Page 21 of The Cowboy's Downfall
She provoked him in so many ways, he couldn’t be sure which one she was talking about. Or maybe he just wanted to hear her come right out and say it.
She looked at him, suspicious.I know what you’re doing.
He looked back, all innocence.What am I doing?
“The point is,” she said, doggedly ignoring his attempts to provoke her, “Taryn’s interest in you will wear off if you show her how little interest you have in her.”
“I see where you’re going with this. You think if I show interest in you instead, she’ll get the picture real quick.” He nodded, pretending agreement. “That’s a good plan.”
He’d only said it to tease her, but her look of horror took insulting to a whole other level.
“That’s a terrible plan!” She closed her eyes for a second, which bummed him out, because it was the easiest way for him to tell what she was thinking. When she opened them again, she had herself under control. “Just…treat her the same as the boys.”
He slung an arm over the steering wheel. “You sure about that? When a boy gets bucked off a bull, I tell him to man up and get back in the chute.”
Too Good sniffed. “If Taryn gets on a bull, I’ll buy you dinner.”
He wondered where her confidence came from because his take on Trouble was different. Trouble, however, wasn’t the sister keeping him awake at night, then slipping into his dreams once he fell asleep. He might as well indulge his fantasies a little and get a rise out of her while he was at it.
“How about you cook me dinner? Wearing nothing but one of those frilly maid aprons.”
She didn’t hesitate. “Deal.”
He hadn’t expected her to take him up on it, but she had, and he wasn’t about to let her back out. He almost felt sorry for her. Almost. He was too busy picturing her wearing that apron, because he’d win their bet even if he had to tie Trouble to that bull himself.
Oh, Too Good, he thought.You’re too good to be true.All he needed was one clear indication that she was as interested as he was, and he’d have her clothes off in a hot second.
But Too Good kept right on talking, trampling the moment. “Taryn’s been spoiled.” That, he agreed with. One hundred percent. “She’s a princess.” He wasn’t so sure about that one, but whatever. “I love her, and I don’t want to see her get hurt.” Vulnerability flecked with worry slid into direct hazel eyes with those words.
Dang.Her little sister was important to her, even if Taryn was a huge pain in the world’s ass, and he wasn’t heartless enough to make light of her feelings. She was no better prepared to take on a teenaged girl than he was.
She sprang the truck’s door handle. The dome light flared on. She got out, then leaned into the cab, which gave him a great view down the front of her thin sweater and of the delicate pink bra that she wore. He wasn’t going to get any sleep tonight now for sure, but that quick peek was worth it.
“One more thing,” she said. He forced his eyes upwards, where they clashed with hers. “If Taryn doesn’t ride a bull, then you’re cooking me dinner. The apron is optional. The state of undress is not.”
He waited until she’d driven off, because the gentleman in him had to make sure her car started and she wasn’t left in the middle of nowhere alone, where cell service could sometimes be sketchy. Then, he sat for a little while longer and listened as the night woke up around him. Beyond the high, frail wall of cottonwoods, the river rolled along with a dull rush.
And he thought that when a man showered daily in a bunkhouse full of men, the prospect of getting naked in front of a beautiful woman, no matter how bossy she was, was not the deterrence Too Good seemed to think it should be.
Chapter Seven
Shauna
Shauna’s car bumpedalong the dirt road that served as the back accessway to Custer County’s small airport.
She’d had to stop at the ranch to find out where the Saturday sessions were held. She hadn’t known there was a gym at the airport, which was owned and operated by the ranch, although in retrospect, it made sense. Jazz and her team of firefighters and jumpers had to stay in top shape. Apparently professional bull riders did too, and the teenagers weren’t going to be given a pass.
“Besides, it’s fun for the kids,” Elizabeth O’Connell had said when she gave Shauna directions. “Jazz is taking them around the obstacle course this morning.”
Shauna parked next to Taryn’s car in the lot outside one of the hangars. Taryn had insisted on driving herself, and Shauna didn’t argue the point because it meant she could leave once she’d made her show of support. She didn’t want to give Taryn any reason to think she was here because of Nix.
All you want from him is sex.
So what if she did? She was normal and Nix was a good-looking man. But wanting something and acting on it were two different things.
She entered the hangar through heavy, steel double doors, did a quick double take, then stopped and tried to take it all in. Whatever she’d expected, this wasn’t it.
Fifteen-hundred square feet of brightly matted floor space, contained by corrugated steel and a fifty-foot-high domed ceiling, sprouted a bewildering array of ropes, tires, and low climbing walls. The shell of a helicopter hung from the beams at the far end of the hangar.
