Unridden: A Studs in Spurs novel (24 page)

Slade avoided eye contact. “None.”

“None.” Mustang repeated, looking satisfied with himself. “See! Don’t you realize what that means?”

“Not really, no.”

“I can’t count how many girls I was with over the past two months.”

“Like that’s something to brag about?” Slade scowled.

Mustang laughed. “I’m not bragging. I’m trying to prove a point. Slade. Listen to me. Yeah, I like Jenna. A lot. But I was with other girls after her and you weren’t. You’re in love with Jenna.”

Slade narrowed his eyes at that accusation. “I don’t love her.”

“You sure as hell do. I can see it. You seem to be the only one who can’t.”

“I’ll admit I like her.”

“Fine. Call it whatever makes you happy, but actions speak louder than words.”

“What actions? If you’re talking sex, you’ve had as much of that with her as I have.”

“Not exactly since you had that one night alone with her before she left Tulsa, but I’m not talking about sex anyway. I mean the way you were ready to kill Chase for just looking in her direction. The way you never really liked sharing her even with me.”

“I…” Slade tried to interrupt to deny that but Mustang barreled right over him.

“No. Let me finish. Don’t you see, Slade? I don’t feel the same way. I have no problem with you and her spending the night together with or without me there. Hell, I wouldn’t have had a problem if she’d taken Chase to her bed.”

Slade felt ill as that image twisted his gut.

Mustang continued. “I shouldn’t feel like that, should I? I mean she’s fun and smart and I love spending time with her and the sex… Well, you know, that is always amazing…”

“Okay, enough. I get it.”

Mustang laughed. “See. You’re proving my point. I obviously don’t feel the way you do about her.”

Slade blew out a breath. “That might be true. Maybe I like her more than you like her.”

“And that’s exactly why you need to start taking this thing to the next level.”

Slade laughed. “What next level? We’ve already done pretty much everything a man and woman can do together, Mustang.” With a few exceptions he wouldn’t mind trying.

“I’m talking about a date. Ask her out. Start a relationship. Think of her as a girlfriend because it is more than obvious to me, and should be to you too, that she is way more than a one-night stand.”

That much was true. “What about Jenna?”

“What about Jenna?” Mustang asked.

Slade kicked at the floor with the toe of his boot, trying to find the words. “I think it’s pretty obvious she likes being with you, too.”

“In bed, you mean?”

Slade lowered his voice even further. “Both in bed and out. You make her laugh.” The pain of that statement cut through Slade’s heart, confirming Mustang’s accusation that Slade probably did like—he wasn’t going to say
loved
—Jenna too much for his own good.

“You’d make her laugh if you didn’t go all stone faced whenever we’re together. And as far as the bed part…we can work around that.”

Slade’s brow shot up. “Work around that how?”

“Well, it’s not like we haven’t all already been together, you know? There is nothing to stop her from being your girlfriend exclusively, but I could still, uh…
join
you two on occasion, if you wanted me to.”

No, Slade did
not
want Mustang
joining
him and Jenna in bed, but he feared Jenna might want exactly that.

Mustang laughed. “You’re not too fond of that idea, are you? You’re face looks like you just bit into a lemon.”

For once, Mustang was right. Slade wasn’t fond of the idea and the acid backing up his throat might as well have been raw lemon juice. Just like the acid in his mouth, Slade found it hard to swallow the idea of sharing Jenna with Mustang once she’d become truly his girl. His pride wasn’t swallowed any easier, but he forced it down anyway. “All right.”

Mustang’s eyes opened wide. “All right what?”

Slade let out a bitter laugh at the realization that to keep Jenna happy, he’d do just about anything, no matter how distasteful. “If that’s what Jenna wants, then yeah, I guess I’d have to work with it.”

Mustang laughed and Slade looked up and saw his friend shaking his head. “What?”

“Just watching you, looking so miserable, I kinda hope I don’t find the one for quite awhile. I’m happy just the way I am.” Mustang slapped Slade on the back. “I think we all fall eventually. I’m just happy you fell first.”

Slade glanced at the arena clock, wishing this night over already so they could get to Jenna. Even if he would be sharing her with Mustang, just thinking of her made his heart speed.

He laughed at himself. The funny thing was, as miserable as he was, having Jenna in his arms again had made his heart soar. When Slade thought back to the night he and Jenna spent alone in her hotel room, and when he thought it could be just one of many nights just like that if she did become his girl, he couldn’t feel happier.

Slade wasn’t so sure how the hell it had happened but Mustang was right about one thing—it was too late now because he was good and caught, hogtied by one little city girl.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Jenna held her breath as Mustang lowered himself onto the bull’s back. After seeing Slade dragged and trampled last competition, she’d barely been able to watch the other riders without feeling her heart race and having her stomach twist with worry. It had been difficult enough watching the strangers, even worse watching Chase, and now Mustang, guys she actually knew and cared about.

Mustang nodded and the gate swung open.

Somehow eight seconds seemed to take an eternity. Watching Mustang’s shoulder hit the dirt just after the buzzer sounded had Jenna covering her mouth to keep from crying aloud. Seeing him jump right up and scramble away from the charging bull nearly stopped her heart. When he high-fived the other guys down in the arena as the crowd cheered, Jenna’s eyes misted with relief.

Then before she knew it, before she barely had a chance to recover from the stress of Mustang’s ride, Slade was in the chute and the horrible anticipation started all over again. She’d have to remember to pack some antacids in her purse before the next night’s competition because this worrying was going to give her an ulcer.

But Slade rode like he’d been doing it his entire life. The buzzer sounded and in what seemed like slow motion, Slade released his hand from the rope and jumped to the ground, landing on his feet almost gracefully in a dismount that was the exact opposite of Mustang’s messy tumble. She didn’t care how pretty either of them got off the bull, as long as they were both off and safe.

One more guy rode after Slade, though Jenna couldn’t tell you if he made the buzzer or not, and then it was over for the night. The riders would be back the following evening and, if all went well tonight with Slade and Mustang, Jenna too would be back to watch them.

Judging from the warm reception in the hallway, they were as happy to see her as she was to see them. That moment, with both of them there holding her, dispelled nearly twenty-four hours of worry and doubt that mailing them her book would send them running in the opposite direction.

Maybe they didn’t read it.

Jenna’s heart kicked into overdrive as that thought struck. She let out a long, slow breath and tried to steady herself. If they hadn’t read it yet, maybe she could steal it back from their hotel room. Sure, she could do that. Good plan. It might just work.

The plotting of her heist was interrupted by Mustang.

“Ready, darlin’?”

She glanced guiltily up at him. “Yup. Where’s Slade?”

“He’s just signing some autographs over there, but I figured I’d come collect you so when he’s done we can take right off.” Mustang’s eyes twinkled and Jenna knew he was thinking way past their taking off, probably all the way to them taking off their clothes in the hotel room.

She was in perfect agreement with Mustang. Jenna’s gaze sought the other object of her desire but when she found Slade, what she saw stopped her dead in her tracks.

Mustang’s hand touched her arm. “What’s wrong?”

She realized her mouth was hanging wide open and shut it so she could answer. “There seems to be a bimbo attached to Slade’s lips.”

Jenna’s words may have sounded like a joke, but the nausea rapidly growing in her belly at the sight of Slade kissing another woman was no funny matter.

Mustang spun to see what Jenna was talking about and laughed. “She’s just some random fan, Jenna. That shit happens all the time.”

“It does?” She kept her eyes on Slade as he grabbed the woman by the wrists and took a giant step back and away from her mouth. Jenna felt marginally better, but not much.

“Yeah, I had to sign the front of one woman’s t-shirt before, while she was wearing it, which was preferable actually because I had to sign one girl’s naked boob once.”

Jenna scowled. “Yeah, I’m sure you hated that a lot.”

“It’s all nothing to worry about, darlin’. Believe me. I like a woman who offers a bit more of a challenge.” He ran his hand up and down her arm.

She didn’t like the turn of the conversation one bit but at least Slade had extricated himself from the tart and was heading their way.

When he arrived, Slade took one look at Jenna’s face and asked, “What’s wrong?”

As if he didn’t know! Jenna screwed up her mouth in what she was sure was a very unattractive pout but she really didn’t care.

“She’s pissed about that fan...you know…kissing you.” Mustang hooked a thumb in the direction where Slade had been molested.

Slade dipped his head once in Jenna’s direction. “I don’t blame her. I was pretty pissed myself. Girl thinks she can just go around kissing anyone she likes.”

He knocked his hat back angrily and Jenna smiled, relieved. “Come on, let’s go.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Mustang grinned and continued to do so as they crossed the street, entered the lobby, and rode the elevator. He smiled right up until the three of them were standing in front of the hotel room door, and then he hovered at the doorway. “You know, I think I’m gonna run down to the store and pick us up some beer and snacks.”

Slade narrowed his gaze at Mustang. “You could have thought of that while we were all downstairs.”

“Well I didn’t, now did I?” Mustang met Slade’s glare with a look of schooled innocence and then addressed Jenna. “I’ll be back in a bit, darlin’.”

He dropped a quick kiss on Jenna and sprinted for the elevator. Turning back, Jenna saw Slade shaking his head.

“What’s wrong?”

“He needs beer and snacks like he needs a hole in his head.”

Jenna frowned and looked down the hall just in time to see Mustang disappear through the elevator doors. They slid shut behind him with a whisper and she heard the car rattle in the shaft. “What was that all about?”

Slade’s lips curled with displeasure. “Mustang thinks we need some time alone.”

He opened the door with his keycard, reached in and flipped on the light. While still standing in the hall, Slade swung the door wide with one arm so Jenna could enter the room before him.

She walked in then spun back to him. “Why should we be alone?”

“To talk.” Slade made a face. He acted like Mustang had handed him a plate of raw liver to eat rather than a chance to be alone with her to talk.

“Okay.” Jenna perched on the edge of the chair in the room. “We can do that. What would you like to talk about?”

Slade leaned against the bureau and folded his arms across his chest. “Um, I read your book.”

Ah. Things were beginning to make sense.

Jenna’s nerves kicked into high gear. “And?”

“It was good. Real good.”

“I wasn’t looking for compliments. What did you think of the story?”

Slade smiled. “You used what I told you about my first bull ride.”

“Yeah. I did.”
Almost word for word.
Jenna cringed. “Was that okay? It was just so beautiful… I’m sorry.”

He held up a hand. “It’s okay. I don’t mind. It was kind of flattering actually. It didn’t hurt that the girl gets so turned on by it in the story that she jumps him.”

Cheeks heating, Jenna nodded. “Yeah. That is kind of how it happened in real life too.”

Slade let out a short laugh. “Yeah. I remember. In fact, I haven’t forgotten a thing. Not one minute of the time we spent together.”

Jenna’s entire body reacted to that proclamation. Warming. Melting. “Me neither.”

He smiled. “Yeah, you even wrote it all down.”

“It was wrong of me not to ask you permission first…”

“No, that’s not what I’m getting at, Jenna. Besides, you changed our names. It’s not like anyone will know.”

She nodded, not mentioning that should Chase ever get a hold of the book, he would know she was writing about Slade and Mustang. But Jenna really hoped that should that happen, Chase would believe all the sexual escapades were created out of her imagination and not recorded from reality.

“What I’m trying to say is… What I’m asking is… The woman in the book, she falls for the two cowboys, pretty hard actually.”

“And you want to know if I feel the same way?”

Slade shrugged. “Yeah. So do you?”

Jenna swallowed hard. “Yes.”

Slade draw in a big breath then let it out slowly. “Then I guess my next question is, do you picture us, the three of us, I mean, ending up like that?”

“Can I ask you a question first?”

“Um, sure.”

“In the book, the cowboys fall for the girl too.”

Slade nodded. “Yup. They do.”

“And? Do you feel that way about me?

Kicking at the carpet with the toe of his cowboy boot, Slade finally wrestled his eyes up. “Um, I guess you could say that, yeah.”

Shaking, Jenna rose from the chair and moved toward him. “Really?”

Slade took a step forward, putting him a breath away from Jenna. He tipped his head down so she could feel the warmth of his words. “Yeah. Really.”

Jenna swallowed. “Then I guess I should tell you that in my first draft I had her choose only one cowboy, but my critique partner said it would sell better if they all ended up together.”

She watched his eyes open slightly wider at that. His hands rose to grip her shoulders and Jenna thought she saw insecurity shining through a crack in his hard facade. “Which one did you pick…did she pick? In your first draft, I mean.”