Barreling Through Christmas: (Sweet Western Holiday Romance) (Rodeo Romance Book 4)

by Shanna Hatfield

  He closed his eyes and tipped his head back, struggling to hang onto his composure. When he finally opened his eyes, he gave her a heated look. “Sugar, I’m not kidding. You truly are killing me.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Cooper, I’m going to kill you,” Paige whispered hotly as he led her across the room and made her sit in a chair that looked like a taxidermy project gone bad.

  “You aren’t afraid of Gramps’ bear chair, are you?” His look held a bit of challenge along with mischief twinkling in his eyes.

  “Truthfully, I am. It looks like it might eat me,” she said, glaring at the chair as Cooper’s friends crowded around them.

  The chair in question had been a gift Cooper’s great-great grandfather received from a trapper. It took up residence in a corner of the ranch office. Made from grizzly bear parts and pieces, the chair sported bear paws for legs as well as bear arms with claws still intact as the arms of the chair. Upholstered out of bear fur, the questionable piece of furniture was too small for any of the men to sit in, so Cooper had insisted Paige give it a try.

  To save face with the group, Paige offered him a stiff smile while glaring at him.

  “Just sit right down there on ol’ griz.” Cooper pushed her down on the seat and grinned. “Now, scoot back and relax.”

  “I don’t see how anyone could relax sitting in this…” Paige screamed when she leaned back in the seat. A bear head, teeth bared, popped out of the side of the chair while Cooper made growling noises.

  She jumped up and smacked his arm while he and the men hooted with laughter.

  “Oh, PP, the look on your face was priceless,” he said, wiping moisture from his eyes.

  Frustrated and embarrassed, she smacked him again then stomped out of the room.

  Shaun thumped Cooper on the back. “That was so funny, man, but she is seriously not happy with you. If I was in your boots, I’d go do some groveling.”

  “Aw, she’s fine.” Cooper waved his hand dismissively toward the door.

  Only a second passed before he thought better of letting her stay angry with him. He chased her down the hall and caught her around the waist before she had a chance to reach the front stairs.

  He nuzzled her neck then kissed the top of her fragrant head. Every time he smelled her hair, it made him think of some warm, tropical beach. “I’m sorry, sugar, but I just couldn’t help myself.”

  She turned around and glared at him, fisting her hands on her hips. “Like you couldn’t help that little dance you and the guys did earlier when I was trying to get you all staged for the last series of shots? How am I supposed to concentrate with six cute cowboy backsides shaking in my face?”

  Cooper frowned. “Six? There were seven of us out there.”

  Paige cocked her head to one side and grinned at him. “I wasn’t counting you.”

  With feigned indignation, he slapped a hand to his chest and took a step back. “I’m wounded, sweetheart. After all, you did chase my keister all over Las Vegas just so I could be the star of this modeling gig,” he teased. “You don’t think I have a cute cowboy butt?”

  She shook her head. “No, sir. I do not.”

  Despite her denial, just that afternoon he’d inadvertently listened to her talking about him to Randi. She didn’t know he was in the house, but he’d heard her through the open window in the front room where he’d retreated for a quick break.

  Randi had said something he couldn’t hear, but Paige had replied in a clear voice. “The sight of him in those snug jeans and dusty boots could make even the smartest girl ready and willing to do something completely stupid.”

  Randi had laughed as the two of them walked away, but Cooper had to force himself to stay inside the house. He’d wanted to rush outside, take Paige in his arms, and ask her what she classified as stupid and how quickly he could get her to comply.

  Now, as she continued to taunt him, he caught the humor dancing in her eyes.

  He engulfed her in a big hug and lifted her off her feet. “What do you think, Paige? Hmm? Tell ol’ Cooper who has the cutest backside.”

  “I think ol’ Cooper is full of himself,” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck as he lifted her up higher and she stared into his face. “And I think there were only six cute cowboy behinds doing the dance because yours is too phenomenal to be considered merely cute.”

  Pride puffed his chest out as he let her slide down just far enough he could capture her mouth in a blissful kiss.

  “You know who else has an exceptional posterior?” He placed a quick kiss on the end of her nose.

  “Who?” she asked, amused by Cooper’s playfulness, even if he had terrified her with the bear chair.

  “You!” He hoisted her over one shoulder and carried her down the hall as she giggled and squealed. Seven pairs of eyes stared at them as they entered the kitchen.

  “What are you doing to that poor girl?” Irma asked as she loaded a few dishes into the dishwasher.

  “Just admiring the scenery,” Cooper said, ogling Paige’s rear as it rested level with his face. He winked at Irma then grinned as Shaun hurried to open the door for him as he carried Paige outside.

  Once he set her on her feet, they strolled out to the barn where he helped her climb into the hayloft. As he sat behind her, with her nestled against his chest, Cooper thought he could stay right there forever and never complain.

  “I’m sure glad that whole modeling gig thing is over,” he said, resting his chin on top of her head as they watched the sun begin its descent.

  “Me, too.” She sighed and rested her arms on his solid thighs as they sat on the edge of the loft with his legs bracketing hers. “If Sloane had tried to kiss you one more time, I was seriously considering taking her out.”

  He chuckled. “I would have paid money to see that. Did Elliott not get your message about leaving his attack dog at home?”

  Paige giggled. “Sloane would go all attack dog on you if she heard you refer to her that way. But no, either he didn’t get the message or chose to ignore it. Between your grandfather and Randi running interference with her, it wasn’t unbearably awful.”

  “Says who?” Cooper asked, leaning around to look in her face. “She full-on pinched my butt three times today. She’s like an octopus on steroids.”

  She grinned. “I thought you liked all the attention. You and the other boys seemed to be eating it up with a spoon when the women in the film crew kept staring at you guys, completely mesmerized. I’m not sure they’ve ever been around cowboys before, and especially not around so many cute ones all at once.”

  “Well, you city girls ought to get out in the country more often.”

  Content, she sighed. “I do like it out here, Cooper. So much.”

  He tightened his arms around her, never wanting to let her go. Paige had run around in western blue jeans and a pair of cowboy boots with scuffed toes that made him forget she didn’t have rural roots. Each time he saw her with his grandfather, the white head bent over the golden blonde one, it made his heart skip a beat or two.

  Where Paige came from or where she thought she was headed didn’t matter to him. She belonged at Joyland Acres. All the ranch hands adored her, his friends raved about her, and he loved her.

  If only he could get her to see her plans to go to L.A. weren’t in her best interest, and definitely not in his. The few times he’d tried to broach the subject, she’d refused to discuss it, shutting him out as effectively as if she’d slammed a door in his face.

  Cooper wasn’t big on people leaving him out in the cold, and he sure didn’t like the way she’d avoided the topic. If things continued the way they’d gone the past few days, the two of them would need to sit down and have a very real conversation about their future together.

  More than anything, Cooper wanted there to be a future with Paige. For the first time in his life, he was ready to settle down, even if it meant giving up his career as a rodeo clown. He’d even talked to a few people about
setting up a therapy program for children with horses and dogs at the ranch. It would take a few years to make it happen, but he could make it work.

  Possibilities of what could be buoyed his heart and circled through his thoughts as he held Paige close and watched the sun lazily drop behind the hills.

  “Nick was such a good sport today,” Paige said, leaning her head against his chest.

  “Gramps did okay, didn’t he.” Cooper grinned as he recalled Paige and Elliott talking his grandfather into posing for a few photos they wanted to use in a particular holiday campaign.

  Dressed in a red shirt and pair of jeans from Elliott’s clothing line, Nick posed holding saddlebags stuffed with toys and packages wrapped in Christmas paper. With his white hair and beard, Nick made a perfect cowboy Santa.

  Some of the photos were just of Nick, others of Cooper and Nick together. Paige promised she’d get him copies of the photos, whether they were used in advertisements or not.

  Other than a few bumps in the road, like Sloane’s persistent pursuit of Cooper, the photo shoot had gone well. At the end of it, Cooper had a hefty check to deposit into the ranch’s account, a bunch of promotional photos, and a special video project the camera crew agreed to put together for him as a favor.

  Throughout the ordeal, though, Cooper had watched Paige watching him. In truth, he’d pulled the prank on her with the bear chair in hopes she’d get miffed at him because the soft, inviting looks she’d cast his direction the past two days had nearly done in him.

  Now, with the designer and his entourage on their way back to Portland, Cooper could relax. At least he could if Paige stopped looking at him like the coveted prize in her favorite box of cereal.

  Then again, he rather liked knowing she had eyes only for him. With six good-looking, charming cowboys hanging out on the ranch, in addition to the regular ranch hands, it would have been easy for her to have her head turned.

  Instead, she’d focused her affections and most of her attention on him. And he liked it. Especially when he nuzzled her neck and she made a sound deep in her throat that could have passed for a purr.

  “This is nice, Cooper,” she said, tipping her head to the side and closing her eyes. “I thought we’d never be alone.”

  “Me either, sweetheart.” He lifted her onto his lap and claimed her mouth over and over again as the color faded from the sky and night settled around them.

  He didn’t know how long they might have stayed out in the barn if Gramps hadn’t stood on the back porch and held a high-beam flashlight over his head, looking for them.

  “Cooper! You get that girl back in here and behave yourself.”

  Paige ducked her head against his neck while he sighed.

  “Yes, sir! We’ll be right there,” he yelled across the dark expanse of space between them and the house.

  “Darn right you better be. Hauling her out to the barn like a sack of feed then staying out there until all hours of the night,” Nick grumbled as he turned and ambled inside the house.

  “I guess this is good night.” Cooper kissed her one last time then helped her down the ladder. Hand in hand, they strolled to the house where laugher greeted them from the men sitting around the kitchen table, swapping stories of crazy things Cooper had done over the years while they ate homemade ice cream and chocolate chip cookies warm from the oven.

  Paige grinned and took a seat next to Shaun. “Tell me more,” she said, winking at Cooper.

  His heart turned to syrup and he knew, in that moment, he was completely gone for the girl.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “These are great seats,” Dave said as they watched the grand entry at the event Cooper referred to as his hometown rodeo.

  He’d been hired to be the entertainment and barrelman for the event. Earlier that week, he’d convinced Paige to come watch him and encouraged her to invite Dave and Randi along, too.

  Dave had never gone to a rodeo before, and the only one the two sisters had attended was the finals event in Las Vegas.

  All three of them excitedly watched horses circle the arena and flags wave in the evening breeze as they sat next to Nick near the bucking chutes. On the way to their seats, they’d run into Celia and Kash Kressley who were with Kelly and Ransom. Paige offered Kelly and Ransom congratulations on their recent engagement. After listening to the couple’s wedding plans, Celia told Paige to look her up if she wanted any dirt on Cooper, because she had plenty from years of attending rodeos with him.

  Paige had laughed and assured the feisty young woman she’d be in touch before she accompanied her sister and brother-in-law to their seats.

  Nick greeted them warmly and told them what to expect that evening.

  “If you look in your program, you can follow along with the events,” Nick said, pointing to the booklet Dave held in his hands. “As soon as the grand entry clears out, they’ll go right into bareback riding. You can see the riders getting ready behind the chutes now.” His gnarled finger pointed to where cowboys flexed muscles and ribbed each other as they awaited their turn to ride.

  Paige smiled at Nick. “Cooper said you’ve been an instrumental part of this rodeo for many years. What keeps you involved?”

  Nick waved a hand around the grandstands. “It’s a huge event for our community, drawing people in from all over. It also raises money for the cowboy’s crisis fund, and I think that’s important. As soon as Cooper expressed an interest in rodeo, I stayed active on the rodeo committee just to keep an eye on him. Now, I help out with one of the fundraisers and fill in whenever they need an extra hand.”

  “Didn’t Cooper say something about you being the grand marshal?” Paige asked.

  Nick shrugged in his typical humble fashion. “Last year they picked me to be the grand marshal. I was so honored, I just about blubbered like a baby.”

  Paige laughed. “I can’t quite picture that, but I think it’s wonderful they recognized your contributions to the event. Cooper said you helped improve the facilities and have done a lot to publicize the event in bigger circles.”

  “Cooper talks too much,” Nick groused, then winked at Paige. Movement at the chutes caught his eye and he pointed to a gate. “Watch that gate right there. The cowboy will be busting out of it in just a minute.”

  Paige grasped her sister’s hand as the gate swung open and a horse leaped into the air with a cowboy stuck on his back like a burr.

  They all clapped and cheered when he made the eight-second ride.

  “Now that’s what I’m talking about,” the announcer said. “Let’s give that cowboy another hand for his eighty-five point ride.”

  A voice, one Paige realized she loved hearing, sounded over a microphone drawing her gaze to the far side of the arena where Cooper skipped into the arena, riding a stick horse.

  The announcer saw him and laughed. “Super Cooper! What are you doing on that stick horse?”

  “Going for a ride,” Cooper said, pretending to rein in the horse and come to a stop in the middle of the arena.

  “If you want to ride a horse, I’m sure they can find a bucking one for you to get on.”

  “Nope. I’ve got all the trusty steed I can handle right here,” he said, riding the stick horse over to the fence. He pointed to a little girl a few rows up and motioned for her to come to the fence. Her father walked her down and accepted the stick horse Cooper handed to her.

  Throughout the rodeo, Paige watched him do similar acts of kindness. He passed out yoyos by the dozen, engaged the crowd in a sing-along and did an impressive dance routine to “Beat It” while wearing oversized clown shoes, a bejeweled glove on one hand, and a forty-gallon foam hat.

  While the water truck drove around the arena to settle the dust and a pickup truck drove in with the barrels for barrel racing, Cooper put on a show with Snap and Pop. The dogs charmed the crowd every bit as much as their owner had.

  “Hey, I’ve got a joke for you,” he said, looking up at the announcer’s booth as the dogs left the a
rena with Celia.

  “Lay it on me, man,” the announcer said.

  “Knock, knock.”

  “Who’s there?” the announcer asked, playing along.

  “Banana,” Cooper said, walking around in a circle as he scuffed his toes in the dirt.

  “Banana who?”

  Instead of answering, Cooper started the joke over again. “Knock, knock.”

  The announcer didn’t sound quite as amused when he asked, “Who’s there?”

  “Banana,” Cooper said, drawing out the word into multiple syllables.

  “Banana who?” The announcer’s voice held a hint of impatience.

  “Knock, knock.”

  “Cooper!” the announcer hollered. “If you don’t get to the punch line, I swear I’m gonna come down there and knock, knock it out of you.”

  Cooper laughed. “Aw, come on. Try it again. Knock, knock.”

  The announcer sighed. “Who’s there?”

  “Orange.”

  The announcer’s voice held a note of interest. “Orange who?”

  “Orange you glad I didn’t say banana?”

  The crowd laughed and cheered as Cooper took a bow and made his way out of the arena as the barrel racing began.

  Right before the last contestant rode out to race through the familiar pattern, Cooper moved into the arena and pointed a finger toward the announcer. “I’ll give you fifty bucks to come down here and do that.”

  “No, thank you. I’m perfectly happy sitting up here in my comfy chair, watching the lovely ladies do a good job. Aren’t they something to watch, folks. Let’s give these barrel racers a hand.”

  Cooper led the applause then ran over to the fence, out of the way, as the last barrel racer entered the arena.

  Paige couldn’t believe the amount of energy and excitement Cooper infused into the event. The rodeo in Las Vegas had been very streamlined without much time for him to interact with the crowd. Here, though, on a warm July evening, he and the announcer seemed to feed off each other, keeping the crowd engaged and uplifted with their teasing banter.