BUCKED Box Set: A Bull Rider Western Romance (15 page)

“Sunflowers
don’t normally have a scent. It’s not like this one’s a mutant or something.
You didn’t know that?”

“Do you
really think sunflowers are in abundant supply in the middle of the city? Not
by a long shot.”

“Okay, you
have a point,” I admitted. “So, at the risk of losing my man-card, I have to
ask. What are we?”

“You see,
you’re a man, and I am a woman.”

“Not what
I meant,
smartass
,” I said with a laugh.

“Well,
Noah, what do you want to be?” she asked, suddenly serious.

“Together.
As in,
together together
. I want to be
able to point you out to my PBR buddies and say, ‘That’s my girlfriend.’ I know
it’s cheesy, and I’d probably catch a ton of flak for it if any of the guys
heard me say it, but… ”

“If you’re
willing to risk your manly, ‘I don’t give a damn’ attitude, then how could I
say no?”

I smiled.
“Actually, you couldn’t. So, Laci Daniels,” I said, gallantly kneeling and
holding the flower out. “Will you officially be my girlfriend?”

“God, are
we in middle school?” she chortled.

“Don’t
leave me hanging. I will write a note with boxes to check and everything if I
have to.”

“Oh,
sorry.” She suddenly started acting like a giddy little cheerleader, flipped
her hair, and then squealed, “Oh my God, yes!”

“You’re a
little too good at that,” I said, and she grabbed me by the face and started to
pull me into a standing position.

“Shut up
and kiss me,” she commanded before crushing our mouths together.

Between
breathless, desperate kisses, I muttered, “You’re so demanding.”

“I
am
a princess,” she replied, biting my
lip gently.

That did
it. I pinned her to the wall of the barn and ran my hands along her curves,
then slipped them into the back pockets of her jeans. I felt as though I
couldn’t have enough of her body against mine, so I pressed against her. Her
hands went to my chest and pushed.

“We can’t
do this here,” she panted.

“You’re
right. I’ve got an idea. Stay here,” I told her, turning to run to get my
truck. I drove over to the barn. “Get in!”

She jumped
in and slammed the door, and I started to drive. “Where are we going?” she
asked.

“Make-Out
Point.”

“What?”

You know
the path we took up Sand Mountain on the horses? Well, there’s one for
vehicles, and at night like this, it’s got the best view at the top.”

She
shrugged. “Works for me.”

We drove
in relative silence until I got to the plateau, then I pulled off the path and
parked with the back of the truck turned to the view. “Ta-da!” I exclaimed.
Then, I opened the back windows and shimmied out into the bed of my truck. I
offered a hand and said, “M’lady?”

“Why
thank you, good sir,”
she said in a posh voice. I helped her into the bed, then stuck my head back
into the cab to reach under my seat for the two blankets I always keep there
while I’m on the circuit, just in case I needed them. I spread one out and
balled the other up into a makeshift pillow, and laid down on it as Laci stood
there and stared at me.

I patted
my chest and said, “You gonna join me?”

She
grinned and laid down next to me, then snuggled up against me and laid her head
on my chest. “See any constellations?” she asked. “I wanna find Orion.”

I curled
an arm around her shoulders and put the other one behind my head. “Actually,
Orion’s only visible in North America December through April,” I informed her.
“Right now, Ursa Major is the constellation you’ve got the best
bet
of finding. Y’know, the Big Dipper. Or Leo
the Lion”

“Okay, I
love looking at the stars, but even I don’t know the exact months that each
constellation is visible in the sky,” she said suspiciously.

“I’m kind
of a closet astronomy nerd,” I admitted sheepishly. “I know almost as much
about astronomy as I do about horses.”

“Hmm, go
figure. I never took you for the scientific type.”

“You also
didn’t take
me as
the boyfriend type, and
yet, here we are,” I pointed out.

“Touché.”

Curled up
in the blanket, we lay there together and talked until we both drifted off to
sleep. When I opened my eyes again, it was to the sound of a bird call and the
sun rising in the distance.
What a great
way to wake up,
I thought. I nudged Laci awake, and she instantly went on
high alert.

“Holy
hell! We slept here? Aunt Sara’s going to lose her mind! Crap, crap, crap,
crap,” she said, panic in her voice. She reached into her pocket and pulled out
her phone, which had a case with bunny ears on it. “Damn! Nine missed calls and
fourteen texts!” She furiously tapped away on the screen, then held it up to
her ear. “Aunt Sara? Hey, I’m so sorry I didn’t come home last night. Yeah,
everything’s okay. Uh-huh. I’m with Noah. No! We did
not
sleep together! Well, we did, but not in that way! Wait, why
does it sound like there’s
wind
? Are you
going to town?” She looked at me and rolled her wrist in a “come on, spit it
out,” kind of way and mouthed, “She’s going insane.” That’s another closet
talent of mine: lip reading.

I held out
my hand as a signal for her to give me the phone, and when she did, I held it
up to my ear to hear Sara going insane, alright, but not in the way I expected.
I was surprised it wasn’t on speakerphone, her voice was so loud.

“And, he’s
such a sweet guy! Let me just tell you one thing, Jack’s dad was not nearly so
good a guy as Noah is, and-”

I laughed
and spoke up. “Why thank you for that. Good to know I’m not an absolute slime
ball like him.”

“Wait,
Noah? Noah! Are you taking advantage of my Laci?”

That’s more of what I was expecting,
I thought. “Hah, no, Sara. We literally just
slept. We were looking at the stars and talking and we just fell asleep.”

“So are
you two a
thing
now?”

“Who says
‘a thing?’ If you’re asking if we’re a couple, yeah. We are.”

“That’s
what I thought! Well, you just take care of her, okay?” I could almost hear the
wink in her voice.

“Okay, now
that you know I’m not dead, we’re gonna go, Aunt Sara,” Laci said, leaning in
to get closer to the phone I was still holding.

“Yeah, I
need to go, anyway. You
lovebirds
have fun. I’m sure I’ll see you guys real soon!” Sara spouted.

I hung up
the phone, then pulled on one of the bunny ears on her phone case.

“This is
cute,” I told her.

“Shut up,”
she said, snatching it away from me.

“So, she
seemed pretty happy about us,” I observed.

“Whatever
gave you that idea? I assume your mom will love it, too.”

“Oh, she’s
the one that suggested I bring you flowers and bare my soul. She’s well aware
of the situation.”

“See? I
was right. Bull riders are all mama’s boys,” she teased.

“That’s
not a bad thing, as far as I’m concerned.
At
least,
you know I know how to treat women.”

“Hmm, I’m
not sure I do. Why don’t you show me how you treat women?”

She’s pretty slick.
I pulled her closer and slowly went in for a
kiss. I guess you could say I teased
her
because I gave her probably ten or more really short, shallow kisses, the
tender kind, until she finally scoffed and grabbed my face, kissing me deeply.

Her phone
buzzed in her pocket. She slipped it out and looked at the screen, which lit up
with a name I didn’t want to see.

Marky H.

BUCKED #3

Chapter Fifteen - Laci

Waking up
is never an easy task, but waking up next to Noah made it a little easier than
usual. That
is
until I realized that we
had spent the night in the bed of his truck and I immediately started to freak
about the hell I was sure I would catch from Aunt Sara. Of course, that was the
shocker of the century. Instead of getting chewed out, all I got was something
along the lines of, “Oh, you two lovebirds have fun!” I mean, what the heck?

Don’t get
me wrong, I wasn’t going to argue. Actually, after we had talked to her and
eventually hung up, I was doing my best to take her advice—have fun. Fifteen
minutes later, we were in the middle of a good morning making out session when
my phone went off again. I kind of expected it to be Aunt Sara needing to tell
me something she’d forgotten. That was not the case.

I slipped
it out of my pocket and looked at the screen which displayed the name
Marky H
and a photo of Mark dressed as
Harry Potter from last Halloween. I looked at
Noah,
who was wearing an expression that may as well have shouted, “Don’t do it.”
Part of me didn’t want to, but I was torn. If I didn’t, wouldn’t that make it
seem like I was trying to hide something? But if I did, would that make Noah
uncomfortable? It wasn’t an ideal
situation,
to say the least. When it came down to a split second decision, I couldn’t help
myself. I had to. Mark had promised to answer my calls even at three in the
morning—something I’d actually taken him up on a few times—so what kind of
friend would I be if I shunned him at seven in the morning?

“I’m
sorry, but I have to take this,” I told Noah as I tapped on the green button to
answer the call.

“Hey,
Lace! What are you up to?” Mark’s chipper voice greeted me.

“Um,
nothing much, just hanging around,” I said as Noah’s lips found my neck and he
kissed me gently. There are very few things that affect me so quickly and turn
me on more than that one gesture, so I swatted him on the shoulder and
continued. “What’s up, Mark?”

“Just so
happens, I’m just hangin’ around, too—at Sara’s ranch, as chance would have it.
Where are you?”

“Wait.
You’re here? Like,
here here
?” I asked,
stunned. Noah instantly ended his attempt to keep me distracted with his neck
kisses and looked at me with an inquisitive expression. He mouthed something I
couldn’t quite make out. It was either “He’s here?” or “ass hair,” I wasn’t
entirely sure. I’m awful at reading lips. Making the educated guess that it was
the former, I nodded just as Mark laughed.

“Yeah, I’m
here here
! I wanted to surprise you, so I
called and had your Aunt Sara pick me up in Chattanooga. So, are you gonna
answer my question? Where are you?”

“I’m up on
a mountain,” I told him. “I’m gonna head back to the farm now.”

“Cool,
I’ll see you soon then,” he said before he hung up.

Just what I need
, I thought. Don’t get me wrong, I fully
expected Mark to follow through on his promise that we’d spend some time
together this summer, but I didn’t expect it to be a surprise visit in Alabama,
especially when I’d just started something up with Noah. I clicked the lock
button on my phone and shoved it back into my pocket. I looked over at Noah,
feeling a little guilty that I was about to cut our morning together short, and
asked if we could head back.

He sighed
and raked his fingers through his hair, then nodded. “Yeah, of
course
we can,” he responded. The expression on
his face was a stark contrast from the spirited look he’d had only moments
before. Deflated came to mind. He instantly started picking up the blankets and
rolling them up into a messy ball. He climbed through the window and slid his
too-perfect butt into the driver’s seat, then flung the blankets behind him in
the extended cab area. “You coming?” he asked, holding out a hand to help me
through the window.

I took his
hand and crawled into the cab of the truck. I tried not to lose my balance as I
sat down in the other seat and buckled my seat belt. He started the truck and
put it into gear, then started to drive. I studied his face and noticed he was
chewing on the inside of his bottom lip like his life depended on it.

“I’m guessing
that’s
nervous tick, isn’t it?” I asked.

“Huh?” he
asked, snapping his eyes over to me. “What is?”

“Chewing
on your lip.”

“Oh. Yeah,
I guess you could say so.”

“Well,
what are you nervous about?” I asked, putting a hand on his knee. He draped his
left hand over the steering wheel and put his right one on top of mine, curling
his fingers around mine. He lifted it to his lips and kissed it, then
interlaced his fingers between mine.

“Because,
I just got you. I don’t want to lose you to him,” he confessed.

I have to
admit; I wasn’t expecting him to be so upfront. The boys I’ve been involved
with have been just that: boys. Not a one of my
ex-boyfriends
ever made me feel like I was something they didn’t want to lose or important
enough to worry about another guy. Noah, on the other hand, wasn’t a boy. And
so, he wasn’t behaving like a boy would, I suppose. He was treating me like a
man should treat a woman by being open about how he felt. I guessed I had his
mother to thank for that. Maybe his being a mama’s boy wasn’t so bad, after all
because he really
did
behave like a
Southern gentleman. I smiled at the comment. I couldn’t help it, it made me
feel good.

“If it
makes you feel better, you can hold my hand the whole time he’s here.”

Noah’s
eyes darted to me three or four times while he tried to keep an eye on the road,
too. “What if I keep my arm around you? What are you gonna do then?”

I sighed.
“I suppose I’ll manage,” I declared sarcastically which elicited a crooked
half-grin from the mama’s boy.

For the
next ten minutes or so, we drove in comfortable silence, just enjoying each
other’s presence and the sight of the trees whipping past. By the time the
truck tires crunched to a halt on the gravel in Aunt Sara’s driveway, Mark was
standing beside her on the porch, practically bouncing with excitement. I
couldn’t deny that I was excited to see him, too, but I hoped, for Noah’s sake
I wasn’t showing it more than was appropriate. I also found myself hoping that
Mark would keep a lid on the whole “I’m in love with you” thing.

Noah
turned off the
truck
and the moment I
stepped out I was swept up in one of Mark’s famous
pick-you-up-and-spin-you-around hugs. When he let me down, he just looked at me
for a moment until Noah cleared his throat, catching Mark’s attention. Mark
walked over to Noah on the other side of the truck and stuck out his hand. Noah
eyed it. For a second, I thought he might not take it, but then he broke out
into a huge grin and shook Mark’s hand and then pulled him into a hug.

“I guess
they really mean it when they say Southern hospitality, don’t they?” Mark
chuckled.

The
tightness in Noah’s jaw told me he was still slightly suspicious of Mark, but
he wasn’t going to show it, for my sake, I think. It was sweet, really. It was
almost as if he didn’t want to make this weird for me, even though, if I was reading
his body language right, he was incredibly jealous—something I must concede I
was finding to be unbelievably adorable.

“So,
you’re the famous Mark Hannon, are ya?” Noah said as he stepped up close beside
me.

“Last I
checked, I was!” Mark replied with a wink. “And you are?”

“Noah.
Noah Tucker.”

“Bull
rider extraordinaire,” Aunt Sara added from the steps of the porch.

Taking off
his hat, Noah swept it in front of him in a grand bow.

“Ah, well
then, how extraordinary to meet you, good sir!” Mark countered with a bit of
amusement. He then turned his attention back to me. “Lace, did you see the
sunrise? It was almost as beautiful as you are.”

“D’awh,
stop it, you!” I cooed. “Yeah, we saw it on the way back from the mountain,” I
began just as Noah slipped his hand in mine. Mark’s eyes flickered down to our
hands for a minute, and his smile faded, then quickly returned upon him
bringing his eyes back up to our faces. A pang of guilt settled in my gut. It
was harder for me to see that sadness in his eyes than I had thought it might
be, even if it only lasted for a second. Knowing him as well as I did, I could
tell that the sincere joy that had been present five seconds before wasn’t
there anymore, but he shook it off and continued his façade.

“So, do I get
the grand tour or what?” he chirped.

“Yeah, of
course!” I beamed. “How long are you gonna be here?”

“Just
today and tomorrow; I start filming a movie on Sunday in Atlanta, so I figured
I might as well fly in a few days early and come see you. I wanted to make sure
I could keep that promise of spending time together this summer. I never want
to break a promise to you, ya know. I’ll be filming until August, and that’s
when you start your movie, so this was our only shot. Surprise!”

Just then,
Jack bounded outside. The moment he laid eyes on Noah, it was all over. “Noah,
I was on my way over! Come on! I was practicing my balance yesterday, and I
wanna show you what I can do now!”

“Uh, umm,
okay, I guess I’m going this way!” Noah said as Jack dragged him away by the
arm. “It was nice to meet ya, Mark!” he called, flicking his wrist in a quick
wave.

“You,
too!” Mark shouted back. “Alright, I guess this means you can show me around
now!” he grinned.

“I’m just
going to be in the kitchen making my famous lasagna,” Aunt Sara spouted our
way. “If you two need anything, just give me a shout. Lunch should be ready
around noon.”

I gave her
a quick nod before Mark and I proceeded into the house. I took him
through
the downstairs, which was pretty
self-explanatory, then we went upstairs and after I
had shown
him Aunt Sara’s, Jack’s, and my bedrooms, I took him to
the guest room that he’d be sleeping in which he’d actually already seen since
his bags were sitting just inside the door. He took a seat on the bed and patted
the spot next to him, so I sat down. He leaned
into
me and bumped his shoulder to mine playfully.

“Soooo,
what’s new? We haven’t really had much of a chance to have a good chat since
you got here.”

I could
tell he was hinting at the new relationship between Noah and
me
, but I skirted the subject as best I could
in my reply.

“Not much,
really. I’ve been riding a lot. It was really difficult to do at first because
it made me think of Mom, but I’m glad I managed to get back on a horse. It’s
nice now, relaxing. Makes me feel closer to her.”

“I’m glad
you get to do what you love,” he said, smiling and gazing at me in an expectant
manner.

“Why are
you looking at me like that?”

“You
aren’t going to tell me about Noah?”

“What
about him?”

“Oh, come
on, Lace. He grabbed your hand and Sara told me you guys spent the night at the
top of a mountain together. I’m not a moron.”

“I didn’t
say you were.”

“I know
you didn’t. I’m just saying that I can tell something’s going on, so tell me
about it.”

“We’re
together,” I said quickly. Maybe he expected me to lie or hoped that what he
saw was nothing but a friendly hand squeeze; whatever he was expecting, it
wasn’t that.

“That
happened fast.”

“Yeah, it
did. In the last few days, actually. If it helps, we
hated
each other at first.”

“Honestly,
that makes me feel a little worse. But as long as he makes you happy,
beautiful. I don’t want to make this visit awkward for you…or for Noah.”

“I think
it already kind of is,” I chuckled. “You might not have noticed, but Noah’s
insanely jealous of you. You should’ve seen the face he made when you called
and said you were here. Honestly, I think he feels intimidated. He thinks he’s
going to lose me to you since we’ve known each other for so long and we’re
already so close.”

“Well, I’m
not planning on trying to insert myself where I don’t belong,” he said simply.
“As much as I wish that were
me,
like I
said, I just want you to be happy. You are happy, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, I
am.”

He studied
my face for a few seconds and then clapped his hands against his thighs. “Well,
then. I guess that’s that! Why did Jack just drag him away like that?”

“When Aunt
Sara said that Noah was a ‘bull rider extraordinaire,’ she meant it. He’s like,
one of the best in the biz, apparently, so Sara hired him to give Jack
lessons.”

“How the
hell is he going to teach Jack how to ride a bull when you don’t own any
bulls?”

“I don’t
have the slightest idea, so don’t ask me. So far, it’s all been a bunch of
mundane little exercises and tests that are supposed to teach him skills like
balance and control and stuff.”