
She sighed. “You know what I mean.”
“Do I?”
She took a step away from him, breaking contact, and started walking down the path toward the bird exhibit.
“I don’t know why I told you all the stuff about my dad and my first trip to this zoo.”
“Maybe I’m just one of those people who’s easy to talk to.”
She glanced over at him. “You are and that’s what bothers me.”
“Why?”
“You may have noticed I’m not the easiest person to open up, and yet I find myself spilling the beans whenever I’m around you.”
He took a chance that she wouldn’t jerk away and clasped her hand in his. After a momentary and probably instinctual flinch, her hand relaxed. “And I’m normally someone who moves from town to town with no real attachment to any of the places I visit or the people I meet. Until I met you.”
It felt dangerous for him to say that, especially when he knew he might be giving her the wrong impression. Though he’d changed his schedule to come back to the area so he could see her again, he couldn’t just compete in Texas the rest of the year and hope to make the Finals.
When he noticed the questioning look she was giving him, he shrugged. “We had a nice time before. Can’t blame a guy for wanting a repeat.”
That made him sound too much like a player, but instinct told him to dial back the seriousness a bit. For both their sakes.
Part of him didn’t want to leave the zoo, but he needed to head to the arena to prepare for that night’s opening round of competition. Before they left, she excused herself to the ladies’ room. He took the opportunity to duck into the gift shop, all the while not examining too closely why he was buying a gift for Sloane. Oh, who was he kidding? He wanted her to think about him when she looked at it, maybe even decide to stay for the rodeo and possibly for a while afterward.
When he stepped out of the gift shop, he spotted her scanning the area for him. His breath caught in his chest and he found it hard to fill his lungs. With her blond hair up and a few strands escaping the knot atop her head, it struck him just how beautiful she was. More beautiful than he suspected she realized. For a crazy moment, he understood his sister’s decision not to pursue rodeo, instead following a different path that included the ultimate commitment to another person.
How could he even be thinking those kinds of thoughts when he’d known Sloane such a short time? Had he given himself some sort of strange concussion that changed his personality?
“Buying something for your niece and nephew?” she asked as she pointed toward the bag he was holding.
“No, you.” He extended the bag to her.
“Me? Why?”
“Do I need a reason?”
“Uh, yes.”
“Okay. How about I saw how much you liked the giraffes and thought you needed one of your own?”
Sloane’s lips parted slightly and she hesitated to accept the bag, as if she thought he might be pulling a joke on her. But then she reached out as if she’d just remembered how to use her arms and took the bag and opened it slowly. The hint of a smile that began to form on her lips made him happier than he’d expected.
“I love it,” Sloane said as she pulled out the foot-tall plush animal, then ran her palm along its neck.
Jason wouldn’t mind having her hand skim along his body the same way.
She looked up at him as she held the giraffe close. “That night I spent here as a kid, I slept across from the giraffe enclosure. They’ve always been my favorite animal.”
“I’m glad you like it.”
They stared at each other for what seemed like much longer than the few seconds it probably was, and Jason felt something shift inside him. Something he hadn’t even known was there. Something he couldn’t name or explain.
“I guess you should be getting to work, huh?”
Sloane’s question jolted him away from his wandering thoughts.
“Uh, yeah. Will you come to the rodeo?”
She hesitated for a moment, during which he felt himself holding his breath, but then smiled.
“I’m already in the area, so I might as well.”
He smiled, happy to know she’d be there watching as he tried to take another step toward his ultimate goal. Now all he had to do was make sure he didn’t have a repeat of the first night of the Blue Falls Rodeo when thoughts of her had caused him to put his path to the Finals in jeopardy.
* * *
SLOANE WATCHED JASON position his horse in the box. She bit her lip and gripped the edge of the bleacher where she was seated. She didn’t think she’d ever been so nervous watching something that didn’t affect her at all. But her day with Jason had been great, even if it had spooked her how easily she could imagine allowing herself to fall for him. Others might find it ridiculous how much that little stuffed giraffe had touched her, but it had. It couldn’t have meant more if he’d bought an entire ranch for her. He deserved to do well tonight not only because he worked hard but also because all the evidence so far told her he was a good guy.
She inhaled sharply when he gave the quick nod that led to the release of the steer. She doubted her heart managed to beat three times before he leaped off his galloping horse and tackled the steer. And when he got all four of its feet off the ground and the official waved his flag, the clock showed he had the fastest time of the night. Sloane jumped to her feet and cheered with so much enthusiasm that she drew a few stares from other spectators. She didn’t care.
It hit her how nice it was to be able to show how she really felt without worrying about what everyone around her—people she worked with on the camps, her family, basically everyone in Blue Falls—thought. There were no expectations or hopes from strangers, and she took a long, deep breath of that freedom before sitting back down with a big smile on her face.
Nervousness knotted in her stomach until the rides of the last two steer wrestlers were over and she was sure Jason had won the night. She looked toward the end of the arena and spotted him looking right at her. She’d swear she felt the force of his gaze as if it were a physical touch.
She broke eye contact in order to draw breath, something she’d somehow not been able to do while her gaze was locked with his. Suddenly unable to sit still, she took the stairs down to the ground and headed for the concession stand. When she turned away from paying for a giant Coke and an order of nachos a few minutes later, she came face-to-face with the man who made her heart race faster than any horse on the premises.
“I would have taken you to dinner afterward, you know.”
She lifted the nachos. “I doubt it would be better than nachos.”
He smiled. “Willing to share?”
“Hell, no. Get your own, cowboy.”
Jason laughed and made an exaggerated bow to her as he backed his way into the line. She rolled her eyes and stood off to the side, eating her nachos with a lot of slow-motion relish.
“You’re evil,” Jason called to her.
She responded by sucking a dollop of nacho cheese off her finger. The look on Jason’s face changed from teasing to something very different. It hit her that her action might have looked provocative, even if that hadn’t been her intent. She had so little experience trying to be seductive and was pretty sure she’d look like an idiot if she tried.
Or maybe not. For a moment, she thought Jason might march right out of line toward her. She’d swear she saw him lick his lips before he turned his attention forward toward the concession stand.
She took the opportunity to walk away. While the commonsense part of her brain told her to take her nachos and head for the parking lot, she instead retraced her steps to the grandstand. To tr
y to keep her mind off what had just passed silently between her and Jason, she shoved nachos in her mouth as she watched the activity in the arena, only vaguely aware it was team roping.
She sensed Jason’s presence before she saw him at the bottom of the concrete steps. He hesitated for a moment before climbing toward her. She’d swear under oath that her heartbeat increased twofold with each step he took.
“What’d I miss?” he asked as he sat beside her.
She almost exhaled in relief so loudly he and half the grandstand’s occupants could have heard her. “Not much. I honestly was more focused on these nachos.”
“We should have eaten more at the zoo.”
But there she’d been too busy divulging her past and enjoying the feel of Jason’s hand around hers.
She didn’t know whether he sensed her nervousness or wanted to pretend the charged moment between them hadn’t happened, but Jason steered the conversation in safe directions as they watched the rodeo events.
“So, after talking to Shannon, do you think you can use any of the ideas she gave you to help fund the camps?” he asked.
“I hope so. I floated an idea I’d seen elsewhere to see what she thought. Even though it sounds completely crazy that anyone would buy so-called artwork done by animals, she said it’s amazing what philanthropists will buy. I guess if elephants do it, why not cows and horses?”
He shook his head. “Maybe I should splash some paint on a canvas and you can sell it as art by an honest-to-goodness rodeo cowboy?”
She laughed at that. “Now, that might be stretching it too far.”
“You’re probably right.”
“But speaking of rodeo cowboys, what do you think your chances are of making the National Finals?”
“I don’t even want to hazard a guess. There are a lot of moving parts that have to land in my favor each and every week.” He looked over at her and smiled that dead-sexy smile of his. “But it seems you were my lucky charm tonight. Maybe I should take you to every rodeo.”
“Well, that would be difficult since I have my own life to live. You’re lucky I showed up today.”
“Yeah, I am.”
The way his voice rumbled and the intensity of his gaze on her made every square inch of her flesh tingle. She knew she should look away, focus on the barrel racing currently going on, but she couldn’t.
“You have a burning need to watch bull riding, or would you like to leave a little early?”
“Early.” Okay, her response was way too breathy, revealed way too much of how she yearned for Jason’s hands on her more with each passing second.
He evidently needed no further permission because he grasped her hand and headed for the stairs. By no means were her legs short, but even she was breathless by the time they reached the semidarkness of the parking lot. She suspected that had less to do with the speed of their departure and more with what awaited them at the end of the journey.
An arrow of common sense pierced her haze of lust, screaming that she needed to halt this before it went too far.
“Jason, I—”
Before she could finish saying whatever it was she’d been about to say, Jason turned and pulled her into his arms. His mouth met hers in a kiss that brought to mind molten chocolate and a bed full of tangled sheets. He deepened the kiss as his arms came around her, and she let go of every reason this was the king of bad ideas.
She was only vaguely aware that they sometimes came up for air, but other than that there was no room in her head beyond the processing of all the delicious sensations running across her skin, along every synapse in her brain and straight to...well, other places. She hadn’t felt this out of control since—
Sloane pulled away from Jason so suddenly she almost catapulted herself back onto her butt. Of all the times for Blake’s stupid face to invade her memories.
But maybe that was actually for the best. Something needed to remind her that while she loved spending time with Jason, he was temporary, would be gone yet again in a couple of days. Someday he’d be as permanently gone as Blake was, and she had no intention of allowing her heart to go through the same kind of trauma that it had all those years ago.
“Are you okay?” Jason said as he started to reach for her.
She waved off his concern. “Yeah, fine. I just...need to be getting home. Mom worries if we’re out too late.”
Said the twenty-nine-year-old woman. She barely prevented herself from a huge eye roll at herself, but she couldn’t take back the excuse now. And to make matters worse, Jason appeared to doubt her reasoning.
“I had a nice time today though,” she said.
“Me, too.” He eased forward and this time she didn’t jump like a scared bunny. “Though I’ll admit I was hoping you’d stay awhile longer.”
He had no idea how much she wanted to do exactly that. But doing so went against every scrap of common sense she still possessed.
“Jason, I—”
“I understand. I’m disappointed, but I understand.”
He couldn’t possibly, but she wasn’t about to delve into another part of her past, the part that had been the result of the biggest mistake of her life.
Jason gently cupped her face and kissed her, sweet and tender this time. “Come back tomorrow?”
“I don’t know,” she said against his lips.
“That’s better than a flat-out no. I’ll have to convince you with my charm.”
She smiled at that. “You sound awfully confident you possess charm.”
“I am the guy who got you a stuffed giraffe.”
“Details, details.”
His smile weakened her resolve considerably, almost to the point where she asked him to lead her to the nearest hotel room. Marshaling her dwindling brain cells, she once again put distance between them.
“If I don’t see you tomorrow, good luck with the rest of the competition.”
He gave her a mischievous grin. “I’ll get you back here.”
There was a more than fair chance he was right. She laughed a little before heading toward where she’d parked. At least she thought she was going the right direction. As filled as her head was of thoughts of Jason and how a large part of her wanted to strip him naked, it was possible she’d walk the entire parking area and still not notice her truck.
* * *
JASON WATCHED SLOANE walk away, wondering despite his bravado if it would be the last time he saw her. She obviously had more sense than he did, ending the evening before things went any further. But damn, he wanted to go after her. He might not have known her long, but it felt like much longer, as if each minute equated to a month in real time. And he really, really liked her, more than was wise considering their lives were so different, being led miles apart. States apart.
And though Sloane didn’t seem like the type of woman on the hunt for a husband, he also somehow knew she wasn’t the type to sleep around casually either. Which left him with letting her go and hoping the intense attraction went away before one of them totally ditched their chosen path. He knew how much her family and the camps meant to her, way more than a guy who might offer a fun diversion but nothing else. Plus his big goal and sticking around central Texas weren’t compatible. Half of him still couldn’t believe he’d changed his schedule and driven all the extra miles just for the possibility of seeing her again. It hadn’t even been a guarantee.
His phone rang, and in the couple of moments he looked away from Sloane to reach for the phone she disappeared from sight. He ignored the disappointment that made an appearance and answered the call from his dad.
“So, how’d it go? Your decision to switch events pay off?” his dad asked.
“Good first night. Had the fastest time.”
“That’s my boy. I tell you, this is the year. You’re going all
the way.”
That was the plan, but Jason couldn’t help the twist of anxiety at the expectations his parents had placed on him, especially his father. He couldn’t blame his dad for living vicariously, especially when his own career had been cut short. Jason would never admit it out loud, but he wished there wasn’t so much riding on each and every performance. Not that he wouldn’t put pressure on himself to win, but having other people’s hopes and dreams pinned on how well he did could sometimes feel like a weight was crushing him little by little.
Why had that thought bubbled to the top? Most of the time he just accepted his parents’ expectations as a point of fact and moved on.
Maybe it was because his brain was already scrambled by a certain beautiful blonde.
“That’s the plan,” he said, then proceeded to ask the usual array of questions as he made his way back toward the far side of the barn where he’d parked his truck. Halfway there, his mom picked up the other extension.
“Shannon tells me you met a woman.”
What was up with that curious tone to his mother’s voice? It sounded suspiciously like a matchmaking mama, something his mom had never been.
“You’re going to have to be more specific. I meet lots of women.” Okay, that didn’t come out right.
“The one who runs the camps. She sounds like a lovely person, doing that for kids who are less fortunate.”
“It’s a good program. The kids really like it.”
“Anything else there?”
He had to get her off this topic. “Who are you, and what have you done with my mother?”
“Jane, leave the boy alone,” his dad said, gently scolding. “He’s got more important things he needs to focus on.”
“Fine,” his mom said in response, sounding a touch exasperated. “Good luck tomorrow night, hon.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
After the conversation with his dad ended and Jason was on his way back to his hotel room, one he had to admit he had imagined sharing with Sloane, the easy way his dad had dismissed the idea of him finding someone didn’t quite sit right for some reason. Not that he’d given his parents any indication he might be looking for a relationship. Hell, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d even thought about it himself. And it made next to no sense that the thought was bouncing around in his head now.
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