And Then You Dare (Crested Butte Cowboys Series Book 5) (6 page)

“Signed and sealed,” Billy smiled and shook Tristan’s hand.
“Welcome aboard.”

“I could say the same to you, but your outfit is quite a bit
bigger than ours.”

“There ain’t nothin’ stoppin’ you from growin’. Soon instead
of Wrangler National Rodeo Finals, we’ll all be goin’ to Vegas for the Lost
Cowboy NFR.”

“Right,” she grinned. “Well, since our deal has been made,
it’s time for me to head home.” She’d miss being at the Flying R. She’d gotten
used to the noisy, fun-loving cowboys, and the chaos of toddlers under foot all
the time.

Liv put her arm around Tristan’s shoulder. “I hope not for
long. Billy, can’t you figure out a reason for Tristan to work out of Flying R
headquarters, at least part-time?”

“As a matter of fact…”

Wait. What? Was Billy serious? Was there a reason she’d have
to work from here instead of home? If he could come up with one legitimate
enough, she’d take him up on it in a heartbeat.

“We’re havin’ a team meeting here in three weeks. Tristan, I
understand you and Lyric have your heads together on potential sponsorships.
Let’s see who you’ve got, and then get them here. We’ll call it a meet and
greet, and see who fits.”

“Sounds good to me.” Instead of feeling sad about leaving, she
could look forward to coming back in less than a month. A couple days ago she
would’ve felt as though coming back so soon would be imposing, but not now.
She’d gotten used to Liv and Ben’s open door policy. Everyone was welcome, at
any time. Had she even suggested she stay anywhere else, Liv would’ve been
insulted.

Plus Crested Butte was quickly growing on her. She’d love to
spend more time in the quaint town. In their agreement, they’d given Lost
Cowboy access to the Flying R’s plane, if it wasn’t already in use by one of
the rough stock partners, or by Ben’s band. Flying in and out of Gunnison was
easier than going through another more major airport, even if she was flying
commercial. There was a direct flight to and from LaGuardia a couple times a
day.

When Liv overheard Tristan talking about booking a flight, she
called Ben. “Can you please check the log book sweetheart?” Liv winked at
Tristan, and put her hand over the phone. “I love this man so much.”

Tristan couldn’t help but smile. Being around them, and Billy
and Renie, and Jace and Bree, and…all of them basically, made her yearn for a
relationship of her own. It might be a long time coming. Isn’t wasn’t as though
she was in the position to meet anyone, other than cowboys. She looked around
her. The very relationships she was envying were with cowboys. It couldn’t be
that
all
of the good ones were taken.

“Okay, great. See you later darlin’.” Liv turned to Tristan.
“The plane is yours tomorrow. Ben said he needs to go to New York anyway. He’ll
stay a couple nights, and then fly home. If tomorrow works for you, of course.
I’m in no hurry for you to leave.”

“Tomorrow is perfect. And, uh, we have plenty of room at my
daddy’s place for Ben to stay with us, if he doesn’t mind driving into the
city. There’s an airport in Ronkonkoma, which is only a few minutes from our
place in Holbrook. The drive into Manhattan is a little over an hour.”

“I’m sure he’d love it,” Liv hugged her.

Tristan probably should’ve checked with her father before she
invited Ben to stay at their place, but they had plenty of room, and her daddy would
certainly agree to it.

“What’s with the furrowed brow? Ben can stay in the city. It
wouldn’t be a problem.”

Tristan’s cheeks heated. “Oh no. I was thinking how nice it
would be to have him at our place. If anything, we don’t make that kind of
offer often enough.” She’d change that though. Maybe some of the Lost
Cowboy-Flying R meetings could be held in New York.

The door opened and Bullet walked in carrying Grey. He’d been
standoffish to her since the other night. She’d tried to apologize a couple times,
but he waved her off.

“Mornin’,” he said, more to Liv than to her.

“Good morning to you too. How’s my big boy today?” Liv walked
over and took Grey out of Bullet’s arms.

“You sure about this ma’am?”

“There are at least two things I’m sure about. One, you know
my name. It’s Liv, and I expect you to use it. Two, Caden has been asking me
for over an hour when her buddy Grey is going to be here. She’ll be thrilled to
see him, which makes my life much easier.”

Liv unbuttoned Grey’s jacket and went in the direction of the
family room, where Caden was playing. Tristan heard the little girl squeal when
she saw her playmate.

“He loves comin’ over here.” Bullet shuffled his feet. “And
she’s so great to make it seem like she isn’t doin’ me a favor when she watches
him.” He looked at the floor, then the ceiling, then over her head in the
direction of the family room. Everywhere but at her.

“Bullet, I want you to know how sorry I am about what I said
the other night. What you do isn’t any of my business. I don’t know the first
thing about being a parent, or a bull rider. I am in no position to judge you.”

“I told you before not to worry about it.” He still didn’t
look at her. “My life is a mess right now, and I’m workin’ hard to get it
right. As right as I can anyway, considerin’ my son no longer has a mama.”

Tristan’s eyes filled with tears.

“It ain’t nothin’ for you to cry about. We don’t need you
feelin’ sorry for us.”

At least he finally looked at her. “I don’t feel sorry for you
Bullet. Or Grey. It’s just that I understand—”

“Forgive me for leavin’ in the middle of your sentence, but if
I don’t, I’m gonna say somethin’ I’ll regret. I will say this though,” he
walked closer, his eyes boring into hers as he did. “You don’t understand
anything about my life, or my son’s life. Nothing at all.”

Bullet stormed out of the front door. Tristan closed her eyes
and waited for it to slam behind him, but it didn’t.

***

It wasn’t her fault. It was his. But he couldn’t help it.
Every time he looked at her, he saw his own shortcomings. He’d wasted a hell of
a lot of the last couple years having fun, not thinking about the consequences
of his actions. He had two kids to prove it.

He’d spent a half hour this morning trying to talk Hannah
Pearl’s mama into letting his daughter come and stay with him for a few days.
She questioned him up one side and down the other about what happened with
Callie, and why he was in Colorado with Grey. When he told her he couldn’t tell
her why Callie killed herself, the woman lit into him.

“Bullshit,” she said. “I know how it feels when you lose
interest. I’ve lived through it. Remember?”

He hadn’t lost interest in Callie. He tried more times than he
could count to make their relationship work. It didn’t help the guilt he felt,
especially since he was still dreaming about her pretty near every night.

***

“Ready to get to work?” Lyric asked. “You’re leavin’ tomorrow,
right?”

“Right,” Tristan nodded her head.

“You and Bullet have some powerful chemistry between you.”

“What? No, we don’t. We don’t have anything between us.”

“Uh huh. He’s under your skin, and you’re under his.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about. Bullet is…” What
could she say that wouldn’t insult his twin sister? She was about to say that
he was immature. And pig-headed.

“Waitin’,” Lyric drummed her fingers on the table.

“For what? Oh.” Tristan pulled out her pile of notes.

“No, not for that. Bullet is…you didn’t finish your sentence.”

“He’s a very nice young man, with a lot on his plate.”

Lyric rolled her eyes. “I call bullshit, but let’s move on
anyway. Have you given any thought to what we talked about the other night?
Lost Cowboy followin’ his story?”

She had, but she didn’t want to admit it to Lyric. Whatever
decisions Bullet made in his life couldn’t be because of a potential Lost
Cowboy sponsorship.

“No,” she lied. “I haven’t.”

“Too bad. ’Cause if you ask me, his story would make a good
one.”

“I don’t think he likes me very much.”

“That isn’t it. It’s more that he doesn’t like himself when he
takes a look through your eyes.”

“You’re overstating it. I hurt his feelings. He doesn’t know
how to get around it. Rather than accepting my apology, he’s sulking.”

“Okay, let’s move on. Who ya got?”

Tristan spent the previous evening doing her own research. She
had a handful of cowboys and cowgirls she wanted to run by Lyric. Looking at
the list in front of her, Lyric had almost twice the number she had.

“It isn’t as though you’re going to sponsor ’em all. It’s just
a starting point.”

“Good. You scared me for a minute.”

Some they crossed off the list without much discussion. Others
they debated, and others stayed on the list without hesitation. In the end,
they had ten potentials. Six cowboys, and four cowgirls. Tristan wanted it to
be equal, so they went back to look through the barrel racers one more time.

“What about a female bull rider?”

“I don’t know of any other than Maggie Parker.”

“There are a few more out there. Some up-and-comers mainly.
Maybe you should talk to your daddy about two levels of sponsorship. One for
the guys and girls who are already at the pro level, and another for the ones
just startin’ out.”

It was something they’d talked about many times. For Lost
Cowboy to get big names on their team, they had to recruit them early in their
career. Once they achieved a certain level, Cinch or one of the other major
clothing sponsors would be all over them.

“Good idea,” Tristan murmured.

“What’s up? You aren’t as focused as you were last night.”

“I’m giving your suggestion some thought. It’s a good idea.”

“Yeah, I’m like that,” smiled Lyric. “I’m full of ’em. But
which one in particular are you talkin’ about?”

“Where’s Bullet living?”

“
Scre-e-e-e-ch.
Whoa girl. You gotta give me some
warnin’ before you bounce off the subject wall.”

“Sorry. He’s just on my mind. I tried to talk to him before
you came in, but he wouldn’t listen to me.”

“He rented a place in town yesterday. It’s furnished, which is
a good thing. He doesn’t have time for furniture shoppin’.”

He probably didn’t have the money either. Crested Butte was
not an inexpensive place to live.

“I’d like to talk to him before I leave tomorrow. You know,
clear the air.”

“What are you sittin’ here for? Go find him.”

Tristan grabbed her jacket from the coat rack. The ranch was a
big place. Who knew where he might be working?

She caught a glimpse of someone leading a horse into the
arena. The man was built like Bullet, but she couldn’t see his face. As she got
closer, she saw he was working with a bronc.

“Shh now,” she heard him say, his hands holding the catch rope
lightly. “You can let your guard down. I ain’t gonna hurt you.”

She listened to him soothe the horse. “Come on now, let’s be
friends. Let ol’ Bullet take care of you.”

It was the tone of voice one might use with a lover. Slow,
sultry, reinforcing the care he’d give, the time he’d take. Tristan leaned up
against the fence, and closed her eyes. He coaxed and cajoled. Sweetly.

“Come on now darlin’, that’s a girl.”

He was working with a filly? Surprising. Geldings typically
made better broncs. Maybe this was just a spirited horse, not one they intended
to take out to rodeos.

Tristan climbed up on the fence and watched as Bullet
continued to soothe the horse, murmuring to her as he took the lead, and walked
her around the arena.

“She’s a beauty, ain’t she?”

Tristan hadn’t realized he knew she was there.

“She sure is.” The palomino paint didn’t look to be much over
two years old, and about fifteen hands.

“You takin’ her out?”

“Not yet. Not sure they ever will.”

“What’s her name?”

“Holbrook.”

Tristan grinned. How did he know the name of her hometown? “Oh
yeah? You playin’ with me cowboy?”

When Bullet smiled, she almost fell off the fence. It had been
a while since one had been directed at her. The blue eyes that had been so
frosty, warmed again when he winked at her.

He dropped the lead and walked over to where she sat.

“I’d like to be friends again,” she said before he could say
anything.

“Friends huh? I didn’t realize that’s what we were.”

Tristan cheeks flushed. “I’d like to be.”

“All right. We can be friends. If that’s what you’d like,” he
drawled. As he got closer, she could see his dimples.

God, he was dangerous. He knew just what to say, and how to
say it. If she was a little younger, and a lot dumber, he could talk her into
just about anything. He put his hand on her knee.

“I’m sorry I ran out of the house so quick. I’m runnin’ low on
sleep and high on anxiety these days.” The devastating smile didn’t leave his
face. He squeezed her knee. “Forgive me?”

“Bullet…I…” What was she trying to say? She couldn’t think
with him caressing her knee.

“Come on now, darlin’. Say you’ll forgive me.” He was using
the same tone of voice with her that he used with the filly. And it was working
just as well on her as it had with the horse.

She brushed his hand away. “There isn’t anything to forgive. I
was the one that insulted you. You still haven’t accepted my apology.”

Bullet leaned in closer, so his body rested up against her
leg, his hand came back to rub her knee. “I haven’t? Well, now.” His hand
stopped moving and he looked up at her face. “Tristan, I accept your apology.”

***

1965

It had been three years since he first set foot on
Double-P-Bar Ranch, and three years since he’d seen his mama. When Clancy
offered to take him to Colorado Springs to see her, Bill didn’t hesitate to
take him up on it. He missed her so much. And his sister. There was something
important his mama wanted to tell him, that’s what Clancy said. Bill hoped it
wasn’t more bad news. His family had more than their fair share of strife in
the last five years.