One Night With a Cowboy (4 page)

He pulled himself out of the pool of her eyes enough to notice both his friend and
her sister had become very quiet. He glanced at them and yup, just as expected, the
two were watching them like proud parents at their kid’s first school dance. As if
this weren’t hard enough already, the dead last thing he needed was Jace playing matchmaker.

Though if Becca’s sister were half as nosy about her love life as Jace was about his,
at least he and Becca would have something in common. An alliance to build upon. That
was good. He’d gladly take that common ground while he regained his footing in the
treacherous dating waters. Then hopefully later tonight he’d need the supply of what
was in Jace’s gear bag.

Tuck turned his attention back to Becca. “How about we get you downstairs and settled?
The opening will be starting soon.”

Becca hesitated. She glanced at her sister and then looked back at Tuck. Finally,
she nodded. “Okay.”

“Good.” He grinned and grabbed her hand. At that, both her eyes and her sister’s opened
a little wider.

City girls sure were easy to rattle if a little hand-holding shocked them. He decided
he liked that, but he couldn’t even begin to imagine how she was going to react later
if and when he dropped his jeans and introduced her to Tuck Junior.

He laced his fingers with hers and held tight, having no intention of letting go as
he led her and the others down the stairs. One quick glance over his shoulder told
him Becca’s sister was following with a smile on her face. And behind her, with his
attention glued to Emma’s butt while he walked and wore a smile of his own, was Jace.

Quite the mix of characters they had here. If nothing else, it was sure going to be
one hell of an interesting evening.

A
s they descended the stairs, Becca struggled to match the long stride of the cowboy
at whom her sister had practically thrown her. Tucker—even his name sounded cowboy,
which fit in perfectly with the rest of him. From the hat to the boots and all the
many parts in between.

Glancing around, she found herself amid a sea of cowboy hats. She was definitely in
Oklahoma. A stranger in a strange land. Speaking of strange, she was feeling more
than strange to have her hand captured in his much larger, work-roughened one.

He led them to the lower level where he nodded to a man wearing a T-shirt marked SECURITY.
That single nod was all it took to gain all four of them access to what looked like
a restricted area. It relieved the suspicious New Yorker in her. He must at least
be familiar to the security personnel and not some kidnapper who came in off the street.
That was something anyway. Of course Emma wasn’t one bit concerned. The free spirit
who was her sister would likely get them both killed one day.

Becca scowled at the thought as they wound their way down another flight of stairs
toward an area that bustled with rodeo competitors and staff, and she felt even more
out of place.

The definite scent of manure assaulted her nose. A glance to the right had her tripping
over her own feet as the source of that particular odor was revealed—a dozen or so
bulls. Really big bulls with long horns, and nothing keeping them contained except
for some pretty flimsy-looking metal railings. At least they looked flimsy to her
as one bull rammed the boundaries of the pen and the whole thing shifted a good six
inches.

Torn between which she should be more worried about, the animals ready to stampede
or the cowboy still clasping her hand in his iron grip, she glanced behind her. Emma
was still there, looking triumphant. Perhaps Emma should spend less time gloating
over Becca’s current situation with Tucker and pay more attention to the other cowboy.
The one bringing up the rear . . . and concentrating solely on Emma’s butt.

Becca glanced down again at their intertwined fingers. Her bastard ex-boyfriend Jerry
hadn’t been a hand-holder. Not in the beginning of their relationship, and definitely
not near the end. She wasn’t sure how she felt about this man who’d plucked her out
of her seat to bring her to his domain. Kind of like a Neanderthal dragging his chosen
mate by her hair back to his cave.

Part of her railed against the whole concept. While other parts of her, parts lower,
were all aflutter. She’d never dated a really manly man. She’d been with other English
students while she was in college, but if their hands got dirty it was because they
were erasing the chalkboard or dusting the lesser used books on the shelves in the
campus library. Then came Jerry who pushed papers for a living at his job in sales.
Not one of the men in her past had ever made her feel quite so . . . dominated.

Just the word had her womanly muscles clenching as Tucker stopped walking and turned
to her, his eyes focused solely on hers. “This good? You’ll be able to see the bucking
chutes from here.”

She eyed the immediate area, feeling every inch of her New York roots and like she
didn’t belong anywhere near this wild place filled with men and beasts. “Wow. This
is really close.”

To her right was one cowboy bent over strapping on a pair of leather chaps. Next to
him, another one wrapped surgical tape around his own wrist. Meanwhile another guy
pulled on a vest covered in sponsor logos, making her feel even more out of place
and like she was intruding on their private space. Kind of like a female sports reporter
who’d stepped into a testosterone-laden locker room full of jocks in nothing but towels.

At least these cowboys weren’t naked, just making some final preparations, and they
didn’t seem to care she was there. They were right out in view of the rest of the
public, who were kept on the next level by the guard their little foursome had swooped
right past thanks to Tucker’s lead.

She yanked her gaze away from the various vignettes and spotted the other demographic
of people. Scattered around the male competitors were girls. She definitely wouldn’t
call them women. Nope. They were girls. Young, bouncy, eager-looking girls who seemed
much closer to her students’ ages than her own.

“That’s the whole idea, sweetheart. To enjoy rodeo properly, you gotta be close enough
to see the snot fly.” Tucker grinned, his blue eyes crinkling in the corners as he
did. He dropped his hold on her hand and moved to stand slightly behind her and to
the side.

The snot comment had her laughing, until she felt the weight of his right arm drape
casually around her shoulder. “You’re right. This is much closer than our seats. We’ll
definitely be able to see the snot from here.” She swallowed hard.

Again, he took her by surprise. Had Jerry ever put his arm around her shoulders? Probably
not. Jerry was only a few inches taller than she was. It would have been a stretch
for him. But Tucker was so tall, he could easily see the arena over her head. Even
so, he stayed turned toward her, his gaze remaining only on her.

How was he so focused on her and only her when the girls surrounding them could easily
make up a cheerleading squad? All right, the
sweetheart
comment had made her feel a bit better about being old enough to chaperone the group
of girls hanging out among the cowboys, but the whole thing was still perplexing.
Particularly how that intense stare of his remained trained on her rather than moving
on to the perky young thing whose top didn’t cover her belly button or hide the outline
of her nipples.

It was a mystery to Becca.

As a bull rammed the railed enclosure one more time, she jumped and wondered if maybe
they were standing a little too close. Bull snot was one thing. Horns and hooves were
quite another. She’d seen videos of the running of the bulls in Pamplona. It wasn’t
something she wanted to participate in, there in Spain or here in Oklahoma. Yet somehow
she trusted Tucker. Even without really knowing him, she had a feeling he’d save her
if a crazed bull should barrel through that fence and charge her. But they should
really invest in some stronger fencing, in her opinion. She eyed the enclosure one
more time.

“Uh, he’s not going to break out of there, is he?” Her voice sounded a bit squeakier
than she would have liked. Squeaky was not sexy. Though being trampled and covered
in snot wouldn’t be so good, either.

“Nah. He’s just flexing his muscles a bit. He’s fine.” As he swiveled his head to
look toward the bull still making the disturbance, she allowed herself to look closer
at the cowboy who was so calm about the commotion.

He was probably close to thirty. Older than the barely twenty-something females hanging
out nearby, but not too old he couldn’t take advantage of them if he really wanted
to. Certainly not too old to be hanging out with them rather than her.

Maybe he had a daughter of his own. That could be one explanation for what was keeping
him from partaking of the bimbo buffet within reach. She did the math in her head.
Tuck could have a twelve-year-old if he’d started young.

Kids usually came with a wife. That thought raised a whole new and very troubling
concern. As he gripped the metal rail, she glanced at his left hand—no wedding ring.
Not even a white stripe of skin where one had been recently. Phew. She breathed a
sigh of relief and tried to calm her racing heart.

Maybe for tonight she should stop over-thinking things, or at least stop analyzing
everything quite so much. Though old habits were hard to break.

How nice would it be to not think for a little while and just be? Emma seemed to be
able to live in the moment with no problem, but Becca wasn’t sure she’d ever done
that before. Maybe tonight was the time to give it a try.

“Thank you.” She glanced up at Tucker.

“For what?” He glanced down and his eyes met hers. Again the intensity of his gaze
unnerved her, and she broke eye contact first, looking around them.

“For bringing us down here. Making sure we can see.” Making sure they didn’t get trampled
to death . . . She shrugged. “For everything.”

“My pleasure.” The dimple in his chin was so tempting, she found herself staring at
it. She imagined nibbling on that and more of him. She yanked her gaze away and tried
to get hold of herself.

“Hey, you girls want a couple of beers?” Jace’s question broke into her naughty imaginings
about what parts of Tucker she’d like to bite.

“Thanks. That would be great.” Emma answered for both of them, just as Becca had opened
her mouth to say no. Stone-cold sober, she was already picturing her mouth all over
Tucker. She hated to even think what would happen if she had some alcohol in her.

“You be okay while we’re gone?” Tucker squeezed her shoulder as he asked the question.

He touched her so easily, so casually, yet it still had her swallowing hard. “Uh.
Sure.”

“Okay. Be right back.” He winked and turned on one boot heel, treating her to the
tempting view of the back of him.

Tucker Jenkins sure did wear his jeans well. He should probably be the spokesmodel
for the brand. Come to think of it, the name of a jeans company was embroidered down
the arm of his shirt. He probably was a spokesmodel.

This was all so different from what she had expected when Emma first declared they
were going to a rodeo in Oklahoma. She let out a breath and tried to absorb it all.

“Oh, my God. He is so hot.” Emma’s eyes were opened so wide, Becca was afraid her
sister’s eyeballs might pop out and roll after the two cowboys walking away.

“Which one?” Not wanting to give her sister the satisfaction of knowing she was melting
inside from five minutes in Tucker’s presence, she played innocent.

“You know very well which one.” Emma screwed her mouth up into her usual annoyed expression.
“The one who’s been holding your hand and looking at you like he wants to eat you
for dinner.”

“In case you haven’t noticed, there are two of them, and the other one seems to like
you just fine.” She cocked a brow at her sister. If she was going to be devoured for
dinner, then Emma was going to be right there on the table next to her.

“Can’t blame him, really.” Emma grinned. “I’m a very likeable person, you know.”

She ignored Emma’s joking. “You’re really okay with hanging out and drinking with
two strange men we only met a few minutes ago?” She might be very interested in getting
to know Tucker a little better, but she’d be damned if it was because her sister had
decided it for her.

“Of course, I am. And they’re not strange, they’re just strangers. There’s a difference.”

“Emma Hart, sometimes you scare me. Strangers are just as bad, or are you forgetting
all those stranger-danger assemblies we had to sit through back in middle school?
You really need to be a little more selective about who you’re willing to go out with.
What do we know about these guys?”

“We know we’re not up in the nosebleed seats anymore, thanks to them. They’re polite.
We know they’re paying for our beer. What’s not to be okay with? I even hope you’ll
have breakfast with one of them in the morning.”

“Emma!” Okay, the idea had already crossed her mind, but still, Emma was her older
sister. Her job was to talk Becca out of having casual sex with strange men, not talk
her into it.

“Come on, Becca. You were living like an old, boring, married lady while you were
with Jerry, and since breaking up you’ve been living like a nun. It won’t kill you
to have a little fun.”

“It might. What if they’re serial killers who stay one step ahead of the law by traveling
with the rodeo?” She tried to imagine a string of bodies and missing persons strewn
across the country, coincidentally matching up with the rodeo circuit, but she couldn’t.
That image didn’t fit with the man who’d asked with genuine concern whether she’d
be okay if he left her for a few minutes. The same guy who’d just stopped on the way
to the concession stand to take a picture with a little boy all dressed up in miniature
cowboy gear to match Tucker’s big-boy outfit.

She watched Tucker take a marker from the boy’s mother and sign the boy’s cowboy hat,
before tipping his own and turning toward the beer vendor to join Jace there. Okay,
maybe she was being ridiculous and these cowboys weren’t serial killers on the lam,
but that didn’t mean she was going to give Emma the satisfaction of knowing.

“You like him.”

Becca turned to see her sister’s smug expression. Crap. Emma knew her so well, she
could read her face like an open book. It was true. Stranger she’d just met or not,
she did like Tucker.

She struggled with herself before finally giving in and rolling her eyes. “All right.
I’ll admit he seems nice. On the surface.”

“Ha! I told you so.”

With a groan, she shook her head. This was why she didn’t want to admit anything to
Emma. “What did you tell me?”

“That you should apply for the job because Oklahoma could be a nice place to live
and work. That you’d have fun here at the rodeo. And that cowboys were hot.” Emma
let out a sigh of appreciation. “Mmm, mmm. Look at all these strapping, handsome men,
and they’re all gathered for you under one roof right here in Perkins, Oklahoma. Which
I might add is conveniently located a short drive from Stillwater, where you have
a job interview tomorrow and will be living if—when—you get the position.”

She ignored Emma’s self-satisfied tone. “Anything else you’d like to add to your I-told-you-so?”

“Nope.” Emma shook her head and shot Becca a grin.

“Good. Now it’s my turn. First of all, I didn’t get the job yet, and who knows if
I even will? Furthermore, I have yet to be convinced Oklahoma is such a great place
to live or work. It’s only been a few hours since we landed. We’ve seen nothing but
the airport, our hotel room, and this arena. And lastly, the rodeo hasn’t even started
yet, so how do you know it’ll be fun?” Becca crossed her arms and narrowed her gaze
at her sister, but all Emma did in response was smirk.