Ride Me Cowboy #3 (The Cowboy Romance Series - Book #3) by Alycia Taylor

nodded and said, “I don’t know what is going on
with me, Sam. I tried so hard not to have feelings for him. God…he’s hot.” We
laughed and she said,
    “How hot?”
    “He has dark hair and it curls up around his cowboy
hat…and these incredibly sexy sapphire blue eyes. He’s not super tall, but his
body is like perfectly proportioned…you know? It’s all hard lines and lean
muscle…”
    “Wow, you have it worse than I thought.”
    “Shut up, I do not.”
    “If you believe that you need to stand in front of a
mirror and say all of that the way you just did. Honey it’s in your eyes no
matter how much you deny it? Have you slept with him?” I felt my face go hot.
Before I had a chance to deny it she said, “Oh my God! You have so been holding
out on me! I want details.”
    “I feel so guilty about it, Sam.”
    “Why? You’re an adult, he’s an adult. You’re single,
he’s single….” she must have noticed the change in my face because she said,
“He is single, right?”
    I shrugged. “He says he is. Some Daisy Duke looking
chick showed up the other day and called him “my man.” Then she proceeded to
find him in the barn and kiss him. When I walked in on that, I would have bet
money he was kissing her back.”
    “What did he say?”
    “He denies it. He says she kissed him and he pushed
her back and told her they’d been over for a long time…”
    “But you don’t believe him?”
    I shrugged. The teas burned my eyes again. “Maybe I
don’t want to,” I said. For the first time I realized something and then I said
it out loud. “Maybe I’m looking for an excuse to break things off with him once
and for all.”
    She raised an eyebrow and said, “You want to know
what I think?”
    I smiled and said, “You’re going to tell me
anyways.”
    “Yes I am. I think that love is really hard to come
by and if you find it…and you’re not blood related to the guy, you shouldn’t be
looking for ways out. Sometimes I think the reason that you and I have had such
a hard time of it where men are concerned is because we’ve been so rigid about
a “type” that we’re looking for.”
    “We’re not in love.”
    She laughed. “Let’s go dance.”
    “What are you laughing about? I am not in love with
this guy!”
    She laughed again. “Okay. Let’s go dance.”
    “Samantha!”
    “Listen Lex…you can deny it to me and to your mom
and even to him…but you can’t deny it to yourself. Don’t deny yourself the
chance to be happy. I know your mom and I know that she wouldn’t want that
either.”
    “But you don’t know Mark’s dad. This would cause so
many problems for Mark and my mom with him…”
    “Want my final piece of advice on the subject…before
we go dance?”
    I laughed. “Okay, give it to me.”
    “First, look in your heart and decide what you want.
Then, talk to Mark and talk to your Mother. If he feels the same and your
mother tells you to be happy…which I know she will…then screw the wicked
step-father.”
    “Please don’t hold back, Sam. Tell me how you really
feel.”
    “You couldn’t handle that much truth,” she said with
a giggle. She slid off the stool and hooked her arm through mine, pulling me
down. “First we dance and then you give me some details about the cowboy
hook-up.”
    Lexi and I danced and then as we were leaving the
dance floor she saw a guy that she knew from work. I excused myself and went to
the bathroom. While I was in there I felt my phone buzz. I looked at it. It was
a text from Mark. Damn him! Why can’t he just leave me alone? I hadn’t thought
about him for fifteen whole minutes at least. Damn it! I read the message and
it said,
    “I’m
sorry about the misunderstanding. I hope you’ve had time to think it over. I’m
not leaving for the rodeo until day after tomorrow. Think about it, please.”
    I text back, “Don’t
hold your breath.” I felt mean…but I also felt like he deserved it.

 
    CHAPTER
EIGHT
    MARK
    By the