“Hunter,” he scolded, “let’s go back home.” He jerked again, and Hunter shook his entire body and lunged to the side. Nick hadn’t been expecting the move and, in one quick motion, he slipped off the side of the horse and landed in the mud directly at Kara’s feet. Hunter used his new freedom to sprint across the field, heading directly towards the barn.
His dad was going to skin him, he thought as he watched the back end of the horse. Then he glanced up and saw Kara smiling down at him.
“Told ya.” She climbed on her pony and gracefully rode back to her house while laughing at him.
ChapterOne
Ten years later…
Nick got jerked around as he held onto the bull. Kara would have screamed, but the horror of what she was seeing had caused her voice to seize up. Instead, her fingers gripped the wood fence tighter as she silently prayed and counted the seconds.
When the buzzer sounded, he gracefully slid off the bull’s back and hopped onto the railing of the fence, a few feet from her. He had the gall to wink at her as he climbed over the rungs and landed directly at her feet.
“So, what’d ya think?” he asked her, shifting his black Stetson further onto his head.
“I think…” she started, feeling her heart still racing, and not from watching him ride the bull, “that you’re an idiot.” She turned on her heels and stormed back to her seat next to her dad.
“That kid’s got more guts than brains,” her father said under his breath.
“Yeah,” she agreed.
“I think it was wonderful,” Luanna said.
Kara’s mother had died shortly before Kara turned eight, before they’d moved to Wyoming from California. It had taken years before her father had started dating again. Two crazy women later, he’d met Luanna while they’d been on a vacation in Hawaii. One short year later, after a very long-distance courtship, he’d married her and given Kara an older stepbrother, Beau, whom Kara adored. She adored both of them, actually—mother and son.
Beau had joined the military after graduating from high school. Then, he’d moved back to Hawaii to be closer to his roots. Kara and her family visited him often.
Kara watched Nick move back over to where the rest of the riders stood waiting for their turn in the spotlight. Their mere seconds of glory. When she noticed Nick watching her, she jerked her eyes away.
“He sure has grown up,” her father said. “I remember when he was barely big enough to climb on a horse himself.”
Kara remembered the day she’d met Nick and smiled. It was the one time she could hold over him. The one time he hadn’t been… smooth. Since then, he’d proved over and over that he belonged in the saddle. Including bull riding now, apparently.
For the next hour, she sat and watched the riders come and go. When she got hungry, she made her way to the snack bar and had just ordered herself a burger when someone gripped her waist from behind.
“There you are, Kara.”
Kara groaned. “What do you want, Willy?” she said without looking at the boy behind her.
“My name is Wil,” he said tersely. “I wanted to make sure you watched me ride. So you could imagine what it’d feel like when I take you.” Willy bumped his hips against her butt. She jerked forward and pushed him away.
“Gross,” she said, shoving him again. “That is never going to happen.”
Willy smiled and tried to pull her close again, locking her hips against his.
Several people waiting in line watched them, but no one did anything about it. Willy and his dad, Wilbert, were the town bullies, and no one wanted to cross them.
Kara fought him off as best as she could without punching him square in the jaw. Even though he was good-looking, probably one of the hottest guys in her class, he was a perve and an ass.
“Leave me be,” she finally said, shoving him again. Somehow she miscalculated and ended up in his arms again.
“Is there a problem?” someone said directly behind them.
Kara groaned inwardly. Nick and Willy were mortal enemies and cousins. Whatever Willy did, Nick did it better and usually with more grace. However good-looking Willy was, Nick was easily twice that.
“Leave us alone, Nick,” Willy said. Somehow Willy always managed to make Nick’s name come out like a curse.
“Kara, I came to tell you that your folks are leaving. They asked if I could give you a ride home. That is, if you wanted to stay longer,” Nick suggested.