Walking the Line

by Mandy Magro

  ‘See, he’s a big sook,’ Dallas said, smiling.

  With Dallas standing beside her, her fear began to melt away, only to be replaced by elation. She turned to him, her eyes wide. ‘Holy crap, I’m actually stroking a real live bull. Who would have ever thunk it?’

  ‘You certainly are. And I bet your mates back home wouldn’t believe it if you told them.’

  ‘You know what, they probably wouldn’t.’ She moved in closer to T-Bone, grinning. ‘Do you reckon you could grab my phone off the smoko table and take a pic? Then I’ll have evidence.’

  ‘Can do.’ Dallas headed to the table, grabbed the phone and then held it up. ‘Smile.’

  And smile Charlize did, from ear to ear. This was a magical moment if ever she’d had one.

  A few snaps taken, Dallas dropped the phone and gave her a tender look that liquefied her already molten heart.

  There was the lightning again, striking her right in the pit of her stomach, where she was sure her soul would be, leaving her womanly regions tingling.

  ‘Time is a ticking, you two,’ Roberto called out, once again breaking their moment.

  Dallas huffed. ‘Better get to it.’ He gave T-Bone a light pat on the rump. ‘Come on buddy, posing time.’

  ‘Have fun,’ Charlize said, grinning like a kid high on sugar.

  Returning to the camp chair as Dallas and T-Bone made their way to Roberto, Charlize sank down and got herself comfy. She pushed her sunglasses further up her nose and settled in to watch the goings on. And then Dallas began to remove his towel, and her heart started galloping faster than it had when she’d spotted T-Bone coming towards her.

  Holy snapping duck shit, she really shouldn’t be looking.

  She snatched her mobile from where Dallas had put it back on the table, pretending to be engrossed in it. But like a bee to honey, she just couldn’t help herself.

  When she looked up, he was butt naked and posing for Roberto in a very nonchalant kind of way. And she finally got to see just how far down that sexy tattoo went as it disappeared beneath where he was covering his manhood with his hat. Her mouth watered and she actually wiped her chin to make sure she wasn’t drooling.

  His arse was to die for and his muscular body was heavenly. He subtly changed stances as he stood in front of T-Bone, the sensuous smile on his kissable lips speaking of all the things he could do to a woman if she let him loose on her, and oh my lord how she wanted to let him loose on her right this very second. Her palms became damp as her libido began to overpower her logical way of thinking, and she felt herself fall a little more under his spell.

  She knew it was stupid—insane even—because nothing was ever going to come of it, but for the first time since laying eyes on Dallas she didn’t want to think about the fact that she was married. She wanted to allow herself to feel the fire in her loins, to embrace the lust in her heart. She wanted to feel like the real Charlize again—the young, hot-blooded, driven, sensuous, sexual woman she used to be before Alistair sucked the life right out of her with his nagging and condescending comments about almost everything that made her who she was.

  And then in that moment, sitting there in a dusty roundyard, with an absolute hunk of a man who was the epitome of a cowboy standing naked before her, in front of his one-tonne pet bull, on a property in the middle of what she had once considered to be Woop Woop, everything finally seemed crystal clear and she felt a sense of the woman she used to be.

  Dallas caught her gaze, and graced her with a slow sexy smile as if he’d been reading her thoughts, but instead of feeling embarrassed, or caught out, it aroused her, and made her want him even more. She waited until he turned back to the camera to fan her face. On my god she felt hot, red-hot, all the way from her boot covered toes to the tip of her head.

  She ached to march right on over to him, wrap her arms around his thick strong neck, and pull him into a long hungry kiss.

  But as much as she might fantasise about it, that wasn’t going to happen. Because she would never do anything behind Alistair’s back, never betray him the way he had betrayed her, and until she got back to the city and could tell him face to face, she would remain true to the expectations of a married woman.

  CHAPTER

  20

  A firm knock at her bedroom door sent Charlize sitting bolt upright while still half asleep. She clutched her sheet to her beating chest as she tried to get her bearings.

  ‘Hey Char, you awake?’

  Char? Jane was the only other person that called her that, but she liked the way it had rolled off Dallas’s tongue. She jumped out of bed. ‘I am now,’ she called back while hastily grabbing her robe from the floor.

  ‘You decent?’

  ‘Why?’ She panicked as she imagined how insane her bed hair would look. Glancing at her bedside clock, her eyebrows shot up when she realised it was nine-thirty—the latest she’d slept in for as long as she could remember.

  ‘Um, so I can come in.’ Dallas sounded amused.

  She frantically tried to flatten her afro as she sat back on the bed. ‘Oh, sorry, yup.’ The blackout curtains were doing a brilliant job so she reached out and turned her lamp on.

  The door flung open and Dallas stuck his head in, two steaming cuppas in hand. ‘Morning, sunshine. I thought I’d bring you this as a little thank you for looking after all us blokes yesterday at the shoot, and also for taking over the kitchen duties so Mum gets a break.’ He plonked her mug down on her bedside table and then took a sip from his before he sat down at the end of her bed.

  Why not make yourself comfortable? she thought lightheartedly, at the same time liking the fact that Dallas felt so relaxed around her. ‘Oh wow, thank you.’

  She flashed him her brightest smile as she tried to recall the last time Alistair had done something as simple but as thoughtful as bringing her a cuppa in bed, and she couldn’t for the life of her remember. ‘I honestly don’t mind doing the cooking—it’s my way of relaxing, and your mum deserves the break. She’s always looking after everyone else except herself.’

  ‘She sure is. I’ve tried to take over the cooking to help her out but after almost burning the kitchen down she banned me forever.’ He grinned like a naughty child.

  Charlize chuckled. ‘How in the heck did you manage that?’

  ‘I was making homemade chips and the oil boiled over.’

  ‘That’ll do it.’

  ‘Yup, s’pose I can’t be good at everything.’ He flashed her a sexy smile. ‘Unlike you, who succeeded in getting two meat crazed men to eat pescetarian food—not that I could do it every day, but it’s been nice tasting new things.’

  Charlize smiled. ‘Well, I’m stoked to hear it.’ She took a sip from her cuppa. ‘You getting nervous about riding tonight at the rodeo?’

  ‘Yes and no.’

  ‘What kind of answer is that?’

  An honest one.’ He gave her a cocky wink. ‘I can’t say I’m not nervous about winning the Championship, but I’m also revved up to give whatever bull I draw a good lesson in who’s boss.’

  ‘Sounds to me like the right attitude.’

  ‘Yup. You wanna come for a ride with me and June this morning?’

  She tipped her head to the side and arched her eyebrows, feeling an odd twinge of jealously. ‘You mean on a bike? Who’s June?’

  Dallas laughed. ‘No, on a horse. June is the name of my mum’s horse—named after June Carter, Johnny Cash’s wife.’

  She released the breath she’d been holding, shocked that she’d been so affected by the possibility of Dallas having a love interest she hadn’t heard of yet. ‘Oh my god, really?’

  ‘Really.’

  ‘I’ve never been on a horse, but always wanted to, so I’d love that—’ she grimaced ‘—but I think you should know I haven’t the faintest idea how to ride.’

  Dallas raised a brow. ‘I kinda gathered that’d be the case. So I thought you could double with me.’

  Charlize couldn’t wipe the smile from
her face. Her, on a horse, in the big wide yonder, pressed up against a man as sexy as Dallas Armstrong? Absolute heaven. ‘Count me in.’

  ‘Excellent.’ Dallas stood as he sculled the last of his coffee. ‘I’ll meet you downstairs in fifteen?’

  ‘Um.’ Charlize looked down at her pyjamas and then back at Dallas. ‘Can I have twenty-five?’

  ‘Waitin’ on a woman, huh?’ Dallas said, shaking his head, a cheeky smile on his lips.

  ‘Huh?’

  ‘Oh, you just reminded me of a Brad Paisley song.’ He chuckled. ‘You should listen to it sometime.’

  ‘Who the hell is Brad Paisley?’

  Dallas stared at her as though mortified. ‘Are you serious?’

  ‘Uh-huh.’

  ‘Brad Paisley is one of the most legendary country music stars alive.’

  Charlize giggled. ‘Oh, that’s why I hadn’t heard of him.’

  ‘I can’t believe you’ve never heard of him.’ Dallas shook his head. ‘You’ll hear plenty of him at the Rodeo Ball tomorrow night, that’s for sure.’

  ‘Oh yay,’ Charlize replied half-heartedly.

  Dallas now appeared dumbstruck. ‘You really don’t like country music?’

  ‘Sorry, but not really.’

  ‘Who have you listened to?’

  ‘Um.’ She pondered that for a moment, realising that she hadn’t really ever listened to country music. She just assumed she didn’t like it because she was a through-and-through city girl. ‘I can’t really name anyone in particular.’

  ‘Well, in the time we have left together, I’m going to make it my mission to change that. By Tuesday afternoon, when you head off to catch your plane, you’ll be a country music convert. And how could you not be? The lyrics are so full of soul and passion.’ He smirked. ‘It’s not all about trucks, and whiskey and women. Although those types of country songs can be pretty fun to boogie to.’

  Charlize held up her coffee as though raising a glass of wine. ‘We will see if you can convert me—’ she wiggled her eyebrows ‘—or not.’

  Dallas smirked. ‘Like I’ve said before, I love me a challenge.’ He pointed to her. ‘And you, my friend, are on. Thank God for the long weekend, because there’s going to be a lot of sore heads on Monday.’ He ambled towards the door. ‘Take as much time as you need, I’m not going anywhere. Catch you downstairs.’

  Charlize returned his spirited grin as she watched him disappear out the door. As soon as she couldn’t hear his footsteps any longer she grabbed her mobile phone from the bedside table and Googled Brad Paisley, Waiting on a Woman, rolling her eyes at the fact that the g had been dropped off the word waitin’ in the song title—trust a country song to shorten a word.

  She chose a YouTube clip so she could see who this country music legend was. The video began to play and within seconds she felt goosebumps rise with the beauty of the singer’s deep twangy voice. The song was told from the perspective of an old man, who was telling Brad how his whole life he’d been waiting on his wife, but he didn’t mind because he loved her so much, and that he knew he’d die first and then he’d find a seat in heaven and wait on her some more, until she joined him. It was poignant and sweet and deep and so full of love that she felt tears fill her eyes. Alistair was forever impatient, always grumbling about the time she took to get ready, despite the fact that she was taking her time to look beautiful for him.

  Sniffling, she wiped a lone tear rolling down her cheek. She looked to where Dallas had disappeared moments ago, and felt her heart swell a little more for the beautiful man he was turning out to be.

  Riding the stunning chestnut mare over to where Charlize was standing on a molasses drum, Dallas reached down and offered her his hand. ‘Here, grab onto me and then just chuck your leg over June.’

  ‘You make it sound so easy,’ she said as she accepted his hand. Her breath caught and his touch sent sparks shooting down her arm and into her stomach. Or was that just her nerves playing tricks because she was about to hop on a horse for the very first time in her life?

  He offered her a slow sexy smile. ‘It is easy. Things are only ever hard if you make them.’

  Charlize eyed him with a sassy smirk. ‘Oh, thank you for the pep talk, guru Armstrong.’ He already took up most of the seat, and she noted how smoking hot he looked atop a horse—a cowboy in his element. ‘And just where am I supposed to sit when I get up there?’

  ‘I’ll wriggle forward and you can squeeze in behind me.’

  The thought of being squashed up against him made her stomach do weird things all over again, like there were a million butterflies inside of her. Was it just her feeling the sexual energy around them, or did he feel the sparks too? She wished she could see his eyes, but they were covered by his dark sunglasses.

  ‘Come on, get on up here before you chicken out.’

  ‘I’ll have you know I rarely ever chicken out of anything.’

  ‘Do you want to stamp your boot while you at it, just to state the fact a little firmer?’ He grinned as he gave her hand a yank and at the same time she lifted her leg up and over.

  Sliding up into the saddle, Charlize squealed in delight, causing the horse to startle a little. To stop herself from hitting the dirt, she threw her arms around Dallas’s waist. ‘Oops, sorry,’ she whispered. ‘My bad.’

  ‘That’s okay,’ he said, chuckling as he steadied June. ‘Understandable you’re excited seeing as it’s your first time.’ With the horse settled, he placed a hand over hers that were now clasped against his stomach. ‘I’ll ease June out into the open, give her a little time to warm up, and then I’ll get her into a gallop, so make sure you hold on tight.’

  Charlize instinctively hugged him tighter and a flare of heat pulsed throughout her, making her feel a little dizzy. ‘Don’t you worry, I’ll be holding on for dear life.’

  ‘Just don’t squeeze the life outta me,’ he said, the sexy smirk returning as he gave her thigh a gentle tap. ‘And make sure you keep your legs in too.’

  ‘Roger that.’ She tried to ignore the growing warmth inside of her, the sensation of his body pressed firmly against her own making her imagine what it would be like if there was no clothing separating them. But instead of feeling guilty, she luxuriated in the toe-curling fantasy and sunk into him as far as she could.

  And then they were off, slowly at first as they headed out of the roundyard and into the paddock, but once out into the open June followed Dallas’s cues and lengthened her stride, her hooves thunderous upon the earth. Charlize felt as though they were part of the wind that was whipping her hair—at any given moment they were going to float upwards and gallop through the limitless blue sky. It was a sense of freedom she’d never felt before. She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, smiling from deep within her soul.

  After years of questioning everything she did because Alistair had, of losing a little more of herself in the relationship as each day passed, of feeling forlorn even when Alistair was around, it felt so damn good to feel so alive, so free, so her. With every booming clomp of the horse’s feet she felt Dallas’s body drag against hers. In a strange but enchanting way it was as though she, Dallas and June were one. No wonder people who rode horses lived for it—this was incredible. She’d forgotten to grab her sunglasses in her rush to get out the door and the glare and wind were making her eyes water, so she closed them once again as she rested her face against Dallas’s back, relishing the feel of his muscles tensing beneath her cheek as he held onto the reins. And then, as if needing to bond with her also, Dallas’s hand came down upon her thigh, and he gave it a gentle squeeze.

  She inhaled sharply. His touch spoke a thousand words. Her question was answered. He too felt the sparks. She almost cried out in both elation and anguish. A soon to be divorcee, she needed time to focus on that. Besides, with her life firmly planted in the city and his in this glorious country, it would be over before it had even started. She enjoyed the feeling their connection gave her, but sadly they could neve
r be, for many reasons.

  For now, all she could do was just relish their silent bond. So she pushed in closer, eager for more, and had to fight to stop herself from trembling against him as they headed deeper into the vast untouched beauty of Rollingstone Ridge.

  CHAPTER

  21

  An hour later, as the midday sun beat down upon the earth, Charlize stared longingly at the huge glistening dam while she waited for Dallas to get June settled in the shade. She could feel the sweat dripping down her back and between her breasts and she was dying to get into the water to cool off. The rays of sunlight that danced across its surface limited her sight but also made it all the more beautiful, and the sounds of the birds chirping from the surrounding trees added to the tranquillity.

  She could stay here all day, splayed out on the grass while she read a good book, if it wasn’t for the rumbling of her stomach and the that fact Dallas had to start getting ready for the biggest bull-riding night of his life. She couldn’t even begin to comprehend what he must be feeling right now. Nerves were dancing in her belly with the thought of watching him from the grandstands, but he remained a picture of cool calm. She prayed he would get what he’d worked so hard for—being named Australian Bull Riding Champion.

  Dallas skidded in alongside her, scaring the bejesus out of her. He tipped his hat. ‘Howdy, ma’am.’

  Charlize tried to mimic his fictitious southern accent. ‘Howdy, partner.’

  ‘Hmm, you sound mighty fine as a southern woman.’ He winked playfully as he knelt down and took off his boots and socks. Then bounding back to his feet, he started to unbutton his shirt while grinning mischievously and wriggling his eyebrows. ‘You up for it?’

  ‘Up for what?’

  ‘Hot sex.’

  Charlize’s eyebrows almost shot over the back of her head. ‘Huh?’

  ‘Kidding, as if I’d seriously come out with something like that.’ He motioned towards the water with a tip of his head. ‘You up for a swim?’