Page 81 of A Lot Like Love
Chase grinned. “Knock ’em dead.”
Ryder wasn’t sure if his brother was talking about the ride or Chloe, but he was guessing he meant the former. He didn’t have another second to think about it though—suddenly Chloe was standing in front of him, her warm, chocolate-colored eyes shyly meeting his.
“Hey Ryder,” she said, pushing her hands into the back pockets of her jeans. She’d done it because she was obviously nervous, and all it had accomplished was straining the fabric of her T-shirt so he could see the perfect outline of her breasts. He swallowed and looked away, wishing he could pretend that he wasn’t interested in her. The truth was he’d missed Chloe like hell and he was desperate to feel her body hard up against his again.
“Chloe,” he managed, folding his arms across his chest. “What are you doing here?”
She smiled. “It’s not because I’ve suddenly decided I love hanging out at rodeos.”
“No?”
Chloe’s grin was infectious, impossible not to return no matter how hard he tried. “I wanted to see you defend the title.”
Now that he hadn’t expected. After everything, she’d just decided to show up out of the blue to watch him compete?
“Were you in town?” he asked.
She shook her head, doing her cute bite-down-on-her-lower-lip thing and making him want to kiss those pillowy lips of hers and just forget what had gone down between them.
“I arrived this morning,” Chloe told him. “I wanted to see you, then I’ll head off again I guess.”
Ryder knew how much she hated Vegas—she’d made that beyond clear the time they’d come together. He cleared his throat and glanced at his watch. He only had about a minute to get his ass over to the ring, otherwise he’d be scratched from the program.
“Chloe, what are you doing here? You just disappear and then show up without even a phone call?”
She grimaced. “Can we talk after your ride?”
Ryder wanted to ask her what the fuck had happened to make her run like that, but he also didn’t want to push her away. She’d traveled to be here and he bet that hadn’t been easy for her to decide to do, not when it was Vegas.
“I have to go,” he told her, unfolding his arms and letting them hang at his sides instead. “But yeah, let’s talk after. Come by the ring as soon as my ride’s over and we’ll go somewhere.”
“Sure thing,” Chloe said, reaching out to touch his arm and standing on tiptoes to press a warm kiss to his cheek. “Good luck out there.”
Ryder smiled. He couldn’t deny how good her body felt against his, how much he wanted that mouth of hers over his instead of just to his cheek. “You always were my good-luck charm, right?”
Her eyes met his, the familiar flash of her deep brown irises warming a part of him that he’d thought would be permanently cold. Only Chloe had ever made him want to let a woman that close, and right now he wanted to tug her into his arms and make sure she never left again. Screw being angry, he wanted her and he wasn’t afraid of admitting it, not now that she was standing in front of him.
“Good luck, Ryder.”
He touched his hat and disappeared into the crowd, making his way over to where they’d be waiting for him. Ryder had to jog to make it in time, the announcer already giving him his introduction before he was even ready.
“Next up we have Ryder King defending his Bull Riding World Championship title. King is also our current Saddle Bronc Riding champion, and this year’s defender of the World All-Around Rodeo Champion Cowboy title. Last year he was the highest earning cowboy in the National Finals Rodeo, and talk is that he’s as unbeatable this year as he was last.”
Ryder quickly grabbed his helmet and secured it, shrugging on his back protector. He checked his hat, raised it to the guys waiting for him, and patted some powder into his hands to take any sweat away and let him get a good grip once he was out there in the ring.
“Sorry to keep you waiting, fellas,” he said as he climbed up.
“You gonna kick some butt again today, King?”
He grinned at the guys before settling carefully onto the bull. “Damn right.” The bull was calm while he was confined, the big animal breathing steadily beneath him. Ryder could feel every exhale the bull made, admired his sleek black coat and the rippling muscles on display across his neck and shoulders.
“And here he is! They don’t call this the rodeo Super Bowl for nothing, folks! Please give it up for theoneandonlyRyder King!”
“You ready?”
Ryder adjusted his grip, flexed then clenched his fingers, and put one hand high in the air as he listened to the crowd cheer and clap. “Ready!”
The bull leaped out of the crush, heading straight for the center of the ring, his big body twisting and contorting as he bucked like the wild, massive beast that he was. Ryder tuned out everything else—he couldn’t hear the crowd, couldn’t see anything, all his senses tuned in to the powerful beast beneath him. He rode through every jilt and spin, the bucks as big as any he’d ever felt before. Time was irrelevant right now because he had no idea how many bucks he’d ridden through or how long his hand had been wrapped around the rope he was holding.
