Free And Then You Dance (Crested Butte Cowboys Series Book 2) by Heather A Buchman Page A

rodeo to rodeo, but they never lasted longer than a week. He wouldn’t let them travel with him, and when they gave him shit about it; he walked away and never looked back.
    “Maybe I had more important things to deal with, more important things to be doin’. You don’t win a national championship if you’re not focused.”
    She still wasn’t talking.
     
    “I want this with you,” he said softly, almost a whisper. It wasn’t like him to be quiet, or still. Billy rarely stopped moving, but he sat next to her, so still.
    It spilled over to her. It was that way between them. They shared feelings.
    “Do you want it Renie?”
    She did. It’s what she’d always wanted. But now that it was a possibility, a reality, she wasn’t sure she could do it. What if it didn’t work out between them? Then what?
    “Fuck Renie, answer me.”
    She jumped at his drastic change in tone. “I don’t know.”
    Billy got up and started to pace. “Why the hell not?”
    “What happens Billy if it doesn’t work? We have to take that into consideration.”
    He sat back down and pulled her into him. “Tell you what, we’ll be ourselves, be the way we’ve always been, but let’s see where bein’ intimate takes us.”
    “I have to think about it Billy, without you here.”
    “Nah, if I’m not here you’ll get weird about it. Like you did with Pooh.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “You moved her. What the hell was that all about? You think I was gonna let you get away with doin’ something like that?” He laughed and shook his head.
    “No, I guess not,” she laughed too.
    “I’m goin’ home in the morning, which means I’m gonna sleep here with you tonight. And when you come down this weekend, you’re gonna sleep with me.”
    “What if I don’t come down?”
    “Then, I’ll come back here.”
    “Don’t you need to get back out on the road Billy?”
    “Not ready yet.”
    Renie fidgeted on the sofa, moving further away from him. “Wanna talk about it?”
    “Not really.” He ran his hand through his hair. “Yeah, I guess I do. My heart isn’t in it. I can’t explain it any better than that.”
    “Hmm.”
    “What’s that mean? You got an opinion, which you always do, don’t be shy about tellin’ me what it is.”
    “The best thing would be for you to get back out there. The longer you don’t, the easier it’ll get for you to convince yourself you’re done.”
    “What about us?”
    “You can’t use ‘us’ as an excuse Billy. Get back out there. Ride. Compete. It’s what you do.”
    “Don’t wanna.”
    “Get over it Billy. Turn your attitude around.”
    “What about us?” He asked for the second time.
    “Again, we aren’t an ‘us.’ Get back out on the road and do what you do. I’ll be here when you get back.”
    “Come with me.”
    She’d been to many rodeos Billy competed in, but not because she was there for him, or with him. He asked her to go once, the year he won the national finals in Las Vegas. But, he hadn’t really invited her; she and her mom went more as part of the family.
    “I can’t Billy. I’ve got too much work to do here. I have labs due, and I have to study. This gets harder every year. And as much as you have to focus, so do I.”
     
    Billy abruptly stood and pulled her up with him. “I want your body next to mine Renie, and I want it now.”
    “Billy—”
    “Now Renie. Don’t argue with me.”
    He kissed her lightly. “I want you,” he whispered. He put his hands on the small of her back and pulled her closer to him, his tongue licking over her lips, her breasts pushed into his body. He shifted to bring her pelvis into his.
    She made a sound, a whimper, and kissed him back. Her hands came up and ran over his chest. She was so tender, so loving. It almost brought him to tears. She had so much love within her for him it spilled out through her lips, her hands, her pores. Renie breathed love for him.
    “I want to be inside you,” he murmured. His lust for her