A Cowboy to Kiss

by Mary Leo

  “Resveratrol. It’s good for your memory and for your heart.”

  “You should drink the entire bottle.”

  He cocked his head to the side, and stared at her. “Why are you here, Kenzie?”

  She didn’t mean to be so sharp. “I actually stopped by to tell you I’m sorry for how I acted this morning. Not that I totally believe that Morning Star can work a latch, but I know enough about horses to realize that most of them are smarter than we give them credit for.” She held up the wine. “Truce?”

  A wide grin stretched across his lips. “Sure. I’ll get some glasses and an opener. And thanks for thinking of me for dinner. I’m starved.”

  It was one of those perfect evenings—sunlight fading in the sky and kissing the clouds and causing them to blush a bright pink, a whisper of a breeze playing with her hair. Kenzie walked up the four steps and onto the front porch. She placed the bottle and the covered casserole dish down on the small side table in front of the bank of three windows, then made herself comfortable on the swing at the end of the porch, not far from the table. Her dad and brother had crafted the swing especially for the guesthouse, and Kenzie had always loved it. Apparently, so did Jake. Two throw pillows were piled in the corner.

  Jake strolled back out onto the porch carrying two glasses, a bottle opener and napkins, and proceeded to uncork the wine.

  “This is nice,” he said, handing her a glass of the ruby red liquid. “Thanks.”

  “It’s the least I could do.”

  He stood directly in front of her, just staring at her, holding his glass. “You look beautiful tonight, Kenzie. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in a dress before. It’s lovely. And your hair, it’s...well...you’re beautiful.”

  “Thanks,” she said, holding his gaze.

  “Well,” Jake said, then he took a sip of wine, and reached over slipping the lid off the casserole dish. “This smells great. Let me get a couple dishes and silverware.”

  He placed his glass down on the table and slipped inside. For a moment, she thought she should leave while she still had the strength, while she could still walk away, but he returned and with one look, she knew there was no turning back now.

  He set the table and offered her a chair. She took it.

  “Thanks,” she said, putting her glass down on the table in front of her.

  Jake took a seat, and they sat in silence while they filled their plates with sliced pork roast, gravy, mashed Idaho potatoes, fresh steamed broccoli lightly drizzled in lemon olive oil and homemade corn bread. Kenzie wondered what it would be like to be married to Jake, and to do this every night, right here on her ranch.

  But then she remembered his ranch, his life...in Montana.

  “I was sorry to hear about your divorce. That had to be tough,” Kenzie said, attempting to break the tension in the air.

  He ate a few bites of the pork and potatoes, but after another mouthful he put his fork down, took a sip of wine and began opening up. “I thought I’d found true love, and no one could tell me otherwise. I’m a bit of a blowhard, if you couldn’t tell.”

  That relaxed her and she laughed. “Huh, I couldn’t tell.”

  “Yeah, well, I don’t mean to be... At least I don’t mean to be now.”

  From the look in his eyes, Kenzie knew he was still hurting. “You must have loved her very much.”

  “That’s just it. I think I loved the idea of being in love more than the reality of it.”

  He hit on a topic that she struggled with on a daily basis. “Kind of like actually running a ranch as opposed to dreaming about running one. I grew up glorifying the wonders of running my own ranch and couldn’t imagine doing anything else from the time I was eight years old. Actually, I’m sure it was from the first time my family visited your ranch.”

  “And now? Now that you’re completely in charge?”

  Kenzie took another drink of her wine, it felt luscious and smooth in her mouth, and warmed her body on the way down. “I’m not so sure. I mean, I love ranching, and wouldn’t want to live any other way, but I’m so scared all the time, stressed over every detail, every problem. I never thought it would be like this.”

  “Scared you’re not handling it right? Scared you’re doing too much? Too little? Scared your ranch is going to fall apart?” He smiled. “Sounds like my marriage. I couldn’t seem to calm down. I wanted the marriage to be perfect and we were supposed to be the perfect couple. I think I married Heather because I thought she would make the perfect wife for me, and the perfect mother to our children. Shows you what I know about love.”

  Kenzie could absolutely relate to what he’d been going through. “I’m a little like that myself. Love for another person or for this ranch scares me.”

  “Why? What are you so scared of?”

  And there it was, the question that Kenzie had been avoiding ever since she took over the ranch from her parents. She slipped off her chair and sat down on the swing, bringing her glass of wine with her. Then she gently pushed herself on the swing.

  “That I’m not enough. That nothing I do or can ever do will be enough.”

  He came over and sat next to her on the swing. Suddenly she wanted to take back her confession. Rewind her words. She never liked admitting weakness, and she especially didn’t like admitting it to Jake Scott, despite his own revelations.

  “That’s just fear talking.”

  “Maybe so, but fear has no place with success. Determination is what it’s all about and I have plenty of that.”

  “Always have. Spunk and fire, that’s Kenzie Grant.”

  She drank down her wine and stood. “It’s getting late and we have a big day tomorrow. Cowboy Days start bright and early. I better go.”

  He stood as well. “Kenzie, there’s so much more I want to say, so much more we should talk about. Please don’t leave. Not now. Not when we’re finally being honest with each other.”

  “That’s the problem. I can’t——”

  Then she leaned up and kissed him, without giving it another thought. Kissed him hard, and when their tongues touched, a fire ripped through her gaining heat as it spread out to her fingers and toes. He slipped his arms around her and pulled her in tight up against his strong body. She loved the way he felt pressing against her, all muscle and lust, loved the way he smelled, tasted.

  And this time, he didn’t laugh. This time a husky groan reverberated from deep inside him, and her knees went weak. His kiss was much more than she had ever imagined it to be. Passion and desire tore apart her reasoning, until she could barely think at all. Pure instinct wanted it to go on, wanted him to make love to her, needed him to touch her like she’d never been touched before. Every fiber in her body cried out for him.

  “Let’s go inside,” he said. “Let me love you.”

  His words broke the spell she’d been falling under, and once again reminded her that this could never work. That nothing good could come of her falling for Jake Scott. She knew for certain now, that once she spent the night with him, there would be no turning back, and no way to work it out.

  She slipped out from his embrace. “I can’t... We can’t. I have to go.”

  “No. Please. Stay.”

  He reached his hand out for hers, and she wanted to take it, but couldn’t.

  His eyes burned deep into hers, and it took every ounce of strength she had to move away from him, from his touch, his embrace. She knew this could only lead to heartache. It was a mistake to have kissed him, and it would be a monumental mistake to spend the night. They were each dedicated ranchers from two different states. She could never leave her ranch, and he could never leave his.

  “This can’t work,” she told him. “You have to see that clearly now. This was a mistake.”

  Then she ran down the stairs, nearly tripping on the las
t step, with Dolly and Dora following close behind.

  * * *

  “I DON’T UNDERSTAND. Women compete alongside the guys?” Jake asked Carson as they drove up to the M&M Riding School. Jake was the passenger inside one of the Grant ranch trucks, a truck that had seen better days. When Jake had asked him about all the dents in the truck, Carson told him that a misguided Brahman bull had had its way with it two years ago when the Grant family had hosted the event on their ranch. Since then, his dad had decided no more Cowboy Days for them.

  “Remember, this isn’t anything formal. It’s more of a local event to kick off the summer. We used to break it out, different age groups, et cetera, but the adults didn’t like that, so now we have two groups. Everyone under the age of fifteen is in one group, and everyone over sixteen competes in the adult activities. Heck, this year we even have real stagecoach rides and all the money collected goes to the scholarship fund for the riding school. Colt Granger and his brothers decided to invest in a real stagecoach. Travis Granger spent the last year restoring it, and let me just say, it’s a beauty.”

  “I’ll check it out. So, the title of All-Around Cowboy can go to either a guy or a girl?”

  Carson nodded. “Yep. Wade Porter won it three years ago. He owns the ranch right next to ours. And Kenzie has won it the last two years.”

  “Sounds like it’s going to get interesting out there.”

  Carson pulled the truck into a dirt parking space just on the other side of the metal archway for the M&M Riding School, killed the engine and turned to Jake. “So tell me, what the heck is going on with you and my sister that you entered this shindig? Why not just relax and enjoy the day instead of competing?”

  Jake swung open his door. “I’m just trying to keep up with your sister, and so far, it hasn’t been easy.”

  After Kenzie had left last night, Jake sat out on that porch for what seemed like hours hoping she would return and wondering if he should just go knock on her bedroom window. He’d gone up the path several times, but then always turned around again. Later, when he dropped into bed, he was so exhausted from fighting with himself that he instantly fell asleep and only woke up when the alarm on his phone went off in the morning. Never in his entire life had a woman kissed him like that, nor had he ever kissed a woman like that before, as if all his senses had been turned on for the very first time.

  He’d expected Kenzie’s kiss to be good, but never in a million years had he expected it to send his body and soul to another universe. Now he understood why he’d laughed when he’d kissed her when he was a teen. Now he remembered that kiss as clear as the day it happened.

  He’d been embarrassed by the power of it, by the sheer force of that kiss. It was the only way he’d known at that young age how to react to that kind of emotion.

  He’d laughed.

  Well, he wasn’t laughing now. Her kiss had thrown him completely off-kilter, and he had to find a way to tell her.

  The two men stepped out of the truck, slammed their doors shut and met around back of the vehicle. “Take it from somebody who knows firsthand, none of my sisters are easy, and Kenzie just might be the most strong-willed of the bunch.” They walked toward a green three-story building, as Carson went on about Kenzie. “Not that I’m saying there’s anything wrong with her independent ways. Our mom is like that: one tough woman. I’m proud to be her son, but Kenzie is in a league of her own. She started practicing roping and riding when she was barely out of diapers. She was only thirteen when she could rope a calf almost as fast as I could, and when she hit fifteen, she won her first mounted shooting competition. So, tell me how well you stack up on all these events, or it’s going to be a bloodbath out there.”

  Jake’s dad had taught him and his brothers to do most everything in a rodeo except barrel racing. “I’ll be able to hold my own, and then some.”

  Carson stopped and looked him in the eye. “Good luck with that, ’cause the money’s going on my sister.”

  Jake chuckled.

  “Probably a wise bet. The more I’m around your sister, the more I’m realizing she’s a force I’m ill-prepared for.”

  “Well, my man, dust off your spurs, because most of the women in these parts are a force to be reckoned with. They come from strong stock, that’s for sure. There’s a fire in their bellies that can’t be put out.”

  Jake smiled and shook his head. “Amen to that.”

  As they walked closer to the covered arena, Jake was impressed by what he saw around him. Not only was there a crowd of people already enjoying the beautiful day, but the school was perched on a hillside with a view of the majestic Teton Mountain Range, the Snake River below and the booming town of Briggs itself.

  “When we were kids, she’d beat me at everything except bronc riding. She’s the one who taught me how to win. I owe my career to my dad’s patience, and to Kenzie’s competitive spirit.”

  Apprehension crept up Jake’s spine. When he signed up for this competition, he had no idea his ongoing battle with Kenzie was about to go public.

  “So what you’re saying is, I have my work cut out for me.”

  “What I’m saying is GET READY TO RUMBLE!”

  But all Jake could think of was that kiss and how his whole world had changed last night. Now all he had to do was prove to Kenzie he was worthy of her.

  Oh, yeah. Not a problem.

  Chapter Seven

  Kenzie blamed the fact that she was barely winning her events at Cowboy Days on that kiss she’d shared with Jake the previous night. Because of that impulsive moment her dang equilibrium was off, her stability shaken and her confidence questionable.

  She’d only beaten Jake in calf roping by a fraction of a second, and he’d beaten her in the barrel race by almost the same margin. When it came to bareback bronc riding he won by an entire half of a second. His winning time had put her overall win in real jeopardy. Plus, whenever either one of them burst out of a chute the crowd went wild. Kenzie didn’t want to believe it, but the town seemed to be equally divided between the two of them, as if they all knew there was something deeper going on.

  And knowing how fast gossip spread through Briggs, she felt certain they knew about the kiss she and Jake had shared last night. She didn’t know exactly how they knew, but somehow they did and thought the whole competitive angle between them was funny.

  That thought just made her more determined than ever to win.

  Cowboy Mounted Shooting happened to be the last event of the day. Helen Granger, who was the co-owner of the M&M Riding School and wife to Colt Granger, had won the national championship on her horse Tater a few years back. Tater was one of the finest mounts that ever ran the course. Helen had generously offered up Tater to Kenzie in a kind gesture.

  Kenzie had spotted Carson giving last-minute pointers to Jake right before the bareback bronc riding event, so it was fair that Helen would not only offer up her winning mount, but also give Kenzie a few of her winning secrets.

  “Remember, when you go into the back turn, holster your first gun as quickly as possible and pull out your second, taking aim as you do. Don’t worry about Tater, he knows the course inside and out,” Helen told her. “Just make sure to lean with him at all times. He won’t let you down.”

  Tater, a honey-colored Nokota, seemed excited and ready to get out there to win, which Kenzie had no doubt he would. If her timing wasn’t good enough, it would be Kenzie’s fault, and not the horse’s. She’d been practicing with him for the last hour, each getting used to the other, just like Jake had been practicing with one of the other horses that had been trained in mounted shooting. It took months of practice to get a horse ready for the event, and Helen and her team were experts at all the nuances.

  Helen Granger was the type of cowgirl Kenzie wanted to be when she grew up. Not that Helen was that much older than Kenzie, mayb
e five years or so, but Helen, with her strawberry blond hair and no-nonsense attitude, single-handedly championed the riding school and had made it the success it was today. She had the reputation of being a shrewd businesswoman, and a champion marksman. Plus, as far as All-Around Cowgirl went, Helen had it going on in spades.

  “That’s always been my problem. I’m not aiming when I draw the second time. I hesitate. Not this time,” Kenzie assured her while on horseback.

  “You’ve got this,” Helen said, then gave Tater a loving pat on his long neck and left Kenzie to her thoughts.

  Kenzie popped in the sponge earplugs, pushing each one deep into her ears. She knew that more than half the arena was out there making side bets like they did every year. Last she heard, the money was on her. Just knowing this caused her stomach to tighten and her adrenalin to surge through her veins.

  She knew Jake’s side bets were following close behind hers, or maybe by now they were both in a dead heat.

  Not that there weren’t many more contenders who could possibly win it all, but Kenzie’s times, and Jake’s times were the best so far. So it all came down to this event, and unless one of them made a huge mistake, either she or Jake would triumph.

  “Good luck, Kenzie,” Jake’s voice echoed behind her.

  She turned and spotted Jake and his chestnut-colored mount moving up next to her. Tater shuffled under her, but she steadied him.

  “You, too,” she told him, smiling, trying to keep it light.

  “Kenzie, about last night. We should talk.”

  The rider before her had finished and was now heading toward her through the open gate.

  “And we will. Just not right now.”

  “No matter what happens in this competition, I’ll do whatever you want me to do. Go or stay. It’s up to you.”

  She didn’t know what she wanted, especially not now when she was gearing up for the next event. She wanted to win, sure, but she also didn’t want him to throw the competition.