Chapter 18 #2
“Always up for a thrill. I’m sure you remember Lanie.” Cord’s voice holds an element of laughter, but he fixes the overindulgent rancher with a hard gaze when I dare raise my head.
“I’m surprised she’s lasted this long.” Jed slips his hands into his pockets.
On his other side, West presses his fists against his thighs. I reach for his shoulder, and he gives me a tight nod.
“And looks like she’s got a backup for when her current situation falls through. Though you’d be welcome in my bed, sweetheart.”
I recoil, disgust seeding bitter acid at the back of my tongue. Cord stiffens, his arms too tight around me, though I don’t object. West actually lunges forward and Cord shoots out an arm to hold him back.
“Jesse Duke’s up!” Billy yells from somewhere to our left.
Cord spins around, his arms still locked around me, putting our backs squarely to Jed.
Every instinct screams at me that this is a bad idea as my eyes water beneath the giant spotlights.
West joins us at the rail, Billy giving me a wink.
Cord releases me as a young cowboy taps his arm, speaking softly into his ear.
I smirk when I realize I’m not the only one who has to get up on my toes for him.
In the chute, Coyote Falls’ youngest cowboy, Jesse, clings to the metal fencing.
His bull is announced as Dust Devil, a name I’ve heard circulate around the yard more than once.
I wrap my hands around the rail, the thought of Cord’s own ride ahead weighing on me.
“Reckon he’ll last longer than he did last year?” West leans on the railing next to us.
Billy snorts. “One second. But he bounced back and hasn’t stopped since. And Cord offered him a job that day, or so legend has it.” Longing coats the back of his voice.
Cord’s fingers coil through my hair, massaging my nape unconsciously, as he watches the riders with narrowed eyes, though I know he listens.
“Yeah, and he hired you when you asked to work for him just as fast. Don’t think you don’t belong with us any less.” West claps a hand on Billy’s shoulder that rocks the large man forward a step, but the smile that breaks out on Billy’s face says everything.
“Jesse’ll do just fine.” Cord thumps the cowboy still chattering away on the back and grins down at me, his fingers still circling on my skin in their tantalizing rhythm.
“That little bull is gonna give the kid a hell of a time, but it’s good for him to taste the dust in front of the crowd that’s bigger than just these folk a few times.
” He gestures to the familiar faces crowding the fence to watch Jesse’s ride.
Another familiar voice booms over the loudspeakers, a flamboyant twang slicing through the night air.
“Next up is Coyote Falls’ own green little thing.
This cowboy hails from the South, but don’t let that fool you.
He and this bull refuse to stay together for more than two seconds at a time.
Can they make it three tonight? Grab your snacks and plant your behinds to find out in just a moment. ”
I huff softly and lean over to Billy. “Is Levi the emcee?”
He grins, his eyes never leaving the young rider already battling the bull in the chute as some of the other cowboys settle him with a quiet word. “Every year. He won’t give up the spotlight or that podium.”
I finally manage a laugh, looking around. Levi waves his mic from his perch on top of the far gate and never stops speaking as he wraps up Jesse’s and Dust Devil’s bios and rolls seamlessly into an advertising spiel.
“He’s perfect.”
“Don’t let him hear you say that.” Cord’s lips graze a patch behind my ear where he lifts my hair for the privilege. Goose bumps erupt along my arms. I cling to the fence with a death grip, my knees liquifying at his touch. “Damn, wolf girl. I want to see you do that beneath me.”
I whimper. Actually freaking whimper. In public. Billy groans low beside me, turning away to focus on the bulls. Cord laughs softly in my ear.
“You can’t say things like that!” I hiss, scandalized, knowing at least one of Coyote Falls boys overheard our whole exchange.
“Like hell. And I’m claiming that right.” His voice deepens as I swivel around to face him. “I’ll see you soon, Lanie. I promise. Then we’ll talk about Alaska.”
“You have to go? Already?” I whisper, my vision blurring beneath the lights.
Cord stills. Everything else sinks away, and it’s just me and him standing here. No noise, no crowd, no rodeo scents. His hand slides beneath my hair, cupping my nape, to pull me into him as he crushes our mouths together.
I cling to him, memorizing the warmth of his hard chest I press against, holding tight though I’m not sure which of us keeps us standing right now.
Beneath my hand, his heart rate picks up.
Cord breaks the kiss, leaving my chest heaving, and leans down, brushing his lips over my ear as he whispers words meant only for me.
“I love you.”
Jesse Duke’s ride passes in a blur, but the young cowboy can’t hold my focus for the few seconds his moment of fame lasts.
Cord’s posture remains relaxed, his walk easy as he leaves me gripping the cold metal railing.
My knuckles are coated in a fine layer of dust, my lips tinged with the tang of his promises that I don’t know if either of us can keep.
Everything is a reminder of what makes Cordell Rand so formidable.
I know I’m still an outsider to his world.
But I fit with Cord, and that tears my mind in two directions.
I no longer care how indecent we look when he kisses me stupid beneath the bright lights where everyone can see us, or if anyone thinks I’m a bunny.
Hell, I don’t care if I am one. I’ll be his bunny.
As long as Cord makes it safely through his ride.
I track his path until the crowd swallows him.
My vision blurs, and my attention returns to the ring in time to see Jesse fall off his bull.
The young cowboy scrambles in the loose dirt, his boots gaining purchase.
Sawdust billows around him, the rodeo clowns doing their best to distract Dust Devil while Jesse clambers to his feet, sprinting to climb the tall fences on the other side of the arena, near the chute.
Tripp throws out a hand and yanks the young cowboy over the railing as the rodeo clowns herd Dust Devil into an enclosure.
Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger” plays over the loudspeakers, drowning out Levi’s commentary, as the crowd cheers.
Jesse waves, a broad grin on his face even though he didn’t make the eight-second bell to score.
“He keeps that up, and he’ll end up with the sort of cult following your boy has.” West wraps an arm around my shoulder, his natural bulk shielding me from everyone.
From everything.
“Kid’s got skills.” Billy moves in closer on my other side, his hand clutching mine tightly. A support crew of three, propping each other up against inevitable odds none of us are prepared against.
“Yeah?” West snorts over my head. “Gonna toss you on a fuckin’ woolly when they bring ’em out later for the little ones.”
Billy laughs as I look between them, confused.
“What’s a woolly?” I whisper.
“A sheep,” Billy confides, dipping his curly head low so I can hear him.
“West’s been tryin’ to get me on the back of a bull for weeks now.
I’m not stupid enough for that. Sorry, ma’am.
I like dirt beneath my feet, not air. But I’ll ride a sheep with the little kids if it makes everyone happy. ” He grins broadly.
I release a giggle, a sound I didn’t think I’d be able to make tonight. “I’d like to see that.”
In front of us, another cowboy I don’t know eats dirt to ACDC’s “Back in Black.”
“See? Easily done.” West squeezes my shoulder. “Cord’ll be back in a few minutes,” he says, only a fine tremor at the end of his words defying his determination to hide his concern.
I get it. We’re all lying to ourselves tonight.
“Woolly,” whispers Billy in my ear.
Another junior falls off his bull in front of us. This time, I have the privilege of tasting the dust that floats around us.
“I think they’re meant to stay on it,” I say dryly.
West nods. “To be a champion, that’s something else. Something special. It’s what Rand’s been scouting for over ten years now. Some, like Jesse—they’ve got guts. Crowd-pleasers. Need training. Others…” He glances over my head in Billy’s direction. “Just need to get on a damn bull and try.”
“Never going to happen, mini boss man,” Billy mutters.
“But,” West continues as though Billy never spoke at all, “a rider doesn’t just have to stay on their bull for eight seconds. To claim a champion’s buckle, they need a style that can’t be taught. Grace. Cord has it. It’s rare, but we see it occasionally.” His eyes flick back to Billy.
West’s words flow over my head, immersing me into Cord’s world. I’m under no illusions that the boys are here for the same reason I am—the man who just walked away with four white letters emblazoned across his back.
Too soon, Cord appears on the railing on the opposite side of the ring where Jesse perched only minutes before. Silver-fringed chaps hang over his jeans. Tripp speaks into his ear, patting his back. I never take my eyes off Cord while the boys crowd either side of me.
Cord grins and nods, giving Tripp a push. The bull I can’t see bangs against the confines of the closed chute in a rare moment of silence. The crowd behind us oohs appreciatively.
“Concentrate, you ugly asshole,” West growls.
“He does have some good looks,” Billy says from my other side. “You’ll back me, right, ma’am?”
“Totally agree with West,” I say automatically.
The boys roar their laughter.
“And Billy—please, drop the ma’am. I feel ancient.”
“Sure, Lanie.” He grips my hand too tight, and I squeeze back.
Kenny Loggins’s “Danger Zone” silences the restless crowd, their attention funneling back to the chute as Levi runs through Cord’s life achievements, glamming his bio up.
I can’t appreciate a word of his showmanship.
Cord looks up as he hovers over the black behemoth lined up beneath him that bumps about just enough to give me a glimpse of why I need to be twice as terrified as I thought I should be.
Wrecking Ball has to be twice the size of the bull that threw Coyote Falls’ younger rider minutes before. My stomach relocates to a much higher point in my anatomy.
“He can’t ride that thing,” I whisper. “It’s a giant compared to what Jesse drew!”
“To be fair, Jesse fell off his bull.” Billy snorts.
West nods his agreement. “It’s the smaller ones you need to watch. They’re downright mean.”
The world closes in around me as Cord drops onto his bull. He looks up, holding my gaze for one long moment, and winks as the chute opens. I hold my breath, but there’s no need.
It’s over in eight seconds.