Released: MC Secret Baby Romance (New Adult Contemporary Biker Romance) (68 page)

Heck, even now she couldn’t deny the electricity that jolted from her loins as soon as he’d looked at her, but she quickly shrugged it off. She was taken, after all; happily taken. That is, if she could find out wherever the heck that man of hers went.

Grumbling, she climbed over the bleacher seat she’d been sitting at with him for most of the afternoon to reach the steps. She wondered if he’d be downstairs in the concession stand still or in the bathroom, but her feet ached and throbbed beneath her and she realized that she might be the one that needed to disappear for a few minutes.

Her brand new black Jimmy Choo’s probably weren’t the best choice for a rodeo. Heck, they probably weren’t the best choice of shoe in general. They were way too expensive; enough to make you sick for spending that much money on them, but they were Patrick’s way of thanking her for coming out to Texas with him. To her, it seemed more like an apology than anything else, but she loved them so much she didn’t really care which it was.

She was happy there with him. Heck, she would have been happy in an igloo smack dab in the middle of an ice storm if he was there too; if they were together… preferably, cuddling naked underneath a nice warm blanket.

She pounded down the steps, and to the back of the bleachers toward the exit. The air already smelled better when she stepped off the steel bleachers, walking away from the bull pen. She wasn’t sure what the heck was wrong with her boyfriend, and why he was constantly interested in being around things that smelled so bad, but if that’s what he wanted, then so be it.

Her feet were barking, and she knew if she had any chance of tracking him down, she needed to get to the truck and grab her flats. It sort of annoyed her if she was being honest with herself. Her black flats wouldn’t look anywhere near as good with her white blouse and black skinny jeans as her Jimmy Choo’s did, but she never was the type of woman to risk being uncomfortable just for looks.

With one uncomfortable and somewhat wobbly step after another, she found herself closer to the truck. She grinned, happy to see the sight of hoods, headlights, and windshields in the distance. That is, until something hot and sticky caught her shoe, almost catching her just enough to cause her to fall.

Crap.

Literal crap.

She had just stepped in crap.

Horse or bull, she didn’t know. All she knew was that it was huge, steaming, fresh, and smelly. God dammit. She knew she shouldn’t have worn heels to a rodeo. As if stepping over hay with her feet barking for hours wasn’t enough, she had to be punished by a poop covered shoe?

She wasn’t entirely sure that smell would ever come out. She didn’t even know if she could wash these things. This season’s Jimmy Choo’s went down the drain. She growled and took one final look at her crap-covered shoes before looking up, a scowl plastered across her face. Screw it. She just needed to get to the truck.

Her walk was heated, angry. Where the heck was her freaking boyfriend anyway? If he had been around, he could have just brought her shoes.

“But, you should have worn comfortable shoes, you dummy,” the independent side of her growled, annoyed at her temporary bout of stupidity. She wanted to lie down and give up, the more her feet ached, the more the pain shot up to her back, and the more foul crap-smell that filled her nostrils. But, just as her composure was starting to falter completely, she saw it... the truck.

She smiled and staggered toward it, looking like a mess of a woman – almost zombie-like – as she limped toward the red Ford. She was only around five feet away from it when she saw something that made her stop dead, though. She wasn’t sure if it was the movement or the sounds that got to her first. Honestly, she didn’t care.

Right there, smack dab in the grass parking lot… in the truck she’d helped him buy, so that he could go country was some random chick making out with her boyfriend.

“What the heck?!” she shrieked, alerting the sweaty couple to her presence.

“Crap!” she heard Patrick scream, as he pulled away from the woman. He hopped out of the truck with wide eyes. “Babe! Don’t freak out. It’s not like that.”

Chapter Two

“Let’s hear it for Jax, riding Lightning Bolt!” The bell dinged and Jax felt the beast kick and flare beneath him, his groin and legs vibrating, as the bull powered its way out of the gate.

Eight seconds. That’s all he had to stay on, but at that moment, eight seconds felt like a lifetime. It always had when he was on top of a bull, riding a beast he knew he had absolutely no control over, but it was even worse this time.

His mind was double-timing it, squeezing as many thoughts into those eight seconds as humanly possible… eventhough it was something he didn’t really want to think about… even though it was the whole reason he was on the bull in the first place.

Usually, his mind cleared, and all he thought about was holding on for dear life, but this time, it seemed like putting his life in such a fragile position and feeling so small was exactly what made him think about it all…

his dad.

The amazing, incredible father that had raised him to be the man he was today.

He was gone… forever, and all it had done was left Jax shattered and confused.

The worst part was that his family hadn’t been banding together. His older brothers only cared about the money he left behind; his business. They had no interest in celebrating the life that was Jameson Turner; in remembering him. The only thing they cared about was who was getting the estate and all that came with it.

That’s where they all were. They were with their father’s lawyer, meeting and kissing butt, hoping that one of them was the heir to the estate. Jax wanted no part of it. He wanted no part of them.

So, here he was, doing something that his dad and he loved to do... the rodeo.

When the bell dinged again and he slung himself down the rope of the bull, the crowd went wild. He didn’t care, though. He wasn’t in the mood. Instead of lavishing in it like he normally did, absorbing all the female attention that surrounded him, he only threw his arm up in recognition of their cheers and ran off toward the fence into the bleachers.

He jumped up on the metal and slung his leg over just before hopping into the stands, immediately brushing shoulders with crowding people as soon as his feet aimed toward the steps leading out. He had to deal with grabs and pats from random strangers, as he walked through the crowd – noticeably, the more-than-usual crowd of women, as his body aimed toward the steps.

He cringed, the gorgeous women surrounding him, tempting him more and more by the second. He didn’t want to go there, though. He didn’t want tonight to be another trophy for the shelf. No matter how much he wanted to kiss away the pain and confusion he felt, and the anger, he couldn’t forget the anger.

He picked up the pace, knowing that if he didn’t, he would have turned back around and picked one of those blonde hotties up front to take back to his trailer. He knew that the faster he got away from the stands, the faster he got to his truck, which would also mean the faster he got to his trailer, which was parked just a half mile away.

He liked to have it parked by the pit’s grounds, so that he could compete in every rodeo he had time to compete in. He was getting good; really good. In fact, he almost had a bit of a local celebrity-status.

He pulled his hat off and wiped away the sweat dripping down to his brow, still stepping heatedly toward his truck, that is, until he heard a wailing cry sound out in the air. His head whipped around to find a woman crouching onto the parking lots’ pavement bawling into her knees.

“Ma’am,” he started, taking steps toward her as her wails grew in intensity. “Ma’am…” He bent down to her level, a foul crap-smell hitting his nostrils. “You okay?”

She shook her head.

“Step in crap…?” he asked, almost with a smile, but he stopped his words, not really sure if it was a laughing matter, considering how upset she seemed.

She nodded. “Yes…” she cried some more.

He sighed and grabbed her shoes. “I can get these cleaned off for you,” he said. “You want a drink while you wait?”

She looked at him hesitantly, her expression concerned. He pointed off in the distance. “That trailer is mine. I compete here in the rodeo. My name is Jax Turner. You can get in my truck and I can drive you to my trailer, I can get you a drink – a nice closed beer, no danger – and I can clean these off for you without ruining them.” He laughed. It was strange running into a woman that didn’t know who he was.

He remembered seeing her earlier that day. She was gorgeous; loose curls, medium dark-skin, and with a sexy figure. She looked a little hoity-toity to be at a rodeo, but she looked good doing it. So, she had earned a pass from him. She smiled at him, but shrugged it off before he could even talk to her, which was weird.

Women didn’t usually shut him down before he’d even spoken.

Not unless they were married, and the lack of a wedding ring on her finger told him that she wasn’t. He got used to looking for those sort of things, after all. Well, before ever approaching a woman.

She still hadn’t spoken to him. She just continued to stare at him, her mascara-stained cheeks and puffy red eyes aimed directly at him. She seemed to have dried her tears up for the time being, though, so it didn’t appear that she felt completely frightened and threatened by him – which was good… really good.

“Sure…” she whispered, and he smiled in response.

She wasn’t sure why she had said yes. She knew that in all reality, it wasn’t the safest or anywhere near the best decision in the world, but after the afternoon she’d had, she was fine with a little danger.

The man was hot, and she knew he was a competitor at the rodeo. She remembered him from earlier that day. He was the gorgeous cowboy that had smiled at her right before everything had hit the fan.

He had driven her to his trailer, which was just off of the grounds. It was small… so small that she had to wonder what rodeo competitors got paid, and if that was his only job. She didn’t care, though.

She took beer after beer from him, which was something else that probably wasn’t the safest or anywhere near the best decision, but it made her feel better; getting drunk with a man as sexy as this one. He was sweet too; at least, he seemed it. He had completely cleaned her Jimmy Choo’s with shoe cleaner, and had them looking good as new in less than thirty minutes while she sat on the couch.

Once she’d had a drink or two in her, she spilled the beans about what had happened earlier that day; how crappy her boyfriend had been, how he’d been making out with some random rodeo chick in the truck she’d helped him buy, how she told him to take a flying leap and go screw himself when she found out, even after he begged for her to forgive him.

She wanted no part of it.

Cheating was something she would never forgive and forget. She had told herself a long time ago that if a man cheated on her, it’d be over. She stood by it, eventhough some piece of her hadn’t wanted to.

“You feeling a little better at least?” Jax asked from the small laundry area between the living room and kitchen, just after putting his shoe cleaner back on the shelf. She had to admit, she did feel better. The effects of the alcohol were starting to kick in a little bit, but that wasn’t it. It was him. He had made her feel better.

She nodded. “Yeah, actually.” She grinned up at him, a feeling washing over her, darkening her expression. “I have a question…” she trailed.

“Yeah?” he asked.

“When you were smiling at me, were you trying to flirt with me?” She stood up from the couch and took a step closer to him.

He smirked and nodded. “Have you seen you?”

She wasn’t sure what was about that response that fueled her, but it had. She took another step closer, nothing but an excited sense of courage fizzling inside of her. Was she really about to make the first move? Was she really about to push the boundaries with a total stranger just because she was upset and wanted a distraction? Was she really about to make another bad decision?

The answer was, yes. It was a heck yes.

She knew that on the moment that her back was against the front door of the trailer, his lips on top of hers, and his hand sliding down her neck, holding her into place. The kiss was passionate, lustful, and eager. Their tongues battled and dueled as moans elicited from each of them until he pulled away, gasping.

“You’re so freaking gorgeous…” he said, his accent coming through a lot more than it had before. She felt a shiver roll down her spine at his words. She liked hearing that. She hadn’t even realized she hadn’t heard it nearly enough until they dripped seductively off of his tongue. She locked arms around his neck, tightening her hold, pulling him into another kiss. “You’re going to make me lose control if you keep on with this.”

“So, lose control…” she breathed. “Let’s both lose control…”

She could feel it in his fingers, and the way they touched her. She could feel it in his lips as they slammed against hers. He was starved to lose control just like she was. There was a desperation in his touch, as if he was constantly looking for bare skin to press and stroke, as they fumbled together against the door. It almost made her heart clench to know that he might have needed a distraction just as much as she had.