Total pages in book: 50
Estimated words: 48446 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 242(@200wpm)___ 194(@250wpm)___ 161(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 48446 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 242(@200wpm)___ 194(@250wpm)___ 161(@300wpm)
His lips melted over mine, and the kiss was tender and soft before I opened for him and his tongue swept inside my mouth. The hoarse moan made me smile as I rolled him onto his back, wanting to drown myself in him for as long as he’d let me.
“Come see me,” he gasped, breaking the kiss, hands on my face, thumbs sliding over my eyebrows as he stared up at me. “Take my address and cell number, and if you’re ever near California, like in Nevada or New Mexico or—”
“That ain’t real close.”
“It is to me, Weber.”
I squinted at him. “You don’t have to do nothin’ for—”
“Please.” He huffed out a breath, his legs lifting, wrapping around my thighs. “Web.”
Why would I argue? “I would like that.”
The shivering when I took possession of his mouth made my heart race. He was the most beautiful man I had ever seen in my life, and to have him want to spend any time with me at all was a gift.
“Web.”
“Sorry.” I grinned sheepishly, brought back sharply to the present, embarrassed even though he couldn’t see me. “And I’m sorry you’ve got to drive all the way out to Oakland to fetch me. I fell asleep and missed the stop that would have put me down on Mission Street—”
“I don’t care. Just don’t leave. Stay.”
“Like a dog,” I teased him.
“Yes, just like that.”
“Okay.”
He exhaled a deep breath. “Okay.”
“I should walk around and see if there’s somewhere open to grab a bite.”
“No. I have stuff at my house. You can take a shower, and I’ll make you something to eat.”
Just to sit in his kitchen and watch him cook, be clean and warm and dry, was a blessing. Forty had been a revelation to me. I was surprised I lived to see it, and there was the realization that I was not going to be a rodeo star. Never had I broken into the real money. I didn’t have a sponsor, and the chances of it happening diminished with every passing year. At the point I was at now, I needed to find work on a ranch and hope that after I proved myself, I could stay on permanently.
I was on my way to a winter job in Alaska that Aidan Shelton, a friend of mine from the rodeo circuit, set up for me. His brother owned a fishing lodge, a forty-five-minute seaplane ride out of Anchorage, and he needed a handyman for three months. Aidan and I had crossed paths in Louisville at the North American Championship, and after I got hurt in the qualifier, he approached me with the offer. It had been really decent of him, as had been the meal he bought me later that evening. He even invited me to stay the night with him, and since there was no money coming, I had appreciated that as well. When I came out of the shower and he was bare-assed in the middle of the second twin bed in the tiny motel room, and asked me what I was waiting on, that too had been a blessing. It was lonely on the road and far too terrifying sometimes to take a chance on a stranger.
“Web?”
“Sorry.” I sighed. “I reckon I checked out for a minute. I got to thinkin’ how nice it’ll be to sit a spell in your kitchen and simply talk to you.”
“Where are you going next?”
“Alaska. A friend of mine has a job for me.”
“You’re not going to a rodeo?”
I scoffed. “No, sir. All the rodeos been held already this year, even the big one in Las— Wait, this here is the beginning of December, ain’t it?”
“Yes. Don’t you know? What did you do for Thanksgiving?”
“I don’t remember.” When he made a hurt sound, I felt like crap. “Aw, Doc, I don’t mean to tug at your heartstrings none. You know that ain’t me.”
“I know.” He cleared his throat. “Finish about the rodeo.”
“Well, the last big rodeo of the season was in Las Vegas, but I was too tore up to even give it a go. Even if I’d wanted to, I didn’t have the entrance fees or anything else. My gear was all beat to shit so…no more rodeos for me.”
“You’re done with bull riding, then?” He sounded both hopeful and sad.
“Yep. Can’t afford it. You got to train, and have money for supplies and gear, and…well, I ain’t got none of that.”
“You need a sponsor.”
“Honestly…” I yawned because, God, I was tired. “I think over this past year I lost my love for it. It was in my blood for so long, but now… I’m fixin’ to go to Alaska for three months, and then I’m gonna find me a ranch in Texas.”
“What changed with the bull riding?”
“Like I said, my body can’t take it no more. I’m old now, you know.”