One Night Rodeo (6 page)

His gaze turned shrewd. “Provided…what?”

Provided my brothers don’t kill you.
“Okay. Here’s another wrinkle. Apparently Tanna, ah, told Lainie that you and I got hitched last night.”

“Shit. So your brothers know about us?”

Celia shook her head. “Lainie swears that she won’t spill the beans.
But I—we—have to tell them. In person before they hear it from anyone else.”

He groaned. “I’m a fucking dead man.”

“Maybe they’ll think it’s funny,” Celia offered. “Especially since we haven’t had sex.”

Kyle scrubbed his hands over his face. “Or maybe they’ll cut my dick off to guarantee that never happens.”

“A bit paranoid, aren’t you?”

“Not after all the times they warned me away from you.”

Celia put her hand on his wrist. “What do you mean after all the times they warned you away from me? When did they do that?”

“When you were seventeen I made a comment about you filling out and I thought Hank was gonna throw me through the wall. Abe basically said you’re their princess and I’m a toad who’s not nearly good enough for you.”

Princess? Yeah, right. They treated her more like a stableboy than a princess.

“And they told me if I ever touched you, they’d string me up. By my toes because they would’ve already cut off my hands.”

Her mouth dropped open. “Are you serious?”

“Completely.”

“Maybe I won’t tell them we tied the knot,” she said with a huff. “Maybe I’ll just tell them that you fuck like a dream and I’m moving in with you until we get sick of nonstop kinky sex.”

Kyle smiled for the first time in an hour. “That works too. We would’ve had to tell them something anyway since we talked about traveling the circuit together. And we sure as hell wouldn’t have been just…friends.”

Unsure how to respond, and feeling strangely shy, Celia sidestepped him and looked out the window to the Vegas skyline.

“I’ll get packed.”

“My stuff is still at my motel,” she reminded him.

A quick zip sounded. “We’ll stop there on our way out of town. But before we leave here you’d better check on the other side of the bed to see if you forgot anything.”

Celia stepped over his bag on the floor and crawled across the mattress.
“I doubt there’s anything because I’m wearing—” And she found herself flat on her back, staring into Kyle’s amazing green eyes.

“Thank you, for not running out screaming today. My mood swings, from happy to nasty, from sarcastic to silent, were annoying the piss out of me.”

“Most days you are pretty even-keeled.”

“Except when it comes to you. You make me crazy, Celia. In so many ways I can’t even begin to explain to you.”

Her heart jumped into her throat and she couldn’t speak.

“It’s getting to be a habit with us, sharing kisses one or both of us forgets. But I intend to fix that right now and make damn sure you remember this one. On the bed where we spent our wedding night.”

He lowered his face to hers. But he didn’t swoop in and blow her circuits with a kiss packed with tongue-thrusting power. No. He took his time. Whispering soft breath across her jaw. Letting his full, damp lips barely graze hers. Each almost connection of their mouths increased the rapid beat of her heart. Her breathing became erratic as her lungs emptied of air.

Kyle’s roughly murmured “Breathe” was far sexier, far more in tune with her body’s response to his than she’d imagined.

Then he rocked her to her core with a kiss so hot and sweet, so fierce and soothing, so completely unrestrained. She’d never been kissed like this. With all-consuming hunger. With pure eroticism. With a promise of total sexual fulfillment. Every pulse point in her body throbbed with anticipation.

Kyle used nibbling kisses to ease the disconnection of their mouths. He pushed up and hopped off the bed.

His cocky grin—completely justified—appeared quickly. “Come on, kitten, let’s hit the dusty trail.”

Damn him for acting like he had the upper hand. Damn him for melting her brain and her resistance with those molten kisses.

She slipped her purse strap over her shoulder. “We’re still getting an annulment.”

Kyle was so lost in thought about Celia’s contradictory actions—reminding him of their friendship in one breath and then taking his breath away with such a passionate kiss in the next, that he didn’t notice Breck and his buddies hanging around the concierge stand until Breck started toward them.

Kyle said, “Let me handle this.”

“I don’t need you to speak for me.”

“Then follow my lead, so we don’t get stuck in a pointless argument with him.” Kyle set his hand in the small of her back and brought her closer, expecting Breck would treat her as roughly as he always did, clamping his beefy arms around her, squeezing her in a bear hug, tossing her in the air like a rag doll. He wasn’t letting that happen.

But Breck stopped five feet from them. His focus was concentrated on Celia’s head. “Sugar pie, what happened to your beautiful face?”

She touched the bandage with her right hand. “Minor mishap with some livestock.”

“But you’re okay? Where else are you hurt?”

“My ribs are sore, but besides that, I’m fine.”

“Good. You still look great.” Probably out of reflex, he reached for her hand. “I miss you.”

“Breck. Don’t.”

Breck only then seemed to realize Kyle was standing next to Celia. “Gilchrist. I’m surprised to see you here, bein’s you didn’t finish high enough in the standings in December to compete in the Country Showdown Expo.”

No surprise Breck tossed out a barbed reminder of Kyle’s lackluster finish in the American Finals Rodeo—AFR—the previous month. “Guess I didn’t know I needed an official invite to come to Vegas.”

Breck’s gaze zoomed between the two of them. As if something wasn’t quite right.

Although Kyle had no idea how this Vegas marriage would play out, he wanted to rub it in Breck’s face that Celia was his, even temporarily.

So he did just that. Kyle used his left hand to brush a hair from Celia’s shoulder. “You’ve got so damn much hair, woman.”

Breck’s eyes narrowed first on the ring on Kyle’s hand and then on the matching band on Celia’s. “You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me.” He looked at Celia. “Say it ain’t so.”

Celia glanced at Kyle. He brought her hand to his mouth and kissed her ring finger.

“How long has this been going on? While we were together?” Breck demanded of Celia.

Immediately incensed, Kyle got up in Breck’s face. “Don’t put your shitty morals on her. Celia ain’t like that and you know it. Apologize to my wife, right now.”

“Kyle—”

“He isn’t allowed to insult you, Celia, ever. I’ve watched him do it enough over the last two years and I couldn’t do anything about it then, but I can stop it now.” He didn’t move an inch. “So apologize to her.”

“Jesus. All right, all right, I’m sorry.”

Only then did Kyle back down.

“How long have you two been—”

“Married?” Kyle supplied. “Since last night. We’re just on our way home to Wyoming.”

Breck’s face distorted with an ugly sneer. “Last I knew you didn’t have a pot to piss in. So where are the newlyweds gonna live? In your shitty camper? Or Celia’s horse trailer? Or are you sponging off Celia’s brothers?” He focused on Celia. “I asked you to marry me. And you turned me down for him? A guy who has nothing?”

Jesus. That stung. Was that really how Breck saw him?

Isn’t that how you see yourself?

Celia stomped closer to Breck. “I turned you down because we have vastly different ideas of what commitment means. I’d spent enough nights wondering why you preferred Michael in your bed more often than me.”

Breck glanced around, but Celia had said it in a low tone so no one had overheard. “But Kyle, Celia? Really? One of my best friends? It’s like a knife in my heart.”

“Now you know how I felt every time you were with Michael.”

Breck looked stricken. “But…I never hid that from you, sugar pie.”

“Being honest about the nature of your relationship with Michael didn’t excuse it.” Celia faced Kyle. “We’re done here.”

She definitely didn’t need Kyle speaking for her. She’d proven she could handle herself just fine.

Celia was quiet on the ride to her motel. Kyle didn’t push it—they would have a solid fifteen hours together in the truck, enough time to talk a lot of things through.

Chapter Two

A
knee to the head woke Kyle from a sound sleep. Groggy, he sat up and squinted at Celia. “What the hell?”

“You snore like a freakin’ bear. And you sleep like the dead, which ain’t a fun combination at all.”

He scrubbed his hands over his face. Then he looked out the window. They were on I-80 almost to Cheyenne. He’d slept a solid six hours. “You okay?”

“No. I want a goddamn cigarette. This is why I hate bein’ on the road. I get so fuckin’ bored all I can think about is firing up a smoke. And don’t suggest sunflower seeds. They don’t work.”

“Didn’t for me either. I had to get a big bag of Dum-Dum suckers.”

“Chewing on plastic straws was the only thing that worked for me.” She shot him a sideways glance. “Speaking of chewing…when did you quit?”

“About six months ago. Bet with my mom as an incentive to get her to quit smoking.”

“Did it work?”

“Has so far. We both chewed about a million packs of nicotine gum. Did you use pills or gum or anything?”

“Nope. I quit cold turkey. Three days after I broke up with Breck. Might sound stupid, but I starting smoking with him, so it seemed like I oughta quit when we called it quits. Been a lot tougher to give up than I thought.”

Kyle looked at her. “Cigarettes were tougher to give up? Or Breck was tougher to give up?”

“Cigarettes.” Celia tapped her fingers on the steering wheel. “Although there was a lot I liked about Breck or I wouldn’t’ve stayed with him.” She let a beat pass. “Thanks for what you said to him.”

“I meant every word.” It was the perfect opportunity to bring up the marriage issue. “So we’re telling everyone who knows we stumbled down the aisle…that we’re getting an annulment?” He knew his voice sounded disapproving.

“I thought we agreed on that.”

“No, you informed me of your intent to get an annulment. I didn’t argue. But that’s not agreeing with you, Cele. Not by a long shot.”

“Well, let’s compile a list of who knows about us getting hitched. Tanna. Who’s only told Lainie. Lainie, who says she won’t tell anyone. Devin. Who told…who the hell knows all the people he’s told. Breck. Who’s probably told everyone on the damn circuit. Your mom.” She looked at him. “Who all has your mom told?”

“How the hell would I know?”

Kyle’s cell phone rang and they both jumped. “Speak of the devil. Hey, Mom. We’re just starting the descent into Cheyenne.”

“I’ve been trying to call you for the last four hours.”

“What’s up?”

When his mom didn’t answer right away, he knew. He closed his eyes. “When?”

“About twelve hours ago. Right after I told him you were on your way to see him.” She sniffled. “Evidently his death came as a shock even to the staff. Marshall didn’t have anyone listed as next of kin, but one of the nurses after shift change had my number and she called me. I just got off the phone with his lawyer. He’s set up a meeting tomorrow morning at nine.”

Kyle didn’t know what he was supposed to feel in response to this news. He’d been afraid to meet the man and now he would never have the chance. The resentment he’d tamped down earlier reared its ugly head again.

“Are you staying with me and Rick tonight? Because I made up the guest room.”

“No.” He wouldn’t give in to her guilt. “What’s the lawyer’s name?”

“Bill Ruttan. His office is downtown. Do you need directions?”

“I’ll look up the address when I get to the motel. Are you gonna be there tomorrow?”

“No. It’s just supposed to be you.” She hesitated. “And your wife, if you want.”

“Jesus, Mom, you told the lawyer I was married?”

Celia groaned.

“I assumed it was all right.”

He bit off, “Do me a favor. Don’t assume anything. Don’t talk to anyone about any of this, okay? My marriage, whatever the hell this inheritance is supposed to be about. You think you can handle that?”