Total pages in book: 136
Estimated words: 136247 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 681(@200wpm)___ 545(@250wpm)___ 454(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136247 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 681(@200wpm)___ 545(@250wpm)___ 454(@300wpm)
“Dude, you have to come to the rodeo and bring your girl too,” Ridge says, interrupting my thoughts as he sets his empty bottle down with a frustrated thump. “Grace has been itching like mad to meet her. She was disappointed she didn’t get a chance while the goats were at our place, but with the kiddo and wrapping up my last film, we had to send out Tobin.” He shakes his head at me. “I don’t like my wife being disappointed.”
I grin. “How’s that my problem again?”
Ridge lifts a brow and gives me his award-winning dead-eyed outlaw look. “It will be if you don’t bring Tory to the rodeo and enjoy a few hours off.”
“This isn’t Hollywood and we’re not back in Afghanistan,” I tell him. “Your tough guy act doesn’t work here, buddy.”
We all laugh again before Ridge and Drake head out.
“Tell me the truth. You’re going to the rodeo with her, aren’t you, Faulk?” Grady asks, shoving the twenty I’d laid out when we got here on the counter back toward me. “Keep your money, it’s on the house.”
“Nope.” I slide the twenty back his way. “And big nope on the rodeo and Tory.”
“Aw, hell. William Selleck will be there. The Selleck bull’s the toughest one in the riding event. You remember what we talked about a few weeks ago?” he asks, his eyes dark and questioning.
Shit. I’d forgotten all about it after recent events.
Turns out, Joyce Selleck is a friend of Grady’s and she wants proof her husband’s been cheating on her for years with a former rodeo queen. Grady asked if I’d do it since snooping after missing persons and two-timing spouses are practically all I do anymore.
“Should be easy. A picture or two of his hands in the wrong—or right—place is all the proof Joyce needs for the prenup she made him sign to hold strong when she files for divorce. William’s been sucking money off her ever since she married him.” Grady shakes his head. “Why she ever married that prick is beyond anyone who knows her.”
I hold in a sigh, knowing I can’t say no.
Between raising two kids on his own and managing the best bar in town, Grady is one hell of a guy with a huge heart. When he makes a friend, it’s for life.
He’s befriended Joyce Selleck since she spends so much time looking after his kids while he’s working. And I’d already half agreed to get the scoop on her cheating husband, knowing Joyce would be out of town during the rodeo, leaving William plenty of chances to mess around with the other woman.
“I’d go and take them myself,” Grady tells me, “but most of my part-timers are going to the rodeo. Don’t need to tell you it’s the biggest bash of the summer in this little town after the Fourth. That means one good chance to give the bar a deep cleaning, and then run the girls over later for the fireworks they shoot off.”
“I’ll get the pictures as planned,” I say, giving him a nod. “Don’t worry. I don’t need Tory for that.”
“But having Tory along will make you blend in, just one of the crowd, Faulk,” Grady says, tossing the beer bottles in the recycling without picking up the twenty.
Damn him.
And damn him again for giving me a good reason to mingle yet again with the woman I can’t pry out of my head.
“We’ll see. I’ve done gigs like this without a hitch all by my lonesome before, but I’ll do it.” I stand and tap the bar with my knuckles. “See you later, man.”
Long after leaving the bar and driving into town, I’ve got three things on my mind.
Tory, Tory, and also Tory.
No thanks to the blaring 'encouragement' I don’t need from Drake, Ridge, and Grady.
This ain’t about the rodeo. Every last one of ’em wants to see me get some action, I think, if not downright hitched.
They know me too well, including how I’ve lived like a monk ever since I came back to Dallas, with next to no patience for hookups and even less for serious dates.
But they’re all helping me, too, just because they want to.
Maybe I shouldn’t be so stubborn and I should throw my friends a bone.
What’s one more night out with her when they all want it?
Ridge and Drake for their wives. Grady for his friend. All three of them for me.
Shit.
Looks like I’m taking Tory to the rodeo.
If she’ll even go with me.
For all I know, she might already have plans with someone else. Granny, maybe, or hell, any handsome single man looking for a sweet piece of arm candy.
How arrogant am I for thinking I’m the center of her whole universe here in Dallas?
Even so, that doesn’t sit well with me at all.
Hot jealousy pumps through my veins. A territorial image flashes through my mind: going to her door, throwing her over my shoulder, and carting her off to bed. All for a girl—a friend—I’ve got no right to.