Chapter 26 Reed
reed
The Big Buckin’ Showdown was one of the rowdiest rodeos on the circuit.
I’d heard tales of cops having to swarm in to break up fights or dangerous bulls breaking loose into the stands.
It didn’t help that it was hotter than the devil’s armpit.
That meant more drinking and more fucking assholes.
It also meant that I was on high alert, sizing up every guy who seemed to strut around like they were here to either fuck or fight.
I wasn’t about to let anyone ruin this for my girl.
She was well on the road to winning the finals.
It didn’t seem to faze Lina in the least. Mushu still inhaled those fucking barrels like he was made for it, and all Lina had to do was sit, look, and let him run.
I was there waiting for her when she ran him home, pulling up on the reins to slow him down, not even looking back to check her time.
Her teeth sparkled in the high-noon sun that seemed to scorch everything but Lina.
She looked windswept, hair coming loose from her braid, her tan perfect beneath her hat.
Sweat poured down at her temples, and Mushu’s coat glistened with it.
“Woo-hoo!” Lina hollered, seeing her eighteen-second-flat time. “Beat that, Paige!” she bragged to the snooty barrel girl in the hole.
“Shut up, Lina,” she grumbled back, saying more under her breath.
“What was that, bitch?” Lina asked, getting ready to swing down from her saddle.
“Lina,” I warned. I didn’t catch what Paige said, but whatever it was, it was enough to piss her off. However, this was not the place to start shit.
She gave me a side-eye before glaring at her opponent. “You know what? Fine. Say what you want to say. Just say it to my fucking face next time. But if I were you, I wouldn’t wish bad things on others. The universe has a real good sense of humor when it comes to that shit.”
“Whatever,” Paige scoffed, returning her gaze to the arena.
“Come on,” I said, clipping Mushu’s lead rope to his bridle and pulling him away from there. “This heat is getting to both of you. I think you and Mushu could use a good rinse off.”
Lina sighed. Her grin didn’t return, but I was treated to a little tip of her lips. “I think I could use a cool shower and a drink tonight”—she faltered—“if that’s okay.”
I nodded. “Anything you need, baby.”
Her smile grew, reaching her eyes, as if I was giving her a gift.
I seemed to be rewarded with a lot of those looks lately, and I loved how it made me feel.
Like I was the only one who got this soft, sweet side of Lina.
The Lina who had a big heart for the people in her life, and I desperately wanted to be one of them for as long as she was willing to have me.
“Your turn, cowboy,” Lina announced when I walked into the trailer after hosing down Mushu and giving him his dinner.
Lina was perched on the counter in cutoff shorts and a crop top, showing off more of her beautiful, golden skin. I had to resist the temptation to run my palms over every inch of her any chance I got.
She was sipping on a big glass of chilled white wine.
Her wet hair was combed out and drying in natural waves.
She never wore very much makeup, but a pretty, pink gloss painted her lips, and it looked like she might have put on some mascara.
I wanted to see that gloss painted all over my dick by the end of the night.
I wanted those lashes fluttering up at me while she gagged on me.
I moved to her, my arms outstretched and ready to encompass her waist with my hands, but she raised a bare foot to my chest, stopping me from reaching her.
“You need a shower, and then you can touch me.” I didn’t blame her. My shirt was sticking to me. Even my balls were sweating.
But I couldn’t resist, and she didn’t stop me when I wrapped my fingers around her calf, my thumb brushing lazy strokes across her skin. Her only response was her toes curling into my shirt.
Setting her glass down, she picked up a chilled Coke bottle she’d set on the counter and placed the top to the edge of the counter. Then with a quick hit, the heel of her hand came down on the top, popping it off.
My brows rose, impressed. “You know that’s a twist-off?”
She shrugged. “One of my party tricks,” she admitted with a wink. “Don’t take the fun out of it.”
I shook my head with a smirk. “You’re something else.”
“I know,” she said, tipping the bottle to her own smiling lips. I watched her obsessively while her mouth wrapped around the top, her throat bobbing while she took a swig.
“Fuck, sweetheart. You’re making it hard not to touch you.”
The woman knew exactly what she was doing, the little tease. Her mouth released the bottle with a little pop before she handed it to me.
“Your shower soda, sir.”
It was cool in my heated grasp, and I needed my thirst quenched in more ways than one tonight.
I looked at it. Some of her lip gloss was left behind.
Putting my own mouth where hers had been felt more than sensual.
It felt downright intimate. My eyes studied her while I drank it.
The cold, refreshing taste of cola cooling my insides while I gulped.
Her eyes quickly became heavy with desire.
Winking back at her, I turned to head toward the shower.
“No jerking off in there,” she called after me. “I want you fucking desperate for me.”
I groaned. “I already am, sweetheart.”
This fucking rodeo was trouble.
But so was Lina Larsen.
I wanted to take her on a date. A real date.
With limited options out on the road, and knowing my girl needed to unwind, I didn’t mind taking her out to the rodeo bar.
It was full by the time we got inside, and people were already getting kicked out.
They were probably trashed before they even walked in, drinking half their body weight in beer during the rodeo.
“Fucking amateurs,” I grumbled, my hand resting on the small of Lina’s back as we headed to the bar.
On a compact platform by the dance floor was a stereo system.
A DJ was busy running the tracks, spinning classic country music.
I scanned the room, immediately looking for any threats, taking in the dudes who sat at the bar alone, registering the ones who appeared as though they worked out and were spoiling for a fight—or eyeing the drunk girls who might be willing to go home with them.
I pressed through the crowd, keeping close to Lina, feeling as though I needed to advertise to this whole fucking shithole that she was mine.
I didn’t even ask what she wanted, already knowing her order. “Whiskey sour and a Coke,” I told the bartender as soon as they were ready for our order.
Lina raised her brows at me. “You’ve been paying attention.”
“I’m always paying attention when it comes to you,” I told her honestly, wrapping my arm around her to bring her closer.
It was already suffocatingly hot in here with all the bodies. By the looks of the bouncer at the door, though, he was ready to show some of them out. There was some blonde crying and arguing with her girlfriend by the restroom hallway, and I could tell the bouncer was waiting to give her the boot.
“Keeping an eye out for trouble?” Lina pushed up on her tiptoes to ask in my ear.
“Always looking for threats.”
It felt like it was ingrained in me at this point—part of my wiring. Something that only intensified when I became a dad. Now whenever I was out with Lina, I was on high alert all the fucking time.
Once we had our drinks and found a high table by the dance floor, I pulled her chair toward me so her knees were bracketed by mine. I wanted her as close as possible tonight. I didn’t want any prick thinking they had a chance with her.
Feeling possessive, I put a hand on her knee while I sipped from my glass, letting my thumb draw circles on her skin.
“We don’t need to make it a late night,” I told her, already impatient. I wanted to take her back to the trailer. My dick was already hard against my zipper, and my balls were fucking black and blue at this point.
She gave me a flirtatious tip of her lips above her cocktail, as if she could read my thoughts. “We just got here. I think you can last a while longer.”
I leaned into her until my lips were brushing the shell of her ear. “Baby, we’ll stay as long as you’d like, but I can’t promise that I won’t drag you to an empty stall and fuck you against the bathroom wall.”
Her breath caught in her throat, and I loved hearing the throaty sounds she made. She was so damn sexy.
“What’s stopping you from doing it right now?” she challenged, pulling away to peer into my eyes.
She wasn’t teasing. Her eyes were heated, her lashes batting, taunting me. She took another sip of her drink, a drop catching on her bottom lip.
I reached out to wipe it, my thumb dragging across her pouty lip before pushing it into her mouth to let her tongue swirl over the pad.
She released it from her mouth with a pop. “Finish your drink, cowboy.” Her voice was husky with arousal, and it made my cock throb. My jeans were too fucking tight. I wanted to bury myself in her.
To my surprise, she threw her glass back, chugging down her cocktail. She didn’t stop until it was nothing but ice, slamming it down against the tabletop.
Seeing my face, she started to giggle. “You look as if you’ve never seen someone chug a drink before.”
I shook my head in wonder. “You’re one of a kind, Lina. I don’t know why I should be surprised by you.”
“I know how to do a keg stand, too,” she said with a wink.
“Of course you do.” I sucked down my own drink then, letting the carbonation cool my insides.
I set the glass down beside hers and grabbed her hand.
“Come on, sweetheart.”
She looked at me with a giddy grin. “We’re really doing this?”
I pulled her down from her stool. “I can’t wait any longer.”