Free One Night With a Cowboy by Cat Johnson Page A

he wasn’t married
     to Cassie. So that was good.
    Her gaze stayed on the chute where all the action was taking place. She didn’t realize
     she’d clamped on to the rail until Cassie’s hand patted hers. She glanced down and
     saw her own white knuckles wrapped in a death grip around the metal.
    “Don’t worry. Tuck’s a veteran rider. One of the best, and this bull is nothing compared
     to the one he drew last night.” For a young girl, Cassie had a very wise look in her
     eyes. Or maybe it just seemed that way because Becca really wanted her to be right.
    Becca nodded, trying not to overanalyze why she was so concerned over the well-being
     of a man she’d only met a few hours ago. The truth was, she could barely breathe as
     she watched and waited for this ride to be over.
    She was about to thank Cassie and ask her more about the bull when the sound of the
     gate crashing open had her attention snapping back to the chute, just as Tucker’s
     bull charged into the arena.
    “Go, go, go! That’s it, Tuck!” Cassie cheered the man on the bull while Becca watched
     silently and wide-eyed.
    Unlike Jace’s ride, which was over in the blink of an eye, this one seemed to go on
     forever. Like it was happening in slow motion. The bull spun and bucked. Tucker, with
     one arm held high in the air, absorbed the shock of every one of the bull’s moves
     with a counteraction of his own.
    The sound of a buzzer had her jumping, startled by the loud noise that broke through
     her attention when she’d been solely focused on Tucker. Then she breathed a sigh of
     relief. She knew enough about the sport after her tutorial to know the ride was over.
    Yet Tucker was still on the bull’s back. He held on for what seemed like forever,
     though it was probably only a few more seconds before he reached down and yanked the
     end of the rope tied around his gloved hand. He leaped off even as the bull continued
     to spin and buck away from him.
    The other men in the arena scrambled. It took a while to get the bull out the gate,
     but Tucker was off and out of danger. That was all Becca could focus on. She let out
     a shaky breath.
    The announcer’s voice reverberated through the air, and Becca looked to Cassie for
     interpretation. “What did he say?”
    “Eighty-seven-point-five. Decent score. It probably should have been higher, but his
     bull wasn’t a great bucker. The bull score was probably low, and Tuck is such a good
     rider technically, sometimes he makes it seem too easy so the judges don’t score him
     as high as they should.”
    “I’ll never learn all this.” Bull scores? Judges? She shook her head and sighed.
    This sport was far more complicated than she’d assumed. She’d thought the rider just
     got on and tried not to fall off before the buzzer. Apparently there was more to it
     than that. Just like how there was much more to cowboys—and Tuck—than she’d ever imagined.
    “That’s a funny thing to say.” Emma shot Becca a sideways glance. “Especially for
     a person who didn’t want to come in the first place.”
    Becca scanned the cowboys again and found Tucker. He’d just bent to retrieve his bull
     rope from where it had fallen to the ground. After receiving a slap on the back from
     one of the bullfighters, he turned. She saw his gaze sweep the area. When it hit on
     her, he grinned and began striding directly toward where she stood. With a wide smile,
     she waited for him to arrive.
    “Emma, save your I-told-you-so for later, please. I have a bull rider to congratulate.”
    When he reached them, he initially focused on Becca, but then turned the brilliance
     of his smile toward Cassie and Cheyenne. She missed the attention immediately. It
     was as if someone had turned off the sun. She watched as he leaned low and gave the
     baby a kiss on her blond curls.
    “Look at you, getting so big. And how is Mamma doing?” He straightened up and gave
     Cassie a kiss on the cheek, and Becca found