“I haven’t talked to her much, but she mentioned that you’d given her some suggestions. I’m sure she appreciates it.”
“Okay, what’s wrong? You sound like Old Man Farragut.”
Great, he sounded like the surliest old fart in the southern half of Idaho.
“Is this about Sloane? You like her, don’t you?”
“How could you possibly know that?”
“So you do. What’s the problem?”
In that moment, he wanted to toss his phone into the pool—deliberately this time. “Not sure.”
“Tell me everything.”
“I do not need dating advice from my sister.”
“Sure you do. I think we both know that.”
He snorted but he also didn’t hang up. Instead, he surprised himself by doing as she’d commanded—telling her everything. He didn’t realize how long he’d gone on until he detailed the last of the texts he and Sloane had exchanged the night before and finally stopped talking.
“My diagnosis, you’re seriously falling for her.”
“How is that even possible? I barely know her.”
“Quality beats quantity in the world of love.”
“That sounds like some cheesy slogan.” He sloshed one of his feet forward and took another drink of his tea, only to discover the ice had melted so much that it tasted watered down. Figured.
“Be that as it may, what are you going to do about it?”
“Didn’t you hear the part where she said she couldn’t see me anymore?”
“My instinct is there is more to the story. If she had a nice time during your dates like you said, then something happened that either changed the situation or scared her.”
“She doesn’t strike me as the type to scare easily.” Although she had beat a hasty retreat the night before when their kissing had gotten hot and heavy.
“The people who appear the strongest are often the best at hiding something they fear makes them weak.”
“Are you in marketing or are you a shrink?”
“Both have to be good at reading people and figuring out how they think.”
He considered her words for a few moments. “It doesn’t really make sense to push this. I mean, we don’t live in the same state. And her life is here. Mine’s on the road most of the time.”
“People have made relationships work under way more difficult circumstances.”
“Maybe she doesn’t even want a relationship.”
“You won’t know until you ask.”
“She put an end to things. If I press, doesn’t that make me a stalker?”
“Now you’re just making up excuses because you’re scared that this is something real.”
“I’m not scared.”
“Don’t argue with your big sister. Listen, I’m a woman, so I know how women think. You don’t have to come across all stalkery to make your feelings known. Now, you know her better than I do, so figure out how you can let her know that you don’t want things to end, something that is personal instead of the universal flowers and chocolates.”
“I thought all women liked flowers and chocolates.” Although Sloane hadn’t seemed overly thrilled the first time he brought her flowers.
“At the right time, yes. But it’s also too common for a big ‘give us a chance’ gesture.”
“Then what?”
“That, little brother, you have to figure out.”
For the rest of the afternoon, he came up with and discarded one idea after another. Nothing felt right. When it came time to head to the rodeo grounds, he gave up. Maybe something would come to him later when he wasn’t thinking about it so hard.
Or maybe Shannon was wrong and he needed to just leave things alone, let Sloane live her life and continue to live his. The life that required him to get his head in the game and win this dang rodeo.
Chapter Thirteen
“That’s it, boy,” Sloane said as she guided her horse through the blue paint and then onto the large sheet of paper. “You’ll be the Picasso of the equine world.”
“How’s it going?” her mom asked as she came into the barn.
“About as well as can be expected. I just hope I’m not laughed out of the country with this.” She gestured to where she had several art pieces courtesy of horses and cows hanging from the stalls to dry.
“I doubt anyone is going to laugh at a good cause. In fact, I have some good news for you.”
“Oh, yeah?” She could use some positive news to cheer her up. She’d done her best to hide it, but she’d been miserable during the three days since she’d left Jason standing in that parking lot at the rodeo. She’d done the right thing, but it sure had made her feel like a twisted-up mess of angry and sad. She had half a mind to look up Blake and go give him a second dose of busted nose for how he’d contributed to her trust issues. Maybe Jeremy, too. As if losing both of her parents and being ripped from the only home she’d ever known as a young child hadn’t been enough.
“I just got off the phone with Merline Teague. She wants to have an exhibit at the gallery of the paintings, complete with an opening night party and some press.”
Sloane stared at her mom as if she was speaking Portuguese. “They’re hoofprints. I already feel embarrassed that I’m going to ask money for these.”
“Have you seen some of the stuff that brings big dollars in the art world? I swear some of it looks as if it was done by infants.” She gestured toward the drying paintings around the barn. “These are every bit as good, if not better.”
Sloane scanned what she’d spent the entire morning working on. “Maybe you’re right.”
“Don’t say that as if you’re so surprised. I’m right more than my children like to give me credit for.” She said it in a teasing way, but Sloane suspected her mom was talking about Jason as much or more than she was the equine and bovine paintings.
The sound of an approaching vehicle drew their attention.
“I’ll check to see who that is,” her mom said, then headed back outside.
Sloane was in the midst of cleaning the paint off the horse’s shoe when a woman appeared at the entrance to the barn. It took her a minute to realize it was Rosita from the food truck in Poppy. What in the world was she doing here?
“Hello. Can I help you?”
Rosita held up a box. “I have a delivery for you.”
Sloane tilted her head slightly. “I didn’t order anything. And I didn’t know you delivered.”
Rosita smiled and walked forward. “Special delivery.”
Curiosity piqued, Sloane accepted the box.
“Hope you enjoy,” Rosita said with a big smile that seemed to say she was privy to a secret, then she retraced her steps out of the barn.
This day was getting stranger by the minute.
Sloane sank down onto a stack of hay bales and opened the box to find half a dozen of Rosita’s famous sopaipillas. Her mouth watered in response. She spotted an envelope at the side of the box and got a funny, fluttery feeling in her stomach.
She tried to ignore how much she wanted this surprise to be from Jason as she opened the envelope. Inside was a card.
I know you said you couldn’t see me anymore, but I don’t like that idea. I’m hoping I can bribe you with sopaipillas. A pretty girl once told me these were the best ones around. I’m going to be competing in Dallas next weekend. I hope you’ll come up. I’m including tickets. Also, you’ll find a check in here, and no, it’s not bribery. I want you to use it for the camps, however you see fit. I want you to be able to help more kids—for their sake and yours.
Hope to see you soon,
Jason
She reread the note, slower this time so she could savor every word as if they were bites of decadent chocol
ate. He wasn’t playing fair. How could she say no after such a thoughtful gesture? Maybe she could see him whenever the chance presented itself if she didn’t allow her feelings for him to deepen any further. She couldn’t think about how, with this special delivery, she was dangerously close to falling head over heels, crazy as that might seem.
* * *
SLOANE HADN’T FULLY anticipated how nervous she’d be when she was on the verge of seeing Jason again. At least half a dozen times between Blue Falls and Dallas, she’d almost turned around. But if she did, she’d have to explain to her entire family why she’d chickened out. There’d been no hiding the reason for this trip from them. She’d taken the teasing and been grateful for how much her mom held her absolute glee in check. It was no use trying to tell any of them that whatever was between her and Jason wasn’t so serious that they should get used to seeing him around. Even though she knew his life was still on the road, she hadn’t been able to deny herself what she’d been yearning for since the moment she’d met the blasted man.
When she arrived at the indoor arena, she debated whether she should go find him or wait until he’d competed. She didn’t want to distract him when he needed to focus on riding well and staying safe. The more she got to know him, the more nervous watching him ride made her. Who in their right mind jumped off a racing horse to land on a horned animal? No one, that’s who.
Deciding to put off facing him awhile longer, she bought a soda and a hot pretzel from the concession stand and found a seat with a good view of the dirt-covered arena floor. During the bareback riding, she kept scanning the arena trying to find Jason. Though she’d attended more rodeos in her life than she could count, it really hit her just how many cowboys were in attendance. From a distance, they all looked remarkably similar below their hats.
But as the steer wrestlers gathered behind the pens, she thought she spotted him. Her breath caught and her heart pounded against her ribs. The first two competitors made their runs before she was certain she saw him astride his horse. It was a good thing her mom wasn’t around because Sloane felt her mouth spread into a wide grin that no doubt telegraphed all of her feelings.
She watched, barely breathing, as he and his hazer got into position.
Please let him do well and stay safe.
When he gave the slight nod to indicate he was ready and the steer was released, her heart leaped.
“Go, Jason!”
It all happened so fast. One minute he was in the saddle, and the next he was leaning off the side of his racing horse. A surge of fear went through her as he grabbed hold of the steer’s horns. Only once he’d flipped the steer onto its side and jumped to his feet with his arms in the air did she draw another breath. She didn’t even hear the time, but by the crowd reaction it must have been good. She cheered along with all those around her, but she kept her eyes on Jason as he made his way toward the end of the arena.
Unable to sit still any longer, she jumped up and hurried down the bleachers. She knew she couldn’t go back behind the stock pens, but she had to at least pace off some of her nervous energy.
“Sloane.”
She stopped at the end of the bleachers, looked toward the sound of her name and made eye contact with Jason. Time went wonky, bending into new shapes as they stared at each other. Then slowly a grin formed on his lips and he stalked toward her. Without a word, he took her hand and led her outside, around the building and into a patch of darkness. Then, much as he had in that parking lot outside San Antonio, he spun her into his arms and kissed her so deeply she felt heat spiral throughout every inch of her body.
Sloane gripped his biceps, then let her hands slide over his shoulders and up his neck into his hair, knocking off his hat.
“Please tell me you’re not going home tonight,” he said against her lips.
“I’m not going home tonight.”
After another round of enthusiastic kissing, complete with a lot of roaming hands, he grasped her hand again and started walking toward the parking lot. She didn’t even pretend not to know where they were going. For this one night, she was going to indulge every fantasy she’d had about him since first looking up to see who owned the deep, friendly voice beside the arena in Blue Falls.
When they reached his truck, he ran his fingertips along her jaw. “I want you to spend the night with me, but I don’t want to pressure you.”
“You’re not,” she said, leaving no doubt she wanted exactly what he did.
After giving her a quick kiss and helping her into the truck, he ran to his side and exceeded the speed limit the few miles to his hotel. Thankfully, tonight he was staying in a place that probably wouldn’t make his book about crappy motels.
“I took a chance you’d be here tonight and decided to take my hotel game up a notch.” His grin made her laugh, but in her mind she was already imagining going to bed with him.
“Are you hungry?” he asked as they sat in the lot outside the hotel.
“Food can wait.”
She’d swear she saw flames of desire flash in his eyes at her answer.
“I couldn’t agree more,” he said before practically leaping out of the truck and sprinting around to her side by the time she got the door open.
He appeared to be as nervous as she was because he fumbled and dropped his magnetic keycard to gain access through a side entrance. She couldn’t help but chuckle at how he cursed his clumsiness.
“Laugh now, but I won’t be this uncoordinated when we get inside.”
If he kept talking like that, her skin was going to catch on fire before they ever made it to his room.
They were walking so fast they nearly crashed into an older guy who came around the corner holding a couple of cans of soda, a bag of corn chips and a package of mini powdered doughnuts.
“Sorry,” Jason said.
The older man just grinned, as if he’d read their minds. “Don’t mind me. I was young once.”
Heat suffused Sloane’s face, but Jason just laughed a little as they headed in the opposite direction. When Jason finally stopped in front of a room, he glanced over at her.
“Your face is red.”
“I feel weird knowing that some old guy eating corn chips knows what we’re doing.”
Jason grinned. “And what are we doing?”
She lifted a brow. “About to watch nature documentaries, of course.”
He pushed open the door and led her inside. “That TV isn’t even going to get turned on, but I’m hoping you are.”
Oh, my. He didn’t know how right he was.
As the door drifted closed behind her, Jason’s teasing fell away as he cupped her jaw and ran his thumb across her cheek. “Is this what you really want?”
She stared up at him as she let that question settle in her mind, but she already knew the answer. “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t.”
He lowered his lips to hers, this time in a gentle kiss that threatened to cause her to fall for him a little more. The part of her brain that ruled self-preservation screamed at her to pull away, to get out while she still could. But the purest truth was that she didn’t want to. She knew she was treading a dangerous path, but she couldn’t deny what she felt for Jason any longer.
His hands trailed lightly down her arms as he gradually deepened the kiss. Then his hands gripped her waist and tugged her closer to him. She wondered how much of the heat radiating off his body was always there, and how much was being generated by the kissing, the touching, the knowing what awaited them during the night ahead.
She made a sound halfway between a moan and a whimper, which caused Jason to laugh against her lips.
“It’s not wise to laugh at the woman you’re hoping to get lucky with.”
He brought his mouth to the side of her ear. “I’m already lucky.” Then he nipped at her earlo
be with his teeth.
“You’re killing me,” she said, breathless.
He covered her mouth with his again as his hands went to work unbuttoning her shirt. When the last button slipped free, he pushed the garment from her body and made quick work of her bra, as well.
“Your turn.” She ignored the little devil sitting on her shoulder that said she should just rip his shirt open, buttons be damned. But she did get rid of his shirt as quickly as possible.
When her skin met his, a shiver overtook her body.
“Cold?” Jason wrapped his arms around her as if to keep her warm.
She shook her head. “No. It’s just that...” How could she explain to him the maelstrom of emotions inside her when she couldn’t even accurately define it in her own head?
One of Jason’s strong hands combed through her hair to the back of her head. “We can stop if you want.”
“No!”
He chuckled at her response.
“Oh, hush,” she said without much force behind it.
“Gladly.”
Instead of talking, he kissed her again. There was no mistaking that this kiss was different, that it was the prelude to much more. The idea of that much more fueled her movements, which seemed to add gasoline to the fire of his. They were naked so fast that she didn’t have time to think about being embarrassed for more than a couple of seconds, but then he scooped her up into his arms and proceeded to carry her toward the bed.
“Jason, put me down before you throw out your back or something.” She wasn’t exactly a dainty, petite little thing.
“You do realize what I do for a living, right?”
She pressed her palm against his chest. “Are you comparing me to a steer?”
“Not at all.” He dropped a kiss on her nose. “You’re a beautiful woman, and I don’t want to wait another moment to get you in this bed.”
He placed her atop the bed, then followed down beside her, capturing her mouth in yet another head-spinning kiss. If there were a world championship for kissing, he’d win for sure.
Her Texas Rodeo Cowboy Page 14
