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“Before you’re thrown butt over teakettle and have to run away because the bull is angry and looking for someone to take it out on.”
He smiled. “Yeah, before then.”
It felt almost like he was opening up to her, so she pushed her luck a little. “I hear you’re something of a rodeo star.”
“That’s not why I do it.”
She traced the veins in his forearm as he drove. “You must have a whole lot of stories that would scare years off your friends’ lives.”
“A few.” There was that smile again, the one she was seriously starting to crave. “Down in San Antonio a few years back, there was this big, mean old brute by the name of Sue.”
Jules blinked. “Sue. As in the song?”
“The very one.” He chuckled softly. “Well, he has a nasty history of putting his riders in the hospital, to the point where the odds of hitting eight seconds is so far against them, a man can make a pretty penny if he manages.”
There was no mistaking the self-satisfied tone of his voice. “You did it.”
“I did it. I went eight point one seconds.” His eyes went a little distant. “It was one hell of a ride, sugar. There hasn’t been any quite like it since.” He glanced down at her, his smile fading. “I never told anyone back home about it. Mama would worry, and I don’t like the boys to think I’m bragging.”
There was something almost sad about that. He’d done some incredible things, and to not be able to share it with anyone… Jules snuggled closer to him, wishing she could soothe the faint ache she heard behind the surface happiness of his words. “How did you even get started on that? Was it something you were determined to do as a kid, with the added bonus of giving your mother gray hair?”
A terrible, hopeless expression passed over his face, but he was answering her before she could ask what had put it there. “It was never on my list. I actually had started working with your cousin on your uncle’s farm before I graduated high school, and I liked it a lot.”
If she thought picturing Adam on a bull was hotter than hot, picturing him on a horse and herding cattle was downright devastating. There was something so attractive about a man, rugged and a little dirty, working the land and animals. She looked away, trying to get a handle on her hormones. “Why’d you stop if you liked it so much?”
“Something just clicked inside me at graduation. It was like a whole new world of possibilities opened up, and I couldn’t wait to get the hell out of Dodge.” He hesitated. “Not going to lie, I considered coming back right around the time I hit twenty-one. Your uncle Rodger offered me a job, and the other guys were running things at the ranch. I came back to help out over the holidays, but…”
That was when John died.
She knew the story. Everyone in town did. How Adam, Quinn, Daniel, John, and John’s little sister were on their way back into town when a truck swerved and hit them. John had been killed on impact, and his little sister had her leg horribly mangled.
Jules swallowed hard. “Losing him must have been awful.” She knew her cousin had never quite recovered.
“It was.” He was silent for a beat. “I lasted until his funeral, but then I started getting restless again. Since then, I haven’t stayed in one place more than a week or two.”
And they were topping out two right now.
Jules couldn’t imagine it. She loved her family, loved her friends, just plain loved Devil’s Falls. It was her home and it might be a pain occasionally, but the good far outweighed the bad. She understood needing a break, but Adam had started driving and never come back. “I bet you’ve seen some cool stuff in all your traveling, though.”
“Yeah. There are places where you can drive for miles and miles without seeing another person. Sometimes I camp out in the truck under the open sky and just…am. And the rodeo is something else. The energy is off the charts, amping up the people, which amps up the animals. It’s a show unlike any other.”
She’d only been a few times, and the last time, she’d seen one of the bull riders get trampled. He’d fallen after a great ride and while everyone was cheering, he hadn’t gotten up fast enough and the bull had done a number on him. He lived, but he’d never ride again.
The thought of that happening to Adam…
Jules did her best to think of anything else. “But you’re back in town for your mom—because she’s sick.”
“Yeah.”
Even after the short time they’d known each other, she recognized his tone of voice. He was shutting her out. Again. It shouldn’t hurt. She had no right to the information. She wasn’t really his girlfriend.
