The Rider's Dangerous Embrace (An Interracial Bad Boy Romance Story) (3 page)

He spread her legs with his knee and waited, just to make her beg.

“What do you want?” he asked, a smirk on his face. He was a cocky lover, and he knew it.

“Your cock,” she answered.

Good enough for him.

Luke thrust himself into her, his cock filling her as she arched her back and rose to meet him. Her eyes fluttered like that was what she was looking for the whole time.

“Oh yeah, that was what I wanted,” she purred.

He just grunted and thrust himself into her again, his instincts taking over. He grabbed her whole body and flipped her around with him inside of her, so that he was on his back again and she was on top of him. He wanted to watch her body move and shake as she rode him.

And she did. She moved up and down that hard shaft like a beautiful dancer. All he had to do was watch.

It wasn’t long before the two of them were convulsing in each other’s arms, their orgasm taking them at the exact same time.

When she was done she collapsed on him and wrapped her arms around him. He was content to let the two of them lay there until they both fell asleep.

***

Luke shook his head and looked over to his right where a warm body should have been, but wasn’t. Instead he saw his hat, a little card tucked into the band of it.

It was a bit too big, and it looked better on you anyways.

Call me if you ever want a rematch.

Letoya

On the other side was a number. He grinned and sat up, the unfamiliar room illuminated in the morning light streaming through the trees. Damn, his head hurt. He put the Sam hat on and searched for the rest of his clothing, judging by the light streaming in he wasn’t going to be able to make it to the early practice. Not that he was expected to show anyway, he had a rodeo last night. Still, standing around with a cup of spiked coffee and a bunch of the guys sounded like it would do the trick. Maybe he could catch the eight o’clock rides…

He threw on his clothing and walked out into the living room. Letoya must have gone to work. Too bad, he could have used another go with that little filly.

At least she left him with a glass of orange juice, and a muffin. Breakfast and a show, he just might have to call her again.

He grabbed hem both and headed out the door, taking one last look at the flat metal die cast hanging on the door. It was a silhouette of a man on a bull. He snorted. Even in a bar he could spot a buckle bunny.

Luke hopped up in his truck and fired it to life. Part of him wondered how she got a ride to work, or wherever she went, but he didn’t need to know. He just needed to get back to the training facility and let the guys get their licks in before complaining of their own performances. Life would get back to normal and he could concentrate on the thing that mattered the most.

His next rodeo.

Luke backed out of her driveway and took a right, navigating the twisty road until he was outside of town and well on his way to the guys. The ride as soothing, a little bit different than his own commute, but that was what made it so nice. So calming.

He could concentrate on the road and the scenery around it. Keep his mind from wandering. Until his damn cellphone rang.

He looked down. Great, the boss man wanted him.

“What do you need?” he asked, not even bothering to give a formal greeting.

“I need you to get your ass into the office. Got an issue up here.”

“Dammit. I’ll be right there.”

“Great, keep this quiet, will you?” With that the phone clicked to silence.

He sighed and stopped in the middle of the road, using the opportunity to make a three point turn and head in the opposite direction.

***

“I asked you here because I need you to do something for me.” Hank said as he motioned for him to take a seat.

Luke just stood there.

“Why couldn’t you just ask me over the phone?”

Hank sighed and walked over grabbing two cups and pouring them both coffee from his personal pot. He handed a cup to Luke, black, just the way he liked it, and sat down in his own seat on the other side of the desk.

“This is something, a little more sensitive.” He was hesitating, and it made Luke nervous.

“What do you mean, Hank?”

“Look, you can’t tell anyone. No members of the board, no one. Not even…”

“I’ll leave her out of it. I got it. So what do you want me to do?” Luke just wanted to get down to it.

“Catch a thief.” Hank threw down a folder on the desk.

Luke sat down and leaned in, this was something that he could really get into. “Tell me more.”

“I need your help. Jayda is ready, she is coming home. But someone is trying to sabotage her. And I need you to help me find out who that is.”

“Jayda?”

“River’s daughter. She’s a real fire pistol, but since her dad’s death, things have gotten, a bit rocky.” Luke knew what he was talking about. People were saying she was running things into the ground, but really, she hadn’t been running anything.

If he could help Rivers and Fields, he would. He would do anything for this company that practically raised him.

Jayda Rivers loved the way the last days of the rodeo were framed against a fall sky, the leaves just beginning to turn and a bit of a chill in the air. It was the ambiance that made her attend each and every year. The dance between a wild, angry animal and a determined man sucked her right in. All the guys she knew called her contrary because she not-so-secretly hoped man lost and the bull or the bronco was able to stay defiant, angry. There was a soft spot in her heart for the bull.

That came from her father.

Her father taught her to respect the process, to care for the bull and the rider equally. He rode bull for years. Not always for the money, although it helped, but because he loved the thrill of it. When his age finally started catching up with him, he trained bull riders. That was how he kept the family together, at least in name. Award winners make good coaches.

They make even better agents.

Jayda settled in the reserve section, as close to the action as she could get without riding herself. She craned her neck to look towards the audience, searching the crowd. She knew old Thomas wouldn’t be in it, but nevertheless she wanted to see the excitement in the eyes of children as the first rider burst out of the gate.

Jayda grew up around the circuit and she loved it, even now. Back then it wasn’t as diverse, but today, Latin, Black, and Native American riders were everywhere. It made her feel less out of place than when she was younger. When she was the Black daughter of a white rider.

Now she could take it all in the way she wanted to, like the woman she was, the one who loved the rodeo. And she didn’t feel like all eyes were on her.

“Ah, there is my Rodeo Princess. I thought you would be here a little later, but when I saw that tan hat in the stands, I knew it had to be you.” A gray muzzled man sat down beside her, his tone gruff, but kind as he pressed on the brim of her hat. She always wore her father’s hat to the rodeo, for good luck and a memory. “See you are finally getting into the spirit this year. How is your mom doing?”

“She’s pretty good.”

“That’s good to hear. Haven’t heard from her in a while,” Thomas remarked. He looked more like her father than her dad did, the darker African American man was like an uncle to her. Always there. Even when he father wasn’t.

Her mom and her dad divorced years ago, and she was granted custody of her daughter. That didn't stop them from an off and on relationship that lasted up until the day he died. Even with all that turmoil, Jayda still spent a lot of time with her father though, and he even came up for holidays.

She was the only one in the family who could take over for him. The only one who could step into his shoes and it made it hard to pick up the life he left behind. That’s why it fell to her. The business. The accounts. The ranch. Everything.

The lawyers, and hell even the therapists, everyone said that she just had to let her work it out for herself. To focus on her own needs.

So she did. And a part of that was stepping up and taking over her father’s business. He left it to her in his entirety.

Thomas had been her father’s best friend, business partner, and a second father to her.

“Thanks for insisting I come. Been a while since I got to one of these.”

“It takes a while to get into the business, and you got some pretty big shoes to fill, but I think it’s time, don't you?”

She smiled and leaned into him, “So who looks good?”

“Well, I’m managin’ a couple this year, but the first one out of the gate is one of my favorites. Luke Daniels.” He pointed to the top of her billing. She flipped the pamphlet to the Bull Riding section, searching for that name.
Luke Daniels
.

“I told you about him a couple of weeks ago, the guy reminds me of- well, just you watch.” The way Thomas pointed was all she needed to know. She watched the young rider, mesmerized as he adjusted himself in the gate. He had good form, his placement high up on the bull, he gripped the rope just right. He looked solid before he even came out on the bull.

She was different than the casual observer. Most of these people didn’t care about who was riding. They just wanted the experience. Tired families came for a night out, maybe a couple was on a date, or a little boy wanted to see the men ride the bulls. Those who did know what they were watching were either retired or they were family or friends of a rider. She had been there once. Sitting with her mom, waiting for her father to come out of the gate. Holding her breath when she finally caught sight of him.

Jayda didn’t just watch. She was right there with the rider. She knew the techniques and the skills drilled into them. Her father taught her everything he could in the short time they had together before he died. Now, she knew a good rider when she saw one, all because of him.

Every time she got the chance to come out to see her dad ride, she felt alive, present. Even though her father had lost his battle to cancer, a part of him was still there, getting ready to ride that bull.

Her dad told her to think of him every time she went to a rodeo, but he didn’t have to say it. She would have anyways.

The loudspeaker announced the first rider. Luke came out strong, his stance perfect, his arm raised just right, a good grip, and a slight hug from his right knee. A little dangerous for balance, but he seemed to know what he was doing. He went through the paces with the bull, Rusty Bucker, his hips and shoulders turning with the bull’s, if not a hair before them. Reading every move the bull made a fraction of a second before he made it.

Just like her father.

A lot of riders have certain tells, certain ways, that they ride. She could see it better than most because of her position and because of the large screen that projected the up close view of the rider. Not something that would have been so easily seen without modern technology. This rider was different, Her father had been unlike any other man on the back of a bull. His ride was distinctive, and no matter how many men he had trained, none of them had that natural confidence.

None expect this one.

Luke Daniels.

She felt that familiar lump in her throat, the one that came every time she watched the rodeo as a child. The excitement that she thought was gone forever was suddenly back as she watched this man run through the most breathtaking eight seconds of her life. When he had shown that Rusty Bucker was indeed rusty and dismounted, she realized she had held her breath. She released it in a smooth sigh.

“Bit old, ain’t he?” She asked affecting a bit of a drawl. She didn’t have one, but that didn't mean she couldn’t use it to play around with.

Act uncommitted.
There was no way she was going to let her mannerisms betray her. Being strong was the only thing she knew to do.
Don’t let anyone know your own mind until you do.
That was what her daddy always said.

“He might be getting towards the last half of his career, but he isn’t that old. Has a good head on his shoulders. Stubborn son of a bitch, though,” Thomas admitted, a grim smile on his lips.

He knew it sealed the deal.

“I think I want to meet that one, Thomas. What do you say?” It had been a while since Jayda had seen a man caught her eye like Luke did, and she was in the mood to get back in the saddle. Boy, he had potential.

Besides, it was her father’s business she needed to focus on now, not his memory. Procuring riders for sponsorship was the goal, creating a pool of talent that would elevate their training facilities. It was why she was at the rodeo.

“I think I can arrange that.”

She nodded and resumed watching the bull-riding program. But no one else earned her admiration that night.

Those eight seconds settled it. Jayda had to meet the man who stole her father’s technique and made it his own.

***

Jayda searched for the handsome cowboy, but he disappeared until they awarded the placing. Luke owned the center of the stage and accepted his prize with grace, tipping his hat to the crowd and walking off with all the stoicism of a real rodeo man. Luke wasn’t like most of the kids she saw come up on the stage, he didn’t posture or bellow his name. He acted like someone who took pride in what he did, and was humble. It had been a long time since she met a man who wasn’t full of himself. She bit her lip and tried not to let her thoughts run away with her. She didn’t even know this handsome rider.

It shocked her that she thought of him as handsome. Sure, she was just as likely to date a white guy as she was a Black guy, but she usually stuck to a more sophisticated pool of men. Not cowboys. Her dad always warned her to stay away from them. They broke hearts.

Her mother was living proof of that.

She followed Thomas to the riders’ area. It wasn’t anything special, just a fenced in dirt patch, but it held a mystical quality about it. No matter where they were, she knew the riders retreat when she saw it. She had been to this area a thousand times as a child, always trying to find daddy right when he came out of the locker room. Hugging him for whatever win he may have claimed. Not today though.

Just focus on your target.
She thought, blowing out a heavy breath.

Today she was going back to meet the potential for investment. The man who could grow her business and give her father’s name the recognition it deserved. She squared her shoulders and tried to remind herself that she was a sponsor and business was business. Her job was to continue her father’s legacy of helping good riders get the leg up they needed. Including providing the best training and equipment.

Not to melt over him like some rodeo groupie. A buckle bunny.

Thomas paved the way for her, moving through the crowd seamlessly as he waved and tipped his hat to several riders and their families. He seemed to know every single person in the business. Her dad used to be that way. He and Thomas were always working the circuit, first coaching and then sponsoring so many different acts. They were great partners.

“Ah, Luke. This here is the lady I was talkin’ to you about earlier, Jayda Rivers. Daughter of John Rivers.”

Luke tipped his cowboy hat up so that she could see his face. She couldn’t help it, she immediately began assessing him, much like her father taught her. What to look for in rider, physically. He had a set jaw, strong and chiseled, and eyes with a deep wisdom to them.

She wasn’t the only one assessing. His grey-blue eyes looked her up and down. He was probably a couple of years older than her, twenty-seven or twenty eight. At least. Thomas was right, he was still young enough that he had quite a few good years left. His stance was strong, like his grip on the bull.

She held out her hand to him, looking him straight in the eye as she waited. He assessed her for a moment, his own eyes moving over her body. Damn, he was impossible to read. What was this man thinking?

Finally he reached out and shook her hand, his grip firm, the handshake of one man to another. She could tell a lot by a man’s handshake, and this man meant business.

“I knew your father a good bit,” Luke said, nodding to her, “he was a good man. Sorry for your loss. To be honest, I’m glad to see one of his own is takin’ over the business. Not those greedy vultures like Thomas.” Ah. A smart ass.
That
she could handle.

“Hey, you watch your mouth, less you want me to knock out some of those fancy teeth.” Thomas punched him in his shoulder, a gesture which he returned.

“I, uh, thank you,” She felt a little off balance. It was hard accept. No matter how many times she heard someone give their condolences, the pain never went away. So she just stored it away, refusing to address it.

Back to the task at hand. It was the only way she knew how to cope.

“I haven’t seen your kind of talent in a good long while.”

A smile tugged the corner of his mouth.

“Taught by the best.” He stayed tight-lipped as he looked her up and down, judging her.

Well who the hell was his coach?

“Luke, we talked earlier about you being willin’ to sign up under our sponsorship. Well, Ms. Rivers seems pretty intent on makin’ sure that this happens.” Thomas smiled like he just got a bite on fishing line cast out into the middle of a pond. Almost his, as long it was reeled in right.

“I am, I would be willing to speak to you about the prospect of joinin’ a sponsored program…” She barely got the words out of her mouth.