Ride Me Cowboy #2 (The Cowboy Romance Series - Book #2) (2 page)

I avoided the last part though for now and said, “I
work on the ranch. There’s always work to be done around there. I don’t need
the money. I make enough on the circuit that I could probably settle down now
and never work again, but I don’t see the point in that at my age.

“A few times a year the hands spend a week or more
herding the cattle from one range to the other. It gives the land time to
recuperate in between.”

“So you’re just out in the wilderness on a horse for
a week?”

“Well, kind of. I mean, we don’t stay on the horses
twenty-four seven. Sometimes we get to lie out underneath a big old pine tree
and take a nap after lunch. I love that.”

“You love taking a nap on top of pine needles
outside?”

I smiled. She said it with such distaste. “I do. I
also love cooling down with the cattle in the reservoir when it’s hot and the
thrill of pushing a herd across the highway or pushing a group of calves up a
trail. Hell, I even enjoy giving them their medicine. It’s a good life…but I
get stagnant if I stay in one place too long, so the rodeo is more for me in
the long run.”

CHAPTER
THREE

LEXI

I swear he talked for half an hour straight without
taking a damned breath. I thought I was going to scream. It wasn’t that what he
was talking about wasn’t interesting…it actually was, but I was still pissed at
him and I wasn’t about to have a casual conversation with him about his
“passion.” I finally just snapped that rude question at him because I couldn’t
take it any longer. He’s so funny. Nothing seems to faze him. I’ve been nothing
but rude all morning and he’s still smiling. I wondered what it would take to
make him mad.

“So what about when you decide to get married and
have a family? Are you going to drag them along with you from place to place?”

“No, probably not every place. Most cowboys just buy
a nice house for their family and the wife and kids go to the rodeos they can
make and live the good life when they can’t make it.”

“How is that a good life? Why even get married if
you’re going to live apart? It makes no sense.”

He shrugged.
“Maybe not.
But a lot of people choose to live their lives in ways that makes no sense to
me, either. As long as they’re not trying to force their lifestyle on me, I’m
cool with whatever they choose to do. I’m sure that they miss each other, but
if a lady is pregnant or the kids are in school, it doesn’t make any sense to
disrupt their lives.”

“None of it makes any sense to me. It’s like a Peter
Pan syndrome or something.”

He looked like it was putting stress on every muscle
in his face not to smile.
“Peter Pan, huh?
You think
I’m not a grown up?”

“You live with your father. You make your living
riding on the backs of animals, and you said yourself that you’re not
interested in putting down roots. That doesn’t sound grown up to me.”

“What would you call grown up? Being in a suit and
tie and working in an office all day?”

“Yes. But you don’t have to do that. I mean, look at
your dad. He’s successful, has a nice house, gives to charity, goes on
vacations, and sleeps in hotels…”

“So your measure of a grown-up is if they live a
conventional type of life?”

I kept waiting for him to get
mad
,or
at least look a little bit insulted. He still
looked like he wanted to grin. I think my rudeness was the only thing keeping
him from it. He was probably afraid I’d sock him or something. I had to give
him credit. He was definitely the most even-tempered guy I had ever met. “I
don’t know. It just seems to me like all you’re doing is having fun and not
moving forward at all.”

“I am having fun. I’m having a ball. Isn’t that what
life is supposed to be about? I mean, we only get one shot at it, right?”

“I suppose.” It was hard to argue with that. He was
right. If I really gave it some serious thought, I’d have to admit that I
didn’t want to spend my life doing nothing but working in a job I wasn’t happy
in
. I wasn’t going to tell him that, though. He was still on
my list.

“What do you want to do with your life, Lexi?”

“Finish school, get a job, have a family...I’m sure
that all sounds boring to you.”

“Not at all, I want to have a family someday. I
already did school. You never know when you’re
gonna
get hurt or too old to ride. I have a back-up
plan.” Of course he does. I want him to say something that will justify my
anger. I want him to be unlikable.
So far…nothing.
“What are you passionate about, Lexi?”

“Passionate about?”

“Yeah, what lights your fire and makes you want to
just go out there and grab life by the horns?”

I had no idea. It pissed me off at him for asking. I
know that’s ridiculous, but he acts
like
he’s known
what his own passion was his entire life. I spent my entire life just trying to
survive. “Oh look! We’re here already.” We were turning onto the long dirt road
that was almost impossible to find. “Maybe on one of your stints home for a few
weeks, you could make a new sign for this road.”

He laughed. “I guess I could at that. Since this is
your mother’s house now, too, you can come out as much as you want. You could
always make a sign. It could say, ‘Welcome to nowhere,’ or ‘
My
stepbrother takes advantage of drunk girls.’” I laughed,
then
I got mad at myself for laughing. “Lexi, I’m sorry about last night. But I hope
you know that I was drunk and as far as I can recall…neither of us was saying
no.”

“I was too drunk to say no.”

He raised an eyebrow and said, “I hope you don’t
drink too often then.” His lips were quirked around the edges again. He was
joking – but he’d made a point that kind of hit home. I did need to take some
responsibility for it. Ugh! I was looking for reasons to hate him and he was
being impossibly nice and rational. I think I might hate him for that.

CHAPTER
FOUR

MARK

I know this is a weird thought, but I was beginning
to get the feeling we were starting to bond. At least, she was making conversation
with me – albeit, most of it was on the negative side of the spectrum where I
was concerned. The closer we got to the house though, the more worried I got
about what she was planning on telling her mother about last night. I’d be
willing to bet that she didn’t want the truth coming out to our parents any
more than I did…but we should have come up with a cover story we could back
each other up
on
.

“Hey, Lexi.”

“Yeah.”

“I think we need to come up with a story for the
folks. They’re going to want to know where we were all night.”

“A story?”

“Well, yeah. I know that you aren’t going to want
this to come out any more than I do, am I right?” She looked mad again.

“What the hell do you think I am?
Some
kind of idiot?
I thought we’d march in there and when they ask I’d say, ‘We
had sex in a barn all night?’”

“So you do remember,” I said with a grin as I parked
the truck. I was trying to lighten the mood. It didn’t work.

“Oh shut up!”

“Okay, but we need a story that we can both work
with…” she got out and slammed the truck door. Great, I guess I’ll just have to
wait and see what she does. If it gets out that we did have sex, that “ick”
factor will be way too much for my dad, I know for sure. I’m not sure how Lydia
would take it, but I didn’t want to find out. If his new marriage
was
put in a bad place because of me, my dad wouldn’t
forgive me. I got out of the truck and followed Lexi up to the house. She was
walking
like
she was in a hurry. I would have
preferred taking my time.

As soon as we walked into the mudroom, Lydia came
around the corner. “Thank goodness. I was worried about the two of you. Lexi,
why didn’t you text me back?”

“Oh Mom, I’m sorry. I haven’t even checked my
phone.”

“Where were you?”

“We just went to a bar in town to celebrate. We both
had a little too much to drink, so we stayed in a hotel.”

“Oh…well, did you have fun?”

“Yes,” we both chimed in at the same time.

“Well, I’m glad you had fun, but you should have at
least called me. I was worried sick and so was your father, Mark.” Damn! This
wasn’t going to be good.

“I’m really sorry, Mom. It was just so late that I
didn’t want to wake you. I’ll be sure to call if it happens again,” Lexi said.
I breathed out a sigh of relief.

“Well, I know you’re used to being on your own and
not having to answer to anyone, so I’ll forgive you this once,” Lydia winked at
her. Then she looked at me and said, “Thanks for looking out for her.” I felt
like a mule kicked me in the guts from the guilt. At the same time, I was super
relieved that Lexi hadn’t chosen to tell her the truth. Now…we’ll have to see
what my dad has to say on the subject. He wouldn’t have expected me to call, but
if Lydia was upset by it, I’m sure I will get blamed. Lydia headed off to the
kitchen, and I followed Lexi through the foyer and into the den. She sat down
on the sofa and started taking off her boots. I sat down across from her and
said,

“You never told me when we were talking, what are
you going to school for?”

“I’m just taking me GEs right now. I’m not sure what
I want to do yet.”

“Oh, that’s cool. You’re a freshman?”

“Yes.”

“Oh…what have you been doing since high school?
Three years is kind of a big break to take before you start college.” That was
the wrong question, apparently. Suddenly she was glaring at me again.

She stood up, picked up her boots, and said, “That’s
really none of your business.” Then she stomped away towards the stairs. I was
a little bit taken aback. She asked me like a million questions about my life
and why I live with my dad and she was pissed because I asked her one? I stood
up to go after her…and Dad walked into the room.

“Well, look who it is. Where the hell were you all
night?”

“We went to the bar and both of us had too much to
drink to drive home. We stayed at the Motel 6 in town.” Dad had that
disapproving stare going on. Lydia must have been really upset. “I’m sorry. We
should have called. I didn’t think about Lydia being worried.”

“That’s always your problem, isn’t it, Son? You
never think about anyone but yourself. Sometimes I don’t think you use your
head at all. You were less than twenty miles from the ranch and you chose to
pay for two hotel rooms instead of coming home…You did get separate rooms,
didn’t
you?”

“Of course.”
There was that mule again, kicking me in the stomach.

“And whose money did you use to so generously
finance your night out?”

“I used my own money, Dad. Besides, it wasn’t
like
we drank at a club and paid for five stars. It didn’t
cost that much.”

Dad shook his head. “I don’t know when you’re going
to grow up.” He stormed out and I realized that I just wasn’t going to be able
to win with any of them today.

I left it all alone for now and went out to the barn
and saddled up my horse. When things went sideways, the best place for me to be,
as Lexi said, was on the back of an animal. The late morning sun felt really
good on my face as I sat on my horse’s back. I led him towards the rolling
hills out along the east side of the property. I stopped there, giving the
horse a little nudge so that he and I both faced the sun.

Sarge
had been my horse for almost eight years. I hardly had to hold the reins at all
when I rode the ranch. He knew where I wanted to go and if I wanted to change
it up on him, all he needed was a slight touch of my hand on either side of his
neck. When we were stopped and I wanted to go, all he needed was a squeeze of
my thighs. Right now, we just stood there at the top of the hill and looked out
across the land. My dad didn’t think I cared anything about the land, but he’s
wrong. I love this land – I just don’t want to be as stuck to it as one of the
trees that grew here for the past hundred years or so. But when I was home,
this was my world. This was home and always would be, until Dad decides to kick
me out. I have no idea how he could know anything happened between Lexi and me,
but he seemed like he did. Not only do I have that to worry about,
but
Lexi acts like I’m the only one responsible for it. I
didn’t take advantage of her. I felt her attraction, and I’m sure that I wasn’t
mistaken about that. From now on though, I would be sure to keep my distance. I
don’t want to do anything that makes her uncomfortable…or that snaps loose the
fragile thread my dad and my relationship dangles
by
.

CHAPTER
FIVE

LEXI