And Then You Dare (Crested Butte Cowboys Series Book 5) (14 page)

He knew if he ever really needed financial help his parents
would give it to him. So far, he hadn’t. Even with paying child support to
Pearl’s mother, and providing for Callie and Grey while they were still in
Oklahoma and he was in Colorado, he’d made it work.

He did it by living simply,
not extravagantly. And always working. He’d gotten his first ranch job while he
was still in high school. While his buddies were still in bed, he was at the
ranch helping with morning chores. If he didn’t have sports practice after
school, he’d be over there again. They paid him a good wage, but he earned it.
Along with it, he earned a reputation that had ranches competing over him when
it came time to hire for calving season, or branding.

It was his off-hours that got him into trouble. When he’d go
out after work, he and his buddies would dare each other to do just about
anything. They’d have drinking dares, who could pick up certain women dares,
who could come up with the best pickup line that actually worked dares.

He’d won that one hands down one night, with three different
women. All he’d done was walk up, look’em up and down, and say, “Nice shoes.
Wanna fuck?” It said something about the caliber of women they ran into at the
bars in his hometown. Looking back on it, Bullet was ashamed of the way he acted.

If he ran into one of those buddies now, they’d have a hard
time believing it had been over two months since he’d been with a woman. There
had been a time when he couldn’t go two days.

Maybe he was finally growing up. And maybe he wasn’t quite as
irresponsible as everyone else believed.

“See ya in the mornin’,” Buck waved. Bullet had forgotten he
was there.

“Yeah, see ya. And thanks,” he waved back. He pulled his phone
out of his pocket. He didn’t have a signal way out here, but he saw he had
about an hour before dinner. Time enough for a shower and sprucing himself up
for what he hoped would be a dinner date with the lovely Tristan McCullough.

She was already there when Bullet walked into the dining hall.
She stood at the bar talking with the cowboy behind it pouring her a drink. She
looked mighty fine in her sleeveless blouse and flowery short skirt. It had
been warm today, unseasonably so, and it looked as though she’d spent some time
in the sun. Her long legs were tucked into her calf-high boots, and her toe
tapped to the beat of the music.

She turned then, and looked
at him. Once again her cheeks pinkened, as they often did when she smiled at
him. Behind her ear, tucked into her flowing, long brown hair, was a daisy. He
remembered seeing the vase full of them sitting on the desk in her cabin. He
didn’t remember seeing flowers in his.

Strands of her hair fell forward and curled around her cheeks.
She moistened her lips and he remembered how soft they’d felt a few nights
before, when he kissed her on Liv and Ben’s front porch.

“You looked good out there,” her gaze fell when he got close,
her lips curved into a sweet smile.

“You were watchin’?” Once again her cheeks gradually turned a
faint pink.

“For a little while.” She looked up at him. “Would you like to
join me for a drink?”

He sat in the stool next to hers. Her body was close enough
that he could smell her natural scent—sunshine and the outdoors mingled
with something else, roses maybe. Or daisies. When she moistened her lips,
something passed between them. He felt it, and knew she did too.

“You smell good,” he said, leaning in close.

“So do you,” Tristan rested her hand on the bar. He longed to
cover it with his, but he’d wait. He’d be in no hurry tonight, instead savoring
every minute he could be alone with her.

“I was afraid I’d smell like horses, or bulls,” he laughed.

“No, it’s more leather, and freshly cut hay. I like it.” When
she reached up and touched his hair an electric current surged through his
body. He breathed in slowly as her fingers toyed with the curls that formed
around his face when his hair was wet. He reached over and touched her hair
too.

“We both have curls.” He could feel the heat spreading through
him. He’d barely touched her, yet his heart thundered. He wanted to kiss her,
so badly. Everything in him wanted to seduce her. He hoped he could make it
through dinner.

“Bullet, I’ve judged you unfairly…”

“What this about?” he soothed.

She shook her head. “I had a bad experience with a bull
rider—”

“Shh now, we don’t need to talk about that.” He longed to draw
her close, and make her forget any other bull riders existed.

“No, I do need to talk about it. I haven’t been fair to you
because of it. I saw him a couple days ago, and I realized then, you’re nothing
like him.”

Bullet felt his stomach muscles tighten. It wasn’t what she
was saying, it was the idea of that she’d just spent time with someone she’d
had a bad experience with.

“What did he do?” His heart tightened. Why was the idea of her
with another man, any other man, painful?

“When? I mean, originally, or a couple days ago?”

“Either one.”

“I met him when I was competing. He was a bull rider, I was a
barrel racer. He swept me off my feet, and then broke my heart. It didn’t happen
that quickly. It was long and drawn out and miserable.”

Bullet leaned forward. He couldn’t bear to hear another word.
Before he could think better of it, he kissed her. He waited to see if she’d
pull away, but she didn’t, so he kissed her again, this time more deeply.

“Bullet—”

“Shh,” he soothed again. “Don’t pull away from me.”

He put his hand on the nape of her neck, and rested his
forehead against hers. “I can’t resist you. No matter how hard I try to go
slow, I get close to you and I can’t help but kiss you.”

“I know,” Tristan rested her hands on his chest. Bullet didn’t
know if anyone else was in the dining hall, and didn’t care. “I feel the same
way.”

He groaned at her admission, tightened his grip on her nape,
and kissed her again.

***

Bullet’s lips on hers felt so good. He alternated between
ravaging her and kissing her softly, and slowly. His mouth moved against hers
with warmth. He was tender with her, and loving.

She opened her mouth to
him, but her hands remained resting on his chest. His muscles were hard beneath
her fingers, and she longed to slide inside his pearl snaps and feel his skin.

“Oh, sorry. Oops.”

Tristan moved away from Bullet when she heard Piper’s voice.
“Wait.”

Piper turned around, and Tristan saw a tray in her hand.

“Is that dinner?”

“The first course anyway. I can keep it in the back if you’re
not ready to eat yet,” she looked between them and smiled.

Tristan felt the heat in her cheeks once again. At this rate
she’d spend the entire week in a state of embarrassment.

“I’m ready. What about you Bullet?”

“I’m famished.” Tristan met his gaze. He wasn’t talking about
dinner.

“Shall we sit then?”

“You have your pick of tables,” said Piper.

Bullet took her hand and led her to a table by the front
window. “How’s this?”

“It’s perfect.” Bullet held her chair for her to sit.

Piper placed an appetizer plate in front of her, and then
placed the other across the table. Bullet picked it up, and brought it to the
place next to her instead. “Don’t mind if I sit next to you, do you? I want to
be as close as I can.”

He ran his fingers up and down her bare arm. She closed her
eyes and concentrated on his touch. He leaned closer and kissed her shoulder.

“I thought you were famished.”

“I am. And you know what I meant, don’t pretend you don’t. You’re
famished too, I can feel it.”

Chill bumps covered her arms, and she trembled under his
touch. There would be no pretending with Bullet. He read her perfectly.

“Seriously, you must be starving.”

“Uh huh,” he murmured, his teeth gently grazing the skin on
her shoulder.

“I can bring dinner to your cabins. Or cabin, if you’d
prefer.” Piper approached their table with a bottle of wine in hand.

“No,” gasped Tristan. “We’re, uh, fine.”

“Would you like a glass of wine? It’s a Chardonnay, but if you’d
prefer something else—”

“No, that’s fine.” Why did she keep saying everything was
fine? “It’s perfect, thank you.” Tristan held her glass out for Piper to pour.

“Sir, would you like some wine?”

“I’ll have whatever the lady is having,” he answered. Tristan
could feel his gaze on her. She doubted he’d even looked at Piper.

“Enjoy your first course. Pear and goat cheese on crostini
with fig confit, in case you were wondering.”

“Mmm,” Bullet moaned. “It sounds amazing. Thank you Piper.”

He was using that tone of voice again, the one she’d heard him
use with the filly. When Bullet talked that way, women seemed to melt around
him. Tristan didn’t miss the way Piper’s cheeks turned pink the same way hers
did.

Bullet lifted his crostini to her lips. “Take a bite.”

“Don’t you want it?”

“Sure I do. We’re gonna share.”

Tristan took a bite. Bullet popped the other half in his
mouth. “Your turn,” he said.

She lifted her crostini to his lips and instead of taking a
small bite as she had, he took the whole thing, his mouth catching her fingers
as he did.

“Hey, that isn’t fair.”

“I take what I want Tristan. That’s meant as a warning.” His
deep voice reverberated through her. Her breath quickened as he continued to
trail a finger softly down the length of her arm. When he reached her hand, he
clasped it, and brought it to his mouth. He licked each finger where she’d held
the crostini. “I don’t know which tastes better. I think it’s you,” he
murmured. “And I want more. A lot more.”

***

1968

Bill sat at the table and waited for Clancy to continue.
Instead of talking, Clancy stood, went to the refrigerator and took out a beer.
“Want one?”

Bill didn’t drink often, but cowboys didn’t pay much attention
to him bein’ underage. This was the first time Clancy had offered him one at
home though.

“Sure.” He tried to sound nonchalant, while inside he wanted
to scream at Clancy to tell him what was going on with his mama. Maybe that’s
why he offered him a beer, to calm him down some.

“You remember the first time we met Russ, right?”

Bill nodded.

“Neither of us had a good feeling about that man. And we were
right.”

“What did he do to her?” Bill felt as though the top of his
head was going to blow off. His anger had reached a boiling point. If that man
had laid a hand on his mama, he’d kill him.

“It isn’t what you’re thinkin’. What he did brought more
trouble on himself than it did on your mama and sister.”

“Just tell me for Christ’s sake,” Bill stood and paced the
kitchen floor.

“The first time I was called
down there, was because Russ ended up in jail, and your mama asked me to come
and bail him out. She didn’t have the money to do it.”

“Why’d he get arrested?”

“He got into it with some fellas he was playing cards with.
That’s the root of the problem right there. Russ Snyder is a gambler.”

“You get arrested for that?”

“Nah, but you do get arrested for assault. When he gambles, he
drinks. Drinkin’ is what brings on the violence.”

Bill set his beer on the counter. Just the thought of it was
turning his stomach. “What did you have to do?”

“I got him out of jail and got him a lawyer. The lawyer got
him off for time served, and probation. Russ promised your mama he’d quit
gamblin’, but it wasn’t six months before a friend of your mama called again.”

“What happened then?”

“Pretty much the same thing, only this time your mama was too
ashamed to call me. When I got there, I talked some sense into her. The next
time it happened, she called me herself.”

“How many times?” Bill was trying to remember how many times
Clancy left the ranch with no explanation.

“All together, it happened six times. Not every circumstance
was the same. A couple times he left for several days, and your mama had no
idea how to find him. She was afraid he was gonna turn up dead.”

“Did you have to bail him out each time?” Bill couldn’t
believe his mama would rely on Clancy that way. It wasn’t up to him to give her
money. Bill had money. He could’ve helped.

“What happened to the money we’ve been sendin’ her? Does he
take it from her?” Bill was spitting mad at the thought that his hard-earned
money was being gambled away. That money was for his mama and sister, not for
Mr. Snyder.

“He doesn’t know about that money, somehow she’s managed to
hide it from him. And she refused to use it to bail him out. After the first
time, I wouldn’t bail him out either, and she didn’t want me to. I figured
spendin’ a few nights in jail might scare him enough to quit.”

“What took her so long to divorce him?” This didn’t sound like
his mama. Before his daddy died, and the whole while he was sick, his mama
managed things all on her own.

“Well…that’s complicated.
Each time he promised it would never happen again. And she loves him, or at
least she did. Sometimes you wanna believe the best about someone you love, even
though they keep provin’ themselves unworthy.”

“What’s gonna happen to my mama and my sister? I have money
saved up. I can get them a place in McCoy. Maybe she could find a job here.”

Clancy rubbed his face with his hands. “No son, your mama owns
the house in Colorado Springs now.”

“I don’t understand. Whose house? Mr. Snyder’s?”

Clancy nodded. “The last time Russ got into trouble, it was
bigger than before. And this time, they weren’t just threatening him. They were
comin’ after your mama.”