BUCKED Box Set: A Bull Rider Western Romance (12 page)

“What were
you doing in the tree, anyway?” I asked.

“I wanted
to see if I could climb the tree by myself, without Noah,” Jack replied.

Noah cut
in and scolded Jack. “Come on, bud, you should’ve known it’s dangerous to do
that alone. Especially out that far by yourself. You know coyotes go for easy
prey, and being alone like that makes you easy prey.”

“I know,
but the thing is…you guys were here and you saved me.”

“It
wouldn’t have been as easy without the horses,” Noah said, caressing Stella’s
mane
. “I have to admit, though, you’re better
with Greg than I would’ve thought, Laci.”

“Why do
you say that? What do you mean?” I inquired.

“When I
was on him earlier, he didn’t like speeding up. Every time I nudged him on, he
wouldn’t do it, but you got him into a full out gallop with no trouble at all.
I didn’t even think you could ride.”

I
shrugged. “I’ve always been fairly good with horses. I don’t know if they can
just tell how much I love them or what. Maybe Greg just sensed the urgency in
my voice, who knows.”

Noah’s
brow creased a little and he cocked his head slightly to one side. He was
definitely curious about something.

“Why
wouldn’t you ride when you got here if you’re so good with them?”

“Because
she was sad,” Jackson interrupted.

My gaze
swiveled down toward Jackson. The kid was observant. I had to give him that
much. If I
was
honest with myself, he was
right. The idea of riding without my mom did make me sad. Not that I had wanted
to share that with the world. After all, I was putting up those walls though I
wasn’t sure why anymore. Had it been two days earlier, I’d have said I didn’t
think Noah deserved to know my reasons for avoiding getting on the back of a
horse. Now, however, was a completely different story. I gave Jackson a
half-smile and affirmed his assessment of the situation.

“Yeah, I
guess that is the main reason.” My attention moved over to Noah. “Not many
people know this about me, but I’ve been riding a couple of times a month since
I was little. My mom always took me. So, yeah, I guess it reminds me of my mom.
Not something I’ve been too keen on putting myself through the last few weeks.”
Saying it out loud wasn’t as painful as I had thought it might be; I felt oddly
at peace with it.

That’s
when it dawned on me that maybe riding was exactly what I needed to come to
terms with my parents being gone. Sara was right about the fact that getting on
a horse is cathartic. I couldn’t avoid it forever, and it would give me the
chance to pay my respects to Mom in a way that I didn’t even realize at the
time was really so important.

“You feel
better, though, don’t you?” Jackson asked quietly. “You seem…serene now,” he
said in a wise tone.

“Where’d
you learn a word like
serene
?” Noah
asked.

“It was a
vocabulary word in school. That’s beside the point,” he said to Noah
matter-of-factly.

“Yes, I
do,” I offered, almost giggling.

“Good, I’m
glad,” Jackson replied with a smile. “I like seeing you happy.”

“Well, I
kind of prefer being happy.”

And, for
the first time since I had gotten that phone call about my parent’s accident, I
was
happy. For the first time since
the day that changed my life forever, I felt as though everything was going to
be okay. There would always be a hole in my life where Mom and Dad belonged,
but they would always be with me.

We put
Stella and Greg back in the barn, got them settled, and walked back to the
house for a snack. After all, saving a life is
exhausting
business. I nibbled on hummus and pretzels while Noah worked on putting away a
plate of pizza rolls and Jack munched on some watermelon Aunt Sara had cut up
earlier that morning. When he’d eaten his fill, Jackson declared that he’d had
a long day and wanted a nap. He then wandered to the living room where he
sprawled on the couch and fell asleep in no time, leaving me alone at the
kitchen table with Noah.

We sat in
silence, but Noah kept glancing up at me from his plastic plate painted with a
stick figure and “I love you, Mom!” across the center–likely something Jackson
had made Aunt Sara for Mother’s Day when he was probably five. Each time I
caught him, he’d quickly drop his gaze back to the plate where he was
attempting to stack the pizza rolls into the shape of a house.

“What?” I
finally asked, after allowing this weird back-and-forth to happen for almost
five minutes.

“Nothing,”
he said.
“That’s a lie if I’ve ever heard one. What?” I insisted.

He looked
me square in the eyes and held my gaze. Something in his stare was more intense
than any look he had given me before. It made me both uncomfortable and put me
at ease all at the same time. He took a deep breath like he was gearing up to
say something important.

“I just…I
think you’re amazing,” he finally said.

I wasn’t
sure how to respond.
Shock
will do that
to you, I suppose. “Why?” was all I could manage to sputter out.

A soft,
crooked smile turned up one side of his mouth. It made something in my stomach
twist a little. “Without any regard
for
your own safety, you just jumped on a horse that you knew needed to be
trained—bareback at that—and took off toward a pack of coyotes. That takes
brass ones.”

Heat rose
in my cheeks. “Well, don’t act like you didn’t do the same thing. You did it
for someone you aren’t even related to.” I wasn’t really sure how to take this
new side of Noah Tucker. And, why was he complimenting me for taking care of
someone I love?

“Riding
into a dangerous situation is literally what I do for a living,” he said. “It’s
not that impressive if I’m the one doing it.”

“Wow, for
once your ego isn’t the size of Alaska,” I teased.

“Quit
ruining the moment,” he chuckled.

“Is that
what this is? A moment?” I asked softly. I couldn’t deny it. It was definitely
a moment, but that didn’t mean I was going to give him that so easily. He was
going to have to work to get me to admit it.

“I’d say
so.” His brown eyes seared into mine. Something stirred a little deeper in my
chest. I couldn’t tell exactly what the feeling was, only that it was strangely
pleasant. I lost myself in his eyes, for the first time noticing the flecks of
amber that gave them a warm glow. There was a fire in them that burned into me,
but a gentleness, too. They were breathtaking. He cleared his throat,
effectively bringing me back to the world around me.

“Well,
saving a life tends to bring people together,” I told him.

“Is that
what you’re chalking this up to? Just the fact that we saved Jack? You don’t
feel any
chemistry
here?”

I glanced
down to the cup I held in my hands. Truth be told, I did. Looking back, it had
probably been there from the moment I saw him, but there was too much going on
in my life for me to see any part of it, except that he infuriated me. The
first time I remember being truly aware of it was after I’d just tied the rope
swing up and Sara demonstrated the way Noah had looked at me. My stomach did
this weird little twirl, and although I tried to shove the feelings down, they
were there. I wasn’t sure I was willing to immediately give in to his charm, if
that’s what you want to call it, so I didn’t want to acknowledge it right away.

Moving my
eyes back up to meet his, my insides did that little flip thing again. “Do
you?” I said coolly, putting on my best poker face.

“It’s
something more than just an adrenaline rush,” he said with finality. The way he
looked at me sent warmth spreading through my entire body. There was something
in his eyes almost pleading with me to feel what he felt; something assuring me
that when he said he wanted to get to know me, he meant it in more ways than
one.

I didn’t
want to play any games anymore. If he could open himself up and be honest about
it, I should, too. It was time to put all the cards on the table.

“Yeah, it
is,” I admitted. I had no idea exactly where I was going with the words that
were spilling out—I certainly hadn’t planned for this conversation—but I knew
this was the kind of moment when you’re supposed to just let the floodgates
open and see where the waters take you, right? So, I did. “Quite frankly, I
wasn’t too fond of you when I first met you.”

“Gee, I
never would’ve guessed,” he smirked.

“Shush,
let me finish,” I commanded with a wink. “I thought you were an arrogant, rude,
self-absorbed womanizer. I didn’t want to give you the time of day, much less
be
friendly,
because I didn’t think you
deserved it. My instincts were to shut you out and avoid you at all costs.
Then, we had that talk about the difference between training and breaking.
Nobody has ever readily agreed with me on that before. When you did, you seemed
so sincere. That’s when I realized I was wrong about you. I started to think
about all the little things you’ve done—and some of the not so little things.
You’re great with Jack, so patient with him. You help Aunt Sara and ask for
nothing in return. And the way you are with the horses…anyone who has such a
kind heart toward horses can’t be all bad.”

I stopped
myself short of confessing the hyped up butterflies swarming around when he
looked at me like he was just then. Instead, I drew in a deep breath as
inconspicuously as I could. I hadn’t expected all of that to come tumbling out,
but there it was. He looked at me, popped one more pizza roll into his mouth,
took a sip of his water, and then cleared his throat.

“Well, if
that’s how you feel, I just have to say that I was completely wrong about you.
The moment you started talking to Rose after she gave birth, I saw you in a new
light. You weren’t quite the city girl princess I thought you were. When that
changed, I started to see someone I want to get to know.”

I shook my
head and smiled. “I just poured my heart out, and that’s all you have to say?”

He
shrugged. “I’m a simple guy.”

“Keep
telling yourself that. I have a feeling you’re more complex than you’re letting
on.”

“I guess
you’re bound to find out, aren’t you?” He winked at me and grinned.

I could
hardly wait to find out.

Chapter Twelve - Noah

Things can
change in the blink of an eye. I was convinced I’d never want anything to do
with Laci Daniels. The next,
I was thinking
she may not be as bad as I’d originally thought. Okay, fine,
I was thinking
I really want to get to know
this girl better. A lot better.

For the
most part, as I’ve said before, I’m a pretty
up
front
guy. I don’t like to beat around the bush. I don’t do cryptic. I
say what I mean, and I mean what I say. But Princess Laci turned me on my head
and had me talking all kinds of nonsense. I was saying stuff like, “I guess
you’ll find out,” and being all vague. That’s not normally my style, at all.
Now every time I’m near her, I don’t have a clue what’s going to come out of my
mouth.

Laci spent
the next week joining us for Jackson’s bull riding lessons. For the most part,
she just sat off to the side and watched, occasionally she would make a comment
such as, “That was smooth, Noah,” or, “Dear God, how am I related to you,
Jack?” One particular time, she decided to join in and try her hand at the
lesson I was teaching Jackson. She did it wrong.

We had
been going over the importance of control—physical and mental—and to test it, I
had Jackson close his eyes and try to walk in a straight line while I tried to
distract him. I yelled and made noises, said silly things, whatever I thought
might work. It was actually pretty amusing, especially when he got turned
around and ended up stepping in a big pile of
horseshit
.
Apparently, Laci thought she could do better. She walked over and told me to
give her my best shot.

“You can’t
disorient me,” she boasted.

Oh, yeah?
I thought.
We’ll see about that.

I told her
to walk along the rope and started yelling things like, “Turn left!” and, “Look
out behind you!” My favorite line was, “Holy hell, it’s Ryan Reynolds!” She
stopped and turned her head toward me with her eyes still closed then cocked
her hip to the side.

“Ha, ha,
ha, Mister Hilarious. If it was Ryan Reynolds, I’d be able to smell his
cologne. He only wears Hugo Boss and all
I smell
around here
is
Old Spice.”

“The fact
that you know that is beyond creepy,” I told her, then commanded that she
continued to walk along the rope line. She stuck her arms straight out in front
of her and started groaning like some kind of extraordinarily animated zombie,
then walked straight
at
me.

Jackson
announced very loudly that he needed to poop and took off for the house in an
all-out sprint, waddling like a penguin with his hands clenched over his
backside by the time he reached the porch. As I was watching him in sheer
amusement—what a class act that kid can be—Laci smacked right into me, then
backed up and bumped
against
me again and
again. “Hey, I think I’m running into a big, dumb tree or something,” she said,
patting up and down my chest and squeezing my arms. “Okay, maybe not a tree.”
She grinned as she constricted her fingers around my arms again.

One thing
I refused to let her know is that I’m
extremely
ticklish on the sides of my ribcage, so instead of laughing, I flinched
away from her touch and turned her by the shoulders to go in a different direction.
She promptly turned back around and started poking and prodding at my abdomen
again, stepping closer and closer all the while until her nose met my sternum.
She took a deep breath in through her nose and said, “Old Spice! Hey, it’s Ryan
Reynolds!” Most people would be weirded out by the fact that they just got
sniffed, but Jamie used to do that to me it all the time, so it was nothing new
to me.

“Chimichangas!”
I laughed. I’m no Deadpool, but hey, I aim to please. Princess then started to
say over and over that she just didn’t understand why she couldn’t walk
anymore, and so I grabbed her by the shoulders again and spun her around once
more. In hindsight, I was fully aware that her desire to join in the lesson was
on purpose and a not-so-subtle attempt to instigate a little physical
interaction.

After
turning back around and running into me again, she said, “I’m sorry, but my
feet just seem to be attracted to your position, Mr. Reynolds.” She tilted her
head up, pushed up on her tiptoes, and planted a quick, playful kiss on the
bottom of my chin with her eyes still closed. I couldn’t stop the ridiculous
grin that spread over my face. The sexual tension between us was so palpable, I
swear you could’ve cut it with a knife. I did control myself, however. I demonstrated
just how strongly I fit the title of “Southern Gentleman.”

“Well,
Princess Laci, it would appear that you missed the intended target. My lips,” I
said slowly, curling my finger under her chin and lifting it up, “are up here,”
I finished. I bent down slightly and brought our lips together in a gentle
kiss. It was slow and soft, but my heart started to beat faster in a way that
it never had when I kissed Jamie—or any other girl, for that matter. It was the
kind of kiss that made you thirsty for more and reminded you that the world
isn’t such a crappy place, after all.

I tensed a
little as her hands slipped up and curled around the back of my neck. I slid
one hand around her waist while the other caressed her cheek before I tangled
my fingers
in
her hair. The kiss deepened
as I pulled her closer to me so that our chests were pressed together. For a
moment, nothing else existed, until I heard Jack approaching. Hoping he’d see
us and just turn around, I ignored him until he shouted, “Woah! What are you
doing?”
No such luck.

We broke
apart slowly, almost hesitantly it seemed, our eyes locked for a moment. Laci
wiped one corner of her mouth with the side of her index finger and turned her
attention to Jack. “Hey, buddy, we didn’t hear you.”

“Clearly,”
he gawked, looking at us like we just told him the sky wasn’t blue.

“Well, I
did,” I corrected, “but I-”

Laci gave
me a “
don't
-you-even-dare” look, stopping
me in my tracks, and I changed the course of my sentence. I was planning on
ending it with “
hoped you would walk away
,”
but instead, I finished with, “Actually, didn’t hear you at all.”

Jackson
narrowed his eyes and lowered his voice. “You two were kissing!” he hissed,
pointing his finger in an accusatory tone. “Are you guys, like, in love now?”

“No, Jackson,”
Laci scoffed. Jackson raised his eyebrows.

“But Mom
said people only kiss when they’re in love,” he pointed out.

Damn, what did we just get ourselves into?
Luckily, Laci knew how to handle it because I
was at a complete loss.

“Well,
she’s not wrong. But there can be a little more to it than that. Basically,
when it comes down to it, sometimes people kiss because it helps them decide if
they are in love or not.”

“How can
you
not
know?” he questioned,
crossing his arms over his chest like he was challenging us both.

“It’s just
that we don’t know each other well enough yet to be able to tell, but we both
think that it could be possible at some point,” she explained.
She’s good.

“Alright,
fair enough,” was Jack’s response.

“So that’s
that?” I asked. “I can’t believe that’s all the explanation you need.”

“Yeah,
well, when something makes sense, it’s not like you have to keep going around
in circles, Noah,” he said in that matter-of-fact tone I’ve come to expect from
him. “Not to mention, I see the way you two look at each other. I knew it was
bound to happen sooner or later,” he finished with a smirk.

Laci
looked bewildered, glancing over
at
me
then back to Jackson. “How on earth did you know before we did?”

Jack
tapped a finger to his temple. “I know things,” he whispered mysteriously.

“So it
would seem,” I said.

“Anyways,
are we going to get back to it or what?” Jackson asked.

“Or what,”
Laci interjected, glancing at her watch. “It’s noon, and I’m starving.”

We
followed her to the house to find Sara standing over the stove, frying up hot
wings. On the table, a bowl of blue cheese, carrots, and celery were already
spread out. Next to those was a large pitcher of ice cold lemonade, complete
with strawberry slices bobbing along underneath a layer of ice.

“Geez,
Sara, you went all out for lunch today,” I observed.

“It was
either this or cold cereal. So, I pulled out all the stops and decided to use
what we had left in the fridge. Jack, you wanna come shopping with me after
we’re done eating?” she responded.

“Sure!” he
chirped, bouncing over to a chair and pulling it out. “Anything to stay out of
the lovebirds’ way.”

Sara
arched one eyebrow. “Lovebirds, huh?”

“I caught
them kissing!” he burst out. “I came inside to poop, and when I walked back
out, they were all over each other!”

“I see,”
Sara
sing-songed
as she tossed the wings
in hot sauce.

“Is that
all you have to say, Mom? ‘I see?’” Jackson asked.

“I don’t
think I need to say more. I’m sure they can figure out how I feel about it,”
she said suppressing a grin. “I guess things are about to change a bit around
here,” she finished with a wink.

It sure
seemed that was a possibility, and I couldn’t wait to find out.