Roped Tight (Ryker Ranch #4) - Kim Loraine Page 0,3
trimmed beard. My stomach tightened, a flash of nervous energy rushing up my spine. Tucker was standing next to me. Why?
“You’re not drinking the right alcohol if you make a face like that when it goes down.” His voice was warm and smooth, like a piece of dark velvet rubbing my skin.
“It’s getting the job done.”
The soft rumble of his laugh made my breath tight in my chest. Why did this guy have me so on edge?
“You’re Sam Ryker, right?”
I turned my head and looked at the man. His rugged features weren’t any different from the rest of the ranch hands who lived on our property. He had the deep tan of hard summer work and the look of a man who knew how important a day off was.
“That’s me.”
He grinned, a slow smile that turned up on one side. “I’m Tucker.”
“Yeah, I know who you are. You liking the ranch?”
A slight nod was his response before he took the empty seat next to me. “Saw your winning ride tonight. Never seen anyone ride that hard.”
The praise sent warmth rushing through me. Fuck.
“Been riding bulls since I was sixteen.”
“What’s that, like five years ago?”
Shit. Yes. “You’re a roper,” I said, changing the subject. I’d watched him in action, just like he’d apparently watched me.
He shrugged. “I just do it for fun and a little extra cash. Working the land is what I love.”
“Not me. Don’t get me wrong, I love my family’s ranch. Workin’ hard makes me proud, but there’s nothing like the thrill right before that chute opens and it’s just me and that bull.”
Nodding, he took another pull from his beer. “Looks like you got someone waitin’ on you over there,” he muttered.
I frowned. If Trav or Clint wanted something from me, they’d just come right on over. “What?”
He jutted his chin toward the seat beside me where a girl had sidled up next to me. I didn’t want to pay attention to her. I’d rather talk to him. But he stood and tipped his hat. “I think this pretty lady wants a dance, Sam,” he said before leaving. “Don’t disappoint her.”
Watching him walk away, I fought the urge to go with him. He was right; the girl sitting next to me was pretty, but for the life of me, I couldn’t make myself want her.
Shit. I wanted him.
The sound of breaking glass filled the room, followed by shouts and the distinct noise of fists meeting flesh. My gaze snapped to the center of the dance floor where I saw Travis and Clint fighting three guys while Trav’s wife stood off to the side.
“Sorry, darlin’, duty calls,” I said to the girl sitting at my side. Then I rushed into the fray to help my brother and cousin.
What had been two against three quickly became a brawl I knew would shut the place down. The lights came up, blazing bright, and the band stopped playing, but that didn’t do anything to douse the flames of the fight. Clint took a right hook to the jaw, the blow knocking his hat clean off his head. Blood sprayed from his mouth and hit the floor. Anger exploded in my veins. With a snarl, I launched myself on the guy who hit my brother, tackling him to the ground and pounding his face until sirens cut through the rush of my pulse in my ears.
A pair of strong hands gripped my biceps and pulled me away. Tucker’s low grunt of “Come on, we gotta get you out of here,” vaguely registering as the crowd scattered.
“Clint and Trav,” I protested.
“They’re fine.”
He tugged me out the back door of the bar and into the alley. My right eye throbbed, and something warm trickled down my cheek. Raising my fingers to gingerly touch the area, I sighed when they came away red with blood.
“Shit, he got you good.” Tucker cupped my jaw and turned my face into the light.
“I didn’t even feel it.”
He chuckled. “First night out at a bar, and you capped it off with a bar fight.”
We were both still breathing hard, bathed in the light of the moon and the stars above. I stared into those intense eyes of his and waited one heartbeat…two…before he finally released my jaw and stepped back.
“We’d better see what’s going on with Clint and Trav.”
A slight nod from him was all I got, then he shoved his hands in his pockets and started toward the mouth of the alley. I wasn’t ashamed to say I