“Dude, get out of my fucking face.”
He stepped forward, blatantly ignoring me, but the dancers kept me locked in place so I couldn’t retreat. His hand went to my hip. The audacity that men have these days.Why am I fighting to be heard?
“One spin around the dance floor?”
“Buddy, when a girl says no, she means fucking ‘no.’” I pushed past him.
He wrapped his fingers around my bicep, ducking his head to whisper in my ear, “You sure were willing to put out for the last cowboy you met here.”
I froze, cold sweat washing over me.The last cowboy I met here?Did he mean Reed? How long had he been there without me noticing?
“Get your fucking hands off me!” I snapped, my voice an octave higher than the music, hoping to draw people’s attention to him. I wrenched my arm out of his snakelike grip. I could feel people turn to look at us.Good.
The dude was deranged because he smiled. He actuallysmiled. Like he enjoyed me telling him “no.”
“Only if you ask nicely,” he said as I barreled my way off the dance floor.
My eyes darted around the room, searching for Kale and Christian, but they were nowhere to be seen. Shit! My heart galloped as anxiety washed over me.
I bounded back over to the bar, cute bartender’s eyes lifting to mine.Thank you, whiskey gods.Pushing out a long breath, I forced a smile and sidled up to the bartop in front of him.
“Was the double shot not enough?” He chuckled, flashing his dimples.
“Not nearly.” I peeked over my shoulder to see if I was followed, but the spot on the dance floor was now empty. “I’m out of tokens, though.”
He shrugged, picked up a highball glass, and set it in front of me. “It’s on the house.” He spun a bottle, flipping it to pour straight whiskey. “The name’s Luke.”
“Thanks, Luke.”
His lips tipped. “Sure. It’s Lina, right?”
“Yes, it is.” I winked, taking a sip of my whiskey.
“Think you’ll stick around till closing?” he asked.
I turned slightly to look around me again. Still no sign of my friends. I wasn’t about to leave alone now.
“I think I actually might.” I tipped the glass to my lips, smiling over the rim.
Luke patted the bartop, beaming. “We’ll continue celebrating your win.”
I really wasn’t in the mood to celebrate my win anymore, but leaving the bar alone was no longer an option. And hell, maybe Luke could help turn this night around after all.
6
lina
From the Augustus Stampede to the Molliville Showdown, I couldn’t shake the eerie feeling that someone was following me … watching me. It threw me off my game, and for two rodeos straight, Paige beat my time by half a second. If I didn’t shake it off soon, it was going to be a battle to retain my record. I was going to need to pull it together for the Bowman Desert Rodeo, or I could kiss my goal to win the Columbia River Finals goodbye.
“Doing okay?” Christian asked, genuine concern spreading across his smooth features as he pet Mushu’s chest to calm him before our run.
Mushu seemed extra fidgety today. I knew he could sense my nerves, and I tried my best to calm my body so it wouldn’t affect him, but I was getting nowhere. We were both antsy.
I shook my head at him and exhaled a long, shuddering breath in an attempt to shake it off. “I’m a fucking mess.”
It didn’t help that I was last in the draw, and it had been raining. The arena was dangerous—slick and muddy—which would make me have to work Mushu harder, digging deeper around the barrels for us to make a clean run.
His brows pinched beneath his cowboy hat. “You got this. Don’t let it get to your head.”
