Loving You: A Cowboy Romance (Texas Hill Country Romance Book 1) (25 page)

The stands filled up fast as it got closer to competition time. The first event was Cord’s event, bareback riding, then team roping, next would be woman’s barrel racing, and finally bull riding.

Cord left Annie in the stands, front row, with Calista and Jennie. Cord’s mother and niece, Kimmie, sat down a row behind them. Kimmie was all over Annie, Calista, and Jennie. They didn’t mind, they obliged her. Cord’s mom sat with Joan and though she would talk to Jennie and Calista, she paid no mind to Annie. It made Annie uncomfortable, but for Cord’s sake she chose to be polite, ignore her, but be polite.

Dan, Cord and Annie both noted, was in the same section of the stands as Annie but further back. He was with a girl Annie didn’t know, but Cord did.

Dan smiled and nodded to Annie. He also nodded to Cord. Cord just looked. He did not nod.

The guys were all going to be by the chutes, helping out in one capacity or another. Rory and Jake were in the team roping event, and Calista as well as Lisa were in the barrel racing event. The latter had stayed away from the gang and they knew why and were more than good with it. They also doubted she knew they knew.

Cord’s father took to the microphone and thanked everyone for coming that day and wished the contestants luck.

Everyone rose for the national Anthem and the color guard. Then the show began.

There were eight bronc riders and Cord was the last one.

Annie looked up to the chutes and caught Cord on top of the metal fence, helping a rider get comfortable before giving the okay to open the gate. He was smiling and talking to the rider and the other cowboys around there.

He had just happened to have picked up his head and caught her watching him. He paused and smiled at her.

Boy, it warmed her heart whenever he did that, she thought.

He focused back on the rider and stood up on the fence as the gate opened. The horse came out of the chute bucking to the left and the rider looked like a rag doll on top. He lasted 4.3 seconds before he was thrown off. He rolled and shot up with a disappointed look on his face. The crowd clapped for him nonetheless. The next rider was thrown off too. The third and fourth rider managed to stay on for the full eight seconds and the third rider currently had the lead with an 86.5.

The last rider, Cord, was on Storm, in the chute, cinching the rope around his hand as Jake, Rory, and Shane were on top helping him get comfortable.

Kimmie left her seat by her grandmother and squished herself between Calista and Annie. Annie took her hand.

“Nervous?” she asked.

“No, Uncle Cord’s gonna win.”

Annie was pleased his niece had a lot of faith in him. She too felt he would do well and hoped he would win.

Cord nodded his head to the gate keeper and Rory and the guys stood up on the fence. Storm came out bucking and Cord, who kept the heels of his boots in contact with the horse just above its shoulder leaned back. When Storm would buck left, Cord would move left. Storm would buck right Cord would move right.

Both horse and rider were in black, even, Annie noticed, the cast on the arm he held up was sheathed in black, and horse and man moved so fluidly that it looked like they were one.

The crowd cheered.

Only another 2.4 seconds and Cord had this. Boy, time moves so slowly, thought Annie.

Then she heard the buzzer and watched cord dismount effortlessly, which was no easy feat, to the cheering crowd.

He had a huge grin on his face and it was directed at her.

He ran over to the grandstands and climbed up the metal fence and reached in to Annie, who along with everyone else was standing and clapping. He wrapped his hand around her neck and drew her to him and kissed her hard.

Kimmie jumped up and down shouting “Uncle Cord, Uncle Cord,” as she tried to shimmy in between them.

Cord broke the kiss and brought his hand down to Kimmie. “How’d I do, princess?” he asked.

“You were wonderful, Uncle Cord,” she said and he gave her a quick kiss, then directed his attention back to Annie as people all around patted him on the back.

“I didn’t fall on my ass this time, huh?” He smiled.             

“No, you didn’t.” She laughed. “You were magnificent, Cord.”

“Thank you.” He gave her another quick kiss and was ready to jump down, but she grabbed his shirt and brought her lips to his ear.

“Wear the chaps without jeans tonight and I’m yours to do with what you want,” she said seductively, and he grinned from ear to ear.

“You better mean that, baby,” he said and she smiled brightly as she nodded her head.

“Fuc-” he caught himself before finishing, having caught sight of Kimmie listening to him. He smiled as he jumped back down into the arena and walked away with a spring in his step.

Cord’s mom just stared at the back of Annie’s head with tight lips.

The next competition was the team roping. Jake and Rory finished third out of the six teams. During that event, Calista left the stands to prepare for her event.

Lisa won the barrel racing while Calista also finished third.

The last event was the bull riding. There were ten contestants and it was the biggest draw. Seven out of the ten were professional bull riders who participated in the event every year, and no matter who won the event, the money the winner won, which was half of the amount, with the other half going to the charity, was always donated back to the charity.

Shane, who rode Rebel, was disqualified because Rebel threw him off in 3.7 seconds.

The winner of that event was Jesse Cutler, the current leader on the circuit. Cord had introduced Annie to him earlier when they were walking around the grounds.

The crowd dispersed. Most headed to the refreshment area for food and drinks.

Annie and Jennie waited for Calista then they headed to the large tent to get a beer, well, for Jennie and Calista, and a glass of wine for Annie. She knew the guys were sticking around getting things in order with the livestock. If Annie knew Cord, he was grooming Storm right about now.

The girls stood outside the tent drinking and talking about the rodeo when they saw the guys walk over. When they were a few feet away, two girls went up to them. Calista casually nudged Annie. She studied the scene more closely and realized by the way the girls were giggling and throwing their hair around, they were flirting with their guys.

Cord had stopped and obliged them, but not before he made eye contact with Annie.

When he tried to move forward, one of the girls would step in front of him. He finally got close enough to Annie and reached out with his hand for her.

She walked into his embrace.

He bent her back a little and deeply kissed her. The girl that was trying in vain to get his attention harrumphed, and grabbed her friend and walked away.

“Thank you for coming to my rescue, darlin’,” he said to Annie after that mind blowing kiss.

All Annie could do was nod and she even noticed that her knees grew weak.
Damn, this man still makes my legs feel like jello,
she thought to herself.

She looked at him and he noticed her eyes were darker in color and she was breathless.

“Who’s going to rescue me from you?” She softly asked as she looked beyond his shoulder, not happy with herself for revealing that private thought to him.

He brought his hand to her face and turned it back to him. He moved his hand over her lips so slowly and then kissed her.

“We’ll catch up with you guys later,” Cord said to the gang as he dragged Annie away.

Annie looked to Calista and shrugged with a smile. Calista laughed and shook her head.

“Where are we going?” Annie asked Cord

“To the house.”

“Oh, er, oh,” she stammered as she slowed down.

“No one’s there. Everyone will be around on the grounds and I want to take advantage of you in my old room.”

Annie laughed as he began to drag her again.

They walked into a grand Victorian house with a grand staircase. He led her up the stairs, then down the hall. They walked to the third door on the left and he opened it. He ushered her inside and shut and locked the door. Then he pushed her up against it and grabbed her hands in the hand that his cast was in. It was getting stronger everyday and he was doing a lot more with it. The cast was supposed to come off that coming Wednesday. He raised them up over her head and crushed himself to her. He pried her mouth open with his and plunged his tongue inside.

She felt him grow hard and she rubbed up against him.

He groaned in her mouth as his free hand went under her skirt and down her panties. His fingers found their way inside her and he growled.

“So wet and ready for me,” he said.

She could do no more than breathe heavy as she rocked her lower body into his hand.

He removed his fingers from her and brought them up to her mouth and pushed them in. It turned him on so much to see her suck them greedily, watching her enjoy the taste of her just as he did. He removed his fingers and brought them to his belt and quickly dropped his pants. He stepped back and let go of her hands that were over her head.

“Take off your panties.”

She did as he said. As she bent down to remove them, she was treated to his hand stroking his large, thick cock. It turned her on whenever she saw him touch himself.

He watched her watch him.

When she stepped out of her panties, he swiftly grabbed her hands and brought them up over her head again. With his other hand, he guided his cock under her skirt and inside her.

“I want to feel your legs around me, Annie.”

She quickly jumped up and wrapped them around his waist.

They both let out a moan as he went deeper inside her. He banged her against the door, hard and fast.

One hand held hers above her head, the other squeezed and kneaded her ass. The only sound they heard, besides their labored breathing, was the door rattling in rhythm with his thrusts.

Her eyes were closed and she was feeling so fucking good.

“Oohhh…Cord… I…lov….” Her eyes flew open, relieved she caught herself, but Cord was watching her and saw that her eyes grew wide in a bit of a panic.

“What, baby?” he panted as he stared intently into her eyes but never slowed.

“I, uh…love…this,” she said, every word said on a thrust.

He smiled lazily knowing that’s not what she was going to say, but he didn’t push her. He knew she loved him and he’d wait, hell, he’d wait forever just to hear her say it to him.

He changed up the rhythm.

“I’m close, baby, you with me?”

“Almost.”

“Play with your clit,” he said, and he let go of one of her hands.

She zeroed in on her magic spot and he felt the beginnings of her orgasm. He grinned wide as she thrust wildly.

She closed her eyes and was coming when he ordered her to open them. He loved watching her eyes when she came. The bliss he saw there was like none he’d ever seen before and it always set him off. He stepped up his thrusting. Harder, faster, in, out.

When she clamped down on him, he came, moaning her name.

He dropped her other hand and leaned into her, panting. Then he claimed her lips and kissed her until he came back to earth and then he pulled out of her on a moan of protest from her.

He smiled down at her as she unwrapped her legs from his waist and dropped them to the floor.

“Jello,” she said. And he grinned a cocky grin.

He stared at her face. “Your hair is a little messy, your eyes are glossy, and your lips are plump. I’d say you’ve been thoroughly fucked,” he said as he laughed.

“Mmmmm, oh yeah,” she said as her eyes wandered around his bedroom. “What was that?” she asked, bringing her eyes back to him, and he knew she was referring to their raw fucking.

“I call it the rodeo rush.” He chuckled.

“Well, you need to be doing a lot more rodeoing,” she whispered and he chuckled as he picked up his pants and zipped and buckled up.

She took a quick walk around his room and picked up a photo of him with two other boys. He couldn’t have been more than seven or eight years old. They were standing in front of a barn and each made a silly face at the camera. She looked at him in question.

“That’s me in the middle…my older brother, Jacob,” he said solemnly, as he pointed to the taller kid on the right of him in the picture, “I miss him every day. He was my best friend. And my brother Shane.” He pointed to the third kid.

“I’m so sorry, Cord.”

“Yeah,” was all he said.

“You all have the same smile,” she said softly.

He gave her a quick kiss, then paused like he was listening. Someone was in the house. They looked at each other and she shrugged.