The Bull Rider's Plan

JESS THOUGHT BACK over his rides at Hennessey’s practice pens the day before. He hadn’t hit his head, so he couldn’t blame anything but himself for agreeing to let Emma ride along with him on his rodeo tour.

The change in her expression when she’d realized he was about to say yes had been profound and drove home the point that Emma, who had the ability to bounce back from any and all situations, was not bouncing back from the death of her brother and her broken engagement. Throw in a controlling stepmom and...well, he’d said yes.

He hoped he didn’t regret it.

Of course you’re going to regret it.

Okay—he hoped he wasn’t going to regret it too much.

“I need to go to the motel and get my stuff.”

“Do you have enough to travel?”

“I’d better, because I’m not going back to the ranch to pick up more.”

“But you will tell them you’re leaving.”

“The beauty of texting.”

“And talk to Skye.”

“I’ll do that today before we leave.”

“Are you leaving her in a lurch?”

“No. It just occurred to me that Chelsea wanted to ease back into part-time now that she’s had the baby, so this will work out well.” She shrugged. “It’s almost like it’s meant to be.”

He didn’t know about that, but he was certain that now that he’d said yes, there was no way he could say no—at least not until they started wrangling with one another while on the road.

“I’m driving to Union City tonight.”

She gave him a small smile. “We can pick my stuff up on the way out of town.”

Chapter Three (#u8c6fd416-9653-5fb1-809c-169e1165c61e)

Jess didn’t have a lot to say when he drove, so Emma read on her phone and left him in peace. Len had always wanted to get into his head before an event, and she figured Jess was the same. And even though she was being the perfect cab-mate, riding in silence, Jess kept cutting looks her way as if expecting her to speak.

What was she supposed to say? Thank you for taking me with you? She’d already said that, and Em wasn’t a big believer in repeating herself.

On the fifteenth or sixteenth look she finally broke.

“Nice day for a drive.”

He frowned at her.

“You wanted me to talk, right?”

“I was wondering why you weren’t talking.”

“There’s nothing to say.”

He gave her an I’m-not-falling-for-that look. Fine. He didn’t have to fall for anything. She went back to her phone. He wasn’t going to be able to complain that she was distracting him from mentally preparing for his ride.

“When did you become so quiet?”

“When I figured out that listening was as valuable as talking.” She scrolled to the next page.

“When did that happen?”

She gave a small shrug. “Years ago.”

“Not that many years ago.”

She couldn’t help scowling at him. “I was in college.” She’d dropped out shortly after Len died.

“Ah.”

That shut him up. Good. She wanted to read...except now she couldn’t focus. She turned off her phone, set it in the door compartment next to her. Union City wasn’t that far away and once they got there, they’d set up camp. Jess had a camper on the back of his truck that he’d borrowed from Gus. Since Em was short, and grateful to be along for the ride, she’d volunteered to sleep in the truck, thus giving him privacy.

They pulled into the Union City rodeo grounds a little after seven. Jess leveled the camper while Em rolled out her sleeping bag in the rear seat of the truck. Once the bag was in place she walked back to the camper and knocked on the frame of the open door. Jess was already testing out the stove. They’d agreed to take turns cooking on the road and tonight it was his turn.

In Emma’s mind, he was lucky to have her along. He didn’t have to partner up with anyone to share the driving and he was assured of a decent meal after competition. If he ended up in the hospital, he had someone there to watch his back. Though, honestly, after losing Len, the idea of anyone being in the hospital kind of froze her up.

Emma shoved the thought aside and stepped up into the cramped confines of the camper. Jess continued fiddling with the cooktop, so she stepped to the opposite side and scooted behind the built-in table, the upholstery on the bench catching her jeans and making it hard to slide properly. She propped her elbows on the table as Jess lit a match to test a burner—something she was certain he’d done before they’d left, because he was that kind of guy. He’d no doubt changed the oil on the truck and had the tires rotated, too.

“A little cozier than your last place.”

“The price was right.” After the burner caught, he leaned back, turning the knob to adjust the flame from high to low before turning it back off again. “Gus Hawkins used it when he was on the circuit.”

“Before he came to his senses and started tending bar?”

He gave her a sour look that made her want to smile, but since she was taking pains to steer them away from their old roles—Jess, the rule guy, versus Emma, the rule breaker—she settled for a mere twitch of the lips. Although she’d noticed on more than one occasion that Jess wasn’t so much about him following the rules, as he was about Emma following the rules.

Whatever.

“Since the stove is working, can we make some coffee?”

He sent her a look. “And stay up all night?”

“Coffee doesn’t affect me that way.”

“Then I’ll make you some coffee.”

“Going to have trouble sleeping?”

“Not if I don’t have coffee.”

“You don’t have to make coffee for me. I can do it.”