Calder Storm Read Online Free PDF Page A

switching a new roll of film for an exposed one, accomplishing it with practiced ease. Anticipation flowed through him, keen and sweet, for the evening to come.
    Johnny said something to him, dragging Trey’s attention away from Sloan. The next time he looked, she was gone from the spot. A few minutes later, he caught a glimpse of her farther down the line.
    Johnny was among the last group of bull riders. To Tank’s never-ending delight, he was thrown a quarter of a second short of making the eight-second buzzer. Tank was happier yet when the bull stepped on Johnny. Thanks to the padded jacket, his friend escaped with only a bruised rib.
    Tank needled him as they made their way to the pickup parked in the infield. “Hurt to breathe, does it, John-boy?” he observed on a note of feigned sympathy. “Not to worry. It’s nothin’ but a little bruise.”
    â€œShut up, Tank.” Johnny pushed the words through gritted teeth.
    â€œBest thing is to keep movin’. That way the stiffness won’t set in,” Tank declared, echoing the advice Johnny had spouted to him.
    Most times Trey would have joined in, offering some good-natured ribbing of his own, but his thoughts were all for the blue-eyed girl called Sloan. The smooth lilt of her voice played in his mind, unique, to him, in its absence of any discernible western accent. The image of the way she’d looked at him was there, too, the gleam in her eyes that had been so bright and alive to him, yet wisely just a little guarded. He recalled as well the silky appearance of her hair that seemed to invite his fingers to run through it.
    As the trio continued its drift toward the collection of vehicles and stock trailers parked in the infield, night’s shadows deepened and lengthened. Trey cast a look back at the lighted arena and grandstand area and scanned the mix of spectators, contestants, and workers exiting the grounds, hoping for another glimpse of Sloan. The vast majority sported cowboy hats; the rest were bareheaded; and he saw no one in a billed cap.
    As near as he could recall, he hadn’t seen her after the top riders started their competition for the night’s prize. It could be she hadn’t stayed around to watch it.
    â€œYou looking for somebody, Trey?” Johnny asked, all curious.
    â€œNot really.” The question served to bring his attention to the front.
    â€œHe was probably checking to see if Kelly was on his back trail,” Tank suggested slyly.
    Johnny was quick to voice his opinion. “I told you that you should have turned her down when she asked you to that school dance this spring. Now she’s got her loop set for you.”
    That was a road Trey didn’t want to go down, not after all the ribbing he’d already taken about it. Trey had long ago learned the best way to deflect was to attack. And he did.
    â€œYou know why she’s doing it, don’t you?” he said in light challenge, spotting the pickup and angling toward it.
    â€œâ€™Cause she’s got her sights set on being the next Mrs. Calder, that’s why,” Tank declared.
    â€œYou’re wrong,” Trey replied calmly, a touch of devilry shining in his own eyes. “She’s just using me to make Johnny jealous.”
    â€œMe?” Johnny looked at him in pure shock.
    â€œIt’s one of the oldest strategies in a woman’s bag of tricks,” Trey told him. “I saw my sister use it plenty of times.”
    â€œKelly isn’t interested in me.” But there was a faint note of uncertainty in his voice.
    Trey hid a smile. “Don’t kid yourself. She’s got her eye on you. Why don’t you ask her out and see what happens?”
    â€œJohnny ask a girl out? That’ll be the day,” Tank declared. “You know he’s too cheap to do that. Right, John-boy?”
    â€œShut up, Tank,” Johnny muttered as he climbed into the cab.
    Trey slid behind