Rodeo Romance (Contemporary Western Romance Short)

by Teresa Gabelman

  “Yeah.” Hank handed it to him. Glancing toward Cindy for the first time, Hank did a double take then glanced behind him. “Ah, ma’am, you might want to cover up with something because more help is on the way.”

  “Be careful,” Trisha whispered to Jake who was on his way toward the bed, but first, he grabbed what looked like a robe and flung it toward Cindy.

  Thump, thump, scratch.

  “That’s it!” Both Cindy and Trisha yelled and pointed to the bed.

  Jake looked back at Hank and nodded. Hank headed into the room lifting the shotgun. “Go ahead, boss. I got you covered.”

  Feeling a presence behind her, she turned to find Jeb, other workers and guests standing in the door of their cabin and looking in windows.

  “Trisha, get outside,” Jake ordered in all his shirtless glory.

  Although his alpha protectiveness was a turn on, she looked to Cindy who was staring at her with scared pleading eyes. “Not until Cindy’s out.”

  “If given the chance, whatever is under that bed is going to head straight for that doorway, which you’re standing in.” Jake was poised to raise the covers on the bed.

  “Then I’ll move,” Trisha said with more bravado than she felt.

  “Will you please hurry?” Cindy cried.

  Taking one last glance at Trisha, Jake slowly lifted the cover and peeked under the bed. “Well, I’ll be damned.” He chuckled, reaching under the bed.

  “What in the hell are you laughing at?” Cindy cringed, her arms wrapped tightly around herself.

  Standing straight, Jake held something small and furry in his arms. “This is your fearsome creature.”

  “What the hell is it?” Cindy wasn’t even close to relaxing yet.

  “Baby raccoon.” Hank laughed, getting a closer look.

  “And this is what he was after.” Jake held up an empty torn bag of M&Ms.

  Trisha slapped her hand over her mouth, hysterical laughter stuck in the back of her throat. All that commotion for a furry little raccoon that looked scared to death. Getting herself under control, she held her hands out. “Can I hold him?” Jake gently placed the little guy in her hands. “Ah, he’s so cute.”

  Their cabin was suddenly overflowing with people. “What the hell is going on?” Tim demanded as he elbowed his way into the small room with Sam Burton hot on his heels.

  “Are you okay?” Sam rushed to Cindy helping her off the bed.

  “I’m fine.” Cindy glanced at Tim before looking at Sam. “Just a little shaky.” Sam wrapped an arm around her.

  Trisha noticed Cindy seemed uncomfortable with Sam’s arm around her because she kept looking at Tim. Interesting. Turning her focus back on their little visitor, she laughed. “You sure looked scarier under the bed, little guy.”

  “You’re lucky it wasn’t the mother,” Jake replied, his eyes leaving the raccoon to stare at her.

  “Why’s that?” Cindy pulled away from Sam to walk closer to Trisha so she could get a better look.

  “The mommas are bigger and meaner,” Jeb spoke up. “Had one tear up my dog.”

  “Well, at least you had a raccoon in your room,” one of the other guests added. “We had a bat.”

  “I hope to God you said cat.” Cindy shivered, pulling her robe tighter.

  “No.” The man shook his head. “It was a bat. A big old—”

  “Okay! Okay, we get the picture,” Cindy stopped him. “How are these things getting in the cabins?”

  “Oh, they have their ways.” Jeb chuckled. “Now, this little guy was probably hungry and came prowling around. They love sweets so them M&Ms was a nice little treat.”

  “Sorry, Trish.” Cindy moved to grab Trisha’s stash of M&Ms. “These have to go.”

  “I don’t think so.” Trisha grabbed them right out of Cindy’s hand.

  “You mean to tell me that you’ll chance another encounter with one of those things by keeping your munchies in here?” Cindy eyed the raccoon warily as she made a swipe at the bag.

  “Don’t mess with the M&Ms, Cin.” Trisha acted like she was going to sic the raccoon on her.

  “Got a thing for M&Ms, do you?” Jake smiled, watching her closely, a grin tipping his lips.

  “A big thing, obviously.” Cindy eyed the little raccoon. “She always has a bag with her.”

  Feeling uncomfortably warm under Jake’s gaze, Trisha wished to hell he’d put a shirt on. “What are we going to do with this little guy?”

  “Take him away from the buildings and let him go.” When he saw the worried look on her face, he chuckled. “He’ll find his way home.”

  “Can I do it?” She moved away from the door to let a few people out. He nodded and she handed him the raccoon. “Here, hold Bandit so I can get my shoes.”

  “Oh, Lord, she went and named him.” Cindy rolled her eyes.

  Trisha ignored her burning feet to find her shoes. Jake quickly handed the animal to Tim.

  “Are you hurt?” He watched her limp around the room searching.

  “No,” Trisha lied. Finding her shoes, she sat on the end of her bed to put them on. Her lie was revealed when she hissed trying to put them on.

  “Yes, you are.” Jake knelt, picking up her foot and giving it a hard look before turning the hard look on her. “Tim, take the raccoon. Hank, run up to the main house and get the first-aid kit.”

  “I’m fine.” Trisha frowned, pulling her foot away.

  “No, you’re not.” Jake grabbed it back. “You’re bleeding.”

  Cindy bent over looking at her foot. “You ran out barefoot?”

  “You’re lucky I grabbed my shorts.” Trisha snorted once again pulling her foot away from Jake.

  “I wouldn’t say that.” Sam cocked an eyebrow staring at Trisha’s long legs.

  Jake stood quickly, rounding on Sam. He towered over him a good three inches. “I suggest you find something to do that doesn’t involve being here.” Jake glared down at Sam and for the second time that day, he wanted to smash one of his employees.

  “Hey, calm down.” Sam held his hands up wearing a cocky grin.

  Jake didn’t say a word, his stance and stare said it all. Finally, Sam took the hint and walked outside.

  “Cindy, get me a wet wash cloth, please,” Jake said, his focus back on Trisha.

  “I can clean my own feet,” Trisha grumbled, getting up from the bed and hobbling to the bathroom. Shutting the door behind her, she sat on the toilet and lifted one foot up so she could look at it. There was a quick knock before the door opened. Jake filled the small bathroom.

  “Sit on the edge of the tub and hang your feet over.” He sat a first-aid kit on the counter.

  Trisha did as she was told, but grumbled some more. “Do you always boss everyone around?”

  “Yes.”

  “And does everyone do what you tell them?” She hissed when her cuts made contact with the warm water.

  “Yes,” he again replied, focused on her feet.

  He may be focused on her feet, but Trisha was focused on his smell, which was amazing, as well as the hard line of his muscles as they flexed while he worked on her feet. She finally snapped out of wanting to jump on him when he grabbed the Peroxide.

  “This is going to sting.” His voice was deep and surrounded her completely in the small bathroom.

  Yeah, no shit. She didn’t want to cry like a baby in front of him and she knew this was going to hurt badly. “I really don’t think I need any of that.” She lifted her feet out of the water, wiggling them back and forth. “They feel better already.”

  Jake knelt on the bathroom floor next to her and looked her straight in the eyes, even with her perched on the bathtub. Without taking his eyes off her, he reached over, turned the water off, which brought his face closer to hers. She could see every golden speck in his dark brown eyes. Her head tilted without help from her brain; it just happened. His gaze broke, dropping to her lips. All the noises from outside the closed bathroom door, to the pain in her feet, w
ere all forgotten when his lips met hers.

  She had been kissed before, many times, but this was different. Jake McCabe could kiss like no other man had ever kissed her. The curl of her toes didn’t even hurt her injured feet, but it oddly made them cold. As the kiss deepened, her brain registered a dull stinging in her feet, but she ignored it as her arms went around his neck. The sound of a plastic bottle dropping against the porcelain barely fazed her as his arms wrapped around her, bringing her closer.

  Pulling away from him to catch her breath was not easy. Both of them were breathing hard, his rough hands on her bare legs actually felt natural, as if they belonged there. Prying her eyes from his, she looked into the bathtub at the empty Peroxide bottle.

  “Did you do that just to put Peroxide on my feet?” she whispered, glancing back at him.

  “What Peroxide?” His grin tilted to one side in a sexy smile as he moved in for more.

  A loud bang hit the bathroom door. “Shit,” Cindy said from the other side. “Who locked the damn door?”

  Shocked, Trisha watched his grin grow as he winked at her. “Do you think she’ll go away?” he asked, hopefully. Trisha laughed with a shake of her head. With a sigh, he turned without getting up and unlocked the door. Cindy stood on the other side holding two cell phones.

  “Haven’t you checked your phone since we’ve been here?” Cindy frowned, holding it up.

  “No.” Trisha let Jake help her stand and step out of the tub.

  “Well, you have over a hundred missed calls and tons of text messages.” Cindy ignored Trisha’s ‘shut up’ look. “And now he’s calling me.” She held up her phone.

  “Who?” Jake stood, moving out of Trisha’s way.

  “Her ex.” Cindy hissed when her phone began ringing again. “He must have received the restraining order and is pissed.”

  Trisha was glad that everyone had left, except for Hank who was gathering the flashlight and shotgun. She snatched her phone out of Cindy’s hand. Glancing down at the display, she cursed even as her stomach tightened in the familiar knot of dread. She knew once the restraining order was issued, all hell would break loose, that was why Cindy got her out of Cincinnati.

  “Why did you get a restraining order against this guy?” Jake asked, his voice no longer friendly. “Did he hit you?” With that question, his voice became deadly.

  “Yeah, he did and—” Cindy started.

  “Cindy!” Trisha glared at her, and then looked at Jake and Hank who both looked pissed. “Only once. That’s when I left him. When he wouldn’t leave me alone, I filed the restraining order.”

  “What’s his name?” Jake asked. His eyes narrowed as his shoulders flexed.

  “Why?” Trisha looked confused.

  “As I’m kicking someone’s ass, I’d like to know the man’s name,” Jake sneered. “Makes it more personal.”

  “I don’t think you’ll get a chance to do that.” Trisha grinned at the thought of Doug getting his ass kicked by Jake. “Even though he has his connections, we’ll be back home before he finds out where we are, and hopefully, he’ll have calmed down.”

  “I hope he does come here.” Hank nodded, his smile sinister. “We have something called Texas Justice against bastards like him. We don’t tolerate women being hit by men.”

  Jake nodded in agreement as he headed for the door, but stopped, cupping her chin and lifting her face to his. “Especially you,” he whispered for her ears only.

  CHAPTER 8

  Ever since the night of the raccoon fiasco and Jake finding out about Doug, she hadn’t seen much of him. They had been there for over a week and all she could think about was Jake. It was driving her insane. Tim informed them that morning that Jake had to take care of some rodeo business off the ranch all day, and for them to head to the main house to help their mother get things set up for the crowds coming next week for the rodeo. Maggie was a treat to be around and loved talking about her boys. She found out so much about Jake; she smiled at the memory. Her stomach flipped excitedly as another memory popped into her mind of Jake’s parting words to her that night. ‘Especially you.’ But since that time, he hadn’t acted on anything at all, puzzling her something crazy.

  Despite her ruling out men, she knew she was only fooling herself. Jake was different. There was an immediate connection there. While Doug always made her nervous, making her afraid to do something wrong, Jake did not. With Jake, she felt comfortable, like anything she said or did would be okay with him. She’d already made a fool of herself in front of him and he was still talking to her, even kissed her. Once again, her stomach tightened as her heart fluttered at the memory.

  Taking the steps two at a time to their cabin, she walked in. Cindy stood in front of the mirror admiring herself. She had left early to get ready for her date with Sam. She walked in and sat on the edge of the bed. “So you finally got your date with Sam, huh?”

  “Yes. Jake has been keeping Sam off the ranch with a bunch of rodeo business, but he finally had a night free.” Cindy twirled this way and that. “Does this dress look okay?”

  Trisha looked at the simple black summer dress and smiled with a snort. “Cindy, anything looks good on you. You could wear a brown sack and still look amazing.” Trisha gave her a teasing narrowed eye stare. “I should really hate you for that.”

  “You could never hate me.” Cindy did the duck lip face in the mirror before spinning toward Trisha, getting a good look at her. “You are a dirty mess. Are you sure you’re going to be okay here all by yourself?”

  Trisha agreed; she was a dirty mess. Planting flowers and carrying bags of potting soil wasn’t clean work, not that Cindy would know anything about that. She ignored Cindy’s assessment. “I’ll be fine, Mom.” Trisha rolled her eyes. “Is Sam picking you up here?”

  Just as she asked, there was a knock at their door. Excited, Cindy headed toward the door, fixing her hair on the way. Taking a deep breath, she opened it. “Hey, Sam.” Cindy smiled, making room for him to step in. “Let me get my purse.”

  “Damn, woman. I’ll be fighting the men off you.” Sam watched Cindy’s ass as she collected her purse, then spotted Trisha sitting on the bed. “Looks like you had a fight with dirt and lost.” He gazed up and down her body slowly. His heated perusal made her uncomfortable, putting her on edge.

  “I’ll see you later.” Cindy went to hug Trisha, but stopped. “Girl, you are a mess.”

  “I’ll shower.” Trisha chuckled. “Have a good time,” she called out, her increasing dislike of Sam growing.

  After a long hot shower, Trisha sat in the middle of the bed, her phone in front of her. Despite being turned off, she knew not even that would stop Doug from calling. With a sigh, she snatched it up, turning it on. Before she could even look at the messages, someone knocked on her door. Tossing it on the bed, she went and opened it.

  Jake stood there, leaning against the doorframe. “You shouldn’t just open your door without asking who it is.”

  “Since it was unlocked, I don’t think that matters.” Trisha smiled.

  “Keep your door locked,” he ordered, looking behind her. “Where’s Cindy?”

  “She had a date with Sam.” Trisha wrinkled her nose.

  Jake frowned and then straightened from the doorframe. “Would you like to have dinner?”

  “Sure.” Trisha smiled, walking outside, shutting the door behind her. “I was just getting ready to head that way.”

  “No, I mean with me.” Jake adjusted his cowboy hat.

  “Oh, okay.” She nodded, pleasantly surprised. “I would love to.”

  He settled his hat low over his eyes looking down at her. “If you don’t stop looking at me like that, you’re going to ruin my plans for a nice dinner, and instead, I’m going to start with dessert.” He bent down, kissing her lips softly. Taking her hand, he led her around the side of the cabin where a beautiful black horse stood, munching on the flowers growing around the border.

  “Spirit, you’re going to get m
e in trouble,” Jake scolded as the horse looked up and nickered loudly.

  “Ah, are you tired?” Trisha eyed the huge horse. “I can meet you at the—”

  Jake laughed loudly. “No, I’m not tired and that’s not where we’re going.”

  “Don’t you have a truck or something?” Trisha watched as he expertly hopped on the horse, then he held his hand out to her.

  “Yes, I have a truck.” He stared down at her, his lips tipped with a sexy grin. “But I would love to have you ride in front of me. Trust me.”

  She looked at his hand, then back to his eyes. In that moment, she realized she really did trust him. While it shocked her, it also filled her with relief. Doug had not ruined her. Taking his hand without another thought, she let him pull her up in front of him. His strong arm wrapped around her stomach, pulling her back against him. She heard him take a deep breath.

  “You smell good,” he whispered in her ear as he tugged the reins, leading the horse away from the cabin.

  Trisha enjoyed the ride. Not only did she enjoy the beautiful scenery, but the man behind her felt right against her back. Her mind went quickly to her and Cindy’s departure from the ranch and knew this wouldn’t last, but dammit, she was going to enjoy every single minute. After a short while riding, he turned off the path and headed through a thick wooded area. Suddenly, they broke through into a beautiful field with a small pond. Jake dismounted with ease then reached up for her.

  Trisha looked around in awe. “It’s beautiful.” She looked away from the scenery to him and then held out her arms for him to help her down.

  “Yes, you are,” Jake answered as he pulled her off the horse and slowly slid her down his body to the ground.

  Being held close to him was delicious. It had been so long since she had been held and looked at like this; it felt good. Memories of Doug started to shift into her mind, but she pushed them back. She would not let that bastard ruin this. She was going to live her life the way she wanted, not the way he wanted. Jake brought her out of her thoughts by cupping her chin with his large hand.

  “I want to erase that sadness from your eyes.” His masculine voice soothed her soul.