Quickdraw Slow Burn (Battle of the Bulls #3) - T. S. Joyce Page 0,14

so you’re in between them, right?”

“Yes,” she said through clenched teeth. Hmmm, so Hunter Kaid was his source. Good to know, because when she could change into her wolf again, she was going to give that cowboy hell. She knew who the Kaids were. Any werewolf worth their weight in salt knew who they were.

“I’ll only have my eyes on you, and that means making you happy if I can, taking care of you, and being honest when you need questions answered. I want you to tour with me through the weekend and on the marketing tour that follows the finals. Wherever I rank—”

“It’ll be number one—”

“Wherever I rank,” he continued, “I’ll still be a part of the marketing tour afterward, and I want you to stay. Take a serious look at this life and warm up to me if you like me. After that, you can decide if you want to stick with this. You can decide if it’s enough for you.”

“Why? Why are you wanting this? Why are you wanting a girl for the finals and for the marketing tour?”

“Not just a girl. You. I risk losing focus right at the end, but for the last month, since that night with you, I can’t get you out of my head. And for me, that has to mean something. I don’t care about anyone, Annabelle. At least I didn’t until I joined this fucked-up herd with Two Shots and Dead and their ladies. I was fine being alone. I didn’t call anyone after a buck. I didn’t share my triumphs, and I didn’t share my failures. I was good with just me on my team. And then I started leaning on Dead and Two Shots during events, cheering them on, feeling that fire when they cheered me on, and I hated them a little less. I saw them take care of their ladies in the way I never figured out with Maren. And I hated them a little less. Then I met you. And when you left, Raven noticed me get quieter. She took the time to ask me what was wrong, but I didn’t know. Hell, I still don’t know what’s wrong with me. But every day, she checked on me and, sometimes, she just talked about you, like she knew I needed that. She let me get to know you through her eyes, through her stories of when y’all were kids. I guess I don’t want to just think about you all the time anymore. I want to be around you. I want to know what all this means, and the only way I can figure myself out is if I spend time with you. I’m watching Two Shots and Dead of Winter succeed with their bucking, but it’s different than it was before. They’re happy. They aren’t made of fire and brimstone no more. They buck to make their mates proud, to give them a better life, and it’s more honorable than just bucking because you’re filled with hate. And maybe I want to try it. Maybe I don’t want to buck just to satisfy the chip that got carved into my shoulder. Maybe I want to buck to make someone proud of me.”

Annabelle’s heart was pounding so hard. Could he hear it racing out of her chest? She wasn’t used to a man being so open. So honest. She wasn’t used to a man exposing his heart at all. She would’ve never, in a trillion years, imagined Quickdraw Slow Burn had a depth like this.

“You don’t have any family to make proud?”

He shook his head. “All gone.”

“All gone, how?”

His lip snarled up just slightly, and she knew she’d hit a nerve.

“You said ask you anything. That’s the benefit to this arrangement, right? We can just be honest right from the start. Show each other the good, the bad, and the ugly.”

“They all passed on,” he ground out. “I’m the only Burn left.”

“Oh, no,” she whispered. Horrified by even the thought of losing her own parents, Annabelle slid her hand to his shoulder and massaged his neck. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

“I have one more question.”

He cleared his throat and adjusted himself in the seat, gripped the wheel a little tighter. “Ask as many as you want.”

She licked her lips and waited through the chorus of the country song playing low on his radio. She was being a coward, and she didn’t like being weak, so she closed her eyes and forced out the words, “Do you want