Page 47 of Cowboys Next Door

“Are you sure?”

I nod again and exhale. “Can we just…”

This time, he nods. “Come on.” He takes my arm and leads me away from the gawking crowd, ignoring the many cell phones in our faces.

He doesn’t even care that they’re recording!I recognize, my appreciation for him mounting tenfold as he guides me toward the parking lot.

“Woah, wait.” I stop, and he looks at me in confusion. “Are we going home?”

“You want to stay?”

I glance back in the direction that we came from, the food area no longer visible. My breaths have steadied now.

I nod slowly. “Well… yes. I mean, it’s my first time at the rodeo…”

My eyes fall to his hands, and he chuckles. “Don’t worry about that. I’ve done worse grooming my horses.”

“Are you okay if we stick around for a little while?”

“Yeah,” Hudson agrees. “I’d be honored to show you around, Princess.”

This time, the nickname doesn’t bother me so much. At least not when Hudson uses it.

* * *

Hudson seems obsessed with playing games, but I quickly realize that he’s trying to show me how good he is at everything he does. My arms fill with a mishmash of teddy bears and squeaky toys, none of which I have the slightest interest in.

“What am I going to do with all these?” I laugh as we head back toward the arena to watch more of the competition.

“We could go back to the truck and drop them off,” he suggests, but I know that it’s far out of the way to walk and then make our way back.

I don’t want to complain, but my legs ache from all the walking we’ve already done. I want to sit and watch more of the barrel racing and competitions.

“It’s kind of far,” I protest lightly, pursing my lips. “It’s okay. I can just carry them.”

“I have a better idea.” He glances around and nods for me to follow him into one of the stables. I hesitate, but he grabs my arm. “We’ll stash them, so you don’t have to carry them,” Hudson suggests, nodding toward one of the empty stalls.

“What if someone comes and finds them?”

He eyes me speculatively. “Are you really that attached to them?” he teases, opening one of the stalls.

The entire section is empty, the animals preparing for their show, and I can’t shake the feeling that we’re doing something illicit, but it’s exciting, and I don’t mind it.

“Here.” He reaches for the prizes, and I allow him to take the small load from my arms, burying them among the straw, but when he turns back around, I’m directly in his face.

He takes half a step back, his sooty eyes growing larger, and I don’t move.

“Why did you stay behind?” I ask pointedly. “I keep waiting for you to bring up the lawyer or MVP, but you haven’t all afternoon.”

He shrugs and shifts his weight. “Yeah, we still need to talk about that.” I suddenly understand what this is about. “Are you with Connor?” he asks stiffly.

I have no idea how to answer that. These past couple of weeks with Connor and the stolen moments with Eli have been fun, but no one has spoken about commitment.

Do I tell him about Eli, too?

I’m vaguely dumbstruck, the situation over my head. I don’t know what to call what is happening with Eli and Connor—if anything at all.

“I don’t know,” I answer honestly. “I’ve been having fun with Connor and Eli. We’ve never really discussed what it is, though.”

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