Ride Rough - Tessa Layne Page 0,6

let's get all this equipment put away and call it a day."

Trace vaulted over the rails and joined Tony in pushing one of the practice bulls back into the large barn.

"You gonna join us, this time around?" Colton asked casually as he joined Trace. "Wouldn't hurt for you to get to know the guys a little better."

It was on the tip of his tongue to decline, like he'd done all the previous times over the past month. Sterling, Jason, and Travis' collective warning echoed in his head. Keep a low profile. Stay away from the local color. He knew exactly what they meant - no letting loose, and definitely no ladies. But most of these guys were married, some even with children. Trace couldn't imagine them getting into the kind of crazy he was used to in L.A. Tony and Robbie pretty much lived at the fire station, and Jaxon was a math teacher at the high school. Not exactly rabble-rousers. In his old life he would have dismissed every one of them. But now the shoe was on the other foot. If he was honest, he envied the easy camaraderie he'd observed between them, the natural trust they placed in each other. Portia had admonished him to make friends. Was this what she'd been talking about? If it was, he sure as hell couldn't do that sitting alone on the porch of his bunk house, teaching himself the guitar. And dammit, he was tired of his own company. It wouldn't hurt this once, would it? He squared his shoulders. "Sure, okay, why not?"

Chapter Four

June - the next morning

"I think you should look at this as a positive, CiCi," Cecilia's little sister Mariah encouraged. "Take some time off, reassess your life goals... have a fling," she added with a snicker.

Cecilia snorted, blinking extra to stay alert. She'd been driving all night, and desperately needed caffeine. Calling her sister had been the next best thing. "When was the last time you were home?"

"Christmas, same as you."

"So you are aware there's nothing remotely close to fling material in Prairie, Kansas?"

Mariah giggled. "Come on, there's gotta be Tinder for Ranchers. I'm sure you'll find someone you can swipe right for."

"Not amused, sis. Not amused." Although Cecilia couldn't help but chuckle at the thought. "If I can't meet someone the old-fashioned way, I'm not interested."

"But you have to admit, it's a good way to find a no-strings-attached fling."

"Just like you did? Hello pot, meet kettle." Cecilia wrinkled her nose. "Not everyone's as lucky as you are, sis."

"Ha," Mariah exclaimed sharply. "You forget I nearly married the d-bag of the year. But yes," her voice softened. "Harrison is by far and away the best thing that ever happened to me."

"So why not marry him?"

Mariah giggled again. "I'm not considering anything until I stop traveling with the women's National Team. You know as soon as there's talk of a wedding that Mom and his mom will go nuts with the planning, and I can't handle that right now."

Cecilia envied how methodical her sister was when it came to her life goals. Mariah had been that way since they were kids, steadily checking off the things she'd wanted to accomplish and not letting anyone stop her. Cecilia's passion for truth and justice and had driven her into journalism, yet where had she ended up? A thirty-year-old spinster, driving a dilapidated 1993 Volvo with 235,000 miles on it back to her hometown in the middle of nowhere, with no life boxes checked off. No Pulitzer, no relationship, not even a cat. And now? No career, either. "I'm so tired of beating my head against a brick wall."

"Then don't. Why not freelance? Or do something completely different. Start a lifestyle blog."

"About ranching? Cowboys? You know that stuff's not me. I'm better off applying to be a war correspondent."

"Oh please don't do that. I'd die of worry. I'm telling you, freelance. Write the stories you want, be as creative as you want. Start horseback riding again. Do things you've always wanted to try and never had the time. Fix up the house for Mom and 'Buelita. Lord knows it could use some updating, and you were always good at that kind of stuff. They're not going to be back until close to Christmas, so you'll have plenty of time. And send your big story to Vanity Fair or Rolling Stone or The Atlantic Journal or something. I bet one of them will jump on it. It's too juicy not to