Chapter 12
The white lines in the middle of the highway whipped past at seventy-five miles per hour and Gemma’s thought pattern spun around in her head at the same speed. She had to remember to touch her lucky horseshoe. She had to eat a hamburger from the rodeo grounds even if they didn’t get there until time to ride. Tomorrow morning, she was flying home. She’d be there in time for Sunday dinner, and they would have music out on the lawn afterward.
She and Trace still needed to talk, but that might have to wait until they got to the Dodge City rodeo at the end of the month. By then she’d have things sorted out and finalized. And once Gemma reached that point, not even wild horses could make her change her mind.
Josh Turner’s “Your Man,” the ringtone she’d set up for Trace’s calls, started playing on her cell phone. She reached over to the console and touched the speakerphone button.
“Ready to pull off for lunch?” she asked.
“Only if you are. We’re only about an hour from the rodeo grounds. I can wait for a rodeo hot dog or maybe they’ll have gyros,” Trace said.
“I was looking forward to a rodeo hamburger,” she admitted.
“Does that bring you good luck?” Trace asked.
She hesitated.
“It does, doesn’t it? You have to eat a burger from the rodeo grounds before the ride to get your mojo,” he teased.
“And yours is a hot dog, right? Would that be with or without a beer?” She shot right back at him.
“No beer, darlin’. Can’t drink a drop before a ride,” he admitted.
“And that’s part of your mojo too, isn’t it?”
“I’m a better poker player than that. I’m not giving up my tell, darlin’. Speakin’ of poker, how about a game after the rodeo? In my trailer?” he asked.
“What’s the stakes?” she asked.
“I was thinkin’ one item of clothing at a time,” he said in a husky voice.
Gemma’s overactive imagination gave her a flash of Trace losing his last sock when she laid out a full house. “I’m a very, very good poker player. You sure you want to go there?” she asked.
“Oh, yeah, I’m real sure. And every time I win a piece of your getup, I get to take it off however I want. You have to lie still and let me take my time,” he teased.
“Lie still?” she asked.
“Sure. We’ll play right in the middle of my bed.” Trace said with a chuckle.
She lowered her voice. “And when you lose an item of clothing do I get the same privilege?”
He chuckled. “Yes, ma’am, and I’ll look forward to it. But there is no way you will beat me.”
“I’ll bring a brand-new deck of cards. That way we’ll both know they haven’t been marked. Right after the rodeo dance is over, we’ll meet at your trailer, and honey, you ain’t played with a pro until you play with me,” Gemma said.
“Why wait until after the rodeo dance?” Trace teased.
“Because I’m going to celebrate my win and you are going to dance with me. Besides, the Cheyenne rodeo is my favorite of all of them. I would have liked to have been here the whole week,” she told him.
“You are on, darlin’. Now tell me, are you dead serious about going home tomorrow morning?” he asked.
“Yes, I am. I can’t wait to get there. I didn’t realize how homesick I’d be after only a month. Are you going back to help on the dude ranch?” she asked.
“No, I’m flying home too. Thought I’d drive my trailer down to Dodge City and park it and fly in and out of there. That what you got in mind?” he asked.
She nodded and then realized he wasn’t sitting right beside her.
“Yes, it is,” she answered. “Two days to Dodge City, park, and be home before nightfall. On Sunday my family is all gathering and we’re having music under the shade trees. Colleen and Blaze will even be there for the afternoon. The carnival is traveling from one place to another, and they said they’d make a forty-mile detour and spend the afternoon with us.”
“You sound homesick.” He laughed.
“I am, and I’m glad we’ve got some time between Cheyenne and Dodge City. Where’s Sugar?” She leaned forward, but she couldn’t hear the little critter.
“Sleeping like a baby on her pillow over in the passenger’s seat.” Trace answered. “Those boys about wore her out. Looks like I’ve got a call from my father. Talk to you later. I’ll be dreaming about that poker game!”
***
When Trace had finished his conversation with his father, he turned on the radio and kept time with his thumbs on the steering wheel as Josh Turner sang “Would You Go with Me.” The lyrics asked if she’d go with him if they rolled down streets of fire, and if he gave her his hand, would she take it and make him the happiest man in the world.
“What do you think, Sugar—would Gemma take my hand, or would she bite it?” Trace asked.
Sugar looked up and yipped.
“Yep, that’s what I figured. She’d bite it for sure.”
Ava had said that he looked like Josh Turner. She said that’s why she picked him out of a sea of cowboys to spend the weekend with.
“Lord, what was I thinkin’?” he said aloud.
The DJ was talking again, saying, “And we’ve got another request for a Josh Turner. Amber from Denver wants to hear ‘No Rush.’ So here it is, folks. I wonder if Amber is making a statement to someone in Denver.”
The piano music started off slow and then the violins joined in as Josh talked through the first few lines. The words talked about them having something special and were right on the edge of falling in love.
He kept a steady beat on the steering wheel, but the words spoke right to Trace’s heart. Gemma was the kind of woman he could walk, talk, and dream with through the whole journey of life, not just a hot, wicked weekend. But he didn’t have a thing to offer her unless he walked away the winner in Vegas. She deserved better than a ranch foreman. and he might not even be that if his uncle Teamer sold the ranch to someone else and the new owner brought in his own crew.
He slapped the steering wheel so hard that Sugar jerked awake with a yip.
She looked at him with a question in her big eyes.
“Okay, I know you like her, and you hated Ava, but dammit! Why am I even comparing the two of them?”
Because it’s been a year since I had a woman in my bed and Ava was the last one. And because Gemma makes me crazy.
“And I don’t even know where I stand with her,” Trace told Sugar.
***
Gemma felt the energy of the rodeo before she even opened the door. The entire town of Cheyenne was geared up for a whole week, culminating with the big rodeo that night. They had a cattle roundup and brought them into town, carnivals, and all kinds of excitement before the rodeo.
But tonight belonged to her, and she’d glue the shamrock to the horseshoe and then go home for a week. She was humming when she stepped out into the bright sunlight.
She rounded the end of her truck at the same time Trace opened his door and stepped out. He stretched his arms over his head and rolled his neck to get out the kinks from driving for hours. Then he opened his arms and she walked into them.
He buried his face in her hair and inhaled. The remnants of coconut shampoo blended with the exotic perfume that she wore and stirred his pulse into a racing mode.
“Want to play a little poker right now?” he whispered huskily.
She giggled. “No, I do not.”
He leaned back and looked into her dark-green dreamy eyes. “Afraid it might mess with your mojo?”
“I don’t meddle with the mojo, cowboy.” She shook her finger under his nose. “After I win tonight, then there’ll be time for poker, and you can get ready to lose everything you are wearing. I’ve got a hankering to own your lucky shirt that you always wear for every ride.”
“I don’t think so, darlin’. I’ll change before we start because you sure ain’t winnin’ that shirt. But if we aren’t going to get out the cards, then let’s go find some food. I’m starving,” he said.
“Look.” Gemma pointed to the passenger window, where Sugar was staring at them. Trace opened the door, picked her up, and quickly fastened the leash to her collar. When he set her down, she made a beeline for a spot under the trailer and didn’t even bother to sniff out the best place. When she finished, she came back and barked at Trace who handed her off to Gemma.
“Hold her, please, while I get hooked up to electricity and get the cooler going. She’ll suffocate if the air conditioner isn’t running,” he said.
Sugar wiggled in Gemma’s arms and licked her face.
“Hey, did you miss me?” Gemma raised her voice an octave. “I bet those old boys in that cabin weren’t nearly as nice to you as my girls would have been. And your mean old master was mad at me, so he didn’t even bring you to visit. I missed you too, pretty girl, and if he does that again, we’ll both bite him, won’t we?”
“Do I get to pick the spot?” Trace yelled from the doorway.
“Hey, hey, so you made it. I didn’t know you had a dog.” A deep voice only a few inches from Gemma startled her.
She turned so quickly that she almost dropped Sugar. “Don’t you know better than to sneak up on a woman?”
“I thought maybe you’d given up and gone home. Some of us been parked here all week,” Landry Winters said.
“Not until I win in Vegas. I’m in it for the long haul,” she told him.
“You going to be at the dance tonight?” he asked.
“Of course. I’ll be celebrating.”
“Save me a dance and I’ll buy you a beer, and maybe afterwards we’ll have our own party,” he whispered.
“I don’t think so,” she said. “I’ve already got plans.”
“So, it’s true that you and Trace Coleman hooked up for the circuit? Well, honey, you just remember that you can change horses in the middle of the stream, and this old bull rider will be ready any time you are.” He kissed his fingertips and touched her cheek before he turned and swaggered away.
Mischief danced in his eyes, but his touch on her forehead did nothing. Trace could create more heat in her body with a glance across the arena than Landry did with his come-on line and fingertip kiss.
The air conditioner in the trailer started to hum and Trace yelled out the door, “Bring her on inside. It won’t take long to cool down now.”
Gemma stepped inside and the ceiling vents were already spewing cold air. She set Sugar down on the floor, and the little dog hurried over to her food and water dishes.
“She’s happy. You ready to go get that hamburger now?” Trace asked.
Gemma rolled up on her tiptoes and brushed a kiss across his lips. Yep, the fire was still there, and her body tingled in anticipation of the party after the rodeo dance. She might even let him win the poker game. It would be a consolation prize after she won the bronc busting contest that evening.