Three Weeks With a Bull Rider

by Cat Johnson

  Klint watched the exchange before he leaned down toward Tara. “Are you with him?”

  “If you mean is he my boyfriend or something, the answer is no. He’s nobody to me. He drove me here, which definitely does not give him permission to tell me what I can or can’t do.” Tara’s answer was as much for Jace as it was for Klint.

  The nobody comment hurt Jace. It shouldn’t, but after all he’d done to be nice, to have her say that was a slap in the face. He pushed it aside. If nothing else, he knew Tara’s sharp tongue well and how she hated being told what to do. He had never let it get to him in the past and she’d called him far worse than that. He shouldn’t let it get to him now.

  He shook his head. “You’re right, Tara. I’m nobody. Go for it. Try that fluorescent green shot next. That looks like nothing but fun in a glass right there.”

  When Tara started puking later, which she would after a few more of those things, she’d better not look to him for sympathy. She’d also better not toss her cookies in his truck or in their room. She’d be cleaning it up herself if she did.

  “Jace, you’re worse than Tucker. You seriously need to lighten up and have a little fun. Here.” Tara bounced out of her seat and came at him, a frightening looking shot in her hand.

  He would—and had—downed his share of tequila shots, but this sweet, colored shit the young kids liked to drink nowadays turned his stomach.

  “No. I don’t want it.” He shook his head while she tried to follow his mouth with the shot and press it to his lips.

  “Come on. Stop being a party pooper.” She ended up straddling his lap as he held her back, his hands on her hips.

  “I said no. Tara, stop.” More than not wanting the shot, Jace couldn’t have her in his lap. Bouncing against his groin. Waking up parts of his anatomy that had been neglected and were happy for any attention.

  She was relentless in her pursuit. Damn, he’d paid strippers for lap dances that hadn’t gotten as intimate as this. “Tara, I mean it.”

  “Fine.” Tara gave in. She let out a breath of frustration, which caused her body to sag heavier in his lap, pressing her crotch against his.

  He realized his hands remained wrapped around her waist. He’d been trying to hold her still. Now it seemed he was just holding her.

  Jace dropped his grasp. “A’ight then. You can take that shit that looks like window cleaner and go back to your own seat now.”

  Tara didn’t get up. She downed the shot while sitting right there in his lap, and then licked her lips, slow and thorough, drawing one hundred percent of his attention to her tongue and how it rimmed her mouth. “Doesn’t taste like window cleaner.”

  Finally she stood, and Jace could breathe again. As she made her way around the table to the chair she’d left vacant, he dared to glance at the group of guys. The eyes of every one of the three younger riders were on him.

  Clearing his throat, he stood. “Uh, anybody need a beer?”

  Jace managed to get Tara out of there after only one more round and before she got too drunk. Though, judging by the look she shot him across the cab of the truck, she wasn’t happy. Maybe he was acting like the party pooper she had accused him of being, but what choice did he have? He couldn’t sit by and watch Tuck’s little sister get shitfaced at a bar he’d taken her to.

  “All right, what’s wrong?” he asked after he could no longer ignore her glaring at him.

  “You need to lighten up and let loose and let me do the same.”

  “So we can both feel like shit all day tomorrow because of those shots you like so much?”

  “I can handle two beers and two shots.” She stared out the side window at the passing scenery while he navigated the short distance to the hotel.

  “Three shots, that I saw.” Who knows what those guys had bought for her when he’d left her alone with them and went to take a piss.

  “Whatever. You know, I always thought you were a wild man. Jeez, was I wrong.” She mumbled something more that sounded like old man as Jace pulled into an open parking spot in front of their room and cut the engine.

  He wasn’t sure what to do about her accusation. Defending himself by telling her he could drink any one of those kids under the table didn’t seem the best solution. Nor did telling her that back in the day there were nights he and Tuck didn’t even think about hitting their beds until the morning sun had risen. And often, it was to tumble into those beds with whatever women they’d scooped up at the bar before closing time.

  “Come on. This old man needs to get some rest so he can ride tomorrow.” Jace wasn’t that tired. He’d gotten his second wind and could have lasted much longer, if he hadn’t felt he was starting to lose control over the girl currently in his charge.

  Walking from the truck to the door, Tara stumbled on the curb and tripped head on into him. He caught her by the shoulders and realized he’d made the right choice to get them out of the bar. Whatever that sweet shit in those crazy looking shots was could get a person messed up and fast.

  “You okay?”

  “I’m fine.” Tara pushed back from him. “And I’m not drunk if that’s what you’re thinking. I just didn’t see the curb.”

  “Mmm, hmm. That’s what I figured.” He faced the door to hide his smile as he slid the key into the lock.

  She followed him into the room and flung herself, fully clothed, backward on to one of the beds. “You know, when Logan got married to that woman—”

  “Emma?”

  “Yeah, her. Anyway, when Tyler drove me back up to school and we were talking, he told me Logan is too old for me.”

  “Tyler is right. Logan is too old for you.”

  “You don’t get to have an opinion. You’re not my brother.”

  “You’re right. I’m not.” That left Jace wondering why she was telling him all this to begin with, if she didn’t want his opinion.

  “The point is, tonight I was trying to hang out with guys my age, and you made me leave early.”

  “You shouldn’t be hanging out with those guys. You don’t want a bull rider, Tara.”

  “Why not? They seemed nice enough. Dillon showed me a picture of his wife and his daughter.”

  “Yeah, what he didn’t tell you is that the daughter came before the wife. And yes, he’s a good enough guy that he married her after he knocked her up. Not every guy would have done that. So, no, you’re not getting serious with any of those guys. Not while I’m driving you around.”

  “Jeez, Jace. I don’t want to marry one. I just want to have some fun.” Still flat on her back and looking sleepy, she managed to turn her head so she could stare at him from her bed.

  “Yeah, I got it, and you’re not doing that either.” Shaking his head and grumbling under his breath, Jace grabbed the white plastic bag from the store with his new shorts in it. “One unplanned pregnancy per family at a time.”

  “What?” Tara rose from the bed like the dead resurrected. “Oh, my God. Is Becca pregnant?”

  “Crap. You don’t know.”

  Of course she didn’t know. Tuck had only told Jace because it had slipped out. It seemed the secret was a slippery sucker since it had just slid out of Jace’s mouth like it had out of Tuck’s. Now he had to deal with the consequences.

  “No, it’s not Becca.”

  Tara’s eyes grew wide and she drew in a gasp. “Tyler got somebody pregnant? Oh, my God. My parents are going to flip—”

  “No, not Tyler. Stop guessing and let them tell you when they’re ready.” Jace swore he could see the pieces of the puzzle assembling in her brain.

  “They. Plural. Like a couple.” She frowned as if she was thinking hard. Then the color drained from her face. “Logan?” Tara spoke the word softly as she raised her gaze and watched Jace for confirmation.

  Shit.

  “Yeah.” Jace nodded. Nothing else he could do. He’d already screwed up royally.

  There were times in the past when he would have enjoyed bursting Tara’s bubble. Taken joy in
teasing her. There was no joy now.

  The pain showed on her face as she stood and swiped at her glassy eyes. “I, uh, gotta get out of here.”

  He took a step after her. “Wait. Where are you going?” “For a walk.” She didn’t look back when she answered, but he heard the tears in her voice. The door slammed behind her before he had a chance to ask if she had her copy of the key.

  Tara had a huge crush on Logan. Jace knew it had nearly killed her when he’d married Emma out of the blue. He’d have to give her time to cry in private and absorb what she’d learned, what he’d told her, even if it was by accident. Crap. Logan and Emma needed to get off their asses and tell people. It’s not like they could hide it forever, and Tara was family for God’s sake.

  Jace drew in a breath and walked to the bedside table where he’d left his phone plugged in but turned off. Not knowing if she even had her phone on her, he powered his on, just in case. The expected texts and voicemails loaded, making the phone vibrate across the wooden surface. He’d have to sort through all of those, and then leave the phone on in case Tara called. It was the least he could do after his screw up.

  Tara pushed through the door of the bar and spotted the guys still at the back table. She hadn’t planned on going back there, but it’s where her feet had led her. Now that she was there, she wished she didn’t have red eyes from crying over a man she’d thought she’d shed her last tear for the day he told her he’d never love her.

  She drew in a bracing breath and made a beeline for the three bull riders. “Hey, guys.”

  “Hey! Look who’s back. And without her bodyguard, too.” Justin grinned wide and spun an empty chair toward her. “Have a seat. I thought you were heading to bed.”

  “Yeah, well, you know. I put the old guy to bed and came back out.” She made the joke to cover the truth.

  Dillon cocked a brow. “Jace know you came back?”

  “No. You gonna tell him?”

  “Not if he doesn’t ask me. If he does, then I’m not gonna lie.”

  “He’s not my boss or my brother, but you do what you got to do.” Damn Boy Scout. Hard to believe Dillon hadn’t been prepared and had gotten his girlfriend pregnant like Jace said.

  “What you drinking, sweetheart?” Klint’s chair scraped across the floor as he stood.

  “I don’t know. What are you guys drinking?”

  Justin held up his cup and laughed. “I don’t think you want this. It’s vodka and Red Bull.”

  “Sounds good. That’s exactly what I want.”

  Klint raised a brow. “All right. You got it.”

  Once Klint had left the table to get her drink, Dillon leaned forward and braced his forearms on the table. “So how’s Tuck doing? Is it strange, his being married and all?”

  Tara let out a snort. “I don’t want to talk about my brother right now. And I really don’t want to talk about his wife or her sister.”

  Dillon leaned back again. “All righty. Gotcha.”

  Justin’s eyes opened a tad wider as he watched the exchange and Tara realized she’d been a little bit harsher in her answer to poor Dillon than she should have been.

  When Klint appeared next to her bearing her drink, Tara was happy for the distraction. “Thank you.”

  “You’re very welcome.”

  She took the cup and drew in a long, cold sip, letting the liquid infused with alcohol numb her mouth even as she hoped it would numb her pain. She didn’t know why Justin hadn’t thought she’d like it. It tasted pretty good. Refreshing. She took another sip.

  Klint swung his chair around the table, closer to hers. “So you going to be at all the events now that you work with the doc’s team?”

  “It’s an unpaid internship for a few weeks to fulfill a school requirement for my degree.”

  “But then you should totally get a job with him. You’re great at it.” Justin sounded so enthusiastic, she believed him.

  She couldn’t help the smile that crossed her lips. “Thanks for saying that. I really do enjoy the job.”

  “Well, I haven’t been hurt since you started, but I think I might have to make it my business to be soon, just so you can tend to me.” Klint winked.

  Tara laughed, making him grin wider.

  He leaned closer. “So tell me, beautiful. What do you like to do for fun?”

  She took another sip of her drink and realized she had somehow reached the bottom. “Well, I enjoy hanging out with the young stars of the pro bull-riding tour, such as yourselves.”

  Justin tipped his glass to her in salute. “You ever ride one yourself?”

  “A bull? No, I could never. I’ve seen my brothers Tuck and Tyler get too broken up from doing it. I could handle a cowboy though.” Smiling, she emptied the cup. Flirting was easy with these guys. Judging by Justin and Klint’s smiles, she was really good at it, too.

  Dillon’s phone sounded from its place on the table. He glanced at the readout. “Crap. Wife calling. I’m gonna take this outside.”

  “Sure.” Klint dismissed Dillon with a wave of one hand, but his eyes never left Tara.

  That was exactly what she needed to forget about Logan. Compliments from two sweet, single guys who made her feel as if she were the only girl in the room. Jace didn’t know what he was talking about.

  “Hey, you know what I read the other day?” Justin leaned his elbows on the table.

  “When do you read?” Klint frowned at his friend.

  “I read stuff on my cell phone. Anyway, somebody posted this article on their timeline saying that all the kids’ games we used to play in middle school are coming back, but for full grown adults. Things like a strip version of Twister. Or Spin the Bottle and Seven Minutes in Heaven.”

  “Really? Well, now, those are some games I wouldn’t mind playing.” Klint looked to Tara. “How about you?”

  Her gaze dropped to his mouth. She’d been kissed. She’d even been fondled a bit when the guy had slid his hand under her clothes, but that was it. Her entire life she’d saved herself for Logan, but that had backfired. She might as well be in middle school as far as her sexual experience was concerned. Meanwhile, Emma, older and from New York City where women had no morals, had thrown herself at him. Had sex with him the weekend they’d met.

  Tara would have given everything to Logan, but why would he want some inexperienced virgin who didn’t know what she was doing? Not with Emma and her tons of experience with men—the ’ho.

  No more playing good girl.

  “Sure.” Tara nodded. “I think that sounds like a hell of a lot of fun.”

  Grinning, Justin grabbed Jace’s empty beer bottle, still sitting right where he’d left it. Turning it on its side, he laid it on the table. “Go ahead, Tara. Give it a good spin and see which lucky one of us gets to kiss you first.”

  “Aren’t there supposed to be more people for this game?” Her brain seemed to be moving a little slowly but it was still very obvious that she was the only girl. Unless these guys were going to kiss each other, which she very much doubted, every kiss was going to be with her.

  “Hell no. Then we’d have less of a shot. I like these odds. Fifty-fifty.” Klint’s hand covered hers. “Spin the bottle, sweetheart.”

  “Yeah, then I can see if there’s someplace we can slip away to be alone for my Seven Minutes in Heaven with you,” Justin added.

  “Or my seven minutes with her,” Klint corrected. “I already know the place. There’s a broom closet right next to the men’s room.”

  Alone with these guys. Letting them do whatever they wanted. Touch whatever they wanted. Tara’s stomach twisted, but she wasn’t sure if it was with yearning or fear. Probably a bit of both. She was drunk enough not to care.

  She sent the bottle into a wild spin she couldn’t quite follow with her eyes. It didn’t matter. The guys would tell her which one she was supposed to kiss—or do more than that with.

  The twisting low in her gut radiated all the way to between her thighs. An itch that nee
ded to be scratched. A sneeze you felt coming but couldn’t quite get out.

  When she was able to focus her eyes again, she saw the bottle had stopped spinning and Klint was grinning wide. He reached for her hand and pulled her out of her seat.

  “Come on, sweetheart.” He glanced at Justin. “You’d better time us, because I’ll be too busy.”

  Justin pouted. “Yeah, fine.”

  Klint pulled her to the back of the bar where it was darker except for the illuminated exit sign and the thin slice of light coming from beneath the men’s and the ladies’ room doors. He reached for the knob of the door that wasn’t marked and smiled. “You ready?”

  Tara swallowed away her nerves. “Yeah.”

  The room was impossibly dark but that didn’t matter. They didn’t need to see. Once Klint pushed the door shut, he pressed her against it. She felt the smooth hard steel behind her and his body in front. Every sense seemed heightened in the dark. His breath was warm against her lips as he hovered close before pressing his mouth against hers. His tongue breached her lips and she could taste his drink and something else. Chewing tobacco, maybe.

  The stubble on his face stung the skin around her lips as he worked her mouth like he was trying to devour her. Her face was going to be scraped and red by the time she left the closet.

  His buckle cut into her stomach, he pressed so hard against her as he wedged his thigh between hers. Still it wasn’t enough. Not enough to block the pain of not being good enough—woman enough—for Logan. Not enough to ease the ache deep inside her. Tara craved something more, but she wasn’t sure what she sought. What would cure the hurt and the ache.

  Whatever it was, she had a feeling she wasn’t going to find it in seven minutes in the closet with Klint. Would being with Justin help? What would be enough?

  Maybe there was no cure for how she felt. Or maybe the combination of guzzling the drink and the taste of tobacco in Klint’s mouth was going to make her vomit.

  Tara wasn’t sure of anything.

  Chapter Nine

  Jace emerged from the bathroom showered and freshly shaved, but to an empty room. Tara was still gone. Where could she have gone for so long? He went to the nightstand and picked up his phone. No missed calls. A miracle in itself, but he’d been hoping for a text or something from her.