Never Enough

by Elliott, Kelly

  “And you’re going to drive? With my son in the car? I don’t think so.”

  The look on my brother’s face spoke volumes. He wanted to bitch me out, but he kept it in. “I took Advil, you dick.”

  I felt like a complete jackass for assuming he’d taken something stronger.

  “Blayze, are you sure you don’t want to ride with us?” my mother called out to my son as he came barreling out of the house and straight to me.

  “Hey, Uncle Dirk! You riding with us?” Blayze asked, trying to toss his bag into the back of the truck like the big boys did.

  “Nah, buddy. I’m riding in with my folks.”

  Blayze nodded, his ten-gallon black Stetson cowboy hat falling just a bit when he did.

  I adjusted it and said, “Where did you get this, buddy?”

  A wide smile moved over his face. “Uncle Ty gave it to me! Said it was your first hat you ever wore when you were a little boy.”

  My eyes lifted to Ty.

  He stood there, smirking. With a shrug, he said, “Mama had them all saved, and I came across it in the attic the other day. Your name and age were written on the hatbox. Figured you’d want the mini version of you to have it.”

  I stared at my brother while a tightness in my chest caused my voice to stall in my throat. I smiled and shook my head in disbelief. “Thank you, Ty,” I said.

  “Hell, don’t get all emotional on me, Brock. It’s just a hat,” Ty said as he turned and climbed into the truck. “Hurry your ass up. We need to pick up the pain in the ass and her best friend, Lincoln.”

  “Language, Ty Shaw!” my mother shouted.

  Dirk and I both laughed before he stated, “Seems to me like that pain in the ass might have caught your brother’s attention.”

  “That would be a first,” I replied as I shook Dirk’s hand. “I’ll see ya in Billings.”

  Dirk smiled and pulled me in for a quick bro hug. Then, he said in a low voice, “I love you, brother.”

  I slapped his back and replied, “I love you too.”

  He stepped away and then, out of the blue, he threw his head back and laughed before turning and heading to his truck. “Both of the Shaw boys, smitten! I can’t believe it.”

  When I opened the back door to get Blayze in his booster seat, Ty was watching Dirk get into his truck. “What did he say about us being smitten?”

  “Nothing.” I winked at Blayze. “You ready to see your daddy ride on some bulls?”

  A huge smile spread over my son’s face. “Yes, sir, I am! Can I ride a bull too?”

  I pretended to frown. “You mean to tell me you’re ready to climb up on a bull?”

  He chuckled. “Yep!”

  “You hear that, Ty? Blayze here says he’s ready to climb up on a bull.”

  Ty turned around and put his hand up for Blayze to slap it. “That’s what I’m talking about. My nephew, the world’s youngest bull-riding champion.”

  I grinned as I got him buckled in.

  “Daddy, Grandpa said both you and Uncle Ty won something really big while bull riding. What was it?”

  “Your uncle Ty won the PBR World Finals, and two years later, so did I. Then I won another one the next year.”

  His eyes went wide.

  “And your daddy is on his way to winning his third championship, if he keeps his head on straight and doesn’t get distracted by a pretty girl named Lincoln.”

  Blayze laughed. “Daddy! Do you like Miss Lincoln? She’s really pwetty, so I don’t blame you fer likin’ her.”

  I kissed him on the forehead. “She is real pretty, son. Now, let’s get on the road and pick her and Miss Kaylee up.”

  Ty groaned as Blayze let out a loud and very excited “Yes!” along with a fist pump.

  When I got into the front seat, I looked at my brother, who was now pulling out of the driveway, our parents following behind us.

  “Why don’t you like Kaylee anymore? She seems like a nice girl, and you guys seemed to hit it off at the Blue Moose.”

  He rolled his eyes. “She’s everywhere. Everywhere. I go into town to grab a cup of coffee, and she’s there. Sitting in a booth with her stupid little laptop, just doing whatever it is she does everywhere she is. She’s always showing up wherever I am.”

  “What’s a laptop?” Blayze asked.

  “It’s a computer, buddy, like the kind you do your games on,” I said, glancing over my shoulder to Blayze, who was sitting in the middle of the back seat.

  Focusing again on Ty, I said, “You know she needs it for work. Lincoln said Kaylee’s an editor.”

  “Yeah, well, every time I turn around, she’s there. Yesterday, she walked out of our parents’ house with Mom. I swear, she has our mother wrapped around her finger. Did you know Mom is teaching her how to knit? What the heck does a young woman need to learn how to knit for unless she’s snooping around our mother, looking for information?”

  I laughed. “Such as what? The size of your underwear? Your favorite food? You sound a lil’ paranoid, bro.”

  “I don’t know. She’s not even supposed to be here. She’s supposed to be in Atlanta, and now she’s talking about moving here. She’s snarky too. Every time I say something to her, she smarts off back to me.”

  “She smarts off to you? What happened that night you brought her home from the Blue Moose? I thought you were both getting along fine then.”

  His head snapped over to look at me. “Nothing happened.”

  By the look on my brother’s face, he was lying, but I decided to let it go. It wasn’t the time or place for this conversation.

  “And we did get along at first. Then she got all . . . weird . . . and now, she freaks me out.”

  “Why does she freak you out, Uncle Ty?” Blayze asked.

  Facing my son, I replied, “Because he has a crush on her, and that freaks him out. But that’s a secret between just us men. Shh, don’t tell Uncle Ty, because it’ll freak him out even more that we know.”

  Ty punched me in the arm. “Shut up. I do not like her!”

  Blayze covered his mouth and widened his eyes before busting out into a song. “Uncle Ty has a crush on Miss Kaylee! Miss Kaylee! Uncle Ty as a crush on Miss Kaylee! Miss Kaylee! Uncle Ty and Miss Kaylee, sitting in a tree. K-i-s-s—oh, shoot, I don’t remember how to spell the rest.”

  Looking in the rearview mirror, Ty shot Blayze a warning look. “Stop singin’ that, Blayze, or you’re walking to Billings.”

  Blayze covered his mouth again and froze. Trying so desperately to hold in a giggle. I missed these moments with Blayze and my family.

  It didn’t take long to get to Lincoln’s house. Ty and I both got out of the truck and made our way to meet both women. When Ty reached for Kaylee’s small bag, I couldn’t help but notice how they looked at each other.

  Both of them were clearly attracted to each other. My brother was a lying bastard. Didn’t like her, my ass.

  “Why, thank you!” Kaylee said, giving Ty a wink and bouncing over to the truck. “I call shotgun!”

  “Oh Lord,” Ty grumbled as he made his way back over to the truck.

  Turning to Lincoln, I smiled. “Hey,” I softly said as she stepped down off the last step.

  “Hey back at ya.”

  I quickly scanned the front porch of the house. Lincoln had four rocking chairs, two on each side of the door, and plants everywhere. Some hanging, some in planters, and some in planter boxes she had on the rails. She even had potted plants going up the steps.

  “Looks cute out here.”

  She glanced back over her shoulder. “Thanks!” Facing me again, she added, “I love flowers, and I don’t think you can ever have enough.”

  I took her bag and motioned for her to follow. “Blayze loves helping my mom in her garden.”

  “He’s a sweet little boy.”

  “He’s excited to see you again.”

  Lincoln gave me a soft smile and walked silently next to me as we made our way to the truck.

  “
Did you get your hotel room booked okay?” I asked, setting her bag in the back of the truck.

  “Yep. I booked one room for both me and Kaylee. It has queen beds in there. I think we got the last room!”

  I almost told her she could always stay in my room. I was glad I caught myself. I didn’t need to scare her off before we even got out of the driveway.

  I opened the passenger door and held her hand to help her get in. She paused and looked at Ty and Kaylee, who were arguing about what radio station to put on. When I glanced back down to Lincoln, she smiled, and her eyes practically lit up like Christmas morning.

  “What?” I asked.

  She leaned closer to me and whispered, “You look nice in a cowboy hat.”

  I tipped it and moved closer to her. “You’ve seen me in a cowboy hat before, Lincoln.”

  Her teeth sank into her lip, and my dick strained against my jeans at that simple gesture. I gave her a crooked smile and then winked. “I’ll be sure to wear them more often.”

  “Daddy, what are y’all whispering about?”

  Ty and Kaylee stopped talking, and both of them turned to look at us. Lincoln had her back to everyone and closed her eyes, a soft smile on her face. She opened them and pursed her lips before turning and climbing into the cab of the truck.

  “Hey there, Blayze! Your grams told me you helped deliver a baby calf yesterday!”

  My heart squeezed in my chest as my son looked at Lincoln with the happiest smile I’d ever seen. The way she launched so effortlessly into a conversation with him was amazing. She genuinely enjoyed talking with Blayze, and he loved the attention from her.

  “Yes, ma’am!” And off he went, giving Lincoln a very long and detailed description of a baby calf being brought into the world. It wasn’t lost on me that she gave him her entire focus. As if she hung on every word he said.

  I shut the door and made my way around the back of the truck, trying to remember how to breathe.

  Chapter Fifteen

  LINCOLN

  We were only an hour outside of Billings when I decided I needed to learn more about what Brock did. I knew he rode bulls. I knew he must have made good money from it, by the looks of his house, and I knew he traveled a lot.

  Blayze was crashed in his car seat, his headphones on and a movie on the DVD player. I figured now would be a good time to ask questions.

  “So, how long have you been riding in the rodeo?”

  Ty nearly choked on the water he was drinking.

  Kaylee reached over and slapped his back, probably harder than she should have, a small smile tugging at her lips. “You okay there, cowboy?” she asked, the smirk clear in the profile of her face.

  Ty shot her a look and nodded as Brock let out a laugh.

  “Brock, you’d better set your girl straight,” Ty said with a laugh.

  Turning to look at Brock, I lifted a brow. He actually blushed, which made my insides go all soft and gooey, like a hot chocolate chip cookie when you broke it apart.

  “Um, I don’t ride in a rodeo. I’m on the PBR tour. It’s a group of professional bull riders—the best of the best, if you will.”

  “The guys who ride in rodeos aren’t professional bull riders?” I asked.

  “They are. A lot are members of the PBR.”

  “There is a difference, though,” Ty interjected.

  I waited for Brock to keep talking.

  “So, in the PBR, we ride bulls only. In the rodeo, they have to do other events as well, not just bull ride. The bull riders in the PBR are the highest ranked, and so are the bulls. So, it’s at a different level. I ride in the Built Ford Tough Series. There are other series under that. I started out at rodeos, then worked myself up to the Velocity Tour, and then debuted on the Built Ford Tough, where I rode good enough to stay on tour. I won rookie of the year my second year on tour, and then the following year, I won my first of two PBR World Finals. Ty also won a PBR World Final.”

  Kaylee and I both looked at Ty.

  “Did you get hurt on a bull?” Kaylee asked.

  Ty looked straight ahead and simply said, “No.”

  That was our clue Ty wasn’t ready to talk about his days of riding or how he’d gotten hurt.

  “And you’ve won two PBR World Finals?” I already knew that part from my internet search of him after we’d first met.

  Brock smiled. “Yes, ma’am.”

  “And this season, he’s been jumping from number one to three to number two, and is now back at number one. Whoever is number one at the last event in Vegas is world champion.”

  My stomach jumped. Is it the excitement, knowing how good he is, or is that pride I’m feeling? It was an unusual emotion that I couldn’t quite identify, as I’d never felt anything like it before. “Wow, so you’re on your way to maybe winning another?”

  Brock shrugged. “Maybe, but anything could happen. I could get hurt tomorrow and be out the rest of the tour. With bull riding, you never know. It’s unpredictable, and you’d better make damn sure your head is in it, or you could get killed.”

  “Why do you do it if it’s so dangerous?” I asked.

  Ty and Brock exchanged a passing look in the rearview mirror.

  “I love the feeling of crawling on the back of a bull. Knowing it’s me against him, and that only one of us can come out on top. I’m addicted to the adrenaline it gives me.”

  “Have you been hurt a lot?” Kaylee asked.

  Brock laughed. “Yes. Broke my first bone at ten, getting flung off the back of a bull.”

  “Ten!” Kaylee and I both said at once.

  He nodded and went on. “I’ve had stitches, broken ribs, broken hand, a collapsed lung, pulled muscles, and a concussion, to name a few.”

  My mouth dropped open.

  “When I nod my head to let them know to open the gate, I know what could happen. It doesn’t scare me or make me nervous. It’s just what I do.”

  I chewed on my lip. My mind raced. Can I really get involved with a guy who does something so dangerous?

  Every time he got on a bull, I’d be a nervous wreck. I made a mental note to talk to Stella, Brock’s mom, about how she handled it.

  Brock looked like he wanted to say something else, but he turned his head and stared out the window.

  “Does Tanner bull ride?” I asked.

  Ty laughed. “No. He’s tried it before, but he doesn’t like it. He team ropes.”

  “Team ropes?” Kaylee asked.

  “Yeah, he works with a partner. They let the calf out of the chute, and Tanner ropes his neck, and his partner—Chance, he’s the heeler—ropes the back legs. It’s timed. The faster you do it, the better you rank.”

  Kaylee seemed enthralled by all of this. “Are he and his partner good?”

  “They’re number three in the world right now,” Brock said. I could hear how proud he was of his brother.

  “So, they’re in rodeos?” I asked sheepishly.

  Brock nodded. “Yes. PRCA.”

  “OMG, all these acronyms!” Kaylee said with a chuckle.

  “Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association,” Brock clarified.

  Ty added, “Like how the PBR has the world championship, the PRCA has the NFR—National Finals Rodeo.”

  “My head is spinning. Please tell me you’re not going to quiz us on all of this,” Kaylee said.

  We all chuckled, and Blayze stirred just a little. Not because of us, since he had his headphones on.

  Ty was soon pulling into the Ledgestone Hotel in Billings. “Okay, let’s get checked in.”

  Ty Senior and Stella pulled in behind us as everyone climbed out of the truck. I didn’t even think about it when I reached in and unbuckled Blayze. It felt so natural to get him. As I pulled him out, he woke slightly and wrapped his arms around my neck, and I held on to him. Kaylee looked at me and smiled—but it was the look Brock gave me that made me think I might have overstepped.

  “I’m sorry. I wasn’t even thinking when I reached over and got
him out.”

  He stood there. Not uttering a word. I’d started to make my way to him, to hand him his son, when Stella stepped in front of me.

  “He always falls asleep in the car. When he was little, Brock used to have to drive him around to get him to even go to sleep.” She faced Brock. “Is he in your room or ours?”

  “He mentioned wanting to stay in your room.”

  Stella turned back to me. “He knows he’d probably be in there anyway. The nights can get long for a five-year-old.”

  I nodded, still not sure what to do with the sleeping boy in my arms.

  With one last look at his son, Brock turned and headed into the hotel, following Ty, Kaylee, and their father.

  “Stella,” I asked. “Did I do something wrong, taking him out of the truck? Brock was looking at me like I had.”

  Her soft smile made me relax some. “No, honey. I think it’s because it’s always been Brock and Blayze and, of course, us. He’s never had a mama, and I can see by the way my son looks at you that he wants you in his life in a more meaningful way.”

  She winked, and I blushed.

  “Well, we haven’t really known each other for very long.”

  She waved me off and then covered Blayze’s ears. “I met Ty Senior on a Wednesday at a church youth group meeting. We went on our first date the following Friday night after the football game, and by Sunday, I had given him my virginity and known he was the man I was going to marry. Some folks don’t believe in love at first sight, but I do. And, like I said, my son looks at you like I’ve never seen him look at another woman. Not even Kaci.” Her head nodded down to Blayze. “Don’t think so much, Lincoln, honey. Live life and have fun.”

  I grinned. “Would you mind if we grabbed something to drink later? I have something I need to talk to you about.”

  Stella beamed with the thought that she might be able to talk girl talk with me. “Heck yes. Let’s get settled into the room, and then we’ll head to the bar and get us something to drink before dinner. You ask me anything you need to know about falling for a man like my Brock.”

  And with that, she turned and walked into the hotel.

  I stood there, holding on to a sleeping five-year-old boy and wondering how in the hell his grandmother had been able to just read my mind.