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I managed to find a table, but somewhere in there, I'd lost sight of Cody. I knew Tanner would be taking good care of her, but that just rubbed the wrong way. Worse, I couldn't figure out why J.D. didn't bother me at all. The idea of bending her over while he fucked her face? Yeah, I was into that. The problem came when I tried to imagine replacing J.D. with Tanner.
It didn't work for me.
Maybe it was because I knew J.D.? Possibly, it was because we were both bull riders. I tried to tell myself that part of it was because I knew J.D. had her best interests at heart, but I was pretty sure the same was true for Tanner. Or maybe it was just because I didn't know him very well?
I knew Tanner was a damned good bullfighter. He was the crazy one who'd jump into a bull's horns to keep them off us. I knew he thought Cody was hot. Even thinking about that made me want to grumble about it, which made absolutely no sense. Then I figured it out.
Tanner wasn't a whore.
That was why he felt like a threat when J.D. didn't. He hadn't spent the last few years picking up a new girl at every new bar we found. He didn't wear his jersey as some way to get his dick sucked, like how we all made sure to wear shirts with sponsor patches. Tanner was a decent-looking guy with a good reputation, and he could talk bulls and bull riding as easily as I could.
In other words, he could steal her away from me. J.D.? Nah, he'd be fine with a timeshare. His reputation was worse than mine, and the only thing I had to worry about with him was who scored better - which Cody wouldn't care about. Tanner, however, was the kind of guy a girl would want to settle down with.
That was when I found her again. This time, she was on the dance floor. Tanner held her just a little too close, and she was smiling up at him in a way that said, "Please get me naked." Oddly, that didn't bother me. Nope, that girl deserved to live a little. Hell, it was one more thing to convince her she really could do everything we boys did. But damn, she looked good like that.
Her hair was the kind of real blonde that came with too many hours in the sun. Her lips were the shade of pink that begged a man to taste them. Her body was hard, small, and made to press up against a guy. That woman was stunning, and if Tanner didn't throw her in a bed tonight, then he was a damned fool.
"Sulking?" J.D. asked as he dropped down beside me.
This time, he had a collection of shots. From the color, I was gonna guess whiskey, so I grabbed one. Just to make sure - this was J.D. after all - I sniffed it first. Finding I was right, I tossed it back, then chased it down with another gulp of my beer.
"Guess you're crashing with me," I told him.
He flicked up both of his eyebrows in some parody of flirtation. "Oh yeah, big boy."
I grunted at him, not impressed, and pointed to the couple on the dance floor with my beer bottle. "Because she needs some alone time."
He tossed back one of the shots, then sucked a breath through his teeth. "So you're good with this?"
"Yep," I said.
He nudged a second shot towards me. "No bullshit, Ty."
I pushed the shot back towards him. "No bullshit. I'm also driving."
J.D. took the shot back, but just to spin it before him. "So, if you're so good with this, then why have you been glaring at Tanner every time he shows up?"
Using the nail on my index finger, I began to pick at the label on my beer. "Girls like Cody?" I got a little piece up in the corner. "They might play around, but eventually they settle down. A husband, a white picket fence, a dog, and a handful of kids." Then I tipped my head towards the dance floor. "He can give her that. We can't."
"And that's where you're wrong," J.D. told me. "She don't want a fence, a pet, or the kids." He tossed that last shot back finally, then stood. "She wants a gold buckle, Ty. We boys? We take a back seat to that, unless we can stay the fuck outta her way."
Then he slapped my arm and walked deeper into the bar. I heard someone call his name, and looked over in time to see one of the other American riders. His words stuck with me, though. Cody wanted this. Not the rush, or the fame. She wanted the win. She wanted to taste immortality for about eight seconds, prove herself - to herself - and nothing was gonna stop her.
And that was what drew me to her. She was the kind of woman that didn't come around very often. The kind that dared a man to keep up. I lifted my beer and tossed another gulp down my throat, deciding I could handle that. My problem was that I was shit at this. Oh, I knew how to get the girls. I'd just never learned how to keep them.
"Need another?" a woman asked, pausing before my table.
Her eyes traveled down my body, convincing me she definitely wasn't a waitress. "Nope," I said. "I'm the driver tonight."
"Got a girl around here somewhere, then?" she tried next, a flirty little smile curling her lips.
Yeah, she was cute: lean, tall, with long dark hair. I would've taken her home a few weeks ago. Instead, I shook my head. "Playing the wingman tonight for some friends."
So she tipped her head at the chair. "You mind?"
I waved her to it, almost hoping Cody would turn around and see I wasn't alone. Sadly, I was pretty sure Cody didn't even know I was here. The girl slid into the chair, then leaned onto her elbows, giving me a real nice view down her cleavage. I jerked my eyes up to hang on to hers.
"Where's the accent from?" she asked.
