Unridden: A Studs in Spurs novel (23 page)

“Chicken,” her subconscious yelled. “Protecting yourself,” the sissy side of her countered.

Let her self-doubt say whatever it wanted. Jenna grabbed her purse and her coat and headed for the door.

She paused, manuscript in hand. She could drive into the city and leave it at the hotel desk, but she was already shaking just from speaking with Mustang. She wasn’t about to fight the traffic on the bridge and in midtown Manhattan in this state of mind. Besides, she’d never be able to find a spot on the street near their hotel to park. Taking a train there and back would take forever. It would be really late by the time she got home.

Jenna glanced at her watch. The shipping place was still open. She’d overnight the package and the boys. It would be cheaper to ship it than pay for tolls and parking anyway.

They would have it in their hands by ten the next morning. Then, by the time she saw them at the Garden the next night… Jenna stopped, her hand still on the doorknob as she pulled it shut behind her.

Then what?
She considered what she wanted out of this strange but wonderful relationship with the two cowboys.

Then we’ll deal with it, the three of us, together.

That resolved, Jenna headed for the elevator. She’d get the package mailed and then she had to get home and figure out what to wear to a bull ride in Manhattan. That was a hell of a fashion dichotomy. Good thing Jenna enjoyed a challenge. She must. She was about to take on two cowboy playboys.

Chapter Twenty-five

His gear bag held in one hand, Slade walked into Madison Square Garden and took in the enormity of the cavernous arena.

It didn’t matter that he was far from being a rookie anymore, or that he had ridden there many times before, it still hit him each and every time he entered exactly how huge it was for a kid who grew up poor in Texas to be riding in one of the most famous arenas in the country.

Slade rubbed a spot located somewhere between the bottom of his ribcage and his belt buckle, trying to will away the fluttering there. Why the hell was he nervous? He knew; he just didn’t want to admit it.

Dammit.
Slade was exactly where he wanted to be. Riding in the pros. Ranked number two in the world. Supporting himself doing what he loved and, God willing, he’d stay healthy enough to continue to do so. He should be on the top of the world, and yet, he had never felt more uncertain about things in his life. All because of one brown-haired, hazel-eyed city girl and her book about falling for two cowboys.

Mustang, jogging up next to him, interrupted Slade’s reverie. “I just checked. The box office has Jenna’s ticket held for her so we’re good to go.”

Good to go. Yeah, right.

Slade glanced at the empty stands, eyeing the section where last year, before he had ever heard the name Jenna Block, his teammates’ girlfriends and wives were seated.

He and Mustang had arrived early, so the stands were still empty, but soon amid thousands of fans would be Jenna, sitting somewhere in that VIP section. No doubt she’d be in the front row in a seat directly behind the chute. There she would be as distracting as possible, thanks to the ticket Mustang had left for her. After Chase had called her.

There were far too many men in Jenna’s life for Slade’s liking. Mustang. Chase. And those were only the ones he knew about. Who knew how many more were chasing after her in New York. But Jenna wasn’t his, so how could Slade be mad at anything Mustang, or Chase, or any other man did regarding her?

Slade’s hand moved up to rub a spot on the left side of his chest as he considered that. He thought about the ending of the book where the main character can’t choose between the two cowboys and asks them both to be with her. How much of Jenna was in that book and how much was made up? The question had been eating him up since he’d read it. His hand moved down to rub his aching gut.

“What’s up with you tonight?”

Slade turned to Mustang, who was watching him. “Nothing’s up. Why?”

“You’re nervous. I can see it on your face. Hell, it’s written all over your body. You’re acting like…I don’t know, some virgin bride on her wedding night.”

Slade cocked one brow at that comparison. “I haven’t been a virgin in a very long time, Mustang.”

“Maybe your dick hasn’t been, but your heart still is.”

In no mood for Mustang’s philosophical riddles right now, Slade shook his head. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

One brow rose up. “Think about it.”

Slade let out a sigh. “I don’t have time for word games. I gotta rosin up my rope.”

“Yeah, I have to do that too.” Mustang moved to follow Slade and then stopped. “You want to be alone or can I come?”

Slade frowned. “What the hell are you talking about now? Why would I need to be alone to get my rope ready?”

Mustang shrugged. “I don’t know. Just asking. You’ve been acting so strangely lately, I thought maybe you’d want privacy or something.”

“You keep this weird shit up and I might.” Slade scowled and headed for the locker room to drop his bag and get himself ready, mentally and physically, before Jenna arrived and shot his concentration all to hell.

Mustang being an idiot Slade could ignore, he’d had enough practice doing it, but seeing Jenna again for the first time in months, that was going to be harder for Slade to put out of his mind.

Time never passed so slowly as when you were waiting for something. Slade checked the clock more times than he could count. He prepped his rope for far longer than necessary. He even checked out the bulls back in the stock pens, something he hadn’t done since before he began riding pro, back when he had no idea what kind of bull he’d get in the draw.

Finally, Slade forced himself to sit down and try to relax, until he heard the typical noises of the crowd starting to fill the arena. Then relaxing was out of the question.

Not long now.
Elbows braced on his knees, Slade buried his face in his hands and tried to scrub away the tension.

“I knew she’d come.”

Slade looked up and found Mustang standing in front of him, grinning.

“Jenna’s here?”

Mustang nodded. “Yup. Come on. Let’s say hello.”

Slade swallowed and his heart rate doubled. “We aren’t supposed to go out before we’ve been introduced during the big opening.”

Mustang bent down and started unbuckling his chaps. He took off his vest and pulled his hat down low over his eyes. “There. Now no one will know who I am.”

Mustang waited for Slade to do the same.

Drawing in a big breath, and letting it out very slowly, Slade stood. He stripped off anything that had a sponsor logo on it, wiped the sweat from his palms onto his jeans and then said, “Okay. Let’s go.”

The “virgin bride” comment kept running through Slade’s head as he realized his hands were trembling. Shit.

If he’d read into that book correctly, Jenna was telling them that she was theirs for the taking, both of them if they wanted. What the hell did he want? Slade considered that as they drew closer to Jenna.

Then, before he knew it, Mustang had grabbed Jenna’s hand and was pulling her out of her seat. There was no more time for Slade’s agonizing over what he did or didn’t want, because the object of his ponderings was right in front of him, melting him from the inside with one glance.

“Mustang. Slade.” Jenna smiled and set Slade’s stomach fluttering.

“Shh. We’re incognito, darlin’. Come on.”

“Where are we going?”

Mustang grinned down at her, then at Slade. “Someplace where we can say a proper hello.”

Slade swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry as he anticipated Jenna’s lips beneath his, his hands on her body. Mustang led the pack, dragging Jenna by the hand behind him, and Slade followed willingly, wondering where they were going but not caring all that much as long as they got there, and alone, fast.

With a glance over his shoulder, Mustang pushed through a door marked
No Admittance
and the three found themselves in a long and, thankfully, empty hall.

“Damn, I’ve missed you.” Mustang shook his head and smiled at her. “You look better than I remember.”

Jenna’s eyes shot to Slade and then back to Mustang. “I’ve missed both of you too. A lot.”

His eyes still on Jenna, Mustang said, “Slade, come on over here and give Jenna a proper hello.”

Mustang angled himself and made room, and Slade took a step forward. He somehow found his voice. “Hi.”

Jenna peered up at him with the same look in her eyes he last saw that night in her hotel room when she’d picked up the green condom and pretty much dared him to use it.

Next to him, Mustang ran a hand up and down the arm of Jenna’s black sweater. “Darlin’, I hope you don’t think me rude, but if I don’t kiss you this minute, I think I may die.”

Glancing quickly at Slade, she laughed before answering Mustang. “I know exactly how you feel.”

Mustang lowered his head. “Good to hear.”

Then his mouth covered hers as Slade watched, envious, wanting, until Jenna’s hand reached out and grabbed a fistful of his shirt. She reeled him in, broke from Mustang’s mouth and leaned up to touch her lips to Slade’s.

He sank into her kiss, feeling like he’d come home.

When she pulled away, he had only one thing to say. “Jenna.”

She smiled. “I heard you have a hotel room this time. I hope it’s close.”

Next to him, Mustang laughed. “Close enough.”

“Good. But we better get out of here before we get in trouble.” Jenna turned toward the door then stopped. “You do have condoms in your hotel room, I hope. If not, one of you better stop somewhere after the competition.”

Mustang’s laugh echoed off the walls of the empty hall as they followed her toward the door. “Don’t worry, darlin’. I got it covered.”

Slade let out a long slow breath as Jenna pushed through the door ahead of them. “Wow.”

Mustang laughed. “You can say that again.”

———

Slade stood, one boot up on the rail, the other on the ground, and huffed out a breath.

“Soon,” Mustang said softly next to him.

Slade allowed himself a glance in the direction of Jenna’s seat in the stands. “Not soon enough.”

“Just relax.”

Slade shot Mustang a look. “I am relaxed.”

One brow rose up beneath Mustang’s hat as he stared pointedly at Slade’s hand. Slade had been drumming out a loud, impatient, tuneless rhythm on the rail without even realizing it. He stilled his fingers. “Sorry.”

“I’ve never seen you like this over a girl.”

“Who says it’s over a girl?”
Liar.

Mustang let out a snort. “It sure as hell ain’t over that bull you drew. My grandmother could ride him.”

Mustang’s grandmother may well have been riding that night. Slade wouldn’t have known either way. He had no attention for what was happening in the arena, except to wish it would go faster.

Forty-five bulls and riders took a long time to get loaded into the chutes one at a time, and since Mustang was ranked fourth and Slade second, it meant they had to cool their heels and wait around for almost all of the others to ride before them. It also meant that Slade was crawling out of his skin to get his ride over with. Mustang was correct. Slade’s anxiety had nothing to do with nerves over his ride.

He dared to glance in Jenna’s direction again and let out a nearly feral growl at the sight that greeted him. “God damn that kid.”

Mustang turned to look, then laughed. “Hey, if it wasn’t for Chase, she wouldn’t even be here. He got us her number, remember.”

Remembering that pissed Slade off even more, but he kept his mouth shut since he wasn’t about to tell Mustang he’d had Jenna’s number all along. He’d just been too stupid, or too stubborn…hell, maybe he’d just been too afraid to use it. No matter what the reason, he wasn’t feeling up to confessing any of that to Mustang right now, if ever. It was hard enough facing those realizations himself.

He glanced up and saw Mustang laughing at him.

“You keep giving me nasty looks like that and I might not tell you what I was about to tell you.” Mustang shrugged.

Slade shook his head, scowling. “I guess I won’t be hearing it then.”

“You sure? You’ll like it. Aren’t you the least bit curious?”

“Nope.” Shit, he was curious now. Slade hated that. He said as casually as he could muster. “All right, just get it out of your system. I know you’re dying to.”

Mustang laughed. “Yeah. You want me to tell you for my benefit, and not for yours.”

“Fine, don’t tell me then. I don’t care.”

Mustang had always acted like a juvenile but when exactly had Slade started acting like a child right along with him? Oh, yeah. Right about the time he developed the schoolboy crush on Jenna.

Shaking his head, Mustang gave in, though by now, Slade was too mad at both his friend and himself to care much what the big secret had been to begin with…until Mustang spilled the beans. “I know I let you believe Jenna gave Chase her phone number, but she didn’t.”

“What?”

Mustang grinned wider. “Yup. He got it from a friend of hers who hooked up with Garrett that night she was out drinking with them all in Tulsa. Remember?”

Slade remembered. Hell, he’d never forget any part of that night, or any of his time in Tulsa.

“What the hell, Mustang? Why did you let me think she gave her number to Chase?”

Mustang had purposely let him go on believing Chase had been talking to Jenna for the past two months.

“Because it was fun.”

Slade shot a nasty look at Mustang’s profile. “Yeah, real fun.”

“How many women were you with during the off season, Slade?”

Holy crap
! Where had that question come from?

Slade glanced around to make sure no one else had heard. “That’s none of your business.”

Mustang frowned and hissed, “Jeez, Slade. We’ve been inside the same girl at the same time. Don’t act like I’m invading your privacy or something. Just answer the damn question.”

They weren’t even halfway through the line up so it wasn’t like Slade could be saved by having to get ready to ride. Mustang and his question weren’t going anywhere so he might as well answer.