Chapter Five – Bradly
brADLY
My heart felt like it was about to beat right out of my damn chest. The way Kenzie dug her teeth into her lower lip, then licked them, had my body tightening with a desire so strong, it nearly caused me to sway on the stool.
What was it about this woman that made me want to know her—in every way possible?
We both jumped when Dan asked how everything was so far.
Giggling slightly, Kenzie said, “It’s amazing. Thank you.”
We sat in comfortable silence as we ate. Once we were finished, I pulled out my phone. “Will you excuse me a moment while I send my uncle a text?”
Kenzie nodded. “Please, feel free. I’m going to run to the restroom while you do that.”
I watched as she slid off the stool and made her way across the restaurant to the bathroom. Fuck, if she wasn’t perfect in every way. And her body…shit, I wanted to explore every inch of her.
“So, she works on your family’s farm, huh?” Dan asked as he grabbed our empty dishes.
Not removing my gaze from where Mackenzie had disappeared, I replied, “I think Heaven must have sent her my way.”
Dan laughed. “Oh, hell. You’ve gone and gotten bitten by the lovebug.”
Turning to look at him, I smiled and winked. “Something like that.” I pulled up my contacts and sent off a text.
Me: Have anything for me to ride?
His response was almost instant.
Uncle Ty: Itching to be on the road?
Me: Not really, but I’m sitting with a pretty girl and I’d like to impress her.
Uncle Ty: LOL! Only you, Bradly. I’ve got one for you. Indoor arena…what time?
Me: In town right now. Two hours?
Uncle Ty: See you then.
I set the phone down and drew in a deep breath. It wasn’t like me to want to impress anyone. I wasn’t even sure I was trying to impress Mackenzie, but more like share this part of my life with her. Even if I walked away from the Pbr, I’d still want to climb onto a bull every now and then. She needed to know that what I did now, and would most likely still do in some form or fashion in the future, was dangerous. It was just our first date, but if she was feeling even an inkling of the same thing I was—the need to get to know her more, see her more—I wanted her to know this very important part of me.
Okay, so maybe my mom hadn’t been getting too ahead of herself, after all.
“What’s on the agenda now?”
Glancing up from where I’d been staring at my phone, lost in thought, the most beautiful eyes I’d ever seen looked back at me. A burst of yellow just around her pupils led to a color that I now realized sometimes looked green and sometimes looked bluish-gray.
“Your eyes.”
Her head tilted. “Your eyes.”
I laughed. “They change colors. Did you know that? The yellow around your pupil doesn’t, but the outer color sometimes looks green, sometimes blue or like a blue-gray.”
Her cheeks turned a soft shade of pink. “You’ve been paying attention.”
Nodding, I said, “A person’s eyes speak volumes. My mother told me that once.”
“I think she’s right. Your eyes change as well. Sometimes they look so dark they’re almost black, but when you’re happy or excited, it looks like you have stars in them. Like at night. The most brilliant stars against the black sky.”
A laugh came from behind me, and I turned to see Raine Newhart standing there. She wore a smug expression on her face. I nearly groaned out loud. Of all the women to show up right now, it would have to be the one and only girl I’d ever taken out more than once.
“Stars at night in the black sky? I’m sorry…are you for real right now?” Raine said as the girl standing next to her chuckled. She looked familiar, but I couldn’t place her.
I slid off the stool and started to reply, but Mackenzie beat me to it.
“I’m so sorry,” she said, as she glanced around the area. “Are you lost?”
Raine’s smug expression slipped, and she looked confused.
Glancing at me, Mackenzie said, “I wasn’t aware there was a high school near here.” When she turned back to Raine, she lifted her chin ever so slightly. “Shouldn’t you be in class right now? Are you even old enough to be in a bar?”
Just as confused as Raine and her friend, I looked between the two women.
“What the hell are you going on about?” Raine asked.
Mackenzie slipped her arm around mine. “You are in high school, right? I mean,” she offered an indulgent smile, “you have to be. Your maturity level suggests it. Then again…” She tilted her head and shrugged. “Some women just don’t ever grow out of that mean girl phase. That could be what’s going on here.”
Raine’s mouth dropped open.
“In any case, if you’ll excuse us. The adults are going to head on out.” Mackenzie grabbed her stuff and smiled up at me. “Ready?”
Trying hard not to smile, I slipped my coat on, then helped her get into hers.
As she slipped her gloves on, she looked back at Raine and her friend. “Enjoy your lunch, girls.”
Girls. Did she just call them girls?
The second we stepped outside, I started laughing. “You certainly know how to put a person in their place.”
Mackenzie winked at me. “I dealt with my fair share of bullies in high school. Who was she?”
I walked over and opened the passenger door of my truck and held my hand out. She looked up at me and waited for my answer.
“Raine Newhart. I took her out a few times in high school, nothing serious. She wanted it to be, but I wasn’t really interested in anything like that.”
The corners of her mouth twitched. “You must have left a strong impression for her to act like a toddler in a public restaurant, several years after high school.”
Leaning in, I put my mouth to her ear. She trembled, and I knew it wasn’t from the cold. “I’ve been told I’m a good kisser.”
Mackenzie laughed and pushed me away. She took my hand, and I helped her up into the truck.
Before I shut the door, she said, “Something tells me it wasn’t your kisses that left the impression.”
I threw my head back and laughed. “Damn, I really like you, Kenzie.”
She smiled and her entire face lit up. “I really like you too, Bradly.”
I shut the door and slowly walked around to the driver’s side, trying to determine if it was the sound of my name off her lips or her smile that had my knees feeling weak.
“Okay. You’ve brought me to a bookstore, where I spent way too much money on books. Took me to an art store to show me your cousin Rose’s work, which is breathtaking. I would love to have her paint me something someday, by the way.”
“She would enjoy that,” I said.
Mackenzie glanced my way and smiled. “Drove me by your old high school. And now we’re going to get a milkshake despite the fact it’s freezing out, because you claim they’re the best in Montana. Why do I get the feeling you’re stalling?”
“Because I am. I’m trying to let my stomach settle before our next adventure.”
She raised her brows. “That sounds…honestly, I don’t know what that sounds like.”
I laughed. “I don’t think I’ve laughed this much in a long time.”
“Me either,” she said softly.
“I tell you what, let’s skip the milkshake and head to Shaw Ranch a little early.”
“Shaw Ranch? Why are we going there?”
“You didn’t forget already, did you?”
“Forget what?” she asked with a hint of teasing in her voice.
“You’re getting to know me, so I want to show you everything I love. Not just good burgers, books, and milkshakes.”
Turning in her seat to look at me, she asked, “It’s snowing outside. Won’t the bull slip and fall?”
“My uncle has an indoor arena. He trains bulls for the Pbr, like I said, so the training never stops, not even for snow. When I’m home, I usually head over there and ride for him.”
When she didn’t say anything, I turned to see her smiling at me. “You’re okay with watching me ride, right?”
“Yes,” she quickly said. “I would love to see you ride.”
A strange tightening in my chest nearly had me rubbing it with my fist.
Mackenzie started to ask me questions as we drove to the Shaws’ place.
“How do they train the bulls?”
“They start off by bucking them with weighted dummies on their backs, once they’re at the right age. When they buck hard, Ty releases the dummy. That trains the bull to buck harder each time, to get the weight off quicker.”
“Interesting. How do you know if a bull will be good at bucking?”
“Years of working with them. You can pretty much tell which bulls want to buck and which ones honestly couldn’t care less. They’re judged on strength, health, their agility, and of course, their age.”
“Have you ever been seriously hurt?”
I shrugged. “Some broken bones. Lots of bruises. Twisted my ankle a few times jumping off the bull.”
“And you do this for a living?”
Laughing, I glanced her way. “I do.”
“Do you get to pick which bulls you ride?”
“Riders are matched randomly before each competition, but some events allow ranked riders to choose their bulls from a bull draft.”
“Wow. I guess I never really thought about it all before. How do you get the sponsors and the commercials?”
“Be one of the top-ranked riders. Of course, my father always tells me that my pretty face plays a part.”
She laughed. “I’m sure it does. Who are your sponsors?”
“A couple of mine include Bass Pro Shops and Kubota. To be honest, at this level, most of my money now comes from the sponsors and doing ads and stuff. If I win an event, I get a nice payout, but the real money comes from doing everything off the bulls, like the commercials and special events.”
I pulled up to the gate to the Shaw Ranch and punched in the code. As we pulled in, Mackenzie gasped. “Look at the horses!”
A herd of horses were walking through the snow-covered pasture. Some wore blankets, while others had snow stuck to their thick winter coats.
“Do you like horses?”
“I love them. I took riding lessons for years. I never owned my own horse, obviously, but I would spend hours at the barn where I took lessons. It was an escape for me.”
Her hands twisted together in her lap as she stared out the window. She was slowly giving me bits and pieces of her earlier life, and I found myself really liking that…even if I didn’t love the picture that was starting to form.
“When was the last time you rode?”
She sighed. “It’s been years. I take the horses on the farm out for short walks, but I don’t ride them. Once I started college, I had to leave the high school job I had at some local stables. I miss those horses.”
“You’re more than welcome to ride any of the horses, you know. I’m sure they would love to have the exercise.”
The road was flanked on both sides with pastures. Some dotted with cows, some with horses. The snow-covered fields were beautiful, especially with the sun shining down on the pure white landscape.
“Danny’s mentioned to me that I can ride if I want to. I just feel weird, saddling up a horse that isn’t mine and taking it out.”
“Don’t feel weird. You should ask my mother to go sometime. She loves to ride, and I know she’d love the company.” I could feel Mackenzie’s eyes on me, so I peeked her way.
“You think so?”
“I know so.”
We drove through the ranch, and Mackenzie’s eyes were everywhere. “I didn’t think anything could be more beautiful than your family’s ranch and the farm, but this place is just gorgeous.”
I nodded in agreement as I turned down the road that would take us toward Uncle Ty and Aunt Kaylee’s place on the ranch. “You should see the lake over on Uncle Tanner and Aunt Timberlynn’s property. It’s stunning. There’s also a trail you can take up to an overlook, where you can see the whole ranch. It’s like you’re so close to Heaven, you’re not sure if it’s up in the sky or down in the pastures below.”
Mackenzie turned and smiled at me. “I feel like all of Montana is like that.”
A few minutes later, I pulled up and parked at the indoor arena. A few other trucks were parked there as well.
“Looks like Blayze, Hunter, and Josh are here too.”
“Cousins?”
Turning off the truck, I smiled. “Cousins. You ready?”
She flashed me a nervous smile and nodded. “I think so.”
“Sit tight, let me come around and help you out.”
As I got out of the truck, Uncle Ty ambled out of the arena.
He looked at Mackenzie in the truck, then to me. With a slight laugh, he said, “I see why you’re trying to impress her. She’s way too pretty to be in your league.”
“Let’s not scare her away, okay?”
“Did you forget what family you’re part of?”
Laughing, I shook my head and opened the passenger door. My breath caught in my chest as Mackenzie looked down at me with a serious expression.
“You promise you won’t get hurt.”
Something inside of my chest burst open as warmth filled my entire body. She was worried about me. And not the kind of worrying that my mother does, but something else. I wanted to pull her into my arms and kiss her senseless.
I reached in and took her hand in mine. “I promise you, I won’t get hurt.”
A look of relief spread over her face, and I knew in that moment, everything was about to change.
Mackenzie Reeves had just stolen my heart.