Ride Me Cowboy #2 (The Cowboy Romance Series - Book #2)

RIDE
ME COWBOY #2

BOOK
2

By
Alycia Taylor

Copyright
2015. All rights reserved.

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CHAPTER
ONE

LEXI

I woke up aware first of the coolness of the air and
wondered why it was so cold in the house. There was a strange smell to it, too,
like manure and hay…weird. My bed felt lumpy like I was sleeping on dirt and
rocks. I opened my eyes slowly, still half asleep, and wondered at first if I
was still dreaming. I could see shards of light coming in through planks of
wood
overhead which
was weird, too. I sat up and
looked around with bleary eyes. My head was pounding and my mouth as dry as
cotton. I realized I was naked and in a pile of hay in the middle of something
that looked like a barn. Where the hell am I? Then I looked over and saw Mark.
He was still sleeping and as naked as
me
. My brain
went into panic mode and now I was wide awake. Oh Jesus! What did I do? What
did he do to me? I slept in a barn! Oh my God, what is happening to me? I don’t
even go camping. I don’t do tents or trailers…I’m in a barn? God… I had sex
with my stepbrother…maybe…I’m sore. I definitely had sex with my stepbrother.
Ew
! Why don’t I remember it? Or do
I? Jumbled memories and a deep tickle in my core are there…just not close
enough to the surface for me to grab them.

I thought back to last night…or at least, I tried.
My head was so damned foggy! Shit! Why did I drink so much? I remember shooting
darts with him. That was fun. We were talking and laughing and having a good
time. Then I made some comment or other about beating him at pool…I think. Then
he kissed me…or did I kiss him? I know I wanted to. Did I throw myself at
him…or did he take advantage of me? Oh God! I jumped up to my feet and stumbled
or slipped on the damned hay and nearly fell over.

“Damn it!” The movement and likely my cursing woke
up the sleeping cowboy.

He grinned at me as soon as he had his sexy blue
eyes half way opened. Then he yawned and stretched
like
he’d just gotten the best sleep of his life. He was really pissing me off.
“Good morning,” he said, as if this was a pleasant way to wake up.

“Good morning? Good morning? Are you insane? Look at
us! What is good about this? Where the hell are we? What happened last night?”

He pushed himself up on his elbows. My traitor body
went completely against me and my heart began to speed up. The way he was
laying looked like a pose right out of a
Playgirl
magazine, only hotter. Damn, he was hard to look away from with his dark hair
all mussed and his sexy arms and chest all exposed like that. God that tattoo
is hot. I tried to keep my eyes above the belt, but there was something below
it that seemed to be standing at attention. I felt a tingle low in my belly.
Damn it! I’m getting off track.

I gave myself a shake and said, “Mark! What
happened?”

He squinted up at me because the sun was hitting him
in the face and he said, “Seriously? You don’t remember any of it?”

Yes. I had even more bits and pieces of it in my
head and that distinct flutter in my core. My body remembers it clearly, if not
my mind. I didn’t want to tell him that though, if I remembered it that made it
real. It couldn’t be real. It was too…bizarre. If someone told me a month ago
I’d be waking up in a barn of all places after a night of drunken sex with my
stepbrother, I would have had them committed.

I reached down and picked up my blouse. I had to
shake the hay off of it. I held it to my chest in front of my boobs as I looked
for my bra. All the while, he just sat there and watched me with an amused
expression on his face. I think he must be a little bit crazy.

“What is so damned funny? You think it’s funny that
I can’t remember what you did to me last night?”

One side of his mouth quirked as he
said, “What I did to you, huh?
Well, I guess I
wouldn’t think that was too funny. That actually doesn’t say much for my
skills.”

I’m naked and panicking and he wants to talk about
his skills?
Typical man.
“Oh shut up. Where’s my bra?”
He looked around and then reached behind him and plucked it off a hay bale. He
tossed it to me, and I had to drop my blouse to catch it. He didn’t even
pretend not to stare at my chest. What a pervert! “Do you mind?”

 
“Not at all,”
he said with a grin.

“Oh my God!
You’re like a teenager!” I turned my back to him and got dressed. I’m sure he
was staring at my ass, but somehow it seemed less intrusive than my boobs. I
finished dressing and turned back around. He was still lounging in the nude
like maybe we were in a resort hotel and this was all non-incestuous, instead
of in a stinky old barn…doing taboo things. “Why are you still naked?”

“Just waking up…”

I picked up his discarded jeans, boxers, and shirt
and threw them at him. “You’re awake! Get dressed and take me home.”

He didn’t say anything, he just did as I asked…or ordered,
I guess. A wave of nausea hit me all of a sudden, and I went over in the
corner, thinking I was going to be sick. I stood there with my head down, staring
at a pile of…God I didn’t even know what that was…until the wave passed. Then I
suddenly felt a warm hand on my back. “Are you okay?” Mark’s voice sounded so
concerned and so sincere that I almost decided not to be mad at him – almost. I
resisted the urge to lean back into the touch. Instead, I pulled away from him.

“I’m fine. I want to go home,” I said and felt tears
brimming in my eyes. I do want to go home. I want to go to my home! I want to
go back to the city where there are no stinky barns and no hot stepbrothers. He
at least didn’t look amused any longer. I think the gravity of what we had done
was setting in.

CHAPTER
TWO

MARK

Lexi was pissed. She was cute when she was mad. I
had a hard time keeping a straight face when she was throwing clothes and
snapping orders at me. It’s always funny to me when a tiny little woman gets
all spunky like that, but never
laugh
at one while
they’re in the midst of chewing your ass – that’s a mistake that a man might
not live to regret. I did as I was told and put on my clothes. I’m pretty damn
sure we had some amazing sex last night. I have one of those headaches that just
sit on top of my head, causing everything to be all mushed and foggy – I’m sure
that’s from the beer. But everything else feels damned good…and that’s probably
not so good.

“I’m ready.”

“Good, let’s go,” she barked at me. I hid a smile
again behind her back, and I followed her out into the bright light. The sun
was hot already and so bright that the top of my head headache wanted to
explode. My eyes were burning, too – definitely from over-indulging last night.
The bar wasn’t open yet and my pick-up was the only one out front. I tried to
open Lexi’s door for her, but she snapped at me again, “I can do it!” With a
twitch of my lips I stepped back. For that, I got a glare. Damn, she’s pretty.
We got in, and I fired up the old pick-up and then sat there while I waited for
her to warm up. “What are we doing?”

“Warming up the truck,” I told her.

“It’s not cold.”

“The engine is cold. The truck is twenty-two years
old. She needs a little warm-up time.”

She rolled her eyes and folded her arms. This was
the city attitude I was expecting when she first got here. I’m not sure what it
is that she’s pissed at me about, though.

“Lexi?”

“What?”

“Are you mad at me?”

“Of course!
I can’t believe you let that happen!”

I had to raise an eyebrow on that one. She wasn’t
doing any resisting and if my foggy brain is remembering correctly, she even
made a few first moves. I let that go for now though, she was obviously
embarrassed. No use in rubbing it in. I put the now warmed-up truck into
reverse and pulled out onto the road.

“So, you had fun at the rodeo? Think you’ll want to
go to another one someday?” I asked as I put her in drive. She gave me a
look…not a nice one. I guessed that she wasn’t in the mood to talk, so I just
started talking to ease the awkwardness. “I have a passion for it. I guess
you’re just kind of born with that, you know? It’s not just a
sport,
it’s a whole way of life. It satisfies you on so many
different levels, you know?” She was staring out the window and not
acknowledging me. That’s okay. I’ve been ignored before. “My mama used to say I
was
gonna
run them broke with the money it took to
keep me in clothes. I was constantly ripping or staining my jeans. I thought it
was cool. Every scrape or bruise I got was like a trophy and there was nothing
better than getting tossed off head first into a puddle of mud.” I think she
rolled her eyes and sighed that time. It was a response, at least. “When I’m on
the road, I’m in the arena before the dawn breaks, exercising the horses or
practicing roping which I do sometimes, too. The competitions sometimes go
until sunset or later, so it makes for really long days, but it feels damned
good to lie down and sleep that night, you know?” I got a snort that
time…Almost there. “Even after they hand out our checks, there’s a lot of work
to be done when you’re staying on the road for a while. The horses need to be
cooled and fed and untacked. The gear all has to be cleaned and oiled. It’s a
lot of physical work, but that’s a good thing for more than one reason.
Like
I said, it makes for good sleeping at night. Plus,
cowboys
ain’t
really given
the credit for their musculature, like say a pro ball player is. Not just
anybody can get up in a saddle or on the back of a bull and not completely tear
their body up the first time out. You have to be in good physical condition to
do it.” I admit that I was
hoping for a kudo from her…I got
nothing
. “I
ain’t
really got the time to be
pumping iron in a gym. The hard work compensates for that.

“The other thing you have to be real careful about
is the food. Food on the circuit can be rich and delicious, but full of nothing
but fat and calories. I’ve seen more than one cowboy and cowgirl fall victim to
it. Excessive weight can affect the hell out of your balance and coordination.
Even ten pounds would throw me way off my game. Then there’s the practice time,
too. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been doing it…if you get out of
practice, you’re screwed. During the season, I’ll go to three or four rodeos a
week. The paycheck is nice, the purses I win, but even with the little rodeos
that
ain’t
about the titles,
it’s about the practice. One of these days, I intend to make it to the National
Finals in Vegas. I don’t think it will be much longer now. I’m on my way.”

“Damn, you talk a lot.” She still wasn’t looking at
me, but she was talking. I tried not to look amused, just in case she looked my
way.

“In my defense, I paused a lot and gave you ample
opportunity to jump right in there. You chose not to. You got something to say,
just come on out with it.”

“Why do you live with your father? You’re a grown
man.” Harsh, but I guess it’s a logical question.

“I travel a lot. It just doesn’t seem to make sense
at this stage to buy a house or even rent one and let it sit there empty when
I’m on the road for over half the year.”

She looked at me. Progress! She still had that glare
on her face
like
she’d rather be with anyone else but
me… “So what do you do when you’re at home – besides hit the local rodeos and
seduce drunken women?” I couldn’t help it, I laughed.