Page 68 of Untamed Heart
‘Oh honey, you’ve got no chance.’
Several hours, about a dozen calls and emails later, we had a plan and a potential influencer line-up, with just a few details left to confirm. The Cowboy Bar was buzzing with people, music and the feral whooping of Miss Elizabeth Dean of the Diamond Back Ranch.
The mechanical bull had started nice and slow, Lil giving a cocky smile and a wink in my direction as she moved easily with it. But as it sped up, chucking her from side to side, she grabbed her hat and really concentrated, a group of tourists yelling encouragement as Lil’s work-hardened, experienced legs gripped the bull for dear life.
I knocked back the rest of my whiskey – the second one, thanks to happy hour – and gritted my teeth. The bull-riding title was mine to lose, last won way back on my last visit. Back then, the loser had received a dunking in the ice-cold water trough by the side of the corral, a forfeit we’d agreed to retain.
Eventually, with a particularly violent lurch, the bull flung Lil off to the side, the timer registering twenty-two seconds as the bell went off. Uncurling herself from the mats and dipping her hat to applause, she came over to the side, vaulting over it.
‘C’mon then, cowpoke, up you go.’
I mock eyeballed her, the whiskey doing its work, and as I reached out and mimicked her vault over the side onto the mat, someone wolf-whistled.
Turning as I grabbed the strap on the bull, I saw Bailey at the front, raising her glass with a cheeky grin. Next to her were Cole and Jesse, wearing matching expressions of amused curiosity.
‘Any tips, cowboy?’ I shouted at Jesse, watching as he laughed.
‘Just hang on, hotshot.’
I nodded, trying to ignore the hungry look I received from Cole as I threw my leg over the bull in one smooth motion, prompting some yells and cheers from the tourist crowd. His gaze had deepened, as though he was imagining something quite different.
‘It’s bath time!’ yelled Lil, her face alight.
As the bull began to move, I realized how long it’d been since I’d seen her look so relaxed and happy. I smiled to myself as I realized what I needed to do.
Leaning back and keeping the plastic gripped between my thighs, my hips loose, it almost felt too easy. That was until it switched direction with such ferocity that my hat flew off, hair flying wild. I checked the clock: eighteen seconds down.
Bailey whistled again and I gripped harder as the movements became increasingly erratic, my knuckles white until I loosened my legs a fraction andslam, I hit the deck.
On my back, breathing heavily, I looked up at the clock. Twenty seconds.
Amongst the clapping and whistles, I looked up to see Cole at the side.
‘You okay, cowgirl?’ he asked, holding out a hand.
Grabbing my hat, I flicked my hair back and walked over to him, feeling an instant spark as I touched his hand. All of a sudden, the only thing I could see was him, everything else blurring into the background.
‘I lost,’ I said, breathing heavily, calculating whether I could kiss him without it becoming something we’d need a room for. ‘My turn for the forfeit.’
He smiled down at me, reaching for my waist. Before I could ask what he was doing, he picked me up, his hands firm but gentle, and set me down on the other side.
‘It was worth it,’ he whispered in my ear as Lil approached. ‘That image of you up there will stay in my mind for a very long time.’ I turned back to him, resisting every urge to pick up where we’d just left off, my body instantly pressing against him.
‘Just practising.’
He groaned, hands gripping my hips as Lil came to a stop, dangling her truck keys in my direction.
‘Oh, it’s about to get real cold, girl. I can’t wait to see this.’
Back at the ranch, floodlights on in the gathering dark, I stood next to the water trough.
‘Come on, no chickening out now or I’ll make the ranch manager dunk you.’
I arched an eyebrow at them both.
‘Already done it once,’ Cole told Lil, a smile breaking out. ‘Up at the river.’
‘Romantic,’ she replied, elbowing him as I laughed.
