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Chapter1
"Didyou drop the L-word on him yet?"
The question seemed to come out of nowhere, but I had a feeling it had been brewing for a while. Yesterday, I'd ridden from St. Louis to Lincoln, Nebraska, with Ty. Seven hours together in a truck, and after the crazy weekend we'd had at the last PBR event, a lot of things had been said. Now, J.D. was curious about it - clearly - but there was one little problem with his question.
"It's been a week," I pointed out.
"Well, plus a few days," J.D. clarified, tapping his thumbs on the steering wheel as empty farmland passed by us on both sides. "Besides, you fucked him."
I huffed out a laugh. "Trying to say you've been in love with every guy you've slept with?"
The smallest little smile touched J.D.'s lips. "No..."
"Exactly," I said, nodding my head to make it clear he'd proven my point.
But J.D.'s tongue flicked over his lips, even though his eyes didn't leave the road. "I was in love with the first few people I slept with. Or at least I thought I was." Then he glanced over, his dark brown eyes meeting mine. "And I'm pretty sure you haven't been screwing around as long as I have."
Yep, I could feel my face heating up. Trying to force my skin to cool off, I wiggled my feet on the dash, tapping my toes in time with the country music on the radio. I liked this song. I also really didn't want to talk about Ty. Not with J.D. Discussing another guy felt weird since I'd slept in the same room as J.D. last night.
So I tried to change the subject. "I don't think Ty really likes Tanner."
"He's jealous," J.D. told me. "Don't worry, I'm workin' on him."
"Like you're working on me?" I asked.
J.D. smiled, but his eyes were on the road. "Naw. Ain't nothing like I'm workin' on you, Cody." The curl of his lips grew a little bigger for a moment. "But if you aren't in love with Ty, why are you sleeping with him?"
I wanted to groan at how easily he'd brought that back around. Instead, I reached my foot over and tapped his thigh with it. It was the closest I could get to a smack with the console down between us. He chuckled once, then grabbed my ankle, shifting my leg to rest on his. Not really the most comfortable thing, but if I twisted a bit, it almost worked. When I pushed the console up, it was actually better than the dash, so I moved my other leg over as well, giving J.D. my full attention.
"I like Ty," I admitted. "Just like, though. I mean, he's hot."
"Yeah, he is," J.D. agreed, looking over quickly as if checking my reaction to that.
I was smiling. I still wasn't used to the idea of being around guys who liked guys, and this entire situation was so far outside my understanding of relationships, but I liked it. There was also something about J.D. that made me feel like it was ok to just say what I wanted, as if he'd never judge me for my opinions.
"Tanner's cute too," I added.
"Oh yeah," J.D. agreed. "I always thought he'd be a skinny thing, what with the clothes he wears."
I giggled, thinking about the shower we'd all shared. Nope, skinny wasnothow I'd describe that bullfighter. I'd always thought we bull riders were muscular, but it seemed the three crazy guys who kept the bulls off us in the arena were just as built. Tanner's abs had put Ty's to shame. J.D.'s were almost as good. Never mind the biceps, although Ty won in that competition.
"He wants to take you on a date," J.D. said.
That snapped my mind back to the present, and memories of two wet and naked men showering with me dissolved like mist. "Huh?"
"When we get to Cheyenne," J.D. clarified. "Tanner's gonna ask you on a date." He moved his hand to caress my calf. "It's partly because people in the PBR will see you two together. Partly because he wants to get to know you a little better."
"What kind of date?" I asked.
"Does it matter?"
Ok, I hadn't really thought that far ahead. Mostly, it was just that my automatic reaction was to say no to anyone asking me out. That was easiest. Granted, according to my best friend back home, it was also stupid, but my track record with guys was a whole lot of shit. It went from my first kiss - which only happened because the guy had been dared - to my first real boyfriend, who was still trying to run me out of bull riding. After all, girls were supposed to get ridden, he'd told me, not do the riding.
"J.D., I..." The sentence trailed off when I didn't know how to explain any of that.
He just jerked his chin at the long and straight road ahead of us. "We have five more hours before we get to our next home. Means you got plenty of time to think about it. Or talk about it." He pulled in a breath. "But I think you should do it."
"Tanner only wants to go out with me so it looks like he has a girlfriend," I reminded him.
