Learning the Ropes
Read Learning the Ropes Online
Authors: T. J. Kline
Learning the Ropes
T. J. KLINE
For my non-cowboy, football-loving boys.
Thank you for always keeping me on my toes
and reminding me of the joy boys bring.
Contents
An Excerpt from
The Cowboy and the Angel
by T. J. Kline
An Excerpt from
Finding Miss McFarland
by Vivienne Lorret
An Excerpt from
Take the Key and Lock Her Up
by Lena Diaz
An Excerpt from
Dylan’s Redemption
by Jennifer Ryan
An Excerpt from
Sinful Rewards 1
by Cynthia Sax
An Excerpt from
Whatever It Takes
by Dixie Lee Brown
An Excerpt from
Hard to Hold On To
by Laura Kaye
An Excerpt from
Kiss Me, Captain
by Gwen Jones
A
LICIA
K
ANANI SLAPPED
the reins against her horse’s rump as he stretched out, practically flying between the barrels down the length of the rodeo arena, dirt clods kicking up behind them as the paint gelding ate up the ground with his long stride. She glanced at the clock as she pulled him up, circling to slow him to a jog as a cowboy opened the back gate, allowing her to exit. 16.45. It was good enough for only second place right now.
Damn it!
If only she’d been able to cut the first barrel closer, it might have taken another tenth of a second off her time.
She walked her favorite gelding, Beast, back to the trailer and hooked the halter around his neck before loosening his cinch. The titter of female laughter floated on the breeze, and recognition dawned as the pair of women moved from behind her trailer. Alicia cringed.
“Look, Dallas, there’s Miss Runner Up.” Delilah jerked her chin at Alicia’s trailer. “Came in second again, huh?” She flipped her long blond waves over her shoulder. “I guess you can’t win them all . . . oh, wait,” she giggled. “You don’t seem to win any, do you? That would be me.” The pair laughed as if it were the funniest joke ever.
“Isn’t it hard to ride a broom
and
a horse at the same time, Delilah?” Alicia tipped her head to the side innocently as Delilah glared at her and stormed away, dragging Dallas with her.
Delilah had been a thorn in her side ever since high school when Alicia first arrived in West Hills. There’d never been a lack of competition between them but, years later, only one of them had matured at all.
Alicia snidely imitated Delilah’s laugh to her horse as she pulled the saddle from his back and put it into the back of the trailer. “She thinks she’s so funny. ‘You haven’t won, I have,’” she mimicked in a nasally voice. “What a bitch,” she muttered as she rubbed the curry comb over Beast’s neck and back.
“I sure hope you don’t kiss your mother with that mouth.”
“Chris!” Alicia spun to see Chris Thomas, her best friend Sydney’s brother, walking toward her trailer. She hurried over and gave him a bear hug. “Did you rope already?”
“Later tonight, during the slack. Too many entries, so hopefully we finish before the barbecue starts.”
She’d rodeoed with Chris and Sydney for years until Chris had gone pro with his team roping partner. For the last few years, they’d all been pursuing the same goal, the National Finals Rodeo in their events. So far their paths hadn’t crossed since Sydney’s wedding nearly two years ago. She’d suspected she might see him here since they were so close to home and this particular rodeo boasted a huge purse for team ropers. Her eyes did a quick survey of him, realizing the past couple of years had been very good to him. Unfortunately, he had always oozed self-confidence and she was sure he was aware of the fact.
“I see Delilah’s still giving you a hard time.”
She shrugged and gave him a half-smile. “She’s still mad I beat her out for rodeo queen when Sydney gave up the title.”
“That was a long time ago. You’d think she’d let it go.” Chris stuffed one hand into his pockets and leaned against the side of her trailer, patting Beast’s neck. “Maybe you should put Nair in her shampoo like she did to you.”
Alicia cringed at the memory. “Ugh! It was a good thing I smelled it before I put it on my head. That could’ve been traumatic. But I got her back.”
Chris laughed out loud. “Didn’t you put liniment in her lip gloss?”
She pinched her lips together, trying to keep from laughing, at the reminder of the prank. They had some good times together in the past. She wondered how they’d managed to drift apart over the past few years. She missed his laugh and the way he always seemed to bring the playful side of her personality to the surface. One minute they were traveling together, the three of them inseparable, and the next they hadn’t spoken more than a few words in years.
“So, how’d you do?” he asked.
“Second, so far. Again,” she clarified.
Chris gave her a lop-sided grin and crossed his arms over his chest. She tried not to notice how his biceps bulged against the material of his Western shirt or how much he’d filled out since she’d last seen him. And in all the right places.
“Second’s nothing to complain about.”
“It’s nothing to brag about either,” she pointed out, tearing her eyes away from his broad chest and trying to focus on the horse in front of her. She went back to brushing Beast, feeling slightly uncomfortable at the way Chris continued to silently watch her, as if he wanted to say something but wasn’t sure how to bring it up. She finally turned and faced him. “What?”
He grabbed the front of his straw cowboy hat with his palm and adjusted it nervously. “Are you going to the dance tonight?”
Alicia felt a sizzle begin in her stomach and spiral outward. She fumbled with the brush, nearly dropping it and prayed she’d misheard him. Like his sister, Chris had a heart of gold and would do anything for his friends but, unlike Sydney, he was a flirt. A player. The type of guy with a new girl on his arm at every rodeo and never serious about any of them. He always had been and, she suspected, always would be. But, in spite of the way she and Sydney teased him about his philandering ways unmercifully growing up, she’d always harbored a huge crush on him, even if he’d never seen her as anything more than another pesky sister.
She stared at Beast’s back, her hands no longer moving, unsure how to answer him. Chris must have seen her discomfort—he’d always been able to read her too well—and pushed himself away from the trailer, curling his lip with distaste.
“It’s not for me,” he exclaimed. “That’d be so wrong.” He reached over and pinched her ribs, causing her to squeal and scoot away from his fingers. “It’s for . . . someone else.”
Alicia forced out a shaky laugh. “Are we back in high school again? Did some guy send you over here to see if I
like
him?” She tossed the brush into the bucket in the tack compartment and slipped a flake of alfalfa into a hay net before hanging it on the side of the trailer for both of her geldings, grateful they were easygoing enough to share. She arched a brow and cocked her hip to the side. “If some guy wants me to go to the dance with him tonight, he better be brave enough to ask me himself.”
Chris ran his hand over her gelding’s neck and shook his head, laughing. “Damn, woman, no wonder you’re still single. You’re brutal on us guys.” He slapped her butt as he walked by. “Maybe, I’ll see you there tonight.”
“Hey,” she yelled after him. “That’s mine, and unless you put a ring on this finger, keep your hands to yourself.”
Chris shot her a quick wave but continued to laugh. She watched as he walked away, trying to drag her eyes away from admiring the way he filled out his jeans and to slow her racing heart. Then he looped his arm around the shoulders of a pretty redhead who didn’t look like she’d ever touched a horse, let alone ridden one.
She might be looking for something to ride, but it isn’t a horse.
She rolled her eyes as she turned back to her animals, trying to quell the flutter in her stomach. She couldn’t believe Chris could still make her feel this way. It didn’t even make sense. She would never act on her feelings for him. In fact, she’d never told anyone, not even Sydney. It was just a stupid, girlish crush. Chris was nothing more than a friend, not to mention one of the most eligible cowboys on the circuit. And she was just a girl from the poor side of the barn who never registered as anything more than a nuisance on his radar.
C
HRIS SAT ASTRIDE
his bay gelding, Jaeger, in the practice arena, one leg casually looped around his saddle horn, while he and David waited for their turn. There were at least thirty pairs of team ropers in the slack and, so far, it was taking forever to get through them. At this rate, they were never going to make it in time for the barbecue tonight. His stomach rumbled, reminding him he hadn’t eaten all day.
“Who was the girl you were talking to earlier?”
He casually glanced at his partner, David Greenly. He raised his brows at his friend. “Why? Interested?”
David shot him a disdainful glare. “Hardly.”
They’d been rodeoing together for the last five years and when David encouraged him to go pro, Chris jumped at the chance. The two of them shared a common goal—to win the National Finals so they could open a roping school together. However, it took time to build their reputation and Chris wasn’t known for his patience. He needed to remember they were taking it one step at a time, one go-round at a time. In the meantime, he wanted to enjoy every spare moment, while David seemed content to be a workaholic.
At this point, they knew each other well enough to finish the other’s sentences. If he didn’t watch himself, David would realize Chris was setting him up. Chris was tired of watching David push himself day after day, striving to be the best without any thought to what he was giving up. If he heard it once, he’d heard David complain about wanting to settle down and have kids a thousand times. Neither was high on Chris’s list of priorities, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t help his friend have what he wanted—the family he’d missed growing up with a single dad on the rodeo circuit. Besides, he was tired of David being his wingman and never having a woman of his own. It was beginning to make him feel guilty, like he was hoarding the ladies all for himself.
Not that. Chris had any intention of getting tied down like his sister had, regardless of his mother’s begging for another grandchild. It wasn’t that he had anything against the institution of marriage, he was just having too much fun enjoying his freedom.
He shot David a sly look. “I’ve talked to a lot of girls today. Which one are you talking about?”
“At the trailer. The barrel racer with the paint?” David absent-mindedly slapped the end of his rope against his thigh while his horse hung his head, bored and dozing. “She didn’t look like one of your usual bunnies.”
He was known to flirt with the women who lurked behind the chutes trying to find a cowboy to tame. Chris chuckled at the thought. Like he would ever be tamed. “Dark hair? Really pretty?”