Hard-Riding Cowboy (Kinky Spurs 3)

All right, so he’d taken a bad fall. Crusher, the best bull in the PBR, had obviously bested him. That bastard.

Nash lay in the soft dirt, trying to piece together the last seconds. He recalled tightening the rope around his hand, the hot adrenaline pulsing through his veins. He remembered pressing his hat firmly against his head. He even recalled giving the nod to open the gates. After that, it was anybody’s guess how he’d ended up in the dirt.

His gaze finally connected with a woman in the crowd. Her hands covered her mouth, tears streaming down her face.

He closed his eyes.

Fuck, this was bad.

A soft cry returned him to the outlook cliff, and he glanced down, finding Gus had come to his side, watching him intently. Whenever Nash went back into the past, Gus seemed to be there to pull him out of it. He wasn’t sure what he would have done without his loyal dog. He reached down and stroked Gus’s big square head. “Things don’t need to be so serious. I’ll land where I land. Right now, I’ve got the guest ranch. I’m good with that.”

Megan gave him a knowing look. “Serious things call for serious emotions.” She paused then, and, like she’d always proven to do, got right to the heart of the matter. “You’re going to have to face what happened to your career and find a new way forward that makes you happy.”

He stared at her, at a loss for words. He never used to be that way. He had a dream. He went for it. And he’d succeeded at becoming a world champion bull rider.

“Lunch,” Beckett suddenly called, snapping Nash out of the spell Megan put him under.

“Thank God. I’m starving.” She rose then laughed. “Well, I’m always starving lately, but whatever.” She pressed a quick kiss to Nash’s lips then strode toward the others, with Gus following her.

Nash stared after her, a thousand things running through his mind. Their lives were cha

nging. There was no stopping that. He wanted to change with her. Be the man she needed him to be.

But above all that, it occurred to him that he didn’t like how she saw him. That needed to change. And soon.

* * *

A couple of hours later, muscles that Megan had forgotten she even had hurt as they made their way back to the ranch, with her leading the way. She really needed to get in the saddle more. Today was the most relaxing day she’d had in a long time. For the past two years, she’d had her head down and worked her ass off to make Kinky Spurs a success. In that regard, she understood Nash perfectly. He worked hard now to make the guest ranch a success to save their father’s company from financial ruin. But Megan knew another truth: Nash was running from his past.

That truth was there in his eyes—the demons that he couldn’t hide from her. Demons that came from having everything he stood for and wanted ripped away. Those demons were another big obstacle between them. Because Megan wasn’t foolishly falling for the hot cowboy. She had already fallen for that hot cowboy, and Nash could hurt her.

Every step forward was with the baby in mind now. Hell, caring about Nash was easy. She could even trust that he wanted them to work. But believing in him was harder because he needed to believe in himself again before she could let herself go there. She hoped he would take her conversation to heart and face those demons, as much as she hoped the feud between him and her father would vanish. But she knew no one got anywhere being silent. And if one thing was certain, it was that she would fight for her happiness. On her terms.

Right as she crossed over the creek, Nash trotted up next to her on Bentley. He stared at her. Hard.

“What?” She laughed.

A beat passed. Then the side of his mouth curved. “Is this what I have to look forward to? You pointing out the shit that everyone else tiptoes around?”

She gave a knowing look. “Would you expect any different of me?”

He shook his head and exhaled deeply, resting his hands on the horn of his saddle. He stared off in the distance before that intense gaze settled back onto her. “This is tough for me. Talking about what happened. It’s hard.”

“I know it is,” she said gently, her heart leaping into her throat.

So many emotions crossed his expression, it was hard to identify where his head was at. But it was the acceptance in his voice that spoke volumes. “I’ll tell you about all the shit that went down with the PBR. Not right now. But soon. Can that be enough for now?”

She lost herself in the openness he offered. They’d never been in this space before, and it was all she wanted and more. “Not now . . . but soon.” Because that was what they needed. Steps forward. They didn’t need to be big steps, and she also didn’t need to have all the answers for what he planned for his future, but they needed to be real and honest steps. She smiled. “That’s enough.”

“Good.” He nodded firmly.

Right as her heart softened to him in a way she had not allowed before, his cell phone rang. He reached into the pocket of his Levi’s beneath his chaps. “Nash,” he answered the phone. Then the color slowly drained from his face. “I’m on my way.”

“What’s wrong?” she asked before he could even hang up.

He spun his horse around and called to Beckett, “Walk the guests back. We’ve got a fire at the ranch.”

Audible gasps came from the guests as Nash set his firm gaze on her. “Stay here.” Bentley shot forward at a full gallop.