Ride Me Cowboy #2 (The Cowboy Romance Series - Book #2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

there.
Lydia had left a plate for me and while I heated it in the microwave, I asked
casually, “So, where’s Lydia this morning?” I purposely didn’t ask about Lexi. He
was always pissed at me about something, so it was hard to tell, but I’m pretty
sure he was suspicious of our night out together.
    “She’s out feeding the calves.” That was it, no
unnecessary conversation with the wayward son. I ate my breakfast in silence
and thanked God I had a rodeo I was leaving for on Thursday. It was up north by
Fresno, so it would be an overnighter. At least maybe people would talk to me
there. After breakfast, I went out to saddle up and go fix some of the fences
we hadn’t gotten to the day before. When I went into the barn, I saw Lydia and
Lexi. Lydia was showing her how to mix the powdered formula for the babies. She
didn’t look interested at all until she saw me and then suddenly Lydia seemed
to have her rapt attention. Lydia noticed me and stopped what she was doing to
say hello.
    “Good morning, Mark.”
    “Good morning, Lydia. Thank you for the breakfast.”
    She smiled, it was nice that one person on this
ranch didn’t seem to despise me. “You’re welcome,” she said. Then she looked at
Lexi, obviously wondering why we hadn’t said hello.
    “Good morning, Lexi.”
    “Morning, Mark.” That was it. She focused her
attention back on the powdered milk and with a curious look, Lydia finally did,
too. I headed out for another lonely day and prayed for the time to pass
quickly until I could get out of here.
    I was out near the edge of the property later that
afternoon when I ran into a guy named Bob that works for my dad. We all call
him Cowboy Bob and everyone has since before I was born. He’s an old school
cowboy that was born too late. He should have been out riding the range in the
times of one of Louis L’Amour’s novels.
    “Hey there, kid! How goes it?”
    “Hey, Bob. It’s going,” I said. I had my shirt off,
and I was covered with sweat. I’d been fighting with one stubborn fence post
for half an hour. I was trying to pull it out and replace it with a new one,
but it was being uncooperative.
    “We have equipment for that,” he said with a head
motion towards the post I was yanking on .
    I grinned, embarrassed. “Yeah, I know. I was mostly
just working off some steam.”
    “Is it about that girl?”
      “What girl?”
I asked, trying to keep my face neutral.
    He grinned. His teeth were stained yellow from years
of smoking three packs a day. “The pretty brunette staying up
at the house.”
    “She’s my stepsister,” I said.
    He laughed and slapped his thigh. “ Don't that just beat all? You got the hots for your stepsister.”
    “It’s not like that, Bob.”
    He stopped laughing and said, “I’m sorry, son. What
is it like?”
    “I just…shit! I guess, yeah, I do have the hots for her. Is that really wrong? I mean, it’s not incest
right? We’re not really related.”
    “I don’t see no harm in
it,” he answered.
    “I wish you were my dad, Cowboy Bob.” Bob was one of
the hands that taught me all I needed to know about riding bulls. He traveled
to all of my mutton busting events when I was a kid.
    He smiled gently this time and said, “Your Daddy has
always been hard on you. I doubt he won’t find something else to hold against
you, if you leave this alone. If it’s just about a piece of ass son, I say get
it somewhere else because it probably won’t be worth all the trouble…but if you
really like her, don’t let your grouchy old daddy stand in your way.”
    Bob and I talked a while longer, but when he rode
away, those words were ringing in my head. Maybe I was just going about this
wrong. Maybe I should start out by being her friend and that way I could be around
her, which is what I really want. I would get a chance to feel things out then,
too, and see if it looked like she really wanted something more to happen
between us. If not, I gained a friend. If