Road to Glory (22 page)

“A cowboy never says no to a lady.”

She turned in the seat and reached for the handle. Travis’ hand stopped her. “Wait.”

His door opened, and Glory watched him climb out. He crossed in front of the truck, opened the door for her, and held out his hand, her invitation. She placed her hand in his, and he drew her from the cab. Fingers intertwined, he pulled her close to him. Without speaking he lowered his head and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead as he shut the door.

Heat pooled in the pit of her stomach. The urge to join their bodies grew so strong Glory shivered. The silence held a gleam of expectation as they walked hand in hand toward Travis’ “mansion.” He kissed her again at the doorway as he fumbled for the keys. She giggled, feeling her heart soar. He unlocked the door and pushed it open, grabbing her about the waist and swirling her inside.

It was like dancing. Glory closed her eyes and leaned against his chest. His hands on either side of her waist, his lips blazed a trail across her cheek to her neck and down to the open V of her shirt. Reveling in desire, she leaned her head back, signaling she wanted more. Travis swirled his tongue against the pounding pulse just below her ear, and her knees grew weak.

“Travis, oh, Travis,” she murmured as her blood blazed below her skin.

One long deep kiss followed. Glory could no longer think straight. She clung to him as they waltzed toward the bedroom. Shirts dropped at the doorway, the touch of their lips stopping long enough to shuck out of their boots. Hopping on one foot, Glory made her way to the bed, tossing the second boot to the floor and reaching for the belt on her jeans. The change in Travis’s pockets jingled as his pants fell to the floor. She sat down and tugged on the leg of her jeans. Behind her the mattress dipped. Her senses were so alive she could feel him before he touched her.

“Glory.”

Her whispered name made her pause. She thought her heart might beat through her chest as he curled a finger beneath her bra strap and kissed her skin.

“All sunshine, sweetness, and light.”

His voice was closer as his mouth moved along her neck. She tilted her head up. Her eyes closed, waiting for a kiss on the lips, but his mouth instead found the other side of her neck, and he blazed his way to the other shoulder. As his tongue gently licked the shadow where her other strap had creased the skin, Glory’s stomach clenched. His kisses would certainly be her undoing. He edged closer. The warmth of his body covered her back, and his firm chest rested against her shoulder.

She leaned against him and sighed. This was where she wanted to spend the rest of her life—in love, in Travis Hargrove’s arms. His arms moved beneath hers, and his hands gently caressed her breasts. The last resistance to her heart fell away, and Glory surrendered all, putty in his hands. He flicked his thumbs over her nipples and they beaded. She didn’t care what he did as long as he didn’t stop. Under his careful ministrations her breasts grew full, her hips twisting on the bed and almost demanding their own attention.

Then, with one hand still lavishing devotion to a breast, he slid his right hand lower down. As his fingers rubbed across the elastic, her thighs opened, issuing an invitation. His smooth palm slid past the cotton barrier, and he cupped the silken curls, fingers stroking the dampness, and Glory raised one arm to around his neck and arched against him. Lost in a sublime trance, she could only whimper as he withdrew his hand.

“Shh, lie back,” he commanded as he moved away.

Her eyelids too heavy to lift from her cheek, she glided down to the covers and felt the tug as he removed her jeans the rest of the way. Glory gasped in surprise as his lips moved to where the inside seam once lay. Heat rushed to her cheeks as his mouth paused to place a most intimate kiss. The warmth of his hands reached beneath to her hips and pulled the cotton barrier away. Her fingers clutched the covers, drawing them around her head as he teased her body. The coil in her womb tightened. Her breath sped. She needed release.

“Travis, please,” she begged in panted breaths.

Above her own ragged breathing, she heard the rip of foil. Her hips began to move in anticipation. She wanted him, and wanted him inside her, now. The covers twisted as his tongue trailed up her abdomen, around her belly button, and through the valley of her breasts. He paused long enough to pay his respects to each pleasure mound and lave each to a peak. Glory moaned and cried out his name until his mouth found hers.

She drew from his lips the strength to hold on to the edge of forever as colors swirled against her eyelids and he sank into her. Still she wanted more. Letting go of the blanket, her hands moved down his torso to cup his bottom. She grabbed tight and slammed him home. Gasping at the sensations that washed over her, Glory refused to let go. She felt him come, and they rode the crest higher. He stilled. Her body responded, holding him, refusing to let go. Then, when all hope seemed lost, they plunged over the edge together, names upon each other’s lips. Glory had never felt so sated. When her breath returned, she snuggled against him and heard him sigh in delight.

“No eight-second ride was ever better.”

Glory couldn’t agree more.

****

An incessant buzz drew him from the warmth of his dreams. Travis felt the push of a soft backside against his hips, and his manhood rose to greet it. A soft smile spread across his face as he drew Glory’s body to his. She sighed. He didn’t want to leave the pleasant memory of what he’d experienced last night, but the sound refused to stop. Opening one eye, he glanced over her bare shoulder to the nightstand, where his cell phone jangled.

“Want me to get it?” Glory roused and turned a sleepy eye to him. “It’s the second time they’ve called.”

“Guess we better.”

He watched her hand hold the sheet in place while reaching. Not that it would matter to him anyway, since he’d already memorized each curve of her body. She handed him the phone and he flipped the cover open. “Hello?”

“I wondered if you was goin’ to sleep all day. Those kids musta worn you out.”

“Morning, Mickey.” Travis winked at Glory, who smiled. “What can I do for you?”

“Get out of bed, for one thing. I can’t get hold of Glory. I was hopin’ one of you’d take me to town so I could watch the kids work out.”

“Take you to town,” Travis repeated and glanced out the window. The sky above the valley was just beginning to turn pink. “Mickey, you haven’t been trying to call Glory at this hour, have you?” He glanced over to see her slide one slender leg into her jeans. She heard his question and fished around in the pocket and pulled out her cell. She glanced at him and nodded. Travis rolled his eyes. “Mickey, do you know it’s only five a.m.?”

“Yeah, I do,” he snapped. “Lookin’ at the clock now.”

Travis swung his legs over the edge of the bed and reached for his boxers. “Look, let me get breakfast and a shower. I’ll pick you up, and we’ll go to the fairgrounds.”

“Good.”

The line grew silent, and he waited. Travis’ intuition told him Mickey had something else to say. “That’s not all, is it?”

“Er, no.”

The cold hard knot in his belly tightened. “Spit it out.”

“John Parker called. He’s comin’ out to look over that stock you recommended. He, well, he’s bringin’ Peterson. Wants a three-round ride between you, Martin, and Peterson.”

“Why?” Travis asked, feeling his guard rise.

“One of you is movin’ up to semi pro with Peterson. It’s your shot, Travis.”

His hands clenched tighter on the phone.
My shot
. His chance to make the big time once again. Turning his head, he glanced over his shoulder at Glory as she paused in pulling on her shirt.

“What’s wrong?” she mouthed.

His lips felt dry. She deserved to know before they went any further. After last night and her description of Jax, he had a feeling she might feel a bit of
déjà vu
.

“Travis, you listenin’ to me?”

“I heard ya, Mickey. I got to go. See you in one hour.” Taking the phone from his ear, Travis closed its face, ending the call.

“So you were talking to Mickey,” Glory began. She pulled her shirt together and began fastening the buttons. “Anything wrong?”

Travis put the phone down and stood up, pulling his shorts in place before he moved toward her. “You have to get the stock to the fairgrounds this a.m.”

She nodded. “Chutes are ready. Doc will be here about six, and we’ll send them through, give the shots, and load. We should be there by eight at the latest.”

He placed his hands on her arms and moved them to her shoulders. Glory’s eyes searched his. “Travis, what else is wrong?”

“I wish we could have spent the morning in bed,” he replied. It wasn’t a lie. He did. It just wasn’t the whole truth.

She glanced over at the rumpled sheets. “So do I.”

He leaned down and placed a soft sweet kiss upon her lips. Glory sighed and slid her arms around his neck, holding him there for the briefest of moments before letting go. “Do we really have to go?”

“Yep.” He smiled.

Just like on the phone, there was this unmistakable skip, as if she wanted to tell him something. The look in her eyes, the lift at the corners of her mouth—he could have sworn he heard her say, “I love you.” Yet her lips didn’t move. The look passed, and she stepped back.

“I’ll get my shower at the house and meet you at the barn. That way you won’t have to endure Alma’s questions if she’s up.”

A brow arched toward his hairline. “Thank you for that.”

Glory nodded and moved toward the doorway. “I’ll miss you today, Travis.”

“Me too.”

She glanced at the floor, then back to him. “Will I see you tonight?”

“If I have any say about it, yes.”

With those words, a soft blush graced her cheeks. “Till then, I suppose.”

He watched her turn and walk away. Travis walked to the doorway and grabbed the molding as his heart gave a twist. He knew if she ever got mad and left, the sight of her going would kill him.

****

Sitting on the top rail of the corral, Travis watched the wranglers unload the last of the bulls into the stock pen. Beside him, Mickey made notes in a small black book. “You know, most men keep one of those things on the ladies they meet, not on bovines.”

“Little do they know,” Mickey snorted. “We got green cowboys itchin’ to make a name for themselves and get on the rodeo circuit. For most of them, these will be the first points they ever get. I aim to make sure they have a good shot at their dream. Usin’ my system, we can match rider and bull to test their skill before we turn ’em loose on the draw. You got those video cameras up and runnin’?”

Travis craned his neck and glanced at one camera on the judging platform between the chutes and the second in the stand area. “Yep. You and I will run the one here. I’ve got Glory and your daughter on the other.”

“Good.” Mickey nodded and stepped back so Travis could come down the rail. “Come on, let’s give these broom-tailed kids one last talkin’ to.”

Travis followed Mickey over to where the cluster of young cowboys stood gazing with apprehension at the milling bulls.

“Mornin’, boys,” Mickey called out.

“Morning,” the few who found their voices mumbled back.

“Nice bunch of bulls, huh?”

Travis leaned against the judge’s platform and watched the younger men’s Adam’s apples work up and down. He knew what they were thinking: What had prompted them to think they could ride? Had they lost their minds? He recalled the first time he’d clambered up the chutes and looked down at the hump of a Brahma bull. It was a mixture of adrenaline and fear of death colliding all at once.

“Today’s goin’ to be your first ride,” Mickey began. “Now, I’m smart enough to know some of you’ve been sneakin’ a thrill by grabbing a steer in the pasture.”

Travis caught a glimpse of a few heads staring at their boots. He chuckled silently.

“Well, this here is different. This time, the bulls know what you are up to, and they are prepared.”

As Mickey talked, Travis heard the slamming of a metal door. He glanced to the right and watched as Glory climbed through the gap in the fence and moved toward him, only to pause. He straightened and looked in the direction of her stare. There, next to the grandstands, he saw Jax talking to Mickey’s daughter. The direction of the wind kept their words from being heard; however, the man’s animated movements told the whole story. The girl had definitely said something that drew his anger. Then, stomping away from her, he brushed past Glory and moved to join the group at the pens.

Glory glanced at Travis. He shrugged his shoulders, and she changed her direction, stepping instead toward Angel. With that matter taken care of, Travis directed his glance to Jax, whose brooding face at the back of the group between them looked more like a dangerous thundercloud than the aspect of a young man bent on learning tricks of an eight-second ride. Travis’ mouth drew into a thin line.

“Travis, you got anything else to put in?” Mickey asked.

He might as well address it now. Unfolding his arms, he stepped away from the platform. “Mickey told you how important your equipment is. Now I’m gonna tell you the other half of the equation. Equipment is like a computer, only half as good as the person putting in the information. A good ride depends on your focus. Every top rider has to think himself through the ride.” His gaze wandered over each face, then back to Jax. If anything, his scowl had deepened.

“Now, when I say think through, I’m not telling you to think, ‘What will happen when I fall?’ I’m saying think what can you do to anticipate your animal’s moves. We’ve been playing around with the mechanical bull; today, we’ve got the real thing.” He caught Jax elbowing his way closer. Looking toward Mickey, Travis motioned for one of the three-by-five notebooks he had stacked on the edge of the platform. “Give me one of those.”

Mickey handed him one and Travis held it up. “Each of you is getting one of these and a pencil. For the next half hour, you’re gonna list each bull at the top of the page, talk to the wranglers and see if the animals have any quirks, then come over to see Mickey’s master list to get your ride. Only after this is done will you get your equipment ready and meet at the chutes. We’ll talk about what you found out and go through the first ride.”