Page 3 of Just Hold On

Renato just smiled and lifted his thumb. From the big green and blue flag on his shirt, I knew he was Brazilian. I couldn't be sure if his response meant he didn't understand or that he didn't care. The only person who could've said something was the bullfighter, Tanner. But if it had been him, wouldn't he have mentioned my name?

With curiosity getting the better of me, I wandered to the bar, aiming for the side. Another beer would help, but it also got me close enough to hear what they were talking about. Unfortunately, they'd moved onto women's rear ends - which I could care less about. Annoyed, I pushed to the counter and waved at one of the bartenders.

"Bud Lime?" I asked.

The man nodded to show he'd seen, and I leaned back. A few seconds later, a moisture-wrapped bottle dropped onto the polished wood, but before I could pay, a hand reached out holding a twenty.

"Allow me."

Great. This was exactly what I hadn't wanted. Pasting on a smile, I followed the hand up to a dark shirt, one hell of a nice bicep, past a Wrangler patch on his muscular chest, and under the real nice straw Stetson he wore, I found the face of my dream man. Literally. His name was Ty McBride, and he was hot - both in how well he rode and just him. My best friend had his poster in her son's room. Me? I'd watched every single video of every single ride he'd ever had. He was gorgeous in a way that men shouldn't be.

"Whatever," I said, taking the beer and hurrying away from the bar. Behind me, I heard him ordering a Bud of his own.

This wasn't what was supposed to happen. I was supposed to fly under the radar, make my point, get my check, and head back home. I had no intention of setting some standard for women dreaming of doing this. I certainly didn't want to become the butt of the next joke, and that was how the guys typically reacted when they realized that "Cody" wasn't one of the boys. I just wanted to earn enough so I could have my own life.

Without looking back, I threaded through the bodies until I reached my original table. Flopping into the closest chair, I propped my elbows on the top and put my head in my hands, massaging my aching temples. Ok. All I had to do was drink this, not make a scene, and head out as soon as I was done. No more beers, no looking back to see if any of the bull riders had noticed me. I just had to -

The chair beside mine scraped as it was pulled out. My head jerked up at the sound, but Ty didn't ask, he just lowered himself into it. I was so busted.

"Come here often?" His accent sure wasn't local.

I took a long sip. "Nope. First time."

"So just here to see the bull riding tonight?"

"Nope. Didn't see any of it." Which was true. I hadn't.

He chuckled and offered a hand over the table. "Ty McBride, and let me assure you it was amazing. Got a whole two seconds before I had to pull my face out of the dirt."

God, he looked good. Out of habit, I took his hand, overly aware of the calluses across the palm. I wasn't sure why he was here, but I could make a wild guess. Guys like Ty McBride didn't talk to girls like me. They went for the pretty ones, not the plain, boring, boyish-looking kind. I hadn't even put on makeup!

Which meant he suspected who I was, and he was here to run me off. I'd faced this a few times back home. Hell, the first boy I'd kissed had only done it on a dare. That had been back in junior high, and the guys back home still thought it was good for a laugh. When I started placing higher than them in the local rodeos? They'd doubled down. At first, the hazing had been pretty straightforward. Then Cole had decided to play the long game. We'd dated for three whole months before it became the perfect ammunition to convince me I didn't need to ride bulls with them anymore. They just hadn't expected it to be the thing that pushed me towards the PBR instead.

I certainly wasn't going to make that mistake again. Bull riding and bull riders were two things I intended to keep very separate.

"What's your name, honey?" Ty smiled at me a little too sweetly.

"Cody."

"Jody?" he asked, checking to see if he'd heard right.

"Nope, Cody. Dad wanted a son. He got me."

His eyes dropped, sliding across my body. "Then I guess he's real disappointed, because you are all woman."

That look made my heart race. Ignoring it was harder than I thought, but I was not going there. Not even for him. Would have been nice if he'd looked a bit less impressive, though. The way his shirt molded across his chest was just sinful. And those lips? When he smiled?

For a moment, I wished I was more like Shelby, able to make men notice that I existed for the right reasons. But I wasn't, and I knew this game. "Cowboy, I'm not going home with you tonight, so stop trying."

"And what kinda guy do you think I am?" he asked, feigning shock. "I will have you know that I am here to talk about good beer and the way this table is so far from balanced, I'm not sure my beer is safe."

"Your good beer?"

Ty made a face and shook his head. "Nah, this's just a beer. They don't sell good beer this far south."

I couldn't help it; I took the bait. "And what is a good beer, then?"

"I like Molson. Labatt's isn't bad. Basically anything with some alcohol - which your American crap doesn't have." He cocked his head, waiting for me to put it together.

"Canadian," I remembered, trying not to chuckle. "You gonna say 'eh' for me next?"

"I can if you'd like, eh." Then he winked. "What about you, sweetheart? Gonna say 'y'all' for me?"

"All y'all cowboys think we talk like that?" I lifted my beer to prove that had been intentional.

He tapped it with his own. "I think you have enough of an accent to sound real cute. So if you aren't a regular here and didn't come to the event tonight, then how did a woman like you end up in a place like this?"

I wagged a finger at him. "Didn't say I didn't go to the event. Said I didn't watch the bull riders. Not the same."

"Ah, so you're with the drill team?"

The show had started with a group of girls on horseback racing around the arena with an American flag while the anthem was belted out by some unknown singer. It was a good guess, but not even close. For a moment, I debated lying, but I didn't want them to have anything to use on me later.

"Nah. I was just one of those things that went unnoticed tonight. Nothing as fancy as that."

He leaned back, making it clear he was looking me over again. "So this mean you're gonna be touring with us?"

"Maybe."

"You gonna be a little more vague, there, honey?"

"Hm." Teasing him was starting to be a little too much fun. That he didn't seem offended made it even better. "Nope, pretty sure I can't. Guess you're just going to have to figure it out on your own."

"Ok, so let's try something else. You from Oklahoma?"

"Nope, Missouri. Not even someplace you've heard of. The closest town is Spring Creek."

"Alberta, Canada, for me." His smile was open and honest, not devious like I'd expected. "Nope," he went on, "not next to anything you've heard of either. Little town with a whole population of, um, my family."

"Just where you wanna be stuck when it snows, right?"

"Hell," he groaned. "When it snows is when I have to get out the Ski-Doo and hunt down the cows. That's how I got into this, you know. Ski-Doo broke, so I had to ride the bull home."

That was clearly a tall tale, but it was cute. "Funny, Ty, real funny." His sense of humor was making it hard to remember why I should be leaving, not talking.

Then he pointed to my beer. "Nursing that or want another?"

His was almost gone, but I waved him off. "That's number three. Any more and I won't be able to walk."

"Make ya a deal." He tipped his head to my drink. "You finish that, sip the next real slow, and if you can't walk, I'll carry you home." He waited for me to protest, then cut me off. "Your home, honey. I already got that I'm spending my night alone, but you're a lot more fun to talk to than those boys at the bar."

"Talking about hometowns and bad beer?" My eyes rolled. "Not exactly earth-shattering stuff."

"Maybe not, but I have no interest in hearing about how I screwed up my ride tonight. They won't let me live it down until I stick the next one. Think of this a bit like hiding from my shame." He looked at my nearly empty beer again.

I knew this was a bad idea, but couldn't help myself. "Fine, but I probably won't finish."

"Didn't say ya had to. Just givin' ya something to fidget with while we talk." He lifted a hand, two fingers in the air, and a girl hurried over. Ty just pointed at the bottles and she nodded, hurrying off to get them. "So how about horses?" he tried next.

"Don't have any." I shrugged. "I know how to ride, so don't take that wrong, but not exactly the farm kinda girl."

"So what kinda girl are you? Student? City girl playing cowgirl?" He snapped and pointed. "I got it! You're the announcer's daughter!"

"No, no, and hell no." One last swallow emptied my bottle just as the waitress returned to collect the trash and drop off a pair of fresh ones. "Dad's a diesel mechanic. No mom, and no money for school. Just working so I can pay the bills."

"Gotta be more interesting than that."

I was, but he didn't need to know that. "Ok. I'm a struggling country girl trying to make a break from Missouri. Looking for something a bit more exciting, which is why I'm here."

"And still won't tell me what you do." He nodded mulling that over. "So this means you'll be back tomorrow?"

"Yep."

"Gonna cheer me on for my ride?"

My finger made a circle in the vicinity of the big Wrangler patch on his shirt. "Looks to me like you don't need it. Wrangler's pretty impressive. I know who you are, Ty McBride. Besides, you wouldn't hear me anyway."

"Nah, but it's always nice to see a pretty face before my go. Gives me a reason to cowboy up." A little smile curled one side of his mouth. "I have a real weakness for pretty blondes with big attitudes. Figure they're the kind worth chasin'."

Pretty? Me? My heart had one reaction, but my brain had the complete opposite. No matter how flattering that idea was, I knew it was bunk. All my life, I'd had it drilled into me what made me not attractive. Girls don't, ladies don't, women don't... The list went on and on. I was the girl who took myself to prom because no one was interested in being my date - even when I asked. Someone like Ty McBride, who could get any woman he wanted? Yeah. This was just the set up for the hazing that came next, but maybe I could stay ahead of it.

"Sure. If I can make it to the rail, I'll cheer."

"Where?" he insisted. "How will I know where to look?"

"Next to the bull gate, how about that?" I had no real intention of being there, but it'd shut him up long enough for me to get out of here. And it'd let me see what they were planning.

"I'm near the end of the night, so you'll have plenty of time to get down there. Might even be hanging out there early, if you get a break from whatever it is you're doing." Those brown eyes of his found mine and he just looked for a moment. "I'd really like to see you again, Cody. I mean it."

God, how I wished that was true. I wanted to lean closer, to see if he'd kiss me. This man pulled at me in a way I knew had to be only in my imagination. He sounded so nice, but I knew it was all an act. He'd probably volunteered to play the bait because he was the hottest guy in the entire PBR. Every girl I'd grown up with had a crush on him, and I was no different. I just wasn't dumb enough to think I had a chance.

Grabbing my cold beer, I chugged it back then pushed away from the table. "Good luck tomorrow, cowboy, but I'm not here to be your buckle bunny."

When I stood, he caught my wrist. "If I was looking for an eight-second ride, sweetheart, I wouldn't bother talking to you. There's plenty of girls in this bar looking to get caught. You're not one of those, and that has me interested. Just wanted to know what a girl like you is doing in a place like this."

"And I'm not that dumb. Seen enough bull riders up close and personal to know exactly how you boys think." I pulled my arm free and headed to the door without looking back. I wanted to, but I wasn't nearly desperate enough to wish that he was serious. I'd learned better, and I'd done it the hard way.

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