“Okay, who’s the wiseass?” she asked, and they laughed. But she noticed the one guy, with the dark hair and big brown eyes, was absorbing her body. She could tell immediately he liked what he saw, and she winked at him.
“Aww, come on, Elise, with that fine body of yours, what do expect us to do?” Gus asked with a smile.
She threw the bar rag at him and the others laughed.
“So, who are your friends?” she asked and tried not to make it obvious that she was checking out the cutie with the brown eyes dressed in a dark green cowboy shirt and tight fitting black Wranglers. Man, was he sexy.
“This is Carver and Tagart. They’re visiting from Tennessee,” Gus told her, and she immediately felt her heart race. She was from Tennessee and Tagart had her full attention.
“Where in Tennessee are y’all from?” she asked.
“Livingston? How about you, honey?” Tagart asked.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“Honey, from one Tennessean to another, we can tell by your accent. Whereabouts?” Tagart pushed.
She smiled. “Nashville.” He reached his hand out to shake hers and he held it a moment as he squeezed her hand. Oh yeah, he was definitely interested.
“So we have everything set for the first contest. Are you going to be giving it a whirl tonight, Elise?” Gus asked her. She felt her cheeks warm. She got really excited just thinking about riding the bull. Back home in Tennessee, she worked on a dude ranch and taught tourists how to ride the electric bull. With Ben and Quinn at the controls of good old “Hurt So Good,” the name she and the girls had given the bull, it could make for some real fun.
“Well, let’s see what type of crowd you draw and take it from there,” she stated.
“You ride, darling?” Tagart asked her as he looked her over for the umpteenth time.
“Can she ride? Shit, boy, she’d give you a run for your money,” Gus stated.
“Oh, stop teasing him, Gus. He’s a wrangler from Tennessee. I bet he can ride just fine and hell of a lot better than little ol’ me.” She winked at Gus and really laid on her Tennessee accent. He seemed to know where this conversation was headed.
“Really now. You being sarcastic, honey?” Tagart asked.
“Me?” she replied with her hand over her chest, which only drew his eyes toward her bust. Not that he hadn’t been looking.
“How good is she, Gus?” Tagart asked but never took his eyes off of her. She held his gaze as her belly t
ightened in complete awareness of his flirtatious technique.
Gus raised his eyebrows at Elise, but she held Tagart’s gaze.
“Real good, cowboy.”
The hoots and hollers filled the air around them, and Elise blushed as Tagart licked his lips and smiled at her.
“It’s on then, doll. You and me. Whoever lasts the longest. Gus, you make sure that Ben and Quinn hit us equally with their moves on the controls,” Tagart said.
“Is this a go, Elise?” Gus asked.
She looked Tagart over and smiled. “It’s a go. Just let me get coverage for the bar here. Clara should be over in ten minutes.”
* * * *
“Hey, Vic, Tommy, what’s going on?” Mason asked as Vic and his brother approached the main bar in Dixie Chix.
“Not too much. How’s the SWAT thing going?” Vic asked Mason as he ordered a couple of beers from Juliet.
“It’s going great. Thanks for asking.”
“Hi, guys,” Juliet said as she handed over the bottles of beer.