BUCKED Box Set: A Bull Rider Western Romance (5 page)

Two days
later, I got in my car with the bags Emily had packed for me and the plane
ticket Aunt Sara had left for me and I watched it all fade in the rearview
mirror.

Airport, here I come.

Chapter Four - Noah

“You’ve
got to be joking. Please tell me you’re joking,” I begged. Every year since
going pro, I’ve gone back to my parents’ ranch in good old Stevenson, Alabama,
to give them a hand when the PBR circuit broke for the summer. June and July
are usually a little too hot for bull riding. As I was packing up the day after
my last event, I noticed that my absolute favorite boots were literally peeling
apart at the soles. Not willing to say goodbye to them just yet, I stuffed them
into my bag and angrily zipped it shut, hoping Mom would know where to take
them to get them repaired.

Of course,
leave it to Jamie to come into my room just as I start letting a string of
expletives loose, including a few very crude words I wouldn’t normally say in
front of a lady.

“Do you
kiss your mother with that mouth?” she blurted out.

“As a
matter of fact, I do,” I retorted. I opened my bag again and showed her the
boots. “Do you see this? They could talk to you,” I complained, flopping the
sole like a mouth. “My favorite boots, and unless the mother I kiss with this
mouth can fix them, they’re done for.”

“Never
cross a cowboy and his boots,” she teased, shaking her head.

“You’re
damn right!” I stood up and stretched. “So, what’s up?”

“Whaddaya
mean?”

“Why’d you
come to my room?”

“Well, it
isn’t your room anymore,” she pointed out.
Damn,
I thought,
she has a point there.

“You know
what I meant. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Just
coming to see if you need any
help
getting
ready to leave.” She raised her eyebrows and said “help” the way some guys
might say, “Do you wanna get out of here?” when they meet a hot girl at a
bar—suggestively.

“Maybe I
do, maybe I don’t.” I’m normally not the type of guy to beat around the bush,
but the truth is, I didn’t even know. Ever since the night before my birthday
when something snapped in me, I had no idea what I wanted anymore. I didn’t
particularly want to do anything with her, but part of me wasn’t against it,
either. And, that talk I knew we were going to need to have hadn’t yet
happened. So, I went about my business making sure I had everything ready to
carry down to my truck. She sat on the bed and commented on how my “rippling
muscles” made her melt. To say she was laying it on thick was an
understatement.

I told her
to keep it in her pants and grinned. “I need to get Ella ready for the two-day
drive home. I can’t be distracted by the likes of a vixen such as you.”

She
laughed and slid off the bed to follow me. I grabbed a handful of oats from the
oat bucket and fed them to Ella out of my palm before I gathered all of my gear
and piled that into my truck with the things from my room. Then, I backed my
truck up to my horse trailer, hooked it up to the hitch, and came back to Ella.
“Well, what do ya say, girl? Ready to go back to ‘Bama?” A little part of me
knew she wasn’t since she hates the trailer, but we’d only be driving for
about eight hours before staying with a PBR friend at his farm in Oklahoma for
the night. I guided her out to the trailer, and, after a little bit of coaxing
and some bribery with a couple of apples, she climbed in and I shut the door
behind her.

Turning to
say goodbye to Jamie, I opened my mouth to speak, but she jammed her lips
against mine. When she’d had her fill, she laced her fingers through my hair
and took a deep breath like she was steeling herself to say something. “I’ve
wanted
to say this for the last two years, but
I never had the balls. I want to come back to Alabama with you.”

My mind
reeled. She wanted to travel over a thousand miles with me so she could spend
an extra two months screwing my brains out. I mean, I’d never been cold to her,
but I didn’t think that I’d led her to believe I had feelings for her like
that. To me, it was always a
friend
with
benefits type of situation. Apparently, not to her. It was definitely time for
that talk.

“Jamie,
what do you think this is?” I questioned.

“What do
you mean?”

“This,” I
said, pointing back and forth between us. “What do you think this is?”

“Well, I
don’t know what it is
now,
but I know
what I want it to be. Are you saying you don’t want it to be more?”

I took a
deep breath and tried to come across as respectfully as I could. “No,” I
finally admitted.

“No,
you’re not saying that or no, you don’t want it to be more?”

“No, I
don’t want it to be more. Jesus, Jamie. Why the hell did you spring this on me
right as I’m about to leave? This was something we should have had time to talk
about. Now, I just seem like an ass.”

She
shifted her weight and looked away. “I thought it’d be weird if you said no.
And, it is.”

“Did I
send you some kind of mixed signals that made you think I wanted to be in a
serious relationship?”

“Yeah. No.
I don’t know. It doesn’t matter anyway, have a good trip. See you in August.”
She waved a hand and turned to walk away. I grabbed her arm and pulled her back
into a hug.

“I’m
sorry, Jamie,” I whispered with her head tucked under my chin. She sniffled and
told me not to worry about it. We both said goodbye again, and I got into my
truck to start the drive home. As I turned on the radio and put the window
down, she came up and leaned in the window to kiss me one last time, on the
cheek. I tilted my hat to her, pressed my foot
on
the clutch, and put my truck in drive. I glanced in the side-view mirror and
watched her walking away.

***

Two days
and twenty-one hours of driving time later, I was pulling up the long gravel
driveway to the ranch where I grew up. A few short honks of my horn brought my
parents out to greet me, Mom showing more obvious excitement than my dad. She
ran up to my truck, and I’d barely shut the door before she was squeezing me
and planting kisses on my face. A cliché Mom move.

“I missed
you so much! I’m so proud of my little member of the Ninety Point Club!” she
squealed between kisses.

“Missed
you, too, Mama.” I blushed as I hugged her back. “By the way, do you think you
could take a shot at fixing my favorite boots? They’re in pretty poor shape.”

“Well, I
sure can, but what kind of
first question is
that
for a boy to ask his mom after being away for six months?”

“He ain’t
a boy anymore, Karen,” Dad noted, stepping up to us. “And, nobody can come
between a man and his boots. Leave some love for his old man; you ain’t the
only one that missed him, now.” He
slapped
my back and said, “Welcome home, son. Congrats on the ninety-one. It’s
impressive work.” He pulled me into a quick hug.

“Thanks,
Pop. It’s good to be home.”

“Ella doing
alright?” Mama asked, peeking through the openings of the trailer to look at my
mare.

“See for
yourself,” I told her and opened the door and led the horse out. She patted
Ella on the nose a few times and then offered to take her to the stables while
I carried my stuff inside. I let her take the horse and looked to my dad. “You
going to help me or just stare at me like I’ve
got
ten
heads?”

“Sorry, I
just can’t believe my boy’s already twenty-two. It’s happening so fast.”

“Oh, don’t
go getting all sentimental on me, now, Pop,” I told him, unhooking the trailer
so I could get to the tailgate of my truck. I thrust my biggest bag into his
arms and asked if he could handle it. After calling me a few names, he turned
and lugged it into the house. When he came back out, he tossed me a water
bottle.

“Drink up,
you look dehydrated,” he commanded. I unscrewed the cap and started to gulp
while Pop continued talking. “By the way, Sara just got back from visiting New
York. Sad, though. Her sister and brother-in-law passed while she was up
there.”

“Christ,
what happened?” I asked, putting the cap back on the water bottle and taking
the rest of my bags out of the bed of my truck.

“Car
wreck.
Tractor
trailer slammed into
them,” he divulged. “Anyway, she wants to know if you’ll give Jackson riding
lessons to help take his mind off of his aunt. That kid’s got a big heart.”

“Sure,” I
agreed. “On one of their horses or is he gonna ride one of ours?”

“No, not
horses—bull riding lessons.”

“Oh,” I
said, mildly surprised. “Yeah, that’s fine. I didn’t take him for a bull riding
kind of kid.”

“Well,
everybody’s gotta start somehow.”

“Fair
point. When am I starting these lessons?”

“You’ll
have to ask her about that one. Gimme your keys; I’ll put the trailer away
while you take everything inside and get washed up for dinner,” he offered,
holding out a hand. I tossed him the keys and carried my things inside.

After a
delicious home-cooked meal of my mom’s famous fried chicken with green beans,
mashed potatoes, and biscuits, I laid down to sleep in my own bed. It was good
to be home.

***

The next
day, I woke up just after dawn and went down to the stables to find Pop already
there, shoveling hay to the horses. I opened the stable doors and let them out
to graze one at a time, then grabbed a shovel and started cleaning the stalls.
We were about halfway done when a sharp whistle—the kind my teacher used to
bust eardrums with when she wanted the class to quiet down—cut across the
pasture. I turned to find Sara approaching the stables. I waved and flashed her
a smile, and when she reached us, she gave me a hug and said, “Long time, no
see, Runt. How’s that bull riding going?”

“Perfect,”
I said. “I broke ninety just the other week.”

“Noah,
that’s outstanding!” she exclaimed, giving me a light punch on the arm. What
was it with women and punching me? “Did your dad ask you about giving Jackson
lessons?”

“Yeah, he
did. Sounds like fun,” I told her.

“Well,
with a score like that, looks like he’ll be learning from the best! When do you
want to start?”

“Whenever
works for you guys is fine with me.”

“Alright,
sounds good. I’ll let Jackson know. He’ll probably want to start ASAP,” she
chortled with a wink. Having finally finished putting the hay out, Dad walked
over.

“What
brings you here, Miss Sara?” He tipped his hat to her.

“Well, I
was wondering if you’d mind helping me fix a hole in Mom’s roof. She tells me
it leaked during last week’s thunderstorm.”

“Sure
thing. How’s she holding up?”

“Oh, you
know my mother, she’s always positive about things. Says we ought to celebrate
their lives more than mourn their deaths. That reminds me, my niece is coming
today. I have to pick her up from the airport in Chattanooga at one. I wanted
her to come here for the summer, maybe clear her head from all the bad stuff
she’s dealt with in the last week. She needs to get her mind straight before
she starts filming her first movie in August. She’s the actress I was telling
you about.”

Oh, great, an actress and a city girl,
I thought.
Forgive me if I only come around to interact with Jackson while she’s
here.

“Right,”
Dad replied. “Lisa’s husband was an agent, wasn’t he?”

“Yeah.
That’s how Laci got started in acting. Anyway, I won’t keep you guys. Just
wanted to
come
welcome Runt here home
from the big show and ask about Mom’s roof. Thanks, Hank. I appreciate the
help.”

“Anytime,
Sara. I’ll come over and take a look at the roof in about an hour. Just let us
know if you need anything else. We’re here to help.”

***

Little did
I know that Dad’s offer to help extended to me. About fifteen minutes before
noon, my phone rang. Recognizing Sara’s number, and assuming she wanted to tell
me when Jackson wanted to start lessons, I picked up. “Hey, Sara, what’s up?”

“Noah!
Thank God you answered! Look, I have to take Potter to the vet. I think he
swallowed something and none of us are too well-versed in the Heiml
ich for dogs. Laci’s plane arrives in
about
forty-five minutes, and I definitely won’t be back in time. Would you mind
picking her up at the airport? I’d hate to have her stranded, and your dad’s
working on the roof before the rains
get
here.”

Looks like I don’t have a choice, do I?

“Yeah, I
can do that.”

“Oh, thank
you, Noah! I’ll text you the flight info and text her and tell her to look for
you. Send me a description of what you’re wearing so I can let her know what to
look for.”

“That’s
easy, Sara. Jeans, red
t-shirt,
and a
yellow ball cap.”

“Got it.
Thanks again, Noah!” she chirped as she hung up.