by Leslie North
“Um, Athena? You heard me, right? Because we—"
“Have company,” Athena interrupted, “yeah, I heard you. Just keep your cool, okay? It’s not like he’s a legitimate celebrity.”
"Right, except that he kind of is," Shelly countered, her eyes darting from Athena to the oblivious girls practicing and then to Nate who was being led in through the gates behind the girls by the men who ran the practice barn, "at least in the rodeo circuit. Come on, Athena, I don't have to tell you that. If anyone understands that, it's you."
“Okay, sure, in the rodeo circuit. I’ll give you that. All I’m saying is, it’s not like Cary Grant just walked through the door,” Athena said, starting to get annoyed now.
“He may not be Cary himself, but he’s just as good looking as any movie star in his prime. If you don’t see that, you must be even crazier than I thought.”
She would have liked to pretend he wasn’t there until he gave up and went away again. Maybe that would teach him not to show up before he was expected in the future.
He was expected though, a few days early or not, and Athena couldn’t be sure that it wasn’t just his presence in the training barn in general that had her on edge. He was easily one of the more well-known competitors on the rodeo circuit, and one of the few to cross over into mainstream recognition as well.
It wasn't just because of his talent, although that was impossible to ignore. It was a charisma that translated effortlessly on the cameras and to the crowds. It was his undeniable good looks, and yes, it was his patented cockiness as well. He was pretty much the whole package, and she knew she should be grateful to have him doing this PR stunt with her in the first place.
The Strawberry Fest was fast approaching, and this year a major rodeo competition was going to be a part of it. It was meant to draw in more than just local attention, and having Nate Grant be a part of it was a big coup, local boy or no. The PR stunt the two of them were to be engaged in had been cooked up by Nate’s agent to draw even more attention to the whole thing. The festival would end with Nate performing in a rodeo competition against a yet-to-be-named local competitor—but in the days preceding it, Nate was going to be working with Athena’s rodeo students, girls ranging from ages nine to eleven, helping them learn their lessons and such. There were going to be photographers and camera crews leading up to the main event, with the understanding that the more publicity they could get, the better it was for all of them.
It could only mean good things for Athena’s career. She knew that. At the very least, she thought it would be good for her girls. Any publicity brought to them and what she was trying to do for teaching young girls how to rodeo was a good thing. It could lead to more community interest, donations, maybe even partnerships with larger, more established programs. As for what it might do for her personally, Athena was trying not to think about it. If she thought about it too much, she might start to get hopeful, and hope could lead a person down a dangerous path. That was a lesson she had learned the hard way and one she had no desire to repeat.
“Come on, girls!” She called out, clapping her hands to get her class’s attention, “Eyes on me. A visitor doesn’t mean we let up on our drills.”
There was a murmur of agreement from the girls, but Athena could tell she didn't have their attention. They were only half with her, their eyes cutting towards Nate and then the guys who ran the barn. As she watched, her frustration mounting, several of the girls whispered to each other, giggling and blushing furiously. Nate, either unaware of the effect he was having on the class or unbothered by it, let out a loud, booming laugh at something one of the men said, and that only made the girls giddier. Athena sighed to herself and dropped the rope she'd been using for her demonstrations, her hands landing squarely on her hips. For the first time since feeling his presence in the barn, which she had done immediately, Athena allowed herself to look at Nate.
She had to work to keep her face from registering a reaction. It had been some time since she had seen Nate in the flesh and she had forgotten just how handsome he really was. What’s more, she hadn’t been expecting him to be looking right at her when she finally looked in his direction.
“Great,” she whispered to herself disgustedly. She could feel a flush creeping up her neck, making its way to her cheeks where it would surely linger for a while before finally beginning to fade. She pulled her hair out of its messy ponytail, only to smooth it down and put it right back up again. Playing with her hair was something she did both when she was nervous and when she was around a man she found to be good looking. With thick, shiny auburn locks curling halfway down her back, Athena had always considered her hair to be her best feature by far. She saw Nate noticing it and thought he might agree with her estimation.
In the end, it was the little wink he offered her that tipped her over the edge. His eyes were sparkling with mischief in a way she remembered from childhood. They were unapologetically bright with what she was fairly certain was an air of defiant challenge, too. Still, she thought she could have turned and gone back to her girls, pretending he wasn't there at all, if it hadn't been for the damned wink.
“Nate!” she called across the barn, shrugging off Shelly’s hissed questions of what exactly she thought she was doing, “Looks like you got here a little early.”
“What can I say?” he called back amidst the chuckles of the other men, “I like to make an entrance.”
"I just bet you do," she muttered to herself. Her girls giggled and whispered all over again, and it was all Athena could do not to roll her eyes. If Nate's intent had been to come and take over her skills session, he was doing a bang-up job.
"That's not going to be a problem, Moore, is it?" he continued. She hated it when people called her by her last name only, always had. Come to think of it, she seemed to remember that it was Nate who had begun the trend back when they were only children.
“Nope, no problems here,” she called over her shoulder, refocusing her attention on her class. He was goading her, heckling her in front of her girls. If he thought he was going to best her in front of them, however, he had a surprise coming his way.
“Good!” Nate laughed, “I would hate to send you and the girls into a tizzy. I’m just here to watch, after all, aren’t I?”
“Actually? No, I don’t think you are.”
Athena noted the way Nate's brow furrowed with some satisfaction and even smiled when her girls gasped and started asking questions. She had just surprised Nate, put him on the spot instead of the other way around, and she knew it. She also knew that Nate was far more of a showman than he was a teacher. Unless she was very much mistaken, unless Nate had completely changed from the boy she once knew, he enjoyed the spotlight too much to have the patience to teach. The only thing she didn't know was how he was going to handle this curveball.
“Sorry? I’m not sure what you’re getting at,” Nate said, just the smallest hint of uncertainty in his voice as he approached the middle of the ring with his hands shoved deep into his pockets.
“Well, you’re the Rodeo God, aren’t you?” she said with an innocent smile, “Why don’t you come teach my girls their next skill? I’m sure they would be beyond thrilled by it, wouldn’t you, kids?”
“Yes!” came the chorus from a group of children so excited now they were verging on mania. It might have been her imagination, but she thought Nate’s face was just a touch paler than it had been only moments before. Still, he nodded at her, took his hands out of his pockets, and clapped loudly.
“Right, girls. Sounds like a plan. Who wants to tell me what we’re doing?”
Nate thrived on pressure, often times seeking it out when he wasn't getting enough of it from his surroundings. Today, however, participation in this rodeo training class hadn't been a part of his plans. It might have been a dick move, but he'd come to the practice barn today to see if he could throw Athena off her game. The two of them might be doing this PR stunt together, but in the end, they were still competing
in the same profession, though not on the same level and not both active on the rodeo circuit. As far as he was concerned, a little reconnaissance mission never hurt anyone.
What he hadn't considered was that Athena might call his bluff. He had a hell of a reputation as a rodeo star, and people tended to see him as one of the bad boys of the arena. What he'd never been much of was a teacher. Whether that was because teaching wasn't something he was suited for or because he'd never given it a try, he couldn't be sure. What he was sure of was that he was going to give it a shot now. There was no way he was going to back down from the challenge Athena was presenting. That was not the impression he had come here to make.
“Come on girls,” he prompted, “don’t be shy. Tell me what we’re getting up to here.”
“Miss Athena was teaching us about roping and riding,” one eager little girl in the front of the pack said, bouncing up and down with palpable excitement.
“Good, good, that’s a start,” Nate said, trying to ignore his lack of confidence until he could get rid of it entirely, “what about it, exactly?”
"How to do it, Nate," Athena answered, her voice full of humor, "they've done both things independently, but they've never put the skills together. You're going to show them how."
"Great," he answered, forcing a smile. He sauntered forward, approaching the patiently waiting horse and trying to search back into his distant memories. He knew there was a time when he hadn't known how to do this most basic of rodeoing skills, but for the life of him, he couldn't remember when. Rodeoing, every part of it, ran through his veins right along with his blood. For him, it felt like he'd been doing it since the day he was born. Trying to break down and explain something that came as naturally as breathing was a tall order indeed.
“All right, girls,” he said in his best approximation of a confident voice as he swung up onto the horse, “what do you say we show these fine folks how this is done?”
Forty-five minutes later, Nate was amazed by the progress and success of Athena’s girls. He’d been sure that he would fail to teach a single one of them. Actually accomplishing what the lesson was meant to teach hadn’t even been in his line of sight. His aim had been to get out of the experience without injuring anyone or making a little girl cry. Now, all of the girls seemed to have the hang of it, at least to the extent that a beginner should.
All the girls, that was, except for one. There was one little girl named Gretta, and try as he might, Nate couldn’t seem to help her get the hang of it. With so little experience teaching, he had nothing to draw from when she didn’t get it as easily as the others. Even worse, all it took was one look at her face to understand that she was very close to losing her composure. It was looking a hell of a lot like he was going to make someone cry, after all.
“Hey, honey, it’s okay. Here, let’s take some breaths, okay? Just like I taught you before.”
Athena came out of nowhere and crouched beside little Gretta, got onto her level, and looked her directly in the eye. It hadn't even occurred to Nate to do something as simple as that, but he could see that the calming effect it had was almost instantaneous. For a moment, the two of them breathed in and out together, concentrating on the rising and falling of their chests and nothing else. When Gretta’s color was back to normal, Athena stood and held out her hand. Gretta took hold of it with zero hesitation, and the two of them approached Gretta’s horse.
“Okay, sugar, let’s try this one more time. I’m going to be right here, right next to you, every step of the way. Watch my arms, honey. Watch the way they move. I know you can do this, do you hear me? There’s not a single doubt in my mind.”
Nate sat back and watched as Athena walked the girl around the barn. There was something in her movements that was almost feline, something fluid and impossible not to appreciate. Her hair, a fiery balance between brown and red, was coming loose so that pieces of it fell into her face. It framed her green eyes perfectly as they flashed encouragement and good cheer toward the little girl.
“Damn.”
He whispered the word to himself without realizing he was speaking out loud. Some of the girls closest to him snickered and gasped at the use of the naughty word, but Nate didn't notice that, either. He was totally engrossed in watching Athena work her magic.
The hairs on the back of his neck were standing at attention, as he watched the way she moved. She was hot as hell and sexy as all get out, but that wasn't all of what was getting under his skin. Truth be told, it wasn't even most of it. What was eating at him was that he was starting to think he might have underestimated this chick. Something told him that this confident, sexy woman was going to be trouble for him. It had been several years since he had seen her last, and in that time, she had really come into her own. She was a woman now, and a fine one at that. Except noticing things like that was something he didn't have any time for. Not when the chance of getting a major new sponsor was on the line. The bad boy act might have come easily to him, but that's not what Nate needed to be now. He needed to be well-loved to make it to the big time—and nothing would piss off the people of his hometown like the idea that he was trifling with everyone’s favorite girl next door. He was just going to have to keep his head down, his hands to himself, and hope that the allure of Athena would wear off before he did something stupid.
2
Athena stood in the middle of the field, her hands stuffed into the pockets of her sweater. She was the first one to arrive for the day's festivities, and she was glad. She could do with a little calm before the storm in light of what the day held. She needed to make sure she had her head on straight before coming up against Nate again.
It had been two days since that stunt he'd pulled, showing up unannounced and getting her girls all riled up. Two days and she still couldn't quite shake the unrest seeing him again had caused inside of her. Today was the day he was supposed to have shown up, however, and she was bound and determined to behave professionally. She was going to show him that he wasn't the only one who could play this stupid PR game if it was the last thing she did.
If Athena had it her way, Nate would never have returned to her life. It wasn't that she had anything against him on a personal level—there had been a bit of a rivalry between them when they were teenagers, but it had been a friendly rivalry, with no hard feelings on either side. It was only that he'd already attained the kind of recognition in the rodeo circuit that she wanted but had never been able to chase. Not with her limited resources. Not with her mother depending on her.
Athena’s mother had never been great at making ends meet. She had never been able to hold down a job for more than a month at a time during most of Athena’s childhood—and what little money she did make back then was likely to go towards the purchasing of a bottle. When Athena grew up enough to be able to contribute, it had been up to her to take on the role of provider, assuring that her dreams were just that: dreams. It was impossible for her not to look at him and be attracted to that success, almost as attracted as she was envious.
Then there was the sheer physicality of the man, which was simply undeniable. It seemed like the more she tried not to think about it, the more images of Nate in his element kept flooding her head. She didn't even have to close her eyes to conjure up the image of him riding, his considerable muscles rippling with each and every move he made. She could see his grin, utterly contagious, see the way his blue eyes sparkled with mischief and good cheer. Normally she wasn't attracted to men as cocky as Nate, but there was something about him she couldn't shake.
“Stop it, girl,” she hissed to herself, “you cut it out right now.”
Because she had to shake it. She had too much going on to let her head get turned by some good-looking cowboy who was going to blow back out of town almost as quickly as he had blown in. It might look to most people like Nate had come home for Strawberry Fest to help the town, but Athena knew he was benefiting from it too. There were rumors that he was courting a sponsorship deal, and it mad
e sense that he was playing up the “good country boy” image with this visit. There was the PR stunt with her girls, something she had agreed to grudgingly after realizing that saying no would be plain stupid. His little break from the circuit was then supposed to culminate with a competition with the best rider in the tri-state area.
“Which could be you,” she reminded herself, “you never know.”
It was true that she had participated in the battle for the title of best rider. It was also true that the winner of said battle had not yet been announced. It would still be another week before the winner was crowned and the competition with Nate could move forward, and Athena knew she would be on pins and needles until that happened. It was a stiff competition, indeed, and being her town's rodeo darling wouldn't be enough to get her the crown. If she missed out on this, she didn’t know when she would ever get another chance at the big stage. She loved giving lessons, but the program barely managed to scrape by on the fees the girls paid—and she wasn’t about to charge them more, wanting to keep the program accessible to everyone. It meant, though, that there wasn’t enough funding to cover a salary for her, so she had to keep her day job running the local gym. Between the gym and the lessons, there was precious little time, energy, and resources left at the end of the day for her to put toward her own riding. If she could take Nate down, she might actually be able to start making money on her riding and her riding alone.
As for his part, she didn't think Nate had any idea she'd even competed for the title. As per the rules of her entry, she wasn't allowed to discuss it with anybody. She'd even been made to sign a non-disclosure. The competition with Nate was being backed by big corporate funding, and apparently, that came with big contracts. She could only imagine what Nate's reaction would be if his competitor was finally revealed and it turned out to be her. Something told her he wouldn't love the idea of going up against a woman, which made her want to be his rival all the more.