Rodeo Romance (Contemporary Western Romance Short) by Teresa Gabelman Page A

around her, bringing her closer.
    Pulling away from him to catch her breath was not easy. Both of them were breathing hard, his rough hands on her bare legs actually felt natural, as if they belonged there. Prying her eyes from his, she looked into the bathtub at the empty Peroxide bottle.
    “Did you do that just to put Peroxide on my feet?” she whispered, glancing back at him.
    “What Peroxide?” His grin tilted to one side in a sexy smile as he moved in for more.
    A loud bang hit the bathroom door. “Shit,” Cindy said from the other side. “Who locked the damn door?”
    Shocked, Trisha watched his grin grow as he winked at her. “Do you think she’ll go away?” he asked, hopefully. Trisha laughed with a shake of her head. With a sigh, he turned without getting up and unlocked the door. Cindy stood on the other side holding two cell phones.
    “Haven’t you checked your phone since we’ve been here?” Cindy frowned, holding it up.
    “No.” Trisha let Jake help her stand and step out of the tub.
    “Well, you have over a hundred missed calls and tons of text messages.” Cindy ignored Trisha’s ‘shut up’ look. “And now he’s calling me.” She held up her phone.
    “Who?” Jake stood, moving out of Trisha’s way.
    “Her ex.” Cindy hissed when her phone began ringing again. “He must have received the restraining order and is pissed.”
    Trisha was glad that everyone had left, except for Hank who was gathering the flashlight and shotgun. She snatched her phone out of Cindy’s hand. Glancing down at the display, she cursed even as her stomach tightened in the familiar knot of dread. She knew once the restraining order was issued, all hell would break loose, that was why Cindy got her out of Cincinnati.
    “Why did you get a restraining order against this guy?” Jake asked, his voice no longer friendly. “Did he hit you?” With that question, his voice became deadly.
    “Yeah, he did and—” Cindy started.
    “Cindy!” Trisha glared at her, and then looked at Jake and Hank who both looked pissed. “Only once. That’s when I left him. When he wouldn’t leave me alone, I filed the restraining order.”
    “What’s his name?” Jake asked. His eyes narrowed as his shoulders flexed.
    “Why?” Trisha looked confused.
    “As I’m kicking someone’s ass, I’d like to know the man’s name,” Jake sneered. “Makes it more personal.”
    “I don’t think you’ll get a chance to do that.” Trisha grinned at the thought of Doug getting his ass kicked by Jake. “Even though he has his connections, we’ll be back home before he finds out where we are, and hopefully, he’ll have calmed down.”
    “I hope he does come here.” Hank nodded, his smile sinister. “We have something called Texas Justice against bastards like him. We don’t tolerate women being hit by men.”
    Jake nodded in agreement as he headed for the door, but stopped, cupping her chin and lifting her face to his. “Especially you,” he whispered for her ears only.

CHAPTER 8
    Ever since the night of the raccoon fiasco and Jake finding out about Doug, she hadn’t seen much of him. They had been there for over a week and all she could think about was Jake. It was driving her insane. Tim informed them that morning that Jake had to take care of some rodeo business off the ranch all day, and for them to head to the main house to help their mother get things set up for the crowds coming next week for the rodeo. Maggie was a treat to be around and loved talking about her boys. She found out so much about Jake; she smiled at the memory. Her stomach flipped excitedly as another memory popped into her mind of Jake’s parting words to her that night. ‘Especially you.’  But since that time, he hadn’t acted on anything at all, puzzling her something crazy.
    Despite her ruling out men, she knew she was only fooling herself. Jake was different. There was an immediate connection there. While Doug always made her nervous,