Yeah, I had a crush on my high school girlfriend’s mom. I used to play that song “Stacy’s Mom” when I ran in the mornings before school. And I’ll probably take that little twisted part of my history to my grave.
“You boys about ready to start your roping lessons?” I ask the twins.
Dawson nods vigorously.
Dutton looks up at me. “I wanna go right now!”
I nod, standing up. “There’s no time like the present. Let’s do it.”
Dawson exclaims, clapping, “Yes! Right now!”
“You boys had better ask your mama if it’s okay.”
Dutton runs around the table, and they both start begging her with their big eyes.
“Pwease, Mommy. Pwease,pwease.”
She sighs, nodding. “Just for a little bit. We’re going to leave soon, before it gets dark.”
I wait for her to stand. Everyone else is still eating and talking about the wedding plans. The four of us make our way over to the arena, where a rope is looped around one of the iron fence posts. I grab it, expanding the end through the knot to create a wide loop for roping.
“All right, first off, we gotta get our loop the right size. You stretch it out like this. You want it big enough to hook around the horns, all right? But not too big so that you can’t handle it.”
I open the side gate and let the boys and Dallas walk through before following behind them. She seems to be avoiding looking at my bare torso like it’s her full-time job. Her eyes are on the dirt, the boys, and the fading orange light in the distance as the sun sets.
I grab the cow dummy that’s up against the fence and drag it over to the center.
“Let me just show y’all a few tricks tonight, all right? It’s getting dark, and your mama wants to get home before then.”
The deer will dart out in front of a car on the road ifyou’re not careful, and considering that’s how I lost my mom, I’m not going to hold her up for too long.
The boys step back, eyes big as they focus on my getting the loop the right size. Then I twirl it around and throw it toward the dummy.
They cheer loudly when I get both horns on the first try. I look over at Dallas, resisting the urge to wink.
She’s not even looking at the dummy, where the rope is, because her eyes are glued to my bare chest.
8
DALLAS
Biceps. The most underrated male body part on the planet.
Scratch that.
Pecs. Pecs are the most underrated.
Branded pecs, specifically.
The double-Rbrand that all the Redford brothers and Sam have is the same as their cattle brand. Duke’s is a jagged pink mark on his chest, and I know it’s a red flag that it turns me on, knowing he’d go through the pain of burning fleshjust because.
My eyes feel like they’re about to pop out of their sockets, like one of those cartoon characters, with how little control I have staring at Duke’s exposed torso.
I can’t peel them away from the way his defined abs contort and shift every time he lifts his arm up and twirls the rope around his head. He’s not super lean. His muscles have bulk to them, making his look incredibly strong and capable. He can throw hay bales around like they’re hollow cardboardboxes, and I’d bet my entire week of tips that he could throw me around just as easily.
My mouth waters. A drop of wetness hits my cleavage. I look down, thinking it might have been the start of rain, only to realize it was drool.
I am literallydroolingover this man.
