Wrapping his hands around waist, Kade boosted her onto the counter. “I think I can do that. What changed your mind?”
“You. If you and bull riding are a package, I guess I have to take both. Will you do one thing for me?” She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close. Putting her lips to his ear, she whispered, “Wear a helmet.”
Kade lifted her up and spun in a circle. When he stood her on her feet, he grinned. “I won’t kid you. I don’t like the idea of wearing a helmet. It just doesn’t feel western, but if that’s what you want, sweetheart, you got it.”
~*~
The flashing lights and compelling sounds of the slot machines kept Pansy’s attention partially diverted during most of their week in Las Vegas. She even kind of had fun, right up until the minute Kade left her to get ready to ride.
Micah and Cary had brought the kids, and Clinton surprised Millie with the trip. Even Cheney and Henry had flown in with Wanda Lu.
The senior citizens of East Hope were doing Vegas, and Pansy hoped Vegas was prepared.
Her whole adopted family was here to support Kade. Their excited chatter surrounded her, but no matter how she tried, Pansy couldn’t concentrate on her friends. Excusing herself, she found an empty seat at the top of the arena bleachers.
She’d spent each of the last six nights in the hotel, counting the minutes, waiting for word of Kade’s safety. Tonight, for the final ride of the season, he’d asked her to come watch.
His finals had been picture perfect, and Kade was only a few points out of first place in the standings. It would all come down to this last ride.
When Pansy’d heard he’d drawn Swamp Fox in the last round, she longed to ask him to draw out, but with a million dollars to the winner, Kade was pumped.
The money wouldn’t mean a thing if he was injured.
During the introductions, Kade stood in the arena, his helmet in his hand. He’d complained each night, but true to his word, he’d worn the helmet for each ride.
The announcer went into his rehearsed speech as Kade crawled into the chute and lowered himself onto his bull. Cody kept a grip on the back of his vest in case the bull threw a fit in the chute. But Swamp Fox stood quietly, a professional waiting his chance to perform.
Pansy covered her face with her hands when she saw Kade nod, but couldn’t resist peeking through her fingers.
Exploding from the chute as if shot from a cannon, the bull soared so high Pansy wasn’t sure if he’d come down at all. How could a one-ton animal be so athletic? Awesome didn’t come close to describing Swamp Fox.
The bull hit the ground, immediately leaping into the air again, his big, yellow body twisting until his belly pointed at the ceiling.
If the massive animal fell and crushed Kade, she’d never forgive herself, but the bull landed on his feet with ease. Slinging his head to the left, his spin gained speed until he and Kade were almost a blur.
Just when she thought Kade had bested the bull, Swamp Fox reversed direction so fast Kade tipped to the outside of the spin. The roar from the crowd filled the arena. Throwing his left arm across his body, Kade adjusted to the bull’s move at the last second.
Her cowboy rode with the grace of a dancer, and Pansy realized for the first time, just how good he was.
Black dots floated before her eyes. She was going to pass out if she didn’t breathe. She sucked in a breath just as she heard the signal ending the eight seconds.
Before the sound of the buzzer had even faded away, Kade flew off the bull’s back, arms flailing, before landing hard. She could almost hear him hit the ground.
Swamp Fox continued bucking over top of Kade, the bull’s hind feet coming dangerously close to his head with each spin.
Pansy knew the clowns here were the best in the business. They worked expertly as a team, but as they moved the bull away from him, she buried her face in her hands. Tears burned her eyes, and she was having trouble getting enough air into her lungs. This was her worst nightmare come to life.
People on either side of her rose to their feet, and the crowd erupted in cheers. The sound rocketed from side to side of the arena.
With her heart pounding, Pansy stood and peered over the shoulder of the woman in front of her. As she watched, Cody ran to Kade and stuck out his hand.
Kade clasped it, staggering to his feet. Searching the arena seats, he found the spot where his friends from East Hope were sitting and waved. As Cody pounded him on the back, he did a silly, awkward dance.
A soft giggle escaped from Pansy’s tight lungs as tears rolled down her face. For a man with the agility of a cat, Kade couldn’t dance a lick.
How was she going to survive watching him for another five years? By keeping her fingers crossed and toughing up, that’s how.
When all the congratulations were made and the pictures taken and the TV interviews done, he found her still sitting in the stands alone.
She threw her arms around him, feeling him solid beneath her touch. This man was worth every scary moment they’d share for the next hundred years.
“Ever think you’d be a millionaire?” Kade said, towering over her, all smiles.
She shook her head, the reality of the win and the money not sinking in yet. All she knew was Kade was safe. That was all she cared about.
“I’ve got next year all planned out. It will take some travel, but you’ll love it.”
She doubted that, but kept her opinion to herself. Watching Kade ride week after week was going to give her a heart attack. She pasted on a smile. “Okay. What have you come up with?”
“We have a couple of months off, so I thought we could travel to Montana and see my folks, and yours if you want.” He sank down her, propping his boots on the seat in front of them. He handed her a half empty bottle of Bud.
“I’d like to see your parents.” She took a swallow of the beer, the cool liquid washing down the lump in her throat. “But I think I’ll wait a while before I talk to mine. Then what?”
“Well, that’s the thing. I probably should have asked you first, but I’m hanging up my bull rope.”
“Say that again.” Although he didn’t seem drunk, Kade must have had way more than this one beer.
“Now I know you’re set on traveling to a bunch of bull ridings with the new TBC World Champion, and I hate to burst your bubble.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close, planting a soft kiss on the top of her head. “But I’m retiring. I never did think a guy should overstay his welcome. Better to go out on top, don’t you think?”
His words were perfectly normal, words she’d longed to hear, but her brain couldn’t process what he said. “So no more bulls? Are you okay with that?”
Kade stood, keeping his steely gray eyes trained on hers.
As she watched, he dropped to one knee.
“I’m more than good with this.” Leaning forward, he gave Pansy a toe-curling kiss. “Besides, I’ll have too much to do to keep traveling the circuit. I have a business to run, a ranch to buy and a woman to love for the rest of my life.”
Romance Beneath A Rodeo Moon
If you enjoyed reading Sweet Cowboy Kisses, you can find Cary and Micah’s story in Gimme Some Sugar, the first in the Sugar Coated Cowboys series.
Gimme Some Sugar-Pastry chef, Cary Crockett, is on the run. Pursued by a loan shark bent on retrieving gambling debts owed him by her deadbeat ex-boyfriend, she finds the perfect hiding place at the remote Circle W Ranch. More at home with city life, cupcakes and croissants than beef, beans and bacon, she has to convince ranch owner Micah West she’s up to the job of feeding his hired hands. The overwhelming attraction she feels toward him was nowhere in the job description.
Micah West has a big problem. The camp-cook on his central Oregon ranch has up and quit without notice, and his crew of hungry cowboys is about to mutiny. He agrees to hire Cary on a temporary basis, just until he finds the right man to fill the job. Maintaining a hands-off policy toward his sexy new cook b
ecomes tougher than managing a herd of disgruntled wranglers.
http://amzn.to/1UDCemK
More books by Stephanie Berget featuring rodeo cowboys, ranchers and the women who love them:
Radio Rose-Cowboys and aliens … on a dark, deserted highway, it can be hard to tell the difference.
Especially when Rose Wajnowski makes her living as a night DJ chatting about alien encounters with folks in tinfoil helmets. Her listeners are eccentric, to say the least. But she’s happy—sort of—with her solitary life. Until a midnight car crash and a blow to the head has her seeing tall, handsome extra-terrestrials instead of stars.
Adam Cameron, raised by his narcissistic grandfather, got out of Tullyville, Colorado the day he turned eighteen. He’s back ten years later for the reading of his grandfather’s will, but he’s not happy to be home. Except for meeting the pretty little brunette who nearly ran him down with her car on that dark highway.
Adam is about to be pulled into a contest for a vast fortune and the future of a town he’d just as soon forget. But the quirky inhabitants of Tullyville desperately need his help if their town is to survive. Luckily for him, this cowboy has feisty Rose at his side, and in his arms.
As they work together to save their town, Rose and Adam learn important lessons about trust and the real meaning of family.
http://amzn.to/267wmd6
Sugarwater Ranch-Sean O’Connell’s life is perfect, or it was until his partying lifestyle affected his bull riding. Now he’s ended the season too broke to leave the Northwest for the warm southern rodeos. When a wild night with his buddies gets out of hand, he wakes up naked, staring into the angry eyes of a strange woman. His infallible O’Connell charm gets him nowhere with the dark-haired beauty. It’s obvious she’s not his usual good-time girl, so why can’t he forget her?
Bar-manager Catherine Silvera finds a waterlogged, unconscious cowboy freezing to death in front of the Sugarwater Bar. She saves his life--then runs faster than a jackrabbit with a coyote on its tail. Any man who makes his living rodeoing is bad news, especially if he thinks partying is part of the competition. He’s everything she doesn’t want in a man, so why can’t she shake her attraction to the rugged cowboy?
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Gimme Some Sugar Excerpt
Snapping his head up, he whirled around, almost elbowing the woman standing behind him. Pulling in a deep, slow breath, partly to gather some semblance of calm and partly to adjust to the tingle where her hand met his arm, he took a step back before speaking.
“Help me with what?” Did he know her? He was sure he didn’t, but man….
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I heard you say you’re looking for a cook.” Golden eyes the color of whiskey stared into his. “I cook.”
He let his gaze wander over her, liking what he saw. She wasn’t a local. Her white blond hair was as short as a man’s on the sides and curled longer on the top and back. He hadn’t seen any woman, or anyone at all who wore their hair like this. Of course, tastes of the people of East Hope ran to the conservative.
Despite the severe hairstyle, she was pretty. Beyond pretty. Leather pants showed off her soft curves, miniature combat boots encased her small feet and a tight tank top enhanced her breasts.
When she cleared her throat, he jerked his eyes up to her face. “It won’t do you any good to talk to my breasts. Like most women, it’s my brain that answers questions.”
A smart ass and she’d caught him red-handed. His cheeks warmed. Damn it, he was blushing. This woman was not at all what he needed. Time to end this. “I have a ranch, the Circle W. We need a camp cook. A man.”
Her eyes narrowed, and her body tensed. “It looks like you need any kind of cook you can get.” She held her hand out, indicating the empty café. “Not a lot of takers.”
She had him there. His gut told him he was going to regret this, but she was right. He had no choice. “I’ll hire you week to week.” When she nodded, he continued. “I’ve got seven ranch hands. You’ll cook breakfast and dinner and pack lunches, Monday through Friday and serve Sunday dinner to the hands who are back by six o’clock.”
She bounced on the toes of her feet until she noticed him watching her then she pulled on a cloak of calm indifference. “You won’t regret this.”
He felt a smile touch the corners of his mouth as his gut twisted. “I already do.”
http://amzn.to/1UDCemK
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Stephanie Berget was born loving horses and found her way to rodeo when she married her own, hot cowboy. She and her husband traveled throughout the Northwest while she ran barrels and her cowboy rode bucking horses. She started writing to put a realistic view of rodeo and ranching into western romance. Stephanie and her husband live on a farm, located along the Oregon/Idaho border. They raise hay, horses and cattle, with the help of Dizzy Dottie, the Border Collie and Cisco, team roping horse extraordinaire.
Stephanie is delighted to hear from readers. Reach her at http://www.stephanieberget.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stephaniebergetwrites/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/StephanieBerget
Sweet Cowboy Kisses (Sugar Coated Cowboys Book 2) Page 12
