Chapter Twelve

Dolly

“W ell, that’s a consolation prize,” Finn drawled. “For getting kicked off the roster.”

Dolly reluctantly broke off the kiss, but when she tried to move away, Nash held her close to his side. “Yeah, it is,” he said.

“Which bull did you choose?” she asked Finn, refusing to be embarrassed.

“Windbreaker.”

Dolly blinked. “Seriously.”

“I think they were going for a Tornado feel, rather than…”

“Windbreaker the farting bull?”

He gave her a grim nod.

“You better stay on him,” Dolly said.

“I plan to.” Finn adjusted his gear as he prepared for his ride.

“I hope so.” Dolly set her camera up so she could record the eight seconds of action. She didn’t want to imagine what the social media trolls would have to say about a failed ride on a bull with that name.

Windbreaker blew him away.

Talk about a gas-tastrophe!

Looks like Finn underestimated Windbreaker’s fartistry.

“So, you want to tell me why you rushed out here like your ass was on fire?” Nash asked quietly as they made their way to the VIP spectator section.

“I told you…”

“And you were lying,” he said grimly.

Shit. He could see her bullshit.

“And you still don’t trust me even after…” He broke off. “I thought things would be different, if we acted on our feelings, but I guess not.”

“It’s complicated,” she said.

“No, it’s just easier to keep secrets.”

Dolly slowly nodded.

“Does this have anything to do with Blevins?”

“No.” She scowled at him. “How can you say that?”

“Maybe I don’t trust you either.”

Dolly closed her eyes, surprised at how much that hurt. It was worse because she deserved it. “I’m sorry.” She should tell him. She should lay it all out on the line and if he judged her for it, then she could just walk away and not have to worry about getting her heart broken.

Instead, she busied herself getting ready for the shot. Work soothed her. She was good at it. This relationship stuff? She sucked at it.

“When I catch Blevins and this is all over, I’m going to leave.”

Dolly didn’t want him to go.

“Unless you give me a reason to stay.”

“I need a little more time.”

“Why?”

“Because this isn’t easy for me. Trusting men. Relying on someone. Because my livelihood is at stake and I’m scared.”

For a moment, Dolly thought Nash would turn away and leave her. It was what she deserved after all. But he surprised her. He had a way of doing that. He rubbed a circle on her back. “Okay. We’ve waited a year to be together. What’s a little longer?”

Her throat tightened and tears threatened. That was crazy in itself. She never cried. “Okay,” she whispered.

Then, the gate swung open, and Windbreaker burst out into the arena, kicking up dust and snorting loudly. Dolly eased into work mode and it settled her. Finn’s form was tight and controlled as he rode out the first few seconds of the bull’s wild bucking. The crowd cheered, urging him on as he countered each of Windbreaker’s erratic movements. Windbreaker spun and twisted in an attempt to dislodge Finn from his back. But Finn was unyielding, his focus unwavering even as the bull’s movements grew more violent. Windbreaker was a force of nature determined to throw him off. Yet, Finn handled his every move. Dust swirled around them, adding to the electrifying atmosphere of the moment, but really fudging up her shot. She’d have to see about editing that back a bit.

As Windbreaker made one final attempt to unseat Finn with a powerful buck, Finn leaned into the motion, his body fluid and responsive. Finn not only stayed on, but managed to ride out the full eight seconds.

The buzzer sounded, signaling Finn’s successful ride. He hopped off and greeted the crowd with a wave of his hat. But then the bull pivoted and charged as Finn’s back was turned.

“Look out!” Dolly screamed along with a hundred other people.

The bullfighters dove in, trying desperately to distract Windbreaker. Dolly saw Taylor Keating sprinting toward Finn and the oncoming beast. Taylor leaped in front of Finn, waving his arms wildly and shouting at the top of his lungs to draw the bull’s attention away from the bull rider. Dolly struggled to breathe as Windbreaker’s massive form bore down on the two men. Taylor grabbed him by the horns and twisted his head.

Finn used the distraction to run for the fence and with the help of Nash and another bull rider, Finn leapt out of harm’s way. Taylor dodged and weaved around Windbreaker’s aggressive lunges, his movements balletic yet precise. It was as if time had slowed down, each second stretching into an eternity.

“Crap, crap,” Dolly said, realizing belatedly that she wasn’t getting all of this. She had been distracted. She snapped the camera back up and hoped to be able to splice together a thrilling reel for the fans.

The other bullfighters leaped into action, surrounding Windbreaker and trying to corral him away from Taylor. His movements were a blur of agility and daring, his every step calculated to evade Windbreaker’s horns.

Marty Kreeger, the wrangler, galloped in on his horse and tossed a rope on Windbreaker, but missed.

In a split second that felt like an eternity, Taylor made a daring move, sidestepping the bull at the last possible moment. Windbreaker thundered past him, and Marty’s second cast got Windbreaker and he was able to hustle the bull toward the exit chute. As the crowd erupted into cheers and applause, a wave of relief washed over Dolly that no one had been hurt.

She pushed her way back to where the cowboys hung around waiting their turn to ride. Finn already had a beer in his hand and his arm around a buckle bunny.

“Are you okay?” Dolly asked, hoping her voice sounded light and not showing the trace of fear. It had been bad enough feeling this way when she watched LeAnn ride. She hadn’t been expecting it with Finn.

Finn gave her a nod, a faint smile touching his lips. “I’m fine. Thanks to Taylor.”

“Yeah, he did good.” Maybe Loretta’s heart was safe with him after all. Unless she watched him square off against a two-thousand-pound bull. That might give Loretta a heart attack.

“At least you stayed on,” Nash said, putting his arm around Dolly and securing her to his side. It felt good to be held and that Nash still wanted to hold her, even if he knew she was full of shit.

Taylor came back while the rodeo team was setting up for the next rider. “Are you okay?” he asked Finn.

Please let him not be involved in anything , Dolly thought. For Loretta’s sake.

“Yeah, thanks to you. I appreciate the help out there.”

“It’s my job,” Taylor said.

Dolly wasn’t sure what to say. It would be weird if she thanked him too and Taylor was making it a point to not look at her. His ears were tinged with pink too. She bet he was embarrassed that she had caught him and Loretta making out.

“Well, I’ve got to get prepped for the next ride.” Finn clapped a hand on Taylor’s shoulder and walked back to the chute area after giving the girl on his arm a kiss and a swat on her ass.

When Taylor went to follow, Nash cleared his throat. “Wait a second, Taylor. Got a question for you. I’ve been meaning to ask you. I saw you buying something yesterday. What was it?”

“Uh…” Taylor seemed shocked by the question. “It was nothing,” Taylor said, trying to brush off Nash’s inquiry.

Nash arched an eyebrow, his gaze piercing. “Didn’t look like nothing. What was in the bag?”

Taylor shifted uncomfortably, glancing around as if looking for an escape. “It’s just something I picked up for Loretta.”

Dolly’s curiosity piqued. “For Loretta?”

Taylor nodded, his jaw tight. “Yeah, just a little surprise. She said that she liked turquoise and one of the guys said his sister made jewelry down in Mexico and he could get me a good deal.” He looked at Dolly for the first time. “I don’t make a lot of money, and I wanted to get her something nice. Hector said it wouldn’t turn her neck green, so I went for it.”

“Hector Ortiz?” Nash said.

“Yeah, you want me to hook you up with him?”

“I’d like that.”

“It won’t be much of a surprise,” Taylor said. “Now that Dolly knows you’re going to get budget jewelry.”

“It’s the thought that counts,” Dolly said. “And I’m sure that Loretta is going to love the necklace because it came from you.”

“You won’t tell her I’m a cheapskate?”

“No. And you’re not. You’re a smart shopper.”

“Yeah, well I’ve got to get back to work.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder.

“Thanks again,” Nash said.

“Yeah, thanks,” Dolly echoed and watched him go.

“You want a necklace?” Nash asked her.

Dolly held up her hand. “I’d rather have a flashy ring.”

“Well if you want me to put a ring on it, you’re going to have to do me a favor.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “I’m not letting you out of your photo op with Donnan. In fact, we’re going to go over to the petting zoo right now and interact with the fans.”

“Aw shit,” Nash said. But he followed her over to the Rocky Ridge area. And for the rest of the night things were back to normal between them. But Dolly quickly realized that normal wasn’t what she wanted with Nash anymore.

*

After the rodeo closed down, Dolly took some reels of Nash tucking Donnan in with a UPRC blanket.

“Do you want to come back to my motel room and spend the night?” he asked.

“Tempting,” she said. “But I’ve got to be in the Dallas office early tomorrow morning. Loretta and I are going to drive there tonight.”

Nash nodded. “I’m going to head over to Laredo in the morning and set up for the weekend’s rodeo as much as I can. Mostly, I’ll just establish a base and then scout out the local restaurants and bars.”

“Loretta and I will be down on Thursday. Can I stay in your motel room then?”

“You bet.”

“Are you sure you’re still going to want me?” she asked and then could have cursed herself.

“I’m sure,” he said, surprising her by not bringing up her lies and secrets.

She kissed him good night, like it would be the last time she kissed him—because it might. This week, she was going to find a way to tell him everything. He deserved to know. They deserved a chance to make this relationship start off on an open and honest note.

Tingles.

Sparks.

And she really wanted to spend the night with him. She broke away reluctantly. “I’ll see you next week, cowboy.”

“I’ll text you if anything comes up. You do the same.”

“I’ll text you anyway,” she said. “Keep up with the social media likes and comment on every response.”

“Jesus Christ,” he grumbled and walked away.

Dolly was glad Loretta was still out. It gave her some time to gather her thoughts about what she could do to make sure Blevins got kicked out of the UPRC, and what she was going to do if she had to leave this job either because the UPRC went bankrupt or she was forced out because of the morality clause.

Contingency plans and backup plans. That was what would keep her sane right now. And maybe she’d find a clue as to who had sent her the cheerleader uniform as she monitored how the rodeo stars interacted online.

Sitting down at the small desk that doubled as a dining room table, she opened up her laptop and checked all the cowboys’ social media posts. Feeling like a cyber stalker, she dug deep into their profiles and their likes and shares. But after an hour, the only thing she could connect with any of them was that they really liked beer and the bull riders were all boasting about the Mexican fighting bulls coming in. Normally, she’d be thrilled that they were actively involved in marketing. But they’d never done this before, and she wasn’t sure where they were getting the photographs of the bulls.

Luckily, LeAnn could help her out with that.

She texted her: Where did you get that picture of El Jefe?

It took a few minutes, but LeAnn came back with: From your press packet about the Jaripeo Ranch.

That set off alarm bells. Dolly hadn’t sent out a press packet and when she told LeAnn that, LeAnn forwarded the email she had received.

This didn’t come from me , Dolly texted back after she looked at the information.

Well, that will calm Reba down. She was a little pissed off that you hadn’t put together something like this for the Viking Ranch.

Thanks for this. I’ll deal with Reba later , Dolly texted back.

The email had come from [email protected], which was the rodeo’s official marketing email. Dolly almost never used it. She logged onto the account to see all the activity. Someone had sent a group email out to every bull rider, attaching the professional-looking promotional packet for the Jaripeo Ranch and their bulls. That someone hadn’t been her. So who had done her job for her and why hadn’t they told her about it?

She sent a text to Shelby with a link to the press packet, asking WTF?

But when Shelby didn’t get back to her right away, Dolly bit the bullet and texted Blevins.

He responded immediately. We should talk. Come see me tomorrow around ten in my office.

Shit.

Well, she had planned to do that anyway.