Page 28 of Spurred On

“Your rodeo this weekend, is it one that’s close by or far away?” I keep my eyes off him, looking at the pine trees. April showers aren’t a thing here, but April blizzards are. It’s almost May, and you would never know spring was in sight if you looked around.

“It’s about two hours from here. Why?” When I look at him, he looks at me suspiciously, mostly because I don’t usually ask a whole lot of questions. I just ask if he’s okay when he walks through the front door, and then follow that up with a ‘well, did you win?’ Most times, the answer is yes. He’s damn good at what he does. It occurs to me that maybe I should tell him that, but then again, his ego is the size of the state of Texas. I’m sure people tell him all the time how amazing he is.

“Well, I was wondering if I could tag along?” I ask, my voice not quite sounding as confident as I had hoped.

His rocking halts. “You want to come with me and the team to a rodeo?”

With a shrug of my shoulders, I say, “Sure, I’ve only seen the one, but that was pretty fun. You know, the cows and the horses and stuff.”

“You’ve lived with me for almost three months and you still don’t know jack shit about the rodeo.”

“I know you ride the bull for eight seconds. So I do know some things, thank you very much.”

“Well, I’d love to teach you more, but I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

My face falls with his quick dismissal. “What? Why not?”

“With all my endorsements, we’re trying to hide the fact I married a girl I met in Vegas. My manager is worried it will damper my image.”

I scoff. “I think your playboy antics dampened your image long before I arrived.”

“If this is how you convince me to let you come, you’re doing a piss poor job at it.”

“Look, I’ll stay completely out of sight. They won’t even know who I am. I’ll stay in the background with your team. I need to get out of this cabin, Mav. I am going to lose my freaking mind. I had a whole conversation with a cow the last time you were gone, a freaking cow!” My chest is almost heaving by the time I get my rant out, and Mav is loving every second. His cheeks, rosy from the cold, pull up as he smiles.

“Did the cow talk back?”

“I hate you. Please, let me get out of here. All of my friends are busy. I just need a little space from the cabin and to see people.”

“Are you begging me right now?”

“Yes.” As much as my very sensitive pride hates it, I am begging.

“Some people even beg on their knees.” The mischievous smile on his face shows exactly what image is going through his mind, and I hate that my body comes alive with it. The chill that was suddenly there is gone, replaced by the flicker of a starting fire in my core. He is the worst.

Keeping my expression neutral, I say, “I’m sure you’d love that, but I'm not quitethatdesperate. I’ll find Betty again and chat her ear off.”

“Betty?” He quirks an eyebrow up at me.

My head sassily tips to the side. “That’s what I named the cow.”

He lets out a breath. “Jesus. Okay, fine. You can come. Doug is going to have my ass for it. Lay low and try not to bring any attention to yourself, alright?”

I pop out of my chair, run over and lean down to give him a hug. Thank God. I’ll finally be leaving. The ranch is beautiful, but I need some change of scenery.

Mav laughs and pats my back before I pull away. “Thank you. I promise I won’t be any trouble.”

“Go pack, we have to leave in an hour. Weston is coming, too. We’re going to have to share a room, but I’ll see if I can switch us to a double bedroom.”

I share a shoebox-sized cabin with him on the regular, I am sure we can handle sharing a hotel.

I skip into the cabin, which suddenly doesn’t feel so suffocating anymore, knowing I will soon be leaving it. As fast as I can, I shove everything in my bag and get ready to hit the road.

We pull up to the arena and it looks much different than the last rodeo I was at. For starters, we go straight to the back. There’s trailers, trucks, and cowboys galore. Erin would love this. Maybe someday, I can talk Mav into letting both of us come, but then I wouldn’t be able to promise not to find trouble. Because where Erin is, trouble follows. Or she creates it, who knows?

We walk into the building and quickly run into Mav’s manager, who I am pretty sure does not like me. As if I am the sole reason we are in this mess.

“What is she doing here?” The sneer on his lips makes my anger spark.

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