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“Okay,” she said, glad to be able to spend some time with him. It was about a forty-five-minute drive to the Three Sisters Ranch, but maybe afterwards, he could hang out at her place until her sisters got home. She wouldn’t mind if he stayed the night, but Dolly and Reba might find it uncomfortable to wake up and find Dylan there.
As she walked back to the arena, LeAnn couldn’t stop worrying about Dylan’s upcoming ride. Fever Dream was going to hurt Dylan—she just knew it. A part of her knew she sounded hypocritical, but she wished that Dylan had chosen a less dangerous bull to ride.
The excitement around the pens was almost tangible. A few of the cowboys were betting that Dylan would get knocked on his ass as soon as the bull left the chute. When Mick and his friends arrived at the pens, LeAnn circled around to join Muriel and Callie. Sure, it felt like she was running away, but she didn’t want to deal with the men’s stupidity right now.
“That bull is a demon,” Callie said.
“Well, if anyone’s going to ride him, it’ll be Dylan,” LeAnn said.
“What’s the deal between you two, anyway?” Muriel asked.
LeAnn could lie, or she could just say the obvious—that he was her coach. But she wasn’t going to do that anymore. She had nothing to be ashamed of, and nothing to be worried about. If her parents found out about Dylan through gossip, then she’d address that with them when the time came.
“You know he’s my coach,” LeAnn said. “Are you asking if we’re dating?”
Muriel set her jaw. “Dylan doesn’t date.”
“He does now,” LeAnn said.
“Damn,” Callie said and gave a low whistle.
“He’ll break your heart,” Muriel said. LeAnn thought for a moment that Muriel was going to shove her or something.
“It’s not like that,” LeAnn said. “We’re taking it slow. It’s casual.”
Muriel relaxed slightly at that. “Oh, you’re talking dating, like you go out to movies and dinner.”
“It’s not your business if we’re fucking or not,” LeAnn said.
Callie snorted. “You kiss your mama with that mouth?”
“Not lately,” Muriel said. “Mommy and Daddy went home, and it looks like little LeAnn is pretending to be all grown up.”
“Muriel, don’t be a bitch,” Samantha, one of the other bull riders, said as she came up to them and leaned against the fence. “We’ve got enough crap to deal with today.” She pointed her chin over at the male bull riders who were taking turns staring at them while Dylan was getting settled on top of his bull.
“Sam’s right. We don’t have to be BFFs,” Callie said. “But we shouldn’t make it easy for those guys to divide us.”
“Especially over a man,” Samantha said. “Muriel, you can have your pick of any of the riders over there. You only want Dylan because he said no after the first time.” Samantha slapped her hand over her forehead. “Shit, LeAnn, I’m sorry. Did you know that he and Muriel got it on once?”
“Yeah,” LeAnn said. “Dylan and I are honest with each other. I insisted on it after the fiasco with Mick.”
“Mick’s a dick,” Muriel said.
There was a general agreement about that statement.
“Why is he still chasing me?” LeAnn grumbled.
“Because you’re the one that got away,” Samantha said.
“He wants to be your first,” Muriel said in a singsong voice.
“Oh for fuck’s sake,” LeAnn said. “I’m not a virgin.” She hadn’t meant to blurt that out, but at the surprised looks on their faces, she was glad she had. “And it’s none of your damned business who was my first, but I’ll assure you it wasn’t any asshole rodeo cowboy.”
“That sly son of a bitch,” Muriel said, pushing away from the fence and storming off.
“I supposed if we had to guess…” Callie said, looking over at Dylan.
Then the chute opened and all hell broke loose.
