Page 67 of Roping My Rival

Henry turns and walks away, and he’s barely out of sight when the creak of the main rodeo building sounds and Warren stands there. “Dane? Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, I just…I forgot about something I need to do. I’ll be back in a few.”

Turning quickly, I fumble with the handle on the truck and nearly jump out of my skin when Warren’s hand lands on my shoulder and spins me around.

“What is going on? You’re not fine.”

I’m not, and I hate how much concern and care shine in those dark eyes.

“It’s nothing.” I shrug off his hand and yank open my truck door. “I just forgot about something. I’ll be back.”

Warren steps away, and I rev my truck, peeling out of the parking lot.

For the second time, I leave Warren watching me in the rear-view mirror, and it breaks my heart.

Ilike to think I’ve come a long way since Hunter and Gabe, now Dad and Pops, found me and adopted me. Without them, I wouldn’t be where I am now, and I certainly wouldn’t be so attuned to Dane’s moods.

We had a patchy week home before leaving on our second trip.

He’s hiding something. That old saying, you can’t con a con man, keeps playing in my head. I was a master at it for years until I finally had a breakthrough. Doesn’t mean I still don’t know how to play the game, though.

Like now.

“Do you like lasagna? Pops always fills the fridge for me when I take the camper. He thinks I’m still fifteen and will live on burgers and fries. But look at this thing, it’s gotta weigh five pounds. Help me eat it?”

While it’s true Pops will cook for me, he doesn’t fill the fridge. It’s usually just one pre-made dinner. The rest of the food is stuff I know Dane likes.

“Yeah, that would be great.”

His smile is tight as I pop the lasagna into the camper’s oven. We pulled in an hour ago. After taking care of the horses, we have the evening to relax until the rodeo starts tomorrow afternoon. No travelling from hotel to rodeo grounds and horse boarding. It’s all here with us now, and it’s my favourite way to rodeo.

“Awesome.”

Dane sits at the table, and I pull out a prepackaged bag of salad and dump it into a giant bowl, setting it in front of him with two forks. “Mix that for me, please?”

Silently, he does as I ask, and it’s not until I sit across from him and pass him a small bowl that I finally speak about what’s on my mind.

“Listen, I’m gonna be blunt, Dane. Is whatever’s going on with you going to interfere with our competing? Because we’re building something really great and I’d hate to have it fall apart so soon.”

I’m talking about rodeo, but the same applies to whatever is going on between us. I’ve passionately disliked him for years. Hate is such a gross word, but I’ve always been drawn to him in ways I wish I wasn’t.

It took me a while to accept that we worked well together in the ring. It’s not easy having a partner who’s more successful than you are solo. Until you realize you can feed off each other as a team, then it’s actually pretty cool.

“No,” he says as he adds salad to his bowl without me prompting him. He’s not living on peanut butter sandwiches as long as he’s with me. “I need the money, so my head is in the game, Warren. We’re gonna win.”

“Who was that guy at the school last week? You argued with him in the parking lot. I’ve seen him around a few times since then.”

His hands pause briefly as he stirs his salad.

“Don’t talk to him. He’s nobody.”

“He doesn’t seem like a nobody.”

He closes his eyes with a sigh. “Please, just don’t talk to him, okay?”

“Okay.”

It’s not, but I’ll drop it for now.