Unridden: A Studs in Spurs novel (8 page)

Mustang grinned at Slade. “Come on. I’ll come up to the bar with you so you can pay the check.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Slade mumbled, not that he cared about paying for the pitcher. What bothered him was that Mustang had not only made progress, which for some reason made Slade jealous, but now Mustang was suddenly giving in and giving up on closing the deal when he’d seemed so close. Mustang never gave in until he’d gotten the girl, but tonight, that was exactly what he seemed to be doing.

When they’d reached the bar, Slade turned to Mustang. “What the hell were you thinking over there? I’ve never seen you give up on a woman that easily. How come you’re not ordering her some fruity drink and getting her drunk and then back to the trailer?”

“Because this one’s special. It’s going to take a different lure to reel her in.”

Yeah, she was special and different, and that’s exactly why Slade didn’t want to risk letting her get away. “Do you really think we’ve got a snowball’s chance in hell of ever seeing her again if you let her go now?”

“It’s our only chance. I’m telling you, she’s not coming back to the trailer tonight and if we push too hard, I guarantee you we’ll never see her again. She’ll be all scared and hide from us until she leaves Tulsa.” Mustang hooked the heel of one boot on the brass bar rail and leaned in, lowering his voice. “She’s interested now. We wait until tomorrow, let the idea settle in, and she’s all ours, for as long as she’s here in town.”

Slade considered that, remembering with envy the expression on Jenna’s face when Mustang had touched her. “Yeah, maybe. But she’s not interested in both of us.”

Mustang grinned. “Oh, yeah she is. In both of us.”

“You’re doing all the talking and she’s barely even looked at me.”

“That’s the thing. She’s avoiding looking at you too hard and every time she does, she blushes. Haven’t you noticed? You make her nervous.” Mustang laughed at that.

Nervous. Great. “That’s a good thing?”

“With women it is. And may I say I haven’t seen you this interested in a woman in months, maybe a year even.”

“I’m not…” Mustang raised a brow skeptically and Slade stopped, mid-denial. “All right. I’m interested. I’ll admit it.”

The one time Slade actually cared if they got the girl or not, they were willingly driving her home before anything happened. “You sure about taking her back to the hotel now?”

Mustang nodded. “Yup. Positive.”

“You think she might invite us up to her room?” Hope sprung eternal inside a horny cowboy.

“If she does, we say no,” Mustang ordered.

“Say no? What? Are you crazy? Why?”

“Look. We have her book.” Mustang held up the handful of pages he’d grabbed off the table. “She needs us before she can finish this. More importantly,
she knows
she damn well can’t do it without us. She’s not going anywhere. Believe me, tomorrow night she’ll be there in the arena again begging us to give her some more of our valuable time.”

“So now we’re playing hard to get?”

“Yup.” Mustang grinned.

“This plan of yours better work.” Slade adjusted his jeans slightly, realizing he’d started to get hard just thinking about Jenna begging them for anything.

Mustang slapped him on the back. “It’s good to have you back in action, my friend.”

Slade rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Just don’t fuck this one up. Okay?”

“I won’t. Don’t you worry. I want her as much as you do.” Mustang blew out a breath and glanced back at their table. “Damn, she’s hot, and those new chaps you’re gonna buy me will be a nice bonus too.”

Slade followed his friend’s gaze to where Jenna sat alone, waiting for them and taking in the crowd with what he suspected was her usual curiosity. They both stood there like idiots staring at the women neither of them would have that night until Mustang finally blew out a loud breath.

“Damn. Let’s go before I change my mind and order that fruity drink. And I’m gonna need the bathroom first when we get back.” Mustang adjusted himself within his jeans, shaking his head. “It’s been a long time since I’ve willingly rubbed one out on my own after a competition.”

Slade’s thoughts exactly, yet he couldn’t say he was disappointed he’d be right-handing it tonight instead of going at some nameless, brainless girl. Once you’d set your sights on a prize-winning thoroughbred, just any filly wouldn’t do.

Slade pushed a five and two singles toward the waitress to cover the pitcher and her tip. “I’ll get the car. You keep those two bull riders who are eyeing Jenna off of her and don’t do anything stupid to scare her away before I get back.”

Mustang grinned so wide, Slade had to stop mid step toward the door. “What are you grinning at?”

“You know her name.”

Yeah, Slade had noticed that himself but was trying not to think about it too much. He shook his head and didn’t comment. “I’ll meet you outside with the car.”

Chapter Seven

“Happy birthday!” Astrid’s bright, cheery voice came through the cell phone, loud and clear.

“Thanks, Astrid.” Jenna stifled a groan. Between a full conference agenda and those two tempting cowboys she couldn’t seem to get out of her mind, she’d managed to forget about her thirty-fifth birthday. Until now.

“What are you going to do to celebrate? Ooo and before I forget, did you go to the rodeo yet?”

Jenna laughed. “The answer to those two questions are one in the same. I was there last night, and I’m going back tonight, but it isn’t a rodeo. It’s a bull riding competition.”

“What’s the difference?”

“I’m not exactly sure but it seems to mean quite a bit to the two hot bull riders I had drinks with last night. The same two I’ll be meeting tonight to discuss my book research.”

“You’re meeting two hot cowboys for drinks tonight?”

“To discuss my book,” Jenna reminded Astrid, trying to convince herself of that, just as she had all night long and half that day, as her mind kept wandering back to the two.

“I am so jealous. I knew I should have come with you.” She could almost hear Astrid’s pouting through the phone.

“I told you that you could come with me. I have a room all to myself.” With a big king-sized bed that would probably accommodate Jenna plus two cowboys. She averted her gaze from the expansive mattress and shook that vision from her mind.

“You know I couldn’t take a week off work. But darn it, it would have been perfect. One hot cowboy for you and one for me. Damn, damn, damn! Now I’m pissy. When do you leave for the rodeo?”

Knowing it would be no use, Jenna didn’t bother correcting Astrid about the rodeo/bull riding terminology again. “Now. I just called the cab so I’m about to head into the elevator in a minute and wait downstairs in the lobby.”

She heard Astrid emit an annoyed sigh. “I want a phone call tomorrow telling me everything. Promise, okay?”

“I promise.” Jenna hung up with Astrid and considered the conversation for a moment.

If Astrid had been there, which man would Jenna have been willing to give her? The funny and cute sandy-haired Mustang with that larger than life personality, those big dreamy blue eyes, and the supposedly even bigger… She felt her face heat just thinking about how he’d gotten to her by using just one finger and a few words. Her heart skipped a beat at the thought of what else that one finger could do to her, not to mention the supposedly super sized rest of him.

Then there was Slade, so sexy, dark and mysterious, hiding behind a wall by letting his friend do most of the talking, all while keeping himself at an emotional arm’s length. He made her want to peel back his many layers, as well as his clothes, sure what was underneath (in both cases) would be well worth the trouble. It would be if the way he made her blush and sent a flutter straight to her core whenever she looked at him was any indication.

Jenna easily pictured breaking down Slade’s walls and him finally letting himself go as they tumbled into bed together. But she could also imagine Mustang braced above her while staring into her eyes as she got lost in his ever present smile.

It would be an impossible choice, but judging by the way Mustang kept inviting her back to
their
trailer so the three of them could
all
get comfortable, she obviously wouldn’t need to make a choice if she didn’t want to. As she had lay in bed the night before, hot and bothered and picturing the two cowboys, there had been many scenarios running through her head where she didn’t choose. Her sleep had been crappy but her fantasies had been pretty damned good.

Normal, average, borderline boring suburban women didn’t have a
ménage a trois
with cowboys they barely knew and would never see again. Did they? On the other hand, she was thirty-five and single, and very capable of making her own decisions.

Swallowing hard, Jenna tried to ignore, not for the first time that day, the dampness soaking her panties. She glanced at her flushed reflection in the room’s full-length mirror, second guessing leaving her hair down for the evening, or more accurately, why she’d left it loose. She’d wanted to look sexier for the two cowboys who were only supposed to help her with the bull riding facts. Little had she known they’d be inspiring her sexual fantasies instead.

Jenna studied her reflection harder. She’d chosen a black, knee-length, knit dress that looked surprisingly good when she’d tried it on with bare legs and her black cowboy boots.

What if she did have sex with them both? Who would it hurt? As Jenna grabbed her bag with her notes and wallet she knew the answer to that question. She could get hurt, that’s who. But damn, her body, which had already started to get excited at the thought of seeing the two again, didn’t seem to care about that.

———

At the arena, Jenna stepped up to the window, wallet in hand. There wasn’t much of a line because apparently, everyone else had purchased their tickets in advance and had gone straight in.

“One ticket please.”

The young woman behind the glass looked at her closely. “Hey, your name doesn’t happen to be Jenna Block, does it?”

Taken aback, Jenna nodded. “Yes, it is.”

The girl slid an envelope beneath the partition. “This ticket was left for you.”

“Um. Okay. Thanks.”

Things got even stranger when she showed the ticket to the guy at the door. If his raised brow and the amused look that took her in from head to toe didn’t alert her that something was off, the fact the man directed her right up to the front row of seats directly behind the bucking chutes did.

She sat and looked around. From there, she would be able to count the hairs on the bulls’ backs.

“Hey, you made it.”

Jenna narrowed her eyes at Mustang as he swung up onto the railing to be eyelevel with her. “You left me that ticket, didn’t you?”

“I sure did. Great seats, huh?”

“Yeah, but I’m thinking this is the special bimbo bull rider groupie section.”

“Shh. Keep your voice down. The woman sitting two seats over is the wife of the number one rider in the world. But, actually, I think she’s Brazilian and can’t speak English so I guess she didn’t understand you anyway.”

Jenna crossed her arms. “And tube top girl next to her?”

Mustang grinned. “All right, she may be a bit of a bimbo, but she’s the girlfriend of one of the rookies. He’s young and doesn’t know any better. He’ll learn you don’t have to fall in love with every girl you f…um, sleep with. And stop frowning at me. I thought you’d like being up close to the chutes so you can take your little notes.”

“Not if it’s going to make everyone think I’m sleeping with you,” Jenna hissed.

She noted that Mustang couldn’t control his grin at her merely mentioning sleeping with him. “Ah, so that’s the problem. Maybe this will help. I have never ever in my entire riding career left a VIP ticket for any woman I’ve had sex with. That make you feel any better?”

“Sadly, yes.” Jenna laughed at herself. “I’m sorry. I’m being ridiculous. It was incredibly nice and sweet of you to think of me.”

Mustang tipped his cowboy hat charmingly with one hand. “Why, thank you, ma’am. I do try.”

“But how did they know it was me when I came up to the window?”

“Simple. I told the ticket girl to look for a beautiful, brunette, city girl, most likely dressed in black,” Mustang’s eyes dropped to take in her black dress, “who looked like she’d never been to a bull ride before in her life. You look great tonight, by the way.”

A little flutter began in Jenna’s chest, and down lower. She felt her cheeks heat at the compliment. “Thanks. So, um, where’s Slade?”

“He’s back getting his rope ready.” At Jenna’s blank stare, Mustang laughed. “We’ll go over ropes and all the gear when we get to your book stuff later. Okay?”

She nodded, relieved. They were really going to help her. She’d been a little afraid they were only in this to flirt and try to get her into bed.

“I might even let you touch mine, if you’re real nice.” Mustang waggled his eyebrows.

Feeling bold, Jenna said, “Okay, it’s a date.”

Mustang burst out laughing at her response. His eyes roamed over her again before he shook his head. “Ah, man. Jenna, darlin’, I better go and get myself ready before you put me in a state and I can’t ride.”

Jenna smiled. He was about to jump down, when she stopped him. “Mustang.”

He paused, poised on the rail. “Yeah, darlin’?”

“Is it bad luck to wish you good luck?”

He grinned. “Not at all, but a big sloppy kiss is even better luck.”

Shooting a glance at the wives and girlfriends surrounding her, not to mention the cameras and thousands of spectators, Jenna decided she couldn’t do it even as much as she wanted to. Instead, she rolled her eyes at him. “Good luck, Mustang.”

Jenna heard him still chuckling as his boots hit the ground and he strode away. Watching his nicely-shaped, denim-covered butt framed by chaps until he was out of view, she sighed, knowing she didn’t stand a chance. She’d be a card-carrying bimbo groupie by the end of the night. Glancing sideways at the tube-top wearing girl nearby, Jenna decided that, as far as bimbo groupies went, at least she’d be a well-dressed one.

Chapter Eight