Her smile is a silent taunt I can’t wait to wipe clean off her face.
Tripp and Pops start tacking up their horses, quietly keeping tabs on the back and forth between us, looks of amusement written across their faces.
Sawyer watches as I greet Cash, offering him the back of my hand to sniff as I talk to him in low tones. He nudges my hand, and I smile before stroking his long neck.
Sawyer’s gaze scorches the back of my neck as I tack Cash up, her sudden interest making desire unfurl, hot and insistent. Everything inside me heats, teetering on the edge of boiling over.
Sawyer saunters over to double check my work, which further agitates me. Once she’s satisfied that he’s properly saddled, she smoothly mounts Dolly. Her eyes flick between me and the horse. “You gonna show me how you ride, city boy?”
My lips twitch and my brow kicks up on one side. “I don’t usually show women how I ride in the broad daylight, but I’ll make an exception for you, Red.”
Her cheeks blaze, and her ears turn the shade of a beet. Damn if I don’t find it cute—even knowing she might make me pay for that remark with her sharp tongue.
Instead of snapping at me, her eyes roll heavenward and she clicks her tongue, following Pops and Willie to the pasture where the herd is grazing.
“Smooth,” Tripp quips.
I squint up at him and shrug. “She didn’t say anything mean. I’m calling that a win.”
Tripp chuckles from on top of June as I eye Cash a little warily. “You gonna mount him or do you need a boost?” he asks, like the shit stirrer he is.
I heave out an anxious breath but grip the saddle and pull myself onto Cash with a grunt that I’m glad Sawyer isn’t close enough to hear. It’s not a pretty mount, but I’m in the saddle and that’s what matters. I glance at Tripp, who keeps a straight face despite the humor flickering behind his eyes.
“Go ahead and laugh, chucklehead. I know that looked ridiculous.”
He shakes his head and lets his smile break free. “You’re not as smooth as you used to be, that’s for sure. Guess I won’t have to worry about you stealing the ladies now.”
“I’m out of practice. It’ll come back.”
“Bet your ass it will.”
“Damn right.”
Turns out that Tripp and I were both dead wrong. Drawing a comparison between roping and riding a bike was woefully flawed. Roping is not like riding a bike. Then again, maybe I wouldn't be able to ride a bike these days, either.
We’ve been out here driving the cattle toward the catch pens and barn so we can use the chutes to vaccinate them. Pops, Sawyer, and Dixie are driving the herd while Tripp and I are in charge of roping any stragglers. I have yet to catch a single one, and I’m fed up with myself. I used to rival Tripp and now he’s trotting toward me on June, biting his cheek to keep from laughing at me after I’ve missed the steer that veered off from the herd.
“I see you haven’t roped anything in the last fifteen years,” he calls out.
“It’s not a skill I’ve needed to use as an accountant,” I grumble. “Maybe you and Pops should just do it.”
I’m sulking. It’s embarrassing how out of practice I am, and I feel like an idiot thinking it would all come back to me. I hate making a fool of myself, especially when Sawyer is here to see it. I wouldn’t put it past her to use it against me at some point.
Tripp shakes his head and lowers his voice. “Roping is a little more than Pops can handle since the heart attack.”
I grimace at the reminder.
“You just need to loosen up.” He reaches out and squeezes the back of my neck. “You’re trying too hard. There’s no one here you need to impress, right?” He glances toward Sawyer, a question written in his brows.
“Of course not.” I roll my shoulders. There’s no reason I should give a damn what Sawyer thinks. I shouldn’t care that she thinks I’m some pretty boy from the city who doesn’t know his way around a horse and would sooner die than get mud on his boots. Nevermind that I’m doing nothing but proving her right not being able to rope this steer on my own.
It shouldn’t bother me.
But it does.
“Don’t be so tense. Find your rhythm and then relax and have fun like we used to. Youdoremember how to have fun, don’t you, Wes?”
My gaze narrows and Tripp barks out a laugh. “That’s the spirit.”
