Bad News Cowboy

She slowed considerably when she approached the third barrel, then made an easy loop around it before stopping Roo inside the arena. She cursed again, the foul word echoing in the covered space.

She lowered her head, buried her face in her hands and just sat there. Feeling pissed. Feeling miserable.

“It was a pretty crappy run.”

She raised her head and looked up, saw Jack standing against the fence, his boot propped up on the bottom rung, forearms rested on the top.

“What are you doing here, Monaghan?”

“I decided to come a little early and see Eli and Connor. Neither of whom are here.”

“So you decided to come over and poke me with a stick?”

He lifted his hands and spread them wide. “No stick.”

“Verbal sticks, asshat.”

“Sure. I have verbal sticks. Why the hell did you suck so bad?”

“What does that mean? Why did I suck so bad? I didn’t suck on purpose.”

“No, you didn’t. But you can do better. So the question is, why did this run suck so bad?”

“I don’t think there’s an answer to that question,” she said, sitting up straighter on the back of her horse and crossing her arms.

“There is always an answer to that question. And if you want to be a lazy-ass rider, then the answer to the question is that your animal acted up. But if you want to get better, then the answer is that you did something stupid. Always put the control with yourself. Then it’s your fault when you lose, but then it’s up to you to win.”

“Are you going to have me wash your truck now?” Wax on, wax off.”

“I kind of am your Mr. Miyagi at the moment. Your flirting guru. I might as well teach you how to win rodeo events, too.”

“No one asked.”

“But I am the only one of the two of us who has competed on a professional level. And if it is something that you really want, maybe you should accept my help instead of being stubborn.”

“I’m not being stubborn.”

“Babycakes, you eat stubborn-Os for breakfast.” He wandered over to the open arena gate and grabbed hold of the stopwatch that was looped over the top rung of the fence. Even while he was here witnessing her failure, annoying her, she couldn’t ignore how damn sexy he was. The way his jeans clung to his muscular thighs.

Did women look at thighs? Was that even a thing? Or was it just a bad case of the Jacks?

“I’ll reset your barrels.” He walked into the arena and made sure everything was lined up, lifted the one she had knocked down. Then he walked back to the fence. “Reset yourself, Katie.”

She flipped him the bird while obeying his command. She had some pride, after all.

Then she shut him out. Shut out his voice, shut out his presence and focused. The horse started to move, and she knew that Jack would have started the time at that moment. The start was a little bit slow, and she faltered going around the first barrel. Then she shook her head, spurring Roo on harder into the second. That went better. But she knew she wasn’t at top time. Not even her own top time. She was too in her head, and there was nothing she could do about it right now. Not with Jack here. Not with that whole list of professionals she was going to be competing against in front of people.

Not when she was going to be faced with the undeniable proof of whether or not she had the ability to compete professionally and win. And down went the third barrel.

Kate growled, bringing Roo to a halt. She slid off the back of the horse, walked over to the barrel and reset it herself. “I’m gonna call it good now,” she shouted.

“Do it again.”

“No. I’ve done it twice—that’s enough.”

“Your horse can handle more than that. You know that.”

“I’m done, Jack,” she said, feeling a whole lot angrier than the situation warranted. But she didn’t care. Because all of this felt like a little bit too much. Because she wanted Jack, and yesterday, just when she thought he might want her too, he had walked away. He had walked away and acted as though it didn’t matter.

And now he was here again, getting in her face, treating her like a kid. He was the worst. He was worse than the run she had just done.

“Do you want things to go well when you compete next month?”

“No,” she said, her tone dripping with disdain. “I want to fail miserably in front of a thousand people.”

“With those skills, you will.” There was an intensity to him that was unusual. And it matched her own.

This was weird. All of this was weird. Sure, she and Jack sniped at each other, but this wasn’t normal.

None of this was normal, and she had no freaking clue what to do about it.

She turned away from him and started fiddling with the barrel position again.

“You going again?” he asked.

“Nope,” she said. “I already told you that.”

“Stop being a baby.”

She snorted. “Kiss. My. Ass.”

“I don’t think I’ll kiss it, actually.” She didn’t see his next action coming. Literally, because she was turned away from him. The sharp crack on her backside with his open palm didn’t hurt, but it sure as hell shocked her. “Now, get that pretty ass back on the horse and do it again.”

Shock, anger and undeniable lust twisted together in her stomach, forging a reckless heat that fueled her next set of actions.

He had too much control. She let him set the terms in the Farm and Garden, let him mess with her, let him ramp up her attraction and walk away. He thought he was the teacher, in everything, in all things, because he thought she was a kid, easily dealt with. Wasn’t that what all of this was? Just him dealing with an obnoxious kid. Teach her how to flirt, keep her out of trouble. No way. No more.

He had too damn much control, and he was too confident in it. She was going to take it. Now.

She reached out, grabbed ahold of the collar of his shirt and pulled him forward, catching him just enough by surprise that she managed to knock him off balance and close the distance between them as she stretched up on her toes to press a kiss to his lips.

She realized her mistake a split second too late.

She’d seen it as a moment to seize power, but what she hadn’t realized was that all semblance of control would flee her body like rats off a sinking ship the moment his mouth made contact with hers.

There was no calculation, not now. There was no next move that she could think of. There were no thoughts at all.

There was only this. There was only Jack. The heat of his body, the sensation of his lips pressed against hers. The fact that this was her first kiss was somehow not at all as important as the fact that she was kissing Jack.