Okay. I can do this. This isn’t that hard.
Then it speeds up.
I try to move with it, as Tommy said, but the bull has other ideas. It rocks back and forth, then starts to spin. My grip is so tight that my knuckles are white, and I can hear people cheering, but it sounds far away because my focus is on not being thrown off this thing.
The bull bucks harder.
My grip slips.
I’m weightless.
For one terrifying split second, I’m airborne—and then I’m being caught mid-fall by a pair of strong arms.
Wyatt.
He’s holding me against his chest, one arm under my knees, one behind my back, and he’s looking down at me with an intensity that makes the rest of the bar fade into background noise.
This man somehow made it across the room and over a barricade to catch me in midair.
“I’ve got you,” he says, his voice low and rough.
“You always do,” I reply breathlessly, immediately regretting the words that fell out of my mouth.
I don’t know why I said that.
The Rusty Spur is cheering and whistling, but I barely hear it. Wyatt’s arms are solid around me. His face is inches from mine, and time seems to have slowed down to a crawl.
“That was maybe the bravest thing I’ve ever seen,” he says, and there’s something in his expression that makes my stomach twist.
“I lasted, what, ten seconds?”
“Fifteen. I counted.”
“Still pathetic.”
“Still brave.” His thumb brushes against my ribs where he’s holding me, and I feel the touch everywhere. “You could have said no,” he adds. “But you didn’t.”
“I’m starting to think saying no to you is impossible.”
Something flashes in his eyes. Someone whistles, loud and pointed, and reality crashes back.
Wyatt sets me down carefully, but his hands linger on my waist for a beat longer than necessary.
Dolly shows up beside us with two shot glasses.
“You earned this.”
“I don’t drink whiskey.”
“Well, you do tonight. You just rode a mechanical bull in a honky-tonk. That requires whiskey.”
She hands one to Wyatt, too.
“For both of you. For courage.”
We take the shots together. Mine burns going down, and I cough, which makes everyone laugh, but Wyatt’s hand finds the small of my back, steadying me.
And somehow, that feels like it burns more.
