Page 36 of Untamed Heart
I swallowed.Less permission, more forgiveness.
The announcer cut in, saving me from answering. The show started, a rider kicking off the evening by riding around the arena, a huge, ripplingUSflag catching the lights, obnoxiously loud music pounding through the stands. The barrel racers were up first, Bailey third in the line-up of a dozen or so.
I watched, mouth half open as she belted across the dirt, Dunkin at full stretch, her golden coat shimmering in the lights, Bailey’s hair loose for once. Like a streak of fire they shot towards the barrels, turning as tight as possible to make a turn, the laws of physics half denied by the angles they made.
‘Holy shit,’ I hissed. ‘How is she doing that?’
Lil laughed, knocking her beer back.
‘Those two are magic,’ she said. ‘Like you and Jasper. But ain’t no one getting those long legs round a bunch of barrels.’
I laughed, imagining Jasper trying it. He was too tall, his long, elegant stride a million miles from Dunkin’s greedy thrusts forward, her compact size and immaculate balance making something difficult look ridiculously easy.
‘You impressed Cole, you know,’ Lil said after a moment, almost making me choke on my beer. ‘On the drive. No complaining with the camping, you and Jasper making light work of the left side back down to the ranch. I barely did a thing, felt like a day off.’
‘I guess,’ I replied, barely daring to venture anything else.
‘He’s not a big fan of city girls, so you must’ve done something right.’
I nodded slowly. ‘Yeah, he seems . . . like a good guy,’ I finished, freezing as Lil turned to me with a raised eyebrow. ‘I mean, he’s . . . he probably said it because I’m your cousin.’
My words were lame and Lil knew it.
‘He’s the best,’ she said slowly, her gaze suddenly intent on my face.
I dipped my head, hiding under the brim of my hat.
Shit.
‘I like him but that’s it,’ I said, slowly looking back at her. ‘My life at home is too complicated for anything else. I don’t even know how I feel about Kyle . . . Everything turned upside down last week.’
Her searching look softened.
‘But you’re not going back to him, right? Not after all that. And a new job . . . well, that’s still up in the air, right?’ Unsure how to answer, I frowned as the last barrel riders shot across the ring. ‘I’m just saying, give yourself a break,’ Lil continued. ‘Maybe just see where things take you, rather than trying to force it.’
There was undeniable logic in her words, the sense ringing true as the tannoy announcement came that Bailey was in first place with one more rider to go.
Gripping each other’s hands, Lil and I craned to follow the last rider’s progress, her impressive turns kicking up dust and drawing shouts and whoops from the crowd before crossing the line.
Her time was just under a second slower than Bailey’s.
Lil and I shot up together, screaming like lunatics and hugging, beer spraying. People around us started calling up to Lil, a group of men and women to our left hugging her and whistling down to the arena where Bailey and Dunkin now circled, triumphant.
In between events we walked around to the roping chute, watching Jesse prepare. Cole stood nearby, talking to a bunch of other cowboys, foot resting on one of the bars and an easy smile on his face.
My insides turned liquid and I sipped my beer, not quite looking away quickly enough. His eyes caught mine, mid-conversation. Pausing, the cowboy he spoke to turned around, but this time I turned towards the arena.
‘Goddamn it,’ Lil murmured, watching a group of guys approach. Jesse straightened, his relaxed, golden smile straightening out. Somehow, he became imposing, walking ahead of us towards them.
‘What’s up?’ I asked, knowing it couldn’t be anything good if gentle, teasing Jesse bristled like that.
‘Elk Creek assholes,’ Lil replied. ‘C’mon, let’s go. Cole and Jesse will take care of it.’
As I looked behind, Cole was striding towards Jesse, two other cowboys at his back. Reaching the Elk Creek group, Cole towered over them all, stance spread wide.
‘Should we tell someone? Security or something?’ I said, a stab of fear for them making me hesitate.
‘Honey, they are the security.’ Lil laughed, but her eyes were hard. She knocked back the rest of her beer. ‘This is Wyoming, Lottie, remember? Law enforcement don’t feature real big around here. We deal with things ourselves.’
