Chasin' Eight: Rough Riders, Book 12 (6 page)

Devil’s Tower jutted up, the land surrounding it a rainbow palette of red dirt, dark green pine trees, caramel-colored buttes against the backdrop of a cloudless blue sky. “You like?”

“It’s spectacular. I’ll bet most tourists don’t even know this view is here.”

“Some stumble on it. But it’s mostly a local secret.” Chase tossed her a bag of Doritos and a hot dog.

As he slowly unwrapped his food, the familiar scent of spicy chili, creamy cheese, tangy mustard and onion caused a sharp pang, not of hunger, of homesickness. It’d been ages since he’d taken time to stop at the Shell station that’d at one time been a constant in his life.

Ava released a long, deep moan. A moan that sounded like a woman about to come undone by pure pleasure.

Chase shot her a sideways glance. Her beautiful face had a dreamy look best described as post-orgasmic. From sucking on a hot dog?

“That’s the best chili dog I’ve ever eaten.” Ava kept making throaty groans.

His brain overloaded. He imagined dragging her across the console and giving her another reason to moan. Pushing down her sweatpants and pressing her legs wide open. Burying his face between her thighs. Turning her moans into screams of ecstasy as she came against his mouth in a wet rush.

“Chase?”

He jumped at the closeness of her voice in his ear and snapped, “Jesus, what?”

“Are you okay?”

“Uh. Yeah. Why?”

“Oh, you’re just squeezing that chili dog so hard I thought the meat might shoot straight out of the bun.”

Dammit. He eyed the balled-up wrapper in her hand. “You finished yours? Already?”

“I was hungry,” she retorted. “And for all your grumbling about being starved, you sure were looking at that hot dog like you wanted to eat something else.”

You have no idea.
Chase took a bite and chewed.

“Can we skip the ATV thingy today and check out the countryside?”

“I guess.”

“Good. And will you drive so I can film?”

Thank God. Nothing he hated more than being a captive passenger on a trip without purpose. “Sure. You want me to choose our route?”

When her extraordinary aquamarine eyes lit up, Chase was nearly struck stupid by her beauty.

“That would be awesome! But I need footage of this spot before we go.” She snagged her cameras off the backseat and hopped from the car.

Chase ditched his hoodie and exited the SUV. Slipping on his shades, he parked his backside against the front quarter panel and watched her.

She’d videotape, then grab her camera and click off a few still shots. The elegance of her movements, even simply crouching down in the gravel were naturally graceful. Several strands of glossy brown hair blew around her face, but she didn’t swipe them away. In that moment, Chase wished for a camera to capture the loveliness of Ava’s profile.

She smiled at him. “Bored yet?”

“Nope. It’s a gorgeous day, I’m hauling around a gorgeous…ah,
friend
. What more could a man want?”

Her sultry look said a real man should want more. A lot more. Like hot kisses and frantic touches that led to bare skin rubbing on bare skin. Like bodies slamming together, hard breathing and moans of raw pleasure. But Ava didn’t give voice to that image. She didn’t have to. Every thought was right there on her beautiful face.

Movement on the edge of the ridge caught his eye. “Quick, get your video camera.”

She picked up the equipment and said, “Where?”

Chase pointed to the sky. “There. Two red-tailed hawks are hovering on a thermal.”

“I see them.” They didn’t speak, just watched the grace of the birds. Circling higher, swooping down, then floating, remaining so still they’d look like blots on the horizon to the casual observer. After the birds drifted away, she shut off her camera and faced him. “Thank you.”

“For?”

“Being observant.”

He didn’t ruin the moment and confess if he hadn’t been observing her, he wouldn’t have noticed the birds. He smiled back. “No problem. You ready to move on?”

“Yes.”

Seeing the long line of tourists at the Devil’s Tower entrance, he suggested an alternative.

“How much of this is McKay land?”

“A lot of it.” All of it for the last ten miles in fact. But he knew she couldn’t grasp the enormity of McKay land holdings.

“I’m not sure how the ranch succession works. Do you, or will you own part of it?”

“Not since I opted out.” He settled in the driver’s seat and stole glances at her when she talked about expectations of family businesses. “How does the succession work in yours?”

“My mom was an only child, so she inherited everything. She’s been at the helm of the Cooper Hotel chain and the other businesses in the Cooper conglomerate since before I was born. Since I’ve no interest in running it, my brother has been learning the ropes, but I still own a chunk of it by default.”

She was an heiress to the Cooper conglomerate, which meant she was loaded. Like really fucking loaded. “This might sound weird, but as an actress, did you purposely use Cooper as your last name because of…?”

“Paris Hilton? Yep. Worked for her, didn’t it? But while I’m on sabbatical, I’m Ava Dumond.”

He drove, although it seemed they stopped every two miles so she could get out and film something new. Everything from gnarled fence posts to different breeds of cows, to clusters of scrub oak. She got a huge kick out of the frolicking calves and the bovine mamas mooing a warning at her.

Chase noticed the calves were awful young for the time of year. He squinted at the mile marker at the end of the gravel road. Near as he could tell they were near the Glanzers’ place. He’d heard through the McKay grapevine the trio had increased their acreage the past five years and were experimenting with different breeds. He didn’t want to stick around and find out if these late-born calves were theirs.

Ava put the video camera away. “How far are we from the closest town?”

“Why? Bored already?”

“No, Sundance, I’m not bored. Geez. Give me some credit.”

“Sundance. Funny.”

“I need to use the facilities.”

“Okay.” Chase stopped the car on the edge of the road. He pointed across the field. “See that tree? It’ll offer some privacy, but be careful when you climb over the barbwire fence. Watch out for snakes.”

Ava’s eyes widened. “I’ve never… I don’t even know…”

Chase burst out laughing. “You oughta see your face, Hollywood. It’s too bad you didn’t give me the camera so I capture your look of horror.”

“Making a city girl feel like an idiot at first opportunity?” She sent him an accusatory glance. “Do you treat all your
friends
this way?”

“Yep.”

“Then I don’t want to be your friend.”

Same goes, honey pie
. “We’re only about ten miles out of Moorcroft.”

“Great because now I’m hungry too.”

Chase parked up front at the C-Store and Ava jumped out. It occurred to him when he saw the familiar dark-haired woman lingering by the front door that he should’ve chosen the back lot.

When Ava slid back into the seat, Chase wrapped an arm around her shoulders, hauling her close, nestling his face into the base of her throat.

“What the hell?”

“Don’t look, but my cousin Keely is standing by the door and she’s awful damn interested in us. Just stay like this for a sec, okay? Looks like were making out and hopefully she’ll trot her snoopy self into the store.”

Ava angled her head until her lips brushed his cheek. “Don’t know if you’re aware, but I’m a method actor. Which means I prefer we make out for real so I can get into character.”

Chase groaned. “You are the devil, you know that, right?”

Her low, sexy chuckle vibrated against his jaw. “That’s me, Ava the evil temptress.”

“Talk about tempting.” Against his better judgment, he let his nose follow the sweetly scented arch of her neck. “Damn, woman, do you smell great right here.”

“Thanks. I actually smell like that all over.”

Before he stupidly demanded she prove it and strip down to skin, he kissed the hollow of her throat. Then he peered over her shoulder. “Coast is clear. Let’s go while we can.” He threw it in reverse and they were back on the road.

Ava waved a piece of red licorice at him. “Want some?”

“Not really a fan of licorice.”

“What’s your favorite sweet besides a Heath bar?”

Chase settled in now that Moorcroft was in the rearview mirror. “Actually, I’m not a big sweets eater.”

She jammed a piece of licorice in her mouth and reached for her camera. “So, friend, can I ask you a question?”

“Depends.”

“On?”

“On who you plan on showing the answer to.”

“Spoken like a man who’s been burned by camera-phone video capabilities.”

“Did you see that clip on YouTube?”

“Which one? The one where the blonde chick is riding you like a jockey while her friend is giving commentary and taping? Or the one where you’re on the receiving end of serious oral worship?” She cleared her throat. “Not that I gave either clip more than a brief glance.”

Chase scowled. “That’s why I make sure no one’s cell phone is within reach anymore.”

“Ah. So it didn’t change your
behavior
with the ladies, just changed your behavior with technology?”

Shrewd woman. “Getting off track here, Hollywood. My question was who gets to view this?”

Ava lowered the camera, but Chase knew it was running. “Me. It’s a personal video diary of how I spent my summer vacation.”

He grudgingly said, “Okay, but if any part of this video diary is made public, I will hire Ginger—or worse—to sue you.”

“Ooh, that’s mean. But understood.” She fiddled with the camera. “My first question is, what’s the best thing that ever happened to you? On a personal level or on a professional level.”

“One and the same for me.” Did that make him sound one-dimensional? “The best thing was when I won the Man of Steel competition last year.”

“What about the worst thing that ever happened to you?”

“Getting kicked off the PBR Tour.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, why?”

“I thought you’d pick something else. Something tragic.”

“Not everyone has tragedy in their lives that defines them.” And even if he did, he’d never share it. “Same questions back atcha.”

“Best thing was landing a role on
Miller’s Ridge
. Worst thing? When my Grandpa Cooper died. All people talked about was my inheritance. Like I was so greedy and entitled I’d blow every penny he’d worked so hard for on stupid shit.”

“What kind of stupid shit?” Chase asked.

A beat passed. “I didn’t realize my battery is low. Enough for today.” She yawned. “I think I might take a nap when we get back.”

Interesting how quickly she shut down his questions. He let it slide. This time. “Sounds good. I’m dragging a bit myself.”

The remainder of the drive was quiet. At the trailer, Ava grabbed her laptop and retreated to the bedroom.

Chase was restless. He’d left his phone and saw he’d missed a call from Elroy. And from his former traveling partner, Justin Donohue. And from his brother Ben. None left messages.

Probably because they know you won’t call them back.

With nothing else to do, he brought up the search engine on his phone and typed in Ava Cooper, just to see what shook loose.

Chapter Five

Ava downloaded her footage to her computer. Groggy from the heat in the trailer, she stripped, stretched out on the bed and fell sound asleep.

She woke at eleven o’clock at night feeling refreshed. After slipping on her clothes, she wandered into the kitchen.

Oh, looky there. The delicious dish known as Chase McKay sat on the counter, looking good enough to eat.

Why yes. I’d love to be your appetizer, entrée and dessert. One serving of hot, hunky cowboy coming right up.

Behave, Ava.

“I figured you’d gone to bed,” Chase said.

“I’ll admit I did crash for a while. Before that I had some things to catch up on. Takes a boatload of time to download everything from my cameras into the right folders on my laptop. Then I transferred the notes I jotted down so I don’t forget things.”

“Sounds tedious. Why are you doin’ this again?”

“I’m trying my hand at having a hobby,” she said sardonically. “And no, I’m not getting paid. Don’t you ever do something just because you’ve always wanted to?”

“Can’t say as I have. In fact, it’s just the opposite. I find myself doin’ stuff I don’t wanna do all the damn time.”

Ava’s smile vanished. “You could’ve said no if you didn’t want to squire me around today.” She turned and walked away.

A thump sounded and then strong hands circled her waist, spinning her around. He got in her face, as much as he could despite her height advantage. “Will you let me finish? I wasn’t talking about you. Or today. Today was great, Ava. I had a blast.”

“But?”

“No buts. Seems I never do things like that. At least I don’t take the time to do them because I’m so busy doin’ other things I don’t wanna do. These last two weeks off have shown me I’m not really living my life. I’m just killing time between bull ridin’ events. And I don’t make the best decisions on what to do with that free time.”

Mollified and surprised by his honesty, Ava forced her hands to remain at her sides. She freely gave casual affection to friends and lovers alike, but something about Chase’s body language cautioned her to hold back, afraid he’d misread her friendliness as a sexual come-on. Didn’t mean she wouldn’t flirt her ass off with him, but touching without invitation was a definite no-no. “Don’t you have buddies you hang out with when you’re not rodeoing?”

“Sometimes. Truth is, I’m a little low on friends. So, thanks for today.”

Did Chase show anyone this sweet side? Probably not. Why that filled her with warmth was stupidly juvenile. “You are welcome. I’m a little low on friends myself, so I’m glad I didn’t kill you with a karate chop to the head last night.”

He laughed. “Death by nekkid ninja don’t sound so bad.”

Do not give me false hope you’ve been imagining me naked
. “What have you been doing?”