Rough (Wolf Ranch 1)

I set my foot in his hold and followed his instructions and was sitting astride the mechanical bull before I could say thanks. Even though my skirt only drifted up to mid-thigh, I tugged at the hem, then looked around and had a full view of the entire bar. It was higher up than it seemed from the other side of the railing.

“Good girl,” Boyd said, smiling at me. This smile wasn’t sly. It wasn’t sexy. It was… warm, as if it was a new kind—just for me. “You got this?”

Even though he’d practically goaded me up here, he wasn’t going to make me go through with it. I nodded though. Now that I was sitting on the bull, I wanted to do it. I even heard Becky holler, “Way to go, Audrey! Ride that bull.”

“Nice and slow,” I instructed Boyd. I wasn’t going to pretend I could ride like Total Bitch.

“Yeah, nice and slow is just right.”

He wasn’t talking about bull riding.

His big hand slid down my thigh, from the top half covered in the jean skirt to lower down where the material had ridden up. I felt the callouses, the warmth. In that moment, Boyd wasn’t a cocky rodeo champ. He was Boyd, the man who had eyes only for me.

I took a deep breath and took off my glasses and handed them to him. Besides not wanting them to break, it was probably better not being able to see anything, or anyone.

He stepped back. Only when he was back over the rail did the bull kick in, just like my racing heart. I just had to hope it wouldn’t break when I fell, and I didn’t mean off the bull.

13

BOYD

I gave Russell a look that threatened don’t hurt my woman. He saw it, clenched his jaw and nodded. The bull started up, so slow that it was like Audrey was on the kiddie horse that cost a penny to ride at the grocery store. When someone to my left shouted to speed it up, I whipped my head his way and glared, throwing off all the wolf energy I had, even though he was human. The guy turned and walked away from the rail. The fucker.

The bar was packed. People walked by and slapped me on the shoulder in greeting. I paid them no attention. I could only see Audrey. Hell, if a fight broke out behind me, I doubt I’d know. I certainly wouldn’t care.

Audrey’s bare knees tightened on the bull’s sides, and her knuckles went white around the handhold. The bull’s pace increased, but it was a slow adjustment, and she seemed to be doing okay. When it moved a little faster, her motions became awkward.

“Go with it. Relax. Lift your free arm up in the air to counteract the motion,” I instructed, and she did as I said, her movement improving. Ten seconds. Twenty. Thirty. She wasn’t going to stay on going much faster though. I could see it in every line of her body—and I was watching every single curvy line—and the way she was tiring.

It didn’t look like strenuous work hanging on for only eight seconds, but Audrey had been on for much longer, and the mechanical bull’s faux leather was pretty fucking slippery. I doubted I’d be able to stay on if I had to wear a dang skirt and ride the thing.

I sliced my hand back and forth across my throat, indicating to Russell to shut ‘er down. The bull immediately slowed, then came to a stop. I didn’t hop the rail like I wanted but let her carefully kick a leg over then slide down and off on her own. She stumbled when the soft mat gave beneath her feet and put a hand on the side of the bull to steady herself.

When she came over to the rail, I flipped opened the sides of her glasses and carefully set them over her ears. “You did it, darlin’. In a skirt, no less.”

Relief must’ve made her a little punch drunk because she let out a breathy laugh. “I did, didn’t I? Not quite as good as—”

“Better,” I interrupted. I knew she was comparing herself with Karen, the show-off who went before her, but the truth was, there was no comparing. Karen was a backwoods shifter from one of the families living up in the mountains. She’d moved to town when she was eighteen, probably in hopes of snagging one of the Wolf brothers as a mate, but obviously that never took. Rob wasn’t interested in any woman. He wasn’t gay, but he hadn’t met his mate yet. He’d have to soon. I was starting to feel the itch of moon madness, and I was the youngest of the three of us. I’d think he was slowly losing his shit right about now. Not that he’d let on. As for Colton, he was in the military out in North Carolina. I hadn’t seen him in years although not because I avoided him. His leave and my breaks from the rodeo rarely coincided. Karen wasn’t going to ever have luck with him unless she hopped a plane east.