The Twins' Rodeo Rider

Staring at her butt in the wet suit wasn’t going to make the definitely warm area—a lesser gentleman might even term that area of his body as hard, but thanks to the wet suit it was a concealed difficulty—any less warm. She was like a slippery seal with curves, wriggling in his hands, but she was making a good-faith effort to learn what he was trying to teach. And she hadn’t complained about the water temperature once.

Which was the thing he’d always admired about Suz—she was tough. In a delicate sort of way. If she were a man, she would have been a great SEAL candidate.

“You’re doing fine. But that’s enough for today.” Cisco helped Suz from the water to the bank, ostensibly guiding her so she wouldn’t slip and fall back in, but really so he could keep his hands on her a little longer under the respectable guise of swim coach.

“So what do you think?” Suz faced him as she toweled off. It looked like she might want to shiver a little, but wasn’t going to give in to it.

Secretly, he was dismayed by the fact that Suz really couldn’t swim. “At this short-straw party that was held in my honor, did you happen to mention to anyone that you couldn’t swim very well?”

Suz shook out her hair. “No. I didn’t think I’d be short straw. I’ve always been pretty lucky.”

So she didn’t think swimming for him was necessarily a good thing. Cisco was about to move on to his next salient question, namely: Was there anything else she could think of to be done to avoid the Curse, as he now thought of Bridesmaids Creek’s very potent charms, when the nightmare of his nightmares roared up on her shiny motorcycle.

Daisy hopped off, shed her helmet and glared. “What’s going on?”

“Cisco’s giving me a swimming lesson.” Suz fluffed her hair, spraying a few final water droplets. “What’s going on with you?”

Daisy’s glare could have cut fog. “You’re cheating.”

This didn’t sound good. Cisco decided he’d best intervene, but before he could say anything, Daisy got back on her bike. “I’m filing a formal complaint with the Bridesmaids Creek committee. You know very well that you’re not supposed to be doing anything to influence the prize, Suz Hawthorne.”

Suz stiffened up like a fierce chicken. “How am I influencing the prize? Cisco’s giving me a lesson. There’s nothing else going on.”

Daisy’s gaze slid to him. “You’re not being impartial.”

“Guilty as charged.” There was no point in denying it. “Look, Daisy, I know there’s this enchantment, or airy-fairy nonsense, that appears to be pretty baked here in this town, but I don’t care how many curses you put on me, I’m just not going to be into you.” He swallowed, hating to hurt her feelings but realizing that bluntness was needed before the threat of committees got thrown around some more. He didn’t know what strength a BC committee had, but there was already enough bad blood in the town as it was. “I don’t care how many times you win me, I’m not the guy for you. I’m sorry.”

Daisy shook her head. “That’s the beauty of the charms here. Sometimes we don’t know what’s right under our noses.”

He looked over Suz’s seal-slick figure, eyeing her curves and her streaked hair. “I know what’s under my nose. I don’t need any race or contest or matchmaker to tell me.”

Daisy frowned. “I’m going to file a complaint. Once again, the Hawthornes have conspired to work things to their advantage. Suz, you’ve tampered with the race, and that’s just not done in BC. Our legends are sacrosanct.”

Suz shrugged. “File away. I don’t care. It was just a swimming lesson.”

“Just because you’ve always been the hometown princess doesn’t mean you can break the rules.” Daisy zoomed off.

“Hell, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize we were bending any contest rules.” Cisco shook his head. “I don’t want to be the damn prize. I only swam the first race because her dad was putting up a huge purse, and my buddies and I decided to win it and give it to charity. And we looked forward to putting a major thumping on Daisy’s gang.” He shook his head. “Didn’t foresee Squint, of all people, cramping up and crab-crawling into last place.”

Suz walked to his truck. “So don’t be the prize, if it bugs you so much. It’s just a moneymaker for our town. People like to come out and see the event, the same folks who frequent our haunted house at the Hanging H. Families who like family events they can go to with their kids.”

“It’s a big deal, huh?” A little guilt seeped into him.

She shrugged and got into his truck. “I told you, it’s a fund-raiser, a community-building event, and we enjoy tooting our own horn here. With Robert Donovan trying to tear this town down, we encourage family-friendly events, hoping to tempt people to settle here.”

He started the truck, noting that the guilt was rising inside him. “But it’s so silly.”

She smiled, brushed her wet hair straight back from her forehead in a slick tail. He had an even better look at her face sans jewelry and hair, and realized Suz wasn’t just pretty, she had a fine-boned beauty to her that was stunning. “It seems silly to you. You’re not from here. I might think things in your town are silly, too. Or at least unusual.”

“Yeah. Probably.” He drove down the road toward the Hanging H to drop her back home. Then he’d trudge over to the bunkhouse, where his buddies would be waiting to rib him. “What would happen if I fell for someone else?” he asked, his voice deliberately casual, his heart banging like mad. “Even though Daisy won me—which is kind of a bogus win, because I was really swimming lights-out to win her dad’s dough to donate to charity, and to beat her gang, which was awesome—” he took a deep breath “—but I wasn’t trying to win her.”

“So you’re saying that the legend might not work because you had ulterior motives?” Suz looked at him.

“I’m just asking.” He went back to his original question. “So, theoretically speaking, what would happen if I fell for, say, you? Wouldn’t that negate the charm?”

“It’s never happened. We’ve always operated within the bounds of what’s worked all these years. Never tried to circumvent the system.” She studied him. “You really don’t like Daisy, do you?”

“No,” he said, pretty desperately. “I’m not a superstitious guy, but you folks are giving me the heebie-jeebies with all this charm stuff. I don’t believe it, but there may be something in the water, because I never dreamed I’d see Ty Spurlock settle down. Ever.”

“Yeah, that was a shocker.” Suz shrugged, put on some shiny, clear lip gloss. “So don’t be part of the swim.”

“It’s that easy?”

She turned to him, surprised. “Of course! No one’s forcing you to participate in our town functions.”

Town dysfunctions. He wondered if he was being a dud over what was arguably probably just a fun day in January, something to break up the monotony of an otherwise cold, dreary month.

How he wished Suz was the prize. For her, he was pretty certain he could set new swimming records. “I know you can beat her. I’m not worried.”

Suz’s delicate heart-shaped lips separated. “You’re not?”

Cisco took a deep breath. “Nope.”

“Because you sounded like you were a second ago.”

“I feel pretty good with my champion,” he said, smiling at Suz. “And we’ve got a few more days to teach you. You’ve got this.”

Suz smiled. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” He pulled into the Hanging H’s long drive. “It’s going to be fun. And I saw on the weather report it’s going to be an unseasonably warm day Saturday. Everything’s in your corner.”

She brightened. “Thanks for believing in me.”

“Never doubted you.”

He got out of the truck, and she hopped out, too. She waved goodbye, and went into her house. Cisco took a deep, fortifying breath, and slunk into the bunkhouse to face the teasing he knew he would receive.

Squint and Sam lounged on the leather sofas, drinking what looked like hot cocoa and eating bonbons, Cisco thought with disgust. “Are those chocolate drops you fellows are dropping into your maws?”

“Mmm.” Squint grinned. “They’re called cake balls, but they’re really more chocolate or vanilla frosting than a piece of cake. Here.” Squint tossed him one, which Cisco caught, popping it into his mouth after studying it.

It was sweet, but he’d rather go to Suz for his sugar intake. “Don’t you fellows have anything to do? Besides sit around in the lap of luxury?”

“Actually, we’re waiting on you for the swim report.” Sam grinned. “We’ve already heard from Daisy.”

“Great.” Cisco pondered the beer in the fridge, decided to hit the whiskey instead.

“Self-medicating?” Sam asked, and his buddies guffawed.