Read Roses and Rodeo (Rough and Ready) for Free Online

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    Danica paced her living room and chewed her fingernail then looked once again at the text message from Creed on her phone.
    Wish you could be here tonight. I’ll be thinking of you.
    She shook her head. It had been a week since she’d first met Creed and he was about to ride a bull on national TV. He wanted her to watch and she was actually considering it.
    Okay, this was silly. She stopped pacing and grabbed the remote control off of the coffee table and clicked on the TV. She changed the channel to the sports network and saw that the bull riding event was just getting started.
    She sat on the edge of the couch, remote control in hand as she listened to the announcers and saw the first cowboy settling in to ride. It was a matchup of the fifteen best bulls and fifteen best bull riders.
    The announcers talked about the bulls and how these were scored as the toughest, rankest animals in the sport.
    As the announcers turned their attention to the rider and the bull he was on, they named the rider and the bull and talked about the match-up.
    The camera stayed on the first rider as he tightened the bull rope then secured his riding hand.
    Other cowboys stood on the bars of the chute, giving advice and helping the rider get ready. The rider gave a signal and then another cowboy on the other side of the gate yanked the gate open.
    The bull shot out of the chute and bucked three times before it tossed the cowboy off. The cowboy scrambled out of the way of the hooves, picked up his western hat that had flown off, and dusted it off on his chaps as the bullfighters worked the bull toward the exit chute.
    She realized she had been gripping the remote control hard enough that her fingers hurt and she forced herself to set the remote on the coffee table as the channel went to commercial.
    When they returned from commercial, Danica watched other cowboys ride bulls and get bucked off before the eight-second mark. Every time the rider ended up on the ground she tensed up even more as the bull’s hooves pounded the hard earth close to the cowboy.
    Darryl Thompson was the first rider to stay on his bull the full eight seconds. The announcers talked about how great Darryl’s skill was and how he was hot on the tail of Creed McBride for the number one position.
    Danica wondered if Kelsey was watching, too. She hadn’t talked with her friend since earlier in the week. Kelsey still sounded hopelessly enamored with Darryl. Danica had checked him out on the Internet, too, and when she’d looked up images there were plenty with Darryl and any number of buckle bunnies. Danica had wanted to talk with Kelsey about it, but wasn’t sure if she was overreacting. Just because she’d seen pictures of him with various women didn’t mean he was a player and would hurt Kelsey. Those women were “before”, like the women in Creed’s past.
    Right?
    Her phone rang and she glanced at it to see that it was Barry. She’d managed to dodge him all week. She sent the call to voice mail and then looked at the TV again.
    Another commercial break, two more riders, and then a familiar figure was in the chute.
    “Creed McBride,” an announcer said. “A legend in the making. He’s riding Destroyer and it’s the first time these two have been matched up. Not many cowboys get past two seconds on Destroyer. We’ll see how McBride handles him.”
    “McBride is a real pro. I’d never bet against him,” the other announcer said.
    Danica started chewing her nail again as she watched Creed in the chute on the back of the bull. The bull thrashed around in the chute and Creed had to adjust himself and continue his preparation.
    He gave a nod and the gate was jerked open and the bull shot out of the chute and into the ring.
    “Look at the way McBride handles Destroyer,” the first announcer shouted.
    Danica wanted to cover her eyes but made herself watch every brutal second. She was amazed at how at ease Creed looked in the saddle of a beast that would