The woman seems perturbed, but at least she doesn't cause a scene. She puts her nose in the air and walks back over to her friends.
I shift in my seat and turn toward Becca, covering her hand that is on my thigh, not letting her move it. "I don't care who comes around or who wants to talk to me. You have a right to touch me. I'm with you.”
"But—" she starts, and I shake my head.
"There's no buts, Becca. I'm here with you, not anyone else."
There are so many more things that I want to say to her, but all of a sudden, the announcer says that I'm up next. I don't want to go, but I know I have to. I lean my forehead against hers. "I don't want to leave, but I need to. I'll be back, okay?"
She nods. I kiss her quickly and get up and walk away. She hollers my name, and I look back at her. "Good luck."
I wink at her. "I’ll be fine. I’ve got my good luck charm."
Chapter 10
Becca
I held my breath the whole entire time he was up on that bull, but he won. Not only did he win the preliminaries, he won the whole day. They are already forecasting him to be the winner of the event tomorrow, and I can't even try to contain my excitement. As soon as he's off that bull and out of the ring, he's jogging toward me. I get out of my seat and meet him halfway. "Oh my gosh, that was so good. I'm so proud of you," I tell him.
He pulls me against him and holds on to me tightly. People are walking in both directions all around us and some people are patting him on the shoulder and congratulating him, but neither one of us seem to care. I have feelings for him. I know it's fast, and I know I have bad judgment and all of that, but I don't want to think past today. I want to live in this moment and see it through.
Does he have the ability to break my heart? Absolutely. There's no doubt about it; he can do that, but there's no way I can just walk away. He grabs on to my hand and starts walking out the back door to the truck. "You sure you don't want to stay around and watch the rest of the rides?"
He shakes his head. "No, I want to take you out. You deserve a good meal and to have some fun."
I laugh because he's crazy. "I am having fun. I've had a blast. I can't remember having this much fun."
He helps me into the passenger side of the truck. "Name it. Anything that you want to do, we can go do it."
I tilt my head to the side and look at him. He's so unselfish. He's nothing like my ex, and the more I get to know him, the more I realize that is the truth.
I push his blond hair off his forehead. "You have a race tomorrow, and I think it's pretty important that you're rested up for that."
He shrugs. "I will be. Tell me what you want to do."
I put my hands on his shoulders. "If I wasn't here, what would you be doing right now?"
He seems to think about it for just a second. "I'd be at home, probably drinking a beer and going to sleep. I sound like I'm a lot of fun, don't I?"
I laugh because that actually sounds like a perfect night to me. "All right, let's do that."
He rears back. "No way. You need to have some fun. If you don't, there's no way I'm going to get you to come back to one of these."
"No, really. I think that sounds good, actually. I would love to curl up on the couch next to you and just hang out."
It seems that he's happy with what I say, because he doesn't wait another minute. He shuts my door and then runs around to his side of the truck. Minutes later, we're at his house sitting on his couch, each of us drinking a beer. "You sure you don't want anything to eat?" he asks.
I shake my head. "No. I told you that rodeo food was pretty good. I may have to walk a few extra miles this week, though."
He shakes his head. "Nah, you're perfect the way you are."
With my back pressed up against the couch, he leans in and kisses me. This kiss is more intense and more heated than any of our previous ones, and I feel like I can't get close enough to him. I'm pulling him toward me as he's tightening his hold on me. He kisses my lips, my cheeks, my neck, and then back to my lips again. I pull back, breathless. "I changed my mind."