20. Ro
The air in the Crow was thick and hot, and beads of perspiration formed on my lower back. At least my tiny top let my skin breathe. When Eve had challenged me to dress rodeo-ready, I thought she’d meant flannels and stetsons. It turned out she had other ideas. Her vision of rodeo-ready was more akin to Spitz Hollow’s seedier strip bars.
I nibbled at my bottom lip and tucked a stray strand of hair back beneath my silly cowboy hat. This outfit went completely against my instincts. I only wore shorts this small if I was skating or home alone. It hadn’t taken Eve much to persuade me, though.
I’d known Brody would be here tonight. After seeing him with his redhead yesterday morning, an irrational urge to show him what he was missing overtook me. Even though my situation was self-inflicted, I’d donned my cowboy boots along with my best friend and channeled my inner sexy cowgirl.
The minute we walked in, I regretted my decision. The furrow in Cooper’s brow was almost enough to make me high-tail it back home. He’d probably want me to stop at the yarn shop on the way. Borrow a kaftan from Ruth Barfoffen. Something roomy and long enough to maintain my modesty. Coop still saw me as a kid. Someone to be protected. He probably thought I was a virgin.
Then there’d been Brody’s face when he’d seen my outfit. Completely unreadable, his jaw tight and chiseled, and damn, even from across the bar, I could feel his eyes on my back right now. I could almost taste what was surely his disapproval. Why, then, did I crave the opposite so much? I sighed. No matter how much I wanted Brody’s validation, he wasn’t giving me a second thought. I could picture him wearing the blonde at his side like a jacket.
I’d last seen Eve heading toward the pool table. The group we stood with were laying into the beers, and a man at my side jostled into me. I turned away, sneaking a look at Brody. Our gazes locked the instant they met. But it wasn’t disapproval I saw. No judgment on my outfit. Instead, his eyes were full of warmth, like a big hug, and all I wanted was to fall straight into him.
I took a breath. What the hell was I doing? I’d spent the last thirty-six hours building Brody into some kind of ogre in my head. Someone I couldn’t trust. The “Flock Boy” persona that followed him around. He had the right to meet anyone he liked for a coffee.
And that was exactly what I’d seen. A coffee. No kissing. No make-out session on the sidewalk. Not even a handhold. Just two people chatting over a coffee. That they’d both be at home on the cover of a Vogue magazine and that one of them was a little touchy-feely wasn’t the point. The woman sitting with him now was pretty, too, but the way he moved his body away from her when she leaned in to take a drink had my heart happy-dancing.
Another person bumped me, and the dull thump of music battered my ears. Bull riding nights at the Crow were always so rowdy. They didn’t happen often, but when they did, the place almost burst at the seams.
I looked back across the bar. Brody was gone, but the blonde girl was still there. That had to be a good sign, right?
“Can I buy you a drink, Ma’am?” A deep Texan drawl behind me made the hairs on my neck stand on end. I turned to find the only smirk I ever wanted to see. Brody. The glorious curve of his lips nestled amongst blond scruff, and the smattering of light freckles spread over his nose. He had that accent down pat. All Matthew McConaughey on steroids. I swallowed before giving him a little smile and tipping my cowboy hat in his direction.
Brody chuckled, its throaty sound cutting through the bar’s noise. “I didn’t know you were coming tonight.”
If only I were. And at his hands. “Eve was keen, and you know when she sets her sights on something, she doesn’t do it by halves.”
Brody stepped back, the crowd parting around him. He raked his eyes up and down my body, setting a heat that prickled under my skin. “I like the results.”
The fire in his eyes set my cheeks to a full inferno, and I gaped, struggling to find words. I thought he’d hate my outfit.
“How did the bird watching go?” he asked.
I died a little inside. Was he really going to do this? Torture me? I only had two choices. I could either admit I’d blatantly spied on him and his redhead supermodel friend or pretend I had a sudden case of amnesia and had no idea what he was talking about.
When I didn’t respond, Brody’s smirk turned to a grin. “Please tell me Mrs. Woodcock found the Majestic Tits she was looking for?”
I couldn’t help myself. I dissolved into giggles as he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
“I’m sorry, I couldn’t help it,” he continued. “But I’m disappointed you’re not wearing that turquoise jacket tonight. It might go with the boots.”
I opened my mouth to serve Brody a witty comeback, but again, someone in the crowd bumped into me, knocking me straight into him. His hands closed around my waist, and the hot skin of his palms burned into my sides. His lemony cologne tickled my nose, and I took a long breath.
“Steady, now,” Brody breathed into my ear. A faint tingle sprung between my legs, and the room swam at the edge of my vision. How could just two words and a quick touch turn me into a wobbly wreck of desire?
Before I had time to find out, Eve came toward us through the crowd. “Flock! You’re just in time. You gonna ride the bull?”
Brody let me go. My skin missed the heat of his fingers. He cocked his head and rubbed his chin as if he was considering a life or death decision and not whether he’d take a ride on a piece of spinning metal. “Not tonight. I’m still looking after my leg.”
Eve’s eyes widened. “Of course! Sorry. No matter, you just sit back and enjoy.” She cracked a grin at Brody. “Ro’s up next.”
An icy shiver washed over me. “What do you mean I’m up next? I can’t ride that thing!”
Eve put a hand on my arm like she was soothing a fractious child. “It’s fine. I’ll have a turn, too, but I thought you could stay on longer with your balance. There’s a big cash prize for the winner. I thought we could split it.”
I chewed on the inside of my cheek. The money could come in handy. I needed some new dance skates, and I wanted to get some ribbons for the cheer squad. And did I mention I may have priced some flights to Denver? Mechanical bull riding wasn’t the sort of thing I’d normally dream of doing, though. I wasn’t like Ginger. I wasn’t a show-woman.
The bull stood riderless on the other side of the room, its padded hulk looking more like an elephant than a cow. “I’ve never ridden anything so big.”
I turned back around to see Brody’s sparkling eyes on my face. “Way to make guys feel inadequate.”
I pulled in a breath at the husky growl of his voice. Before I could defend my poor choice of words, my name rang out loud and clear over the speaker. Cheers rang out, along with some whistles and a couple of “yee-has.” The surrounding crowd magically turned into a bustling mass that pushed me closer to the bull. Eve giggled beside me all the way, giving me tips on how to stay on longer. I heard the words “thighs,” ”grip,” and “trajectory,” but everything else got mixed with the hammering of my heart.
Midway to the leather-clad hunk of metal, a hand tugged at my wrist, pulling me back. I turned around to find Brody’s grinning face. He’d followed me this far, and after giving me a wink and a nod, he reached up and took the cowboy hat from my head, putting it on his own.
“Go get ‘em,” he yelled before the crowd swallowed him whole.
The second I faced the bull, my mouth ran dry. I had serious reservations about my choices. There were plenty of ways to earn money that didn’t involve voluntarily being thrown from a lurching metal lump masquerading as a cow. If I really needed the skates, I could always take out a loan from Tuft Swallow’s only mobster. Wade Biddescombe may impersonate a pastel-wearing realtor, but everyone knew he had a shadowy past that probably involved a few horseheads and the odd pair of concrete boots. Still, the prospect of being knee-capped for non-repayment had to be better than making an absolute fool of myself in front of half the town.
I searched the crowd for Coop but couldn’t see his face amongst the onlookers. At least he wouldn’t witness my humiliation. I wasn’t sure I could say the same for the rest of the onlookers.
A couple of burly helpers hot enough to join the cast of Brokeback Mountain hoisted me up onto the bull, and I gripped the rough surface of the saddle with my thighs. The material rubbed against my bare skin already. At this rate, I’d be a mass of friction burns before I fell off. After some concerningly brief safety instructions, I tightened my grip on the bull’s rope with one hand and held the other above my head, just as they’d shown me.
Far too soon, the bull began to buck and spin, its movements unpredictable and wild. The people who constructed these contraptions allowed no time to warm up, then? The grinning faces of the crowd whirled and pitched in front of me, holding still for a second, then shifting again with every sweep of the bull. Each time the two of us made a rotation, the onlookers cheered.
I clenched my jaw, hoping the gesture came across as an adventurous smile and not just a way to keep my teeth embedded in my gums. With every movement, though, the bull got faster until the world around me blurred into a chaotic whirlwind. Each sudden jerk of momentum threw me forward, then yanked me backward, my butt hitting the saddle with a “whomp” every time.
But I stayed on, and a breathless rush of excitement surged through my body. Maybe I was good at this. The mechanism clunked and ground underneath me, and I pressed my thighs in tighter.
At the undulating movement under my hips, my mind flew back to my night with Brody. The way I’d ground against him as we kissed. How I luxuriated at his solid hips between my legs. A tingle of delight hit me down below, and I sucked in a breath. This was hardly the time to be having impure thoughts of my almost fantasy hook-up. I was practically dry-humping a piece of machinery in a room full of people who knew my grandmother!
On the verge of letting go of the rope, a brief lull in the bull’s movement gave me time to find Brody’s face in the crowd. His darkened eyes glowed with desire, laden with hot intentions. Hungry and glued only on me. Despite my current predicament, I grinned. He was enjoying watching me up here, and my chest pulsed at the thought.
Just then, the bull surged forward, and it was all I could do to stay in the saddle. Like one of the last passengers on the Titanic, I hung on. I clutched the slippery plastic of its nose as my butt left the seat. A roar of approval sounded from the crowd, but as polished white horns rushed past my eyes, I gasped. Eve had said the bulls had foam horns, but these looked way too shiny, too plastic, and one was alarmingly close to the bottom of my left boob.
As quickly as the bull pitched forward, though, it tipped back. Through a feat of surprising finger strength, I kept my grip on the rope, landing in the saddle with a thigh-wobbling slap of skin against leather.
I scanned the crowd, awaiting the cheers at my staying on through such a wild ride, but this time, something was different. No smiling eyes stared back at me. Only wide ones, accompanied by open mouths and a sudden chill of air on my skin.
The chatter in the room had died, and a low whistle rang out from somewhere near the bar, followed by a few more. I drew my brows together. What the hell was going on? Bodies moved in my peripheral vision, and Eve’s voice wrenched me out of my stupor as the bull beneath me continued to buck and pitch.
“Ro!”
I found her in the crowd. Her eyes were as wide as everyone else’s and firmly fixed on my chest. Like time stood still, I followed the direction of her stare straight to my breasts and the lacy red bra I wore.
Wait, what? Why was my bra showing? I’d never normally contemplate such frivolous underwear. Anything so flirty. But in a moment of rebellion against my norm, I’d thrown caution to the wind and worn it underneath my tiny crop top. The same crop top the decidedly not-made-of-foam bull horn had torn down the middle. It must’ve hooked onto the horn with that last crazy movement.
My face torched as, mercifully, the bull”s movement lessened to a standstill. The hush of the bar lifted a little, but as a few giggles and snickers rang out, my whole body joined my face at the bonfire party.
Within milliseconds, I moved, scrambling to get off the bull. My boots squeaked against its leather as I shoved at its slippery sides, but I made little progress.
I opened my mouth to scream with sheer frustration, but nothing came out. My breath skittered in my chest. What would everyone think of me? What would Coop think of me? I had to get off this bull.
I blinked the hot prick of tears away, but in answer to my prayers, out of nowhere, solid hands gripped my waist. I left the seat, taking off into the air like a tornado had picked me up. Then, within a heartbeat, a wall of solid warmth enveloped me and cradled me like a baby. Hot breath and lips at my ear.
“I’ve got you.”
At Brody’s words, I relaxed, and in a whirl of lemon and hot, hard pecs, I buried my face into his chest while he carried me out of the Crow.
The cool air hit my skin as Brody pushed through the bar”s back door toward the parking lot. By the time he got me outside, tears welled in my eyes, and humiliation burned in my chest. He set me down gently at the corner of the building, the wall casting me in shadow. Despite my undress, the delicious slide down his body was all I could focus on.
With a pull of his breath, Brody stepped away and peeled off his top, handing it to me. He looked at anything but my chest, turning away after giving me a tight smile. I climbed into his T-shirt, pulling the loose fabric around me. I admired his chivalry, but I had to chuckle. Just two days ago, his eyes and hands were all over me.
I tugged down on his shirt, where it skimmed my thighs. “Thank you.” I shook my head, my pigtails brushing my cheeks with the movement. “I’m such a klutz. If an impromptu strip was going to happen to anyone, it would happen to me.”
Brody turned round and met my gaze. “Are you kidding? You were freakin’ awesome up there. You stayed on way longer than anyone else.”
I rolled my eyes and leaned back against the cool brick wall at my back. “But everyone else kept their clothes on. Someone should complain to the manufacturer. Those horns are a death trap.”
The corners of his mouth twitched. “True, but I have to say, if anyone was going to get semi-naked on the bull tonight, I’d rather it was you.” His voice had dropped to a low husky burr, and all the molecules in the air between us sped up, jostling against each other in a tension-filled frenzy.
My breath thinned in my chest at the fire in his eyes. “Is that meant to make me feel better?”
He shrugged his glorious shoulders, the soft light from the bar casting shadows over his chest. “Take it how you will, but just know how incredible you look tonight.” With his teeth at his bottom lip, Brody leaned in and stroked my cheek with the back of his fingers. “And you rode that bull in style.”
The heat from his body pulsed into me, and my heart skittered in my chest. He was so close, so beautiful, so tempting. So magnetic. His fingers stayed on my cheek as if he was waiting for me to say or do something. I had a track record with spontaneous gestures. After the other night, I’d told him we could never be together. But with his soft lips swimming in my vision, all logical thought left the parking lot, and I didn’t care if he’d met a hundred gorgeous redheads for coffee.
Sucking in a shuddering breath, I took Brody’s wrist and pulled his hand to the back of my neck. No shy eighteen-year-old kiss for me tonight. His eyes widened a touch before he let out a guttural groan and brought his mouth to mine. The press of his lips was sweet bliss, and as our tongues danced, I threaded my hands around him, pulling him closer.
The soft skin underneath my fingers belied the solid wall of his back, each muscle moving together in perfect harmony. To be locked together like this was all I’d craved, and right now, I couldn’t get enough of him.
Brody tangled his fingers through one pigtail, guiding me to him, his knee moving between my legs. I met his pressure, pushing back to quell the ache at my core. After the longest beat, he broke the kiss, his breath coming fast against my neck. “I know you said to stay away from you, but I can’t. It’s impossible.”
A million goosebumps broke out across my body. I leaned my head back against the wall, and Brody brought his lips to mine again. I swear I moaned into his mouth. The urgency in my body consumed me. How could kissing him hurt anybody when the two of us together felt so right? Damn Cooper and his unrealistic expectations. Damn Brody’s career that would take him away from me again. And most of all, damn the throbbing between my legs.
I brought my hands down from around his neck, dragging them over the hard muscles of his chest, about to lose myself completely in his body when a loud bang and voices hit my ears. Brody must’ve heard it, too, because his body stiffened.
“Calm down, Coop. She’ll be out here. Flock was looking after her.”
At the sound of Eve’s voice, Brody and I broke apart, eyes wide.
“Cooper!” Eve shouted, her voice ringing crisp and clear in the muggy air.
The next moment, Brody’s hand left my neck, and he turned away. Coop and Eve rounded the corner. My brother had a face like thunder, and Eve looked like she was about to throttle him. They stopped as soon as they saw Brody standing in the light. He was in just his jeans and had his hands on his hips.
“Where’s Ro?” barked Cooper.
On instinct, I crouched down. The action was a flashback to my seven-year-old self when I used to hide from my brother. Not everything reminded me of the past, though. From the height I was at, all I could focus on was the bulge in Brody’s pants. Thank goodness Eve and Cooper could only see his back.
He turned his head, looking down at me, and my brother followed his gaze. Coop tightened his eyes as he looked into the surrounding darkness.
“What are you doing down there?”
I pulled in a breath. Channeling all the acting skills six years as Mary of Nazareth had taught me, I reached out a hand to grope around on the floor. “I lost a contact.”
“You don’t wear contacts,” Coop ground out.
A bitter taste pooled in the back of my mouth, and I grasped for words. How could I explain why I was crouched down on the floor of the Crow Bar’s parking lot?
Eve stepped forward, kneeling beside me, her hand on my shoulder. “You mean one of the false eyelashes? I’m sorry for making you wear them. But don’t worry. I can get more.” Eve stood and pulled me up after her. I’d never been so grateful in my life. I swear, if left to my own devices, my jelly-like legs would’ve collapsed underneath me.
I met her eyes in the gloom, and something shone within them. An understanding that only best friends could have. A silent agreement of sisterhood and solidarity. The slightest tilt of her lips told me that Eve guessed exactly what she and Coop had interrupted. Her eyes flipped to Brody’s solid back, and she reached out to take my hand, giving it a tiny squeeze. “Are you okay, Ro?”
“What the hell happened?” Cooper asked, stepping toward me. Brody turned around to face us, his “downstairs situation” having presumably deflated. I let out a wavering breath. Cooper hadn’t seen my humiliation?
I looked at Eve, and she gave a tiny nod. “Coop was in the john. Missed the whole thing. I filled him in as best I could.”
I let out an audible sigh, my tight shoulders sinking. The rodeo gods must be smiling down on me. I could only imagine what my brother would make of my impromptu strip in the middle of a crowded bar. He’d once threatened an ex for taking me skinny dipping. Aged twenty-one.
“I’m fine. It was a silly accident. I mean, it’s just typical of me, right? I think someone should write to the bull company about the design of their horns.”
Cooper huffed out a breath. “Well, if you had more clothes on…”
Brody’s brow furrowed, and he made to step forward, but I lifted an arm, waving him away. I could take care of myself. “Coop, I don’t need a lecture. I’m tired, and in case you hadn’t noticed, I’m not a child.”
My brother’s face dropped, and a sudden breeze ran a chill over my skin. “I’m just looking out for you. Someone has to.”
“And I appreciate it, but please, don’t judge me. I can wear what I want. I’m not hurting anyone.” He looked stunned like I’d slapped him in the face and taken away his manhood with my words. My heart tugged, but I wouldn’t take it back. Ease his conscience. “I have to go,” I mumbled.
“You should probably give Brody his shirt back first.” Coop’s words were softer now. “You can wear mine instead.” He unbuttoned his flannel, handing it to Eve before glancing at his best friend. “Thanks for looking after her.”
Oh, he’d been well on his way to looking after me, alright, but in a totally different way. I swear Brody’s cheeks fired red in the dark, and he sucked in his lips. He looked over at me, eyes full of regret, yearning, and everything I knew would keep me awake later.
I gripped the hem of his shirt, lifting it as far as my ribs, taking in the lemon scent that clung to its fibers. Coop turned around, giving me privacy, but Brody just stood there, his eyes on mine.
“Brody! Come on, man. Give her some space,” said Coop.
He shook his head as if waking up from a sleep. “Sorry.” He turned away, too, and I pulled his shirt over my head, handing it to Eve. She gave it back to Brody as I fed my arms into Cooper’s flannel.
“I’m decent now,” I said, trying to keep the pitch of my voice even. Both Coop and Brody turned back, the latter searching my face, his jaw tight.
“Thanks for your help,” I said to him, willing him not to reply. Not to add to my brother’s suspicions. Unfortunately, he didn’t get the memo.
“Any time. See you tomorrow?”
It was the derby try-out tomorrow. I could hardly back out now. I nodded at him with a tight smile, and Cooper’s head snapped to Brody, a line scoring the space between his brows.
Oh, great. I knew that look. He normally reserved it for anyone who dared flirt with me or took more than a passing interest. I didn’t doubt I’d face a barrage of questions in the morning. An interrogation about why I’d spent so much time with his friend lately and just what’d happened when he’d carried me outside. I made a mental note to steer clear of my brother tomorrow.
Brody and Coop left and headed back into the Crow, leaving Eve and me standing in the shadows. “I held your brother off as long as I could. He was in the bathroom while you were on the bull, but he overheard a couple of guys making a joke about what happened. I thought he was going to start a fight.”
He would. “Thanks. Eve. And thank you for the eyelash distraction.”
The corners of her mouth twitched. “Anything for my bestie, but you have to tell me what the hell is going on.”
I pulled Coop’s shirt tighter around my body. “What do you mean?”
“I’m not blind. And I’m sure Coop isn’t either.”
I swallowed, my body a hot mess of jitters.
“You and Brody are always looking at each other.”
“Stop.”
“It’s true. I can almost feel the magnetic field between the two of you. Like all my jewelry would fly off and cling to you both if I undid it.”
“Eve,” I pleaded, my cheeks on fire.
“Just tell me.”
With the whine in her voice and the glow in her eyes, all I wanted to do was unload. Unleash the Brody-shaped desire I’d locked inside my chest for so long. I took a breath, shaking my head. “I don’t even know where to start.”
A grin spread over Eve’s face, and I swear she almost jumped up and down on the spot. “See! I knew it. You are well and truly drinking the Flock Kool-aid now, my friend.” She clutched her hands at her chest like a Disney princess of old. “Holy hell, I have so many questions. Have you kissed him?”
I couldn’t lie to her, but I wasn’t even ready to admit my feelings to myself, let alone anyone else. Say everything out loud. Instead, I nodded.
Eve squealed like a child on Christmas morning. “Yay! Oh my goodness! Please tell me you’ve touched him.”
She hung onto my silence like I was announcing this year’s Oscar winner. I nodded again.
This time, she jumped into the air, clapping her hands together. “Holy crap! This is amazing.” She reached for my arm, her fingers gripping Coop’s shirt, her eyes as wide as hockey pucks. “Have the two of you, well, you know, done the deed?”
I looked back at Eve. “No.”
Her brow furrowed for a second before she smiled again, looping her arm through mine and pulling me back inside the bar. “There’s plenty of time for that, I guess. Still, I need to know everything.”