Ride Me Cowboy #5 (The Cowboy Romance Series - Book #5) (3 page)

He reached down and put his fingers on my clit and
pulled and pinched and twisted it. That was enough to rock my body with a
mind-blowing orgasm. I cried out as the wave of pleasure hit me. He slowed down
and rode me through it before quickening his pace again. When his hips slammed
into me, I pushed back. I had my hands on his back now, feeling the muscles as
they rippled with each movement. I raked my nails across his shoulders,
eliciting a long, deep moan from him. It wasn’t long before he made me cum
again with his hard thrusts. I arched my back up and cried out just as he let
out a loud gasp and then something that sounded like a growl as he exploded
inside of me.

He collapsed down on top of me, sweaty and out of
breath. So was I. I wrapped my arms around him and kissed the side of his face.
We lay there silently holding each other for a long
time
,just
trying to regain control of our breaths and
raging heartbeats. When he finally withdrew and rolled onto his side, he looked
into my eyes again and then he leaned in and kissed me.

“Nothing that anyone ever says, does, or thinks will
change the way I feel about you. I love you, Lexi.”

“I love you, too, baby. I feel the same way.”

“You know, as bad as the confrontation was…maybe this
happening wasn’t such a bad thing. We’re free now, and he was going to kick me
out anyways, at least you weren’t left there alone with him.”

He had a point. I hated the way it happened. In
hindsight, I think maybe I should have at least warned Mom. I looked over at
him. He was relaxing now with his eyes closed. He’s so beautiful…inside and
out. I didn’t regret being with him, not even a little bit.

CHAPTER
FOUR

MARK

“I do still worry about Mom,” Lexi said after a while.
I opened my eyes and looked at her and nodded.

 
“I worry about
her, too. If she sticks up for you – and I have a good feeling that she will,
he’ll be an ass to her, too. I’m not sure why she’s put up with him this long.”

“I don’t understand any of it. He has a handsome,
intelligent, good-hearted son who is not into anything bad or illegal and a
beautiful woman like Mom who loves him and is willing to dedicate her life to
him. What is there to be so angry and bitter about at the time?”

I shook my head. “He’s held on to so much hurt for so
long that it just ate away at his soul. He’s angry at my dead mother. Tell me
how that makes sense. I tried for so long to do everything I could to please
him. I kept thinking if I would just do something right, he would be happy. I
guess it’s high time to admit that he’s just a miserable soul. I think he’s
actually so used to it that he wouldn’t know how to be anything else.”

Lexi started to say something, but her phone buzzed
all of a sudden. It was laying on the nightstand next to the bed. She sat up
and picked it up. It was a text message from her mom. She looked at it and furrowed
her brow and then passed it over to me.

“Lexi…where
are you?”

“Should I tell her?”

I shrugged. I didn’t really see Lydia as a threat to
us in any way. “Yeah,” I said. “Tell her.”

Lexi looked nervous as
she
text back.
“At a motel, why?”

“I
left Rob. Which hotel? I’d like to talk with you and Mark.”

Lexi’s eyes were big and round as she text back,
“Why did you leave, Mom? Are you okay? What
did he do to you?”

“I’m
fine, honey. He didn’t do anything…to me. I just can’t stand by a man who would
treat his son this way. I especially can’t risk losing you. No man is worth
that to me. No man throws my daughter out of the house. I don’t know who he
thinks he is.”

“Wow,” I said when I read that one. “That’s the way a
parent is supposed to act. She obviously loves you very much. You’re lucky,
baby.”

Lexi had tears in her eyes as she text back,
“We’re in town at the Red Roof Inn. We’re in
room 222.”

“I’ll
be there in fifteen minutes.”

“She left the old man, huh? I’ll bet he’s livid about
that. He’ll at least have something new to blame on me.”

Lexi nodded morosely. “Do you think it’s selfish of me
to do this to her? I mean, obviously this has ruined her marriage, whether I
like him or not…”

“No, baby. You didn’t do anything to her. This is her
choice. Like I said, I have no idea how or why she put up with him for this
long, but he’s showing his true colors and she obviously doesn’t care for
them.” I looked at the time and continued, “We better get dressed though before
she gets here. It would be a little embarrassing for her to catch us like
this.”

We both hurriedly got dressed and Lexi made the bed,
right in time. Lydia knocked on the door just as I buttoned the last button on
my shirt. Lexi mouthed, “Are you ready?” I felt like a sixteen year old getting
caught in the barn with the farmer’s daughter. I grinned and nodded.

Lexi opened the door and Lydia came in. She looked
like she’d been crying and the women embraced and held each other for a long
time. When they let go, Lydia opened her arms to me. I hugged her and then I
said, “Thank you.” She waved her hand at me like it was no big deal.

“Sit down, Mom. Do you want me to order you some tea
or something?” Lexi asked her.

“No, honey. I’m fine.”

“You look like you’ve been crying. I’m so sorry, Mom.
I never meant to do anything that would hurt you.”

She reached out and put her hand on Lexi’s face.
“Don’t be sorry. I know you didn’t do this to hurt me. You can’t help who you
fall in love with. When I first met Rob, he was so charming and sweet…I fell
hard for him and I was willing to change my life to be with him. He changed after
a while. Or I suppose it would be more accurate to say that his true colors
started to bleed through. He seemed sad a lot of the time, depressed almost. I
tried to figure out what was wrong, but he wouldn’t talk to me. I felt bad. I
was afraid it was something I was doing or not doing, but then he started to
just turn mean. He was mean to me and because I’d taken vows, I tried to deal
with it, thinking he was just going through a hard time. But when he started
being mean to Mark and I heard the way he was speaking to you, I knew that this
wasn’t the man I wanted to give my life to. I wish I’d known it before the
marriage, but live and learn, right?”

Lexi hugged her again and they held onto each other
and cried for a while. While they talked, I went downstairs and reserved a room
for Lydia. When I got back, things in the room seemed lighter. They were
talking and laughing, and Lydia suggested we go out to dinner. It was the first
time that Lexi and I were together in public that I didn’t worry about seeing
someone that might go back and tell my dad. It was liberating. I love this
woman so much. I’ve only known her for a short time, but I already can’t
imagine life without her.

*******

I had a huge rodeo in Wyoming coming up. It was one
that I needed to be at if I was going to have a chance in the finals and it was
less than a week away. Part of the finals in Vegas is winning purses for the
ten nights you’re there. Those purses are added to your yearly earnings at the
end of the ten days and that is how it’s decided if you win or not. The more
money you win during the season, the more of a chance you have winning the
finals. Wyoming is a big money rodeo, and I need to be there. My concern was
that I didn’t have my horse or any of the things I would need and Dad told Lexi
and I both that we weren’t welcome back. I wouldn’t put it past him at all to
call the sheriff. He’s just that hateful. I thought about it all of the
following day after he kicked us out and finally, the next morning, I called
Cowboy Bob.

“Hey, Mark! How’s it going?”

“Did you hear that Dad threw Lexi and me out…and then
Lydia left him?”

He made a clucking noise with his tongue. “No, I
didn’t hear, but I’m not surprised. He’s got a mean streak in him lately. I saw
him leave this morning. I don’t know where he was going, but he looked like he
had smoke coming out of his ears. Are y’all okay? You need a place to stay?”

I smiled. “No thanks, Bob. We’re fine. The rodeo in
Wyoming is a few days away, so we’re just planning on heading out first thing
in the morning. My problem is I don’t have my horse or my gear. I know it’s
asking a lot. I don’t want to get you involved in this or get Dad pissed off at
you….”

“But you want me to gather it all up, load up
Sarge
, and bring it to you?”

“Yes… Please…?”

Bob laughed heartily. “You know I
ain’t
scared of your old man. I been working this ranch so long that I know more
about it than he does. If he fires me, I’ll retire and it will be his loss.
Where should I bring it?”

Smiling from ear to ear, I told him what I needed and
where to meet me. I was beginning to get really excited – and nervous – about
the finals. They weren’t until December, but those four months would go by in a
blink, and everything I did between now and then would matter more than ever. I
had to hit every rodeo I could during Cowboy Christmas. I was really hoping
that Lexi would consent to going with me to as many as she could. She’d already
said yes to Wyoming.

Lexi and Lydia were downstairs having breakfast when I
talked to Bob. When they came back up Lexi asked me, “So, what did Bob say?”

“He said he’ll be right here,” I told her with a grin.

“Yay! I’m happy for you, babe. You’re going to do
awesome, I just know it. I’m a little happy for me, too…I’ve never been to
Wyoming. I’ve never really been anywhere.”

I laughed. “You’ll love it. It’s the rodeo capital of
the world. Lydia, are you joining us?”

She smiled. “I would love to! If it wouldn’t
be…cramping your style or anything.”

“Of course not. I’d love to know that the two most
beautiful women in the audience are rooting for me.”

“This beautiful woman is going to jump in the shower,”
Lexi said. I almost wished Lydia weren’t here now – I’d love to climb in there
with her.

“Okay, babe.” I looked back at Lydia.

 
“You’re such a
charmer,” she said. “No wonder my daughter fell for you.” I thought about what
she said about my dad and falling for his charms.

I told her seriously, “Lydia, you know that this is
me, right? I mean, I’m not putting on any airs or anything to get Lexi
interested and then I’m going to suddenly change like my father did…”

She smiled at me and took my face in her hands. “I can
sense the goodness in you, Mark. It’s why I hated so badly the way your father
treated you. I also have faith in my girl’s judgment. She’s a smart woman and
even though she might not be as worldly as she likes to pretend she is, she
does have a good head on her shoulders and she has good taste. I know that
you’ll be good to her and for her.” Lydia brought tears to my eyes. Since my
mother died, no one had ever had so much faith in me.

“Thank you,” I told her with a hug. “Now, keep that
strong faith until I ride this bull eight seconds, will you?”

“Absolutely,” she said with a smile.

*******

The road trip to Wyoming was a blast with Lexi and
Lydia. We stopped in Idaho and spent the night and the next day, one day before
the rodeo, we arrived in Cody, Wyoming. We checked into our hotel and went to
get something to eat.

“Wow,” Lexi said. “There are cowboys everywhere you
look.”

I laughed. “Yeah, this is a cowboy town. Cody is the
rodeo capital of the world. Even when there’s not a rodeo going on, this is
just who they are. The funniest one to me is Vegas. During the finals, cowboys
from all over the country invade the strip. You even see nothing but cowboy
hats at Starbucks.”

“When is that one again?” she asked.

“December twelfth.”

She clapped her hands together like a little girl.
“I’ll be on winter break…which is good because if I had to quit school to go
with you, I was going to do it.”

“I’m glad it’s during break too then,” I told her.
“You’re way too smart to quit school for an old cowboy.”

She rolled her eyes. “This is a big one too though,
right?”

“Yeah, they kind of all are between now and December.
But this one pays out big money, which is good. This rodeo has been happening
for ninety years. Cowboys come from all over the continent to compete here. The
purse is over four hundred thousand dollars.”

“Are you kidding me? Almost a half a million dollars?”
At least she didn’t add: “To ride a bull!”

I laughed. “I’m not kidding. It doesn’t all go to one
guy, but the winners get a pretty good chunk of change.”

“Well, you know I’m not all about the money, but I
will expect a lobster dinner.”

“You can have two lobsters – win or lose.”

CHAPTER
FIVE

LEXI

Usually on the Fourth of July, I went to a barbecue at
one of my friend’s houses and then we watched the fireworks in the park. This
year, I would be celebrating two holidays: the birth of our nation and Cowboy
Christmas. If anyone had told me this a year ago, I would have told them they
were crazy. The reality, however, was that I’m figuring out when you fall in
love with someone, you fall in love with everything about them. Rodeo was a
part of Mark. Without it, he wouldn’t be the man he is – the man I fell in love
with. So here I am in Cody, Wyoming, sitting in the grandstands next to my
mother at the Wild Bill Cody Stampede Rodeo and waiting impatiently for the
main event. Our main event anyways, the bull riding competition.