Ride Me Cowboy #2 (The Cowboy Romance Series - Book #2) (5 page)

“About?”

He made a face.
The poor guy.
I was making this really hard on him. “About us and about what happened last
weekend…”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because we both know it was a big mistake and it
can’t happen again. End of story. There’s nothing else to talk
about
. There is no ‘Us.’”

“I hate this awkwardness between us.”

“We don’t really know each other, Mark. Just because
we…spent the night in a barn, doesn’t take that fact away. It’s supposed to be
awkward.”

“I want to get to know you,” he said. Damn him. Why
can’t he be an ass so that I’m justified in ignoring him? I want to get to know
him, too, but I’m not going to admit that, either.

“Mark…We can’t do this…”

“All I want to do is get to know my stepsister,
Lexi. We’re going to be spending time together in the years to come, like it or
not. I know that nothing else can happen like what happened the other night,
but that doesn’t mean we can’t be friends.”

“I just don’t really see that we have any common
ground other than our parents to build a friendship on, Mark.”

“I have a rodeo this weekend. I’m leaving tomorrow. Come
with me.”

I sighed. “Do you remember what happened the last
time?”

“You had a great time. The thing that happened was
after we went to the bar and we both drank way too much. You told me yourself
that you had a lot of fun at the rodeo itself, right?”

“Well yeah, but…”

“Just think about it, okay. I’m taking off about
eight in the morning. If you want to go, I’d love to have the company.”

He left then. He left me with a pounding pulse and
shaky limbs. I think I was even sweating a little bit. This man was killing me
and he expected me to go to a rodeo with him…out of town? He’s crazy…isn’t he?

I mulled over it for a few hours until I went down
to find my mother and say goodnight. She was sitting on the sunporch knitting.
The light from the moon was filtering in from the skylights overhead and the
air was cool from a light breeze that blew through the screened in porch.
“Hi, Mom.”

She put the knitting down and smiled. “Hi honey. Are
you doing okay? Are you hungry?”

She started to get up and I said, “Sit back down.
I’m fine. I’m not hungry and if I am, I’m a big girl. I can find the kitchen. I
was actually just talking to Mark…”

“Oh good, I was beginning to worry that the two of
you didn’t like each other.”

I laughed. That was definitely not the problem.
“Mark and I are fine, Mom. Please stop worrying so much. He’s not a bad guy, I
guess.” I smiled, but I really wanted to hear what she had to say about him.

“He’s not,” she said. “One day you should go out
with him while he’s working with the sick babies or delivering a calf…he’s so
compassionate with the animals, and they love him. Animals have an instinct
about people. They love Mark. That tells me more about him than anything.”

“That’s good. It had to be hard marrying a man whose
grown son still kind of lives with him.”

Mom shrugged. “I really don’t mind it. First off,
he’s not here that often, maybe two or three months at a time before he goes
back on the road again. But something else that I have to give him credit for
is the fact that from day one he treated me
like
I had
as much right to be here as he did. He’s one of the most respectful people I’ve
ever met.”

“Why doesn’t he have a girlfriend?” Shaky waters, I
know, but it was something I was really curious about and not ready to ask him.

“He did when I first met him. I’m not sure what
happened. I never met her. My assumption would be that it’s hard to maintain a
relationship when you’re on the road so much.”

Exactly what I tried to tell him the day we talked
about it and he insisted it could be done. “Mark told me that a lot of the guys
he rides with have wives and girlfriends. I thought that was strange, too. I
know that I wouldn’t care for being in that kind of relationship.”

“Well, I do hope he finds someone one of these days.
He deserves to be happy.”

I only nodded at that. Then I said, “He asked me to
go to his rodeo with him up near Fresno. I really enjoyed the last one,
surprisingly. I think I’d like to go to another. Would you mind?”

She made a face like she was thinking and then she
said, “Will you be spending the night?”

“I’m assuming so. It’s a four hour drive each way
and it’s a two day event…”

“Okay. I just wanted to know so that I won’t worry.
You go and have fun. I appreciate Mark trying to keep you entertained while
you’re here. I know he gets lonely on his trips, too. The company will be good
for him.”
If she only knew how entertained he was trying to
keep me.

I got up and kissed her cheek. “Thanks, Mom. We’re
going to be leaving early in the morning. I’ll text you when we get there
safely.”

“I love you, Lexi.”

I smiled and once again the guilt over my actions
with Mark clawed at my chest. “I love you, too.”

CHAPTER
EIGHT

MARK

I was almost finished loading up my gear and I had
yet to see Lexi. I told myself to stop looking over at the house every five
minutes and accept the fact that she wasn’t going to come with me. I closed up
the trailer and was about to get into the truck when I heard, “You’re leaving
without me?” I looked over and there she was. Damn! She looked good. She had on
a faded pair of Wrangler jeans that hugged her tight curves, leather cowboy
boots, and a sleeveless snap-front cowgirl shirt. That was all hot. But, the
hottest was a straw cowboy hat that she had sitting on top of all of that
thick, dark curly hair. I had to tell my pants to be still.

“Hey, you look…country.”

She smiled and my belly did all sorts of weird
things. “Thanks…I think,” she said with a grin. “Mom insisted on buying me
things when we went shopping, so I thought I’d try and at least fit in.”

“You look great. I’m glad you decided to come.” I
realized I was still standing there staring at her like an idiot when she
cleared her throat and said,

“Where should I put my bag?”

“Oh, sorry.”
I took it from her and put it in the truck. “You ready?”

“Yep, let’s get this show on the road.”

For the first five or ten miles we drove in silence.
Lexi reached over at one point and changed my radio station from country to
some weird pop stuff. Then she looked at me to see if I would protest.
Sometimes I think she’s trying to see how much I’ll take before I blow up.
She’s going to have to push a lot harder than that.

“So what made you change your mind about coming?” I
asked her.

“I’m bored,” she said, simply. I guess that was as
good of a reason
as any
.

“I’ll bet it’s nice to spend time with your mom
though, huh?”

“Yeah, it is. I’ve missed her. I’ve had fun hanging
out with her the past few days, but feeding calves and sloshing through the mud
to slop the hogs is not really my thing.”

I laughed. “So what is your thing, Lexi? What do you
like to do?”

“I like to go to the movies, out to dinner, dancing,
and I like concerts. I like staying in nice hotels and ordering room service. I
like swimming and lying out in the sun by the pool…”

“You can do all of those things and still enjoy the solitude
of the country.”

She looked at me suspiciously and said, “How’s
that?”

“You can watch a movie under the stars every Friday
night at the church in town. You can have the best dinner you’ve ever at over
at Miss Millie’s café. You can swim in the pond and stretch out on a towel
along the sandy bank and soak up the sun…or if you’re the skinny dipping sort,
there’s a private river right there on the ranch.” She rolled her eyes at that
and I said, “And down at the park in town they have jazz concerts in the
moonlight every Saturday night during the summer. I can’t imagine the city has
a lot more to offer than that.” She smiled. It was encouraging.

“That all sounds great,” she said with a mischievous
grin, “But you failed to sell me since there was no dancing involved.”

“Oh well, dancing we’ve got covered. There’s a rodeo
dance before every event. They’ll be having one tonight and if you want, you
can go and dance yourself blue in the face.”

“Who would I dance with?” she said. I think she was
flirting with me.

“Anybody you want, I imagine.” I had to ask myself why
the hell, out of all the women in the world, did my father have to marry this
girl’s
mom?
I’ve never wanted a woman this badly in my
life. I’m not sure if it’s because I know I can’t have her or if maybe she’s
just the one I’ve been waiting for all along. Either way, it’s a moot point.
I’d do my best to enjoy the time I did have with her because if I try and
venture into the other, I was going to push her completely away. We stopped for
gas and I couldn’t help but watch her walk towards the little mini-mart. I was
trying hard to keep my mind off of everything I’d love to do to her, but it was
hard. When I finished gassing up and she wasn’t back yet, I went online and
made reservations at a hotel near the rodeo grounds. I was just signing off
when she came back and jumped up into the truck.

“What are you looking at?” she asked.

“Nothing.
I just made reservations for us at a place near the rodeo grounds called the
Northern Express.” She gave me a worried look and I said, “Don’t worry, I got
two rooms.” By the look on her face I couldn’t tell if she as worried – or
disappointed.

“Oh good,” she said.

“Maybe after we rest up a bit we can make it over to
the rodeo grounds in time for the barbecue that kicks it all off. Then there’s
the dance and tomorrow the rodeo.”

“Sounds like fun,” she said. I wondered if it really
did or if she was just being polite. When we got to the
hotel
which
was in an old historic part of town in a building that looked like
a renovated mansion, Lexi said, “Wow! This is a great place. Have you stayed
here before?”

“No, but I had some friends who stayed here last
time we were up for an event. It’s a nice place. I think you’ll like it.”

“Thank you. I’m sure you don’t usually do so fancy
when you’re on your own. It’s been a while since I’ve stayed in such a nice
place.”

It warmed up my blood to know that I made her happy.
I know, I was supposed to avoid things with her that warmed up my blood, but I
just couldn’t help it. Seeing her pretty face smile and her pretty eyes light
up and knowing I did that gave me a perverse sense of pleasure I knew it
shouldn’t. I tried to tell myself that it was okay. I should want to make my
“sister” happy. But in my heart I knew that wasn’t it. Right or wrong – I
wanted her to like me as much as I did her.

We checked into the hotel and went to our separate
rooms. I told her I would pick her up for the barbecue at
four
which
was in about three hours. I headed to my room to take a little nap
and get cleaned up. The nap was a futile attempt. I couldn’t think about
anything but Lexi and the shower ended up being a cold one. Jesus, what the
hell am I going to do?

I put on my nicest shirt and a new pair of jeans and
after pulling on my boots and slapping on my hat, I was ready. It was a little
before four when I knocked on her door. She pulled it open and in an instant I
felt like there was a clawed hand clamped down across my neck and I had to
struggle for breath. She was wearing a pink western-style skirt that came down
to her knees with black cowboy boots and a black blouse with short sleeves that
looked like silk. It was fitted in the waist to show her curves and had a
rounded neckline that let the top of her soft mounds show just enough to make
me want to see more. Her hair was as shiny as ever and lay in soft curls around
her pretty face. I didn’t have enough breath in my body to talk, so I just
stared at her.

“You look nice,” she said, probably thinking it was
odd that I was just standing there gaping at her.

“Um…” Slow, even breaths, Mark. “You look…wow. You
look amazing.” As soon as I said it, I thought maybe it was too much. But she
looked pleased that I thought so. I took another deep breath and wondered how I
was going to not touch her all night. “Are you ready?”

“Yep.”
She grabbed her bag and we headed out. In the elevator on the way downstairs, I
was overwhelmed by her sweet fragrance and just the presence of her warm body
next to me. I could literally feel the electricity surging between us. I
breathed a sigh of relief when the elevator opened and we could step out into a
public place.

We drove down to the rodeo
grounds
which
were only about five miles away from the hotel. The dinner and
dancing would be held in the big event center on the grounds. The line for
dinner was already forming when we got there. I wanted to take her hand and
lead her through the crowd, but I thought better of it and just made sure she
stayed beside me and didn’t get lost, instead. We were almost there when I
heard the sound of a voice I knew well.