Ryder (Rope 'n Ride Series Book 2) (2 page)

“Yes, but don’t worry. I put him in his place.”

Her father shook his head and grinned. “Why don’t you stick close to me today?”

Ever since she’d grown boobs he’d hated her wandering the rodeos. He said she looked too much like her mother and men couldn’t keep their eyes off her. Sometimes not even their hands.

“I got it, Daddy.”

Besides, she may look like her mom with the same long, dark hair and gray eyes but she had her father’s strength of character. He’d stuck it out when her mother hadn’t. And he was the master of any bull he’d ever encountered. Which was how he’d won the finals several years running and won over two million dollars in his career. Back in his day, the fortune was unheard of.

She looked around at the bustling cowboys, handlers and fans. Maybe years ago when cowboys were… well
more
, she might have fallen for one but from what she saw now, she wasn’t impressed by any man wearing boots and Wranglers.

“I know you can handle yourself. I taught you well. Remember if anybody gets handsy, just gr—”

“Grab, twist and pull,” she finished with him, making a hand gesture to demonstrate what he’d taught her.

“That’s my little girl.”

As he walked away, she pressed her lips together. She loved his concern for her, but she was no longer a little girl. Making him see that would be as easy as tying pink ribbons around the hooves of the bulls in the chutes.

With a sigh, she followed her nose—and her cramping stomach—toward the food stalls. In her time, she’d eaten it all and her stomach was cast-iron. She could handle the hottest chili and greasiest funnel cakes. It was a good thing all the hard work she put in on the ranch kept her from weighing as much as one of the beef steers they raised.

She stood in line for a fresh-squeezed lemonade and eyed the Texas Ranger Burger shack beside her, when a deep drawl reached her ears.

“The scoring isn’t only for the rider,” he was saying.

Joy looked around and felt her ovaries clench. Now
this
was a cowboy she could sink her teeth into. Tall, big all over, and with the cutest flyaways of brown hair poking from the brim of his Stetson. Man enough to take care of business but with a roguish look about him that pushed Joy’s buttons.

Oh no. Not again. Hiding a rodeo man from her father had been miserable last time. And when he’d finally discovered her secret romance… Well she hadn’t been lying to that guy when she said he’d break his legs.

Quickly, she averted her gaze, paid for her lemonade and collected the cup, damp with condensation. She wandered to the next line to get her burger, still keeping her ear on the conversation.

The blonde woman asked something Joy couldn’t make out, but the cowboy’s drawl carried easily to her. This was a man in command of himself. More than her ovaries clenched this time.

“The bull scores from zero to fifty points and the rider gets the same. Many riders get zero because they lose control right out of the gate.”

Joy sneaked a glance behind her. Afraid to show that she was eavesdropping, she kept her gaze downward. Which was a terrible idea because in her field of vision was the sexiest forearm and hand she’d ever seen.

Roped with muscle and with thick veins running from elbow to wrist and down into his broad hands. His fingers were long with clean square nails.

“What can I get you?” the burger guy asked.

She looked up and almost laughed at the comical red cowboy hat atop his head and the gimmicky red bandanna around his throat. “You must be ready to keel over in this heat wearing that.”

He flashed a grin. “You know it, but it brings more customers my way. What can I get you?”

She placed her order and threw out her senses to try to hear the deep drawl that had done strange things to her body. When a burger was shoved at her, she paid for it and walked away from the booth.

She stopped dead. Face-to-face with the hunky cowboy. The blonde stood in front of him, toying with one of the patches on his shirt right over his pec. The cowboy looked past the blonde and directly at Joy.

Her heart gave a weird wobble.
He’s not that great. I just have a weakness for cowboys because they’re forbidden.

“Riding bulls must be so
hard
,” the blonde said.

Rolling his eyes, the cowboy lightly grasped her wrist and pulled her hand away from his chest. “It’s not like painting your nails.” He looked at the pink claws on the hand he was holding and dropped it.

Joy found the urge to laugh irresistible and let it roll up her throat.

The cowboy looked straight at her and his eyes creased—God, they creased so
adorably
—and he pushed by the blonde to reach Joy.

Shit, now she was stuck. She’d been caught listening and there was no getting away from this cowboy even if she could uproot her boots from the dirt.

Now that her mind had caught up to her libido, she realized she knew him. Recognized him from TV. “You’re on that reality show
Rope ’n Ride
.”

He groaned so low that she wondered if she’d imagined it. There was a lot of noise around them.

He reached for his hat brim and gave it a tug. “Ryder Calhoun.”

“Joy Humphries.”

He blinked at her slowly. Then he let his gaze drop from her eyes to her lips and back to her eyes. She had her mother’s lips, too—“kissing” lips some guy had once told her.

“Humphries. Are we talking rodeo royalty?” His drawl was back, deeper than before and doing brand new things to her body. The energy between them zapped her in all the right places, but she couldn’t act on it.

She nodded. “My father’s Thunder Humphries.”

“Damn, should I bow to you or something?”

She smiled and shook her head. “Maybe it’s you I should bow to. A big-time TV star.”

This time his groan was unmistakable, and she got the feeling he liked his position as much as she liked being the daughter of a famous bull rider. She never could be sure if people liked her because of who her father was or for herself.

“I’d kiss your hand, but they’re both full,” Ryder said.

She remembered the burger and lemonade. “Yeah, I’d better eat and get back to work. It was nice meeting you, Ryder.”

When she started walking away, she wasn’t surprised to find him keeping step with her, but unlike the last cowboy, she didn’t mind this one. Which was dangerous.

“Back to work? What are you doing here in Austin?”

“Helping my father. He’s coaching a few rising stars.”

“Ah.” The short response gave Joy the feeling he didn’t like having more competition, let alone ones coached by Thunder Humphries.

“Why aren’t you in the PBR? You’ve got what it takes,” she said, navigating around a cluster of guys standing in the way talking.

“Hmm, your father is a founder of the PBR, right? Are you selling memberships like Girl Scout cookies now?”

She laughed again—she couldn’t help it. Being back where she belonged made her feel so free and happy. And she liked having Ryder there. His body heat washing over her side made her skin prickle, but most of all she liked what she saw under his sexy exterior. So far, he’d revealed his disdain for a silly Buckle Bunny
and
his fame.

Maybe this cowboy had some substance.

But it didn’t matter—her father wouldn’t like him around his “little girl.” That made her rebellious streak rise up, something that hadn’t happened since she was a teenager.

“I’m not trying to sell you a membership. I’m just saying, you’re good. You could easily move into the touring pro division and make big money.”

He shook his head, the action manly as hell. “Not interested. I stay with my family.”

“Too bad,” she said even as she admired his determination and ties to his family. “You have a chance at going against the toughest contenders in the world. You know the best bulls are in the PBR, right?”

Now that got his attention. There weren’t many bull riders who didn’t chase fame—but Ryder didn’t seem to be one of them. However, there wasn’t a bull rider on the planet who didn’t strive to ride the most dangerous, bad-ass bull that ever lived.

“There’s my father. You should talk to him.” She raised her lemonade in the direction of her dad.

“Thanks, but maybe later. I’m late meeting my brothers and sister. Ridge’s event is coming up and I can’t miss the circle.”

She’d seen the Calhoun circle on the reality show. When all the siblings drew together to bow their heads and devote their rides to their father, who’d died the previous year. It had touched Joy, seeing that. And being an only child made her long for such camaraderie. She’d always wanted sisters and brothers. Hell, she’d learned about sex from another bull rider’s son and been assisted by another rider’s wife when she’d gotten her first period.

Suddenly, she felt very alone.

Ryder looked into her eyes and wrapped his long, callused fingers around her wrist. He removed the lemonade from her hand and lifted her knuckles to his lips. The prickle of his beard met her sensitive skin first, and she sucked in a sharp gasp. Then his warm breath stroked her knuckles, followed by warm, soft lips.

She fought to keep her eyes from rolling back in her head. She caught herself before she swayed.

With a crooked smile that this time she found anything but average, Ryder said, “It was nice meeting you, Princess. Here’s your lemonade.”

It took her two tries to get the cup back into her hand and five solid heartbeats to peel her gaze off his retreating ass.

* * * * *

West dug his elbow into Ryder’s ribs.

Ryder flinched. “Damn, bro, why’d you do that? I’m still sore from that fall.” During practice, he’d gotten a whippy bull and was dumped within five seconds. If his ride today was the same, he wasn’t earning anything but embarrassment—and in front of Thunder Humphries and his stunning daughter.

Her gray-eyed stare was implanted in his head, and he hadn’t stopped thinking about her since kissing her knuckles.

“You didn’t say the words, Ryder. Say them.” West’s demand made Ryder look around at his family standing in their circle, looking at him.

“For you, Dad,” he recited.

“You’re distracted. Where’s your head, Ryder?” Buck asked from opposite him. Channing stood beside him and his partner, Asher, was on his left.

They’d brought Asher into their circle shortly after learning of his hardship with his wife who’d been huffing paint thinner and had finally filed for divorce, leaving him with two little hellion girls. Said girls danced in the middle of the circle wearing cowgirl boots and matching tutus.

Ryder stared at Buck. “My head’s right here. I’m in this. Wait till you see my score up on that board.”

Buck gave a hard nod. “Good.”

This wasn’t about earning enough money to buy the family ranch back from their asshole cousin anymore. But each of them had a strong drive to win their events. And Ryder had a spark of a dream in his head—for himself this time. He wanted his own place.

He was sick of going home to the family ranch house and sharing a bathroom with his grown-ass brothers and sister. West stealing all the hot water and Wynonna’s long auburn hairs in the drain didn’t make up for Ma’s good cooking. He’d take Ramen noodles and his own space.

Besides, if he got out of the house, he’d be farther from the production crew.

The circle split apart. “Good luck, everyone,” he said, meaning it.

The minute he stepped away from his family, though, his thoughts returned to Joy. Any other name couldn’t fit a woman like her. She’d laughed several times in his presence, which had made his heart jump every time. She brought a smile to his own face just thinking about her.

Medium height with a nice round ass and long, wavy hair that skimmed those perfect globes. Her skin had tasted like honey and smelled better. He ran his tongue over his lower lip and imagined kissing her plump, amazing mouth.

Damn, her lips were what lipstick models aspired to have. Full and pouty, her upper lip curved just right. Made for long make-out sessions.

That she knew him from the reality show bothered him some. He hadn’t seen all the episodes from last season—had no desire to watch himself on TV. When he did occasionally collapse into a chair with a beer, he watched sports or endured one of his mother’s game shows.

And Joy had seen him ride. Now that raised his spirits a bit. He was proud of his control on the back of a bull, and the fact that she’d recommended he go further with his career stroked his pride.

As he and his family made their way to the arena where Ridge would be competing in saddle broncs soon, he couldn’t help but look around for the curvy little vixen who wouldn’t leave his thoughts.

“Who you Jell-O-necking for?” Lane asked him.

“Nobody. Just seeing how big the crowd is.”

“Not buying it.” Lane didn’t press, though, just leaned against the wall separating the crowd from the arena and crossed his ankles and arms.

Adrianna pushed in beside Ryder, and he scooted over to give her enough room. She centered the camera on Lane, which was fine by him. He returned to scouring the crowd for the sweet little tan cowgirl hat and the beautiful woman wearing it.