Getting Ahead (4 page)

He snorted. “We’ll see about that.”

Man, he was cocky. “I don’t think we will. There will be no more breaks, and there certainly will not be any more drinking. I’m here to train, and that is all I’m going to do.” The last thing she needed was more distractions.

“You can’t do two things at once?”

The way he said it made her blush. “No, I can’t.” She set down the mug, stood up, and made her way to the door. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to get cleaned up so I can get to work.” She grabbed her boots, shoved them onto her feet, and picked up her bag. Still angry, she walked out, making sure to slam the door as she left.

***

Colt had hoped her night of letting loose would help clear her mind. Since she’d spent the last hour brushing her horse without so much as sticking a toe in the stirrup, he figured he had failed. He knew better than to stick his head where it didn’t belong, but she reminded him of himself, and he couldn’t let her fall into oblivion. He’d seen her ride, and she was easily the best he’d ever seen. Every opponent put in hour after hour of hard work, enduring the bruises, chafing, and constant exhaustion that came with the process. Some people had a natural talent, something no one could learn. He could always pick those competitors out of the group. When he first saw her ride at a rodeo five years ago, he could tell she was one of them. It’d be a waste for her to throw it away over one stupid fall.

She’d give him hell for it, but if she was going to win this thing or any other competition, she needed a swift kick in the ass to get herself in gear. He steered his horse toward her, contemplating his words carefully. He’d been there once—embarrassed, angry, and broken—and not a damn thing anyone said made him feel any better. In fact, most of the time, the crap people said to him made the situation worse. Everyone thought they understood, but no one did. At least, that’s what he had believed at the time. Once next to her practice area, he dismounted and tied his horse up on the fence.

“You know, they don’t give out prizes for having the prettiest horse in the show.” He propped a foot up against the fence and leaned in.

“Really? You know, this is my first rodeo, and I have no idea what’s going on.” She clutched the brush to her chest and fluttered her eyelashes. Then, rolling her eyes, she went back to work.

“You actually going to run the barrels today?” His voice sounded condescending, but sweet-talking her hadn’t gotten him very far. If she wanted to play tough, he could play that game too.

“I don’t know. You going to do some chores today?” She spun around and stared at him.

That face. He didn’t think it possible, but every time he saw her, she got more beautiful. Even as the color rose in her cheeks, he couldn’t help but stare. “I’m trying to help you.” Her attitude made him want to hog-tie and gag her so she’d listen without any of the back talk.

“And I already explained to you that I don’t need any help, especially from some ranch hand. If you’ll excuse me, I have some serious work to do, something you wouldn’t know anything about.”

He clenched his jaw. Who did she think she was? Maybe all the guys on the circuit let her get away with this sort of crap, but around here, people usually did exactly what he told them to. Taking a deep breath, he tried to relax. “Look, I’m not trying to piss you off. I’m trying to help. I don’t know the first thing about barrel racing, but I do know that you have to be on the horse in order to even compete. From what I’ve seen, you’ve been doing a whole lot of thinking and not a lot of riding. I don’t mean to sound stereotypical?, but no one ever won a belt buckle for being a genius.”

She glared at him, but no words came out of her mouth.

He counted it as a win. For the first time, he’d managed to render her speechless, a feat he’d thought impossible. “Let me help you.”

She bit her lip and sighed. “How are you going to help me? You have some secret trick for shaving seconds off the last turn?”

“Nope. I do know a thing or two about riding a horse and more than you think about getting over a fear.” The minute he said it, he knew it was wrong. She’d never told him she was scared. In fact, as far as she was concerned, he didn’t even know about her fall. He wanted her to tell him when she was ready.

“I never said I was scared. I’ve been riding since before I could walk. At seven, I broke both my wrists and three ribs when one of horses bucked me off. The day my parents brought me home from the hospital, I insisted on being taken outside and put back in the saddle, even though I couldn’t hold on to the reins.”

He didn’t doubt it for a minute. If she’d been half this hard to handle as a child, her parents would have given in to her every wish. Hell, it’d almost killed him to turn her down last night. “Then why did you spend the last three hours brushing your horse’s hair?”

“Why did you spend the last three hours watching me?” She took a step closer to him.

His eyes focused in on her lips. They were perfectly pink and plump. Last night, he’d been seconds away from kissing them. Now he was again inches away and about to miss his chance. “You’re avoiding the question.”

“Something we have in common.” She stepped away from him, looking back at her horse.

Damn. If it killed him, he was going to make sure he found a way to kiss her. “How about this, if you can look me in the eyes and tell me you don’t want my help, then I’ll leave and not bother you again.” He took his foot off the fence and put a few feet of space between the two of them.

She kicked the dirt with her toe.

He spun on his heels and started to walk away. She needed time to get over whatever scars had formed, even if that meant she wasn’t going to be ready in time for Cheyenne.

“Wait.” For the first time, her voice seemed helpless and weak.

He stopped and slowly turned back around.

“I’m not saying I need any help, but I could use someone to talk to while I get started.”

He tried to hide his smile, the muscles at the edge of his face tugging on the corners of his mouth. “Do you trust me?”

She glared at him. “You didn’t say that was a requirement.”

She wasn’t going to make this easy. “Get on.” He placed a hand on the saddle and stepped back to give her room.

She eyed him suspiciously. “Don’t you have chores to do or something?”

“Stop stalling. Get up here, and take control of the reins.”

“I thought I made it very clear that I would handle my own training and that I was to be left alone.” She looked around.

“You did. Except I saw some of that training yesterday, and if you keep that up…well, let’s just say you have a better chance at the lottery than a piece of the prize money.” Even when she was cooperating, she was a handful. “You did say you wanted my help.”

She glared at him. For a moment, he wasn’t sure if she was going to hit him or cry. She did neither. Instead, Amber took a deep breath and climbed on top of her horse. “You happy now?” Her face didn’t move, but her white knuckles told him everything he needed to know.”Almost.” He untied and mounted his own horse and moved around to join her. “Now we’re ready.”

“We?” She snorted. “Last time I checked, barrel racing was an individual event.” She kept her hands tight around the reins.

“Really? I was thinking it’d make a good synchronized event.”

She groaned. “I don’t have time for all this crap. The rodeo is less than a week away.”

“That is exactly why you need to make time.” He moved around to her side, pulling as close to her as he could.

“So what exactly are we going to do? A little show jumping? Some trotting?” She bounced a little as she spoke.

“Just come with me.” Arguing with her was a waste of time. He clicked his tongue, gave the reins a light tug, and headed off, glancing over his shoulder to be sure she was following. She waited a moment, putting enough space between them he worried she’d sneak off at any moment without him noticing.

***

No ranch hand she’d ever seen before rode like Colt did. He was a good rider, as good as anyone she’d ever seen, but there was a certain flair to the way he rode that made her second-guess her assumptions of him. They’d been riding nearly an hour nonstop over the prairie. In her mind, the Wyoming skyline was filled with views of mountains everywhere she looked. Not so much. In fact, since she’d gotten there, she hadn’t seen a single peak. At first, she was disappointed, but the more time she spent surveying the flat land, the more she found she enjoyed it.

He seemed most concerned about getting her into the saddle, but up didn’t worry her. Down did. The constant, nagging fear of things going wrong got to her. Every time her horse readied to hop over a log or veer around some other obstacle, she felt her whole body tense up. From her very first riding lessons, she knew if she was nervous, the horse was too, but nothing she did made her feel any better. As much as she’d have loved to simply pick up where she had left off, it’d become apparent she needed another option. She still didn’t know why, though. Falling didn’t scare her. After a couple hundred tumbles, a little dirt and a few bruises didn’t bother her. Of course, knowing what scared her would help fix the problem. Facing demons she couldn’t see made it all the more difficult.

“Are we going anywhere in particular, or are you just leading me to the middle of nowhere?” He was at least a couple of yards ahead, so she yelled to make sure he heard her.

He turned his head toward her and slowed his pace to allow her to catch up. “You’re already in the middle of nowhere. Kind of hard to get farther away. Why? Afraid I might try to kill you?”

She smiled. His sense of humor made up for all the other crap he made her put up with. Well, that and the sexy ass she’d enjoyed watching over the last few hours. “I wasn’t until you mentioned it.”

“Well, there is a creek up ahead where we can stop at for a break.” He motioned to the right.

“If you want.” She didn’t want him thinking he’d won the upper hand on things. She’d go as fast, as long, and as far as he wanted without a single complaint.

He laughed and shook his head.

A few moments later, they came over a ridge, and a line of clear blue water appeared in the distance. As they got closer, the banks appeared to widen, and she found he’d understated the size. In her mind, a creek meant only a few steps from one side to the other. This was at least a few yards from bank to bank, and the water flowing through it appeared as clear and sparkling as any she’d seen before. Mouth open, she stared ahead as she motioned for her horse to stop.

“Pretty, isn’t it?” Colt slid off his horse and offered her his hand.

Purposefully ignoring the gesture, she hopped down without any assistance. “Not too bad.”

“Well, around here we think it’s pretty damn good.” He walked down to the bank and sat down.

The sun had shone on their faces the whole way, and she wished she’d worn something that would allow her to slip into the water. She moved down to the edge and took a seat in the dirt next to him.

“Good ride?”

“It was fine, but I’m not exactly sure how this is supposed to help me train. I already have a bunch of ribbons to tell me I know how to ride a horse. What I’m really interested in is winning.”
And earning back my reputation.
It was nice to have one person in her life who didn’t know about her fall. The way people looked at her when they asked how she was, with their heads cocked to the side, made her feel like she was dying of cancer. As far as she was concerned, there would be no dying, and there certainly wouldn’t be any more falling. She only got one shot to make up for her disastrous last attempt and all the competitions she missed while the doctors insisted she wasn’t up to being up on a horse again. Now that she actually gotten the shot she’d been waiting for, she couldn’t help but wish they’d insisted she sit the rest of the season out. At least then she wouldn’t be under a time crunch and she might actually be able to enjoy her time out here.

“Not everything has to be helpful; some things just are.” He pulled off his boots and socks and tossed them to the side. Legs stretched out, he dipped his toes into the water.

She rolled her eyes. Coming to the ranch might have been a bad choice. She thought time away from her typically busy training stadium might be thing she needed to regain her focus. Now, she was spending her afternoon riding around aimlessly, doing exactly what some cowboy told her to do. At least in the city there was no chance of that happening. “What are you doing?” She turned her head in time to see him unbuttoning his shirt.