 by Frankie Love.jpg)
Total pages in book: 21
Estimated words: 20145 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 101(@200wpm)___ 81(@250wpm)___ 67(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 20145 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 101(@200wpm)___ 81(@250wpm)___ 67(@300wpm)
But now that June is all grown up, I can’t keep thinking about her.
I’ve always been the strong and silent type. She is the sparkle at every party.
I think about her constantly, dream about a future, and it’s high time she knew it.
When I confess my feelings – things change. Fast. It’s time to grab the bull by the horns and hold on tight – it’s about to be a Rowdy ride! -dual virgins
-bull rider energy
-small town cowboy
-scorching hot
-forbidden romance Burly is one town over from Home, WA where the Rough family lives. The Rowdy boys are their cowboy cousins. Get ready for them to lasso your heart!
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
1
JENNINGS
The seats are packed, the murmuring of hundreds of people serving as our background noise.
“The hometown crowd, huh?” Danny says as he slaps me on the back. “Nothing like knowing everyone you grew up around is here to watch you and remember every mistake you make today.”
“The solution is to not make any mistakes, Danny. Isn’t it simple?”
“Easier said than done.” He scratches the hair under his hat. “You’re the perfect one. I think they keep me here because they need someone to bumble around for comic relief.”
Ramblin’ Randy’s Rodeo has long been a fixture in Burly and its surrounding counties. It’s a traveling show, going about and giving a bit of that Old West flavor to the people. Danny and I are the bull riders, but the rodeo has more than that. Lots of horse-riding tricks, making them dance, a petting zoo for the young’uns, and of course, clowns in cowboy hats.
You can’t forget the clowns in cowboy hats.
It’s what Danny is, he just doesn’t wear any makeup and tries to ride bulls with the rest of us.
And I remind him of this fact every time I think it’ll be funny to see him get riled up.
He doesn’t really hold it against me. There’s a showmanship to it all. I may be one of the best bull riders in our little circus, but rodeo has always been this weird blend of performance and competition. You need a bit of variety, not just everyone being as perfect as possible. To people who don’t have any Old West in them to understand, I often compare it to professional wrestling with a whole lot more beef and a whole lot less Spandex. We aren’t the same, but we’re definitely cousins.
A big part of that difference is that I’m riding that bull for real. Hard to get an angry cow to go along with a script, what with it being about a ton of angry beast who doesn’t understand the concept of performance beyond what limited training we can give it.
And Danny’s right about the stakes being higher today. This time the show is in Burly itself, where Danny and I, and Danny’s sister June, were born and raised.
June. Just thinking of her gives me goosebumps.
“Think you got enough layers under there, buddy?” I say as I watch Danny button up his shirt.
“It’s cold. And it’s dangerous. We ought to be out there in, like, leather jackets instead of these rhinestone shirts and dungarees. But leather jackets are for bikers and not us, I guess.”
I grunt in agreement. This is dangerous work, but damn, it’s a thrill. It’s what brought me here in the first place, and liking everything else beyond the bull riding makes it all the more fun for me.
All bundled up, Danny checks himself out in the mirror. He’s looking good and ready to go. He then takes off his hat and sits it down on the table. “Going to go get my pre-ride snack.”
“Still don’t get how your ritual ends up with you not puking all over the bull.”
“Calms my nerves, Jennings. You know more than anyone that bull riding is way more about keeping your head in the game than strictly about muscle and balance.”
He heads toward the door and in comes in a similar face, though much prettier.
Junebug Jenkins. A recent addition to our little traveling circus.
And a long-standing crush of mine.
She looks up at me with those sparkling blue doe eyes of hers and I can’t help but instantly fall in love with her all over again.
“Out to assert dominance over the bull with a pre-match beef hot dog?” she nudges her brother as he passes.
“You know it.”
They’re close siblings. I kind of understand it, having four very close brothers of my own. No sister, though, so these two have a different dynamic than I’m used to. For instance, my brothers never really tried to gatekeep my chastity.
Danny leaves us and June says, “Hello there, Jennings.”
Her eyelashes flutter. She has such a bubbly personality and I love it so damn much.
She joined us on our tour last year when she got out of high school. She had the performer's itch, and the skills a lot of girls in Burly pick up. A horse girl, she knows a lot about guiding them, more than just from between point A to point B, and is one of the rodeo’s newest and hottest acts. She’s a barrel rider, riding fast through an obstacle course and impressing the crowds with her skill. Given that a lot of them know horses themselves, that really does mean something.
“Hello there, Junebug,” I say, a smile on my face.
“Oh, you know I don’t like it when you call me that.”
“But you don’t seem to mind it when everyone else calls you that.”
“Yeah, but you’re different, Jennings. I’m fine with them seeing me as that charming little girl. Maybe I want you to see me as more than that.”