Read Temptation: Reckless Desires (Blue Moon Saloon Book 2) for Free Online Page B

brothers at risk, and they were all the family she had.
    Them, and Cole, too,
her wolf chipped in.
    She took a deep breath and forced herself to let go of his arm.
    “So, what can I get you?”
    “Coffee, please.” His eyebrow curved when he asked, and she melted all over again.
    “More coffee here, too,” the guys in the corner called. “Simon, can you turn on the TV?”
    She hurried off for the pot of coffee then zipped back to Cole, placed a mug before him, and poured. Just watching him smile made her go warm all over again.
    He leaned over to whisper in her ear. “Love your coffee.”
    Love!
Her wolf grabbed the word like a bone and paraded around with it.
He loves me! Loves me!
    She wanted to smack the beast and yell,
Coffee, dummy. He loves the coffee.
But the way his eyes locked on hers made it easy to believe he meant something else.
    She smiled shyly, and he smiled back. Touched her arm and sent crazy messages zipping around her body.
    Then the television blared to life behind them, and Cole froze.
    “A beautiful day here in Las Vegas for the annual bull-riding championships!” the announcer beamed.
    Cole didn’t swivel his stool to watch or turn his head. Didn’t make the slightest motion. He sat stiff as a statue as the show went on.
    “We’ve got a great day for you,” a second announcer chipped in and started going over the program for the day.
    “Janna, can we get refills?” one of the ranch hands asked.
    She dragged herself away from Cole and filled each of their mugs while peeking at the screen. Furious bulls twisted, turned, and tore up the arena. The men riding them jolted and jerked like puppets. Janna winced as one man after another crashed to the ground, then scrambled out of the way of charging bulls. Crowds cheered, buzzers buzzed, and the announcer went through a high-speed introduction of the competitors and the bulls. There was one named Gruesome, another named Haunted Hollow, and a third called Dante’s Inferno.
    Janna glanced at Cole, whose face was a mask.
    One of the Twin Moon ranch hands seated in the corner pointed as the television replayed a cowboy flying off a raging bull in slow motion.
    “Just like you flying off that bull at the ranch, Jake.”
    Jake flashed a good-natured smile and pulled up his sleeve. “I still have the bruise. Check it out.”
    “Yeah, and a matching one on your ass,” his friend taunted, then remembered Janna was there. “Sorry, sweetheart.”
    She barely noticed, still staring at Jake’s arm. She’d rarely seen a bruise on a shifter simply because they healed so quickly. Which meant Jake must have taken a hell of a fall.
    “This new Brangus-Criollo hybrid we’re trying out sure don’t like to be ridden.”
    “Don’t like much of anything,” another one griped.
    Janna looked over at Cole, who had clamped down so hard on the brass rail of the bar, his knuckles were white.
    “Uh, guys, can you watch this somewhere else?” she tried.
    “Are you kidding?” one protested. “It’s the finals, Janna. The finals!”
    She nodded. Bull-riding finals that Cole really, really didn’t want to see or even hear. Why, she didn’t know. Only that he looked stonier than ever before.
    “So that’s the lineup for today, along with the top bullfighters in the country to keep the riders safe.” The camera switched back to the announcer, who turned to his co-commentator. “Sonny, how do you think last year’s tragedy will affect the riders here today?”
    She halted in midstep and stared at the screen, where the man called Sonny was sadly shaking his head. Tragedy?
    “Well, Frank, they’re pros. I know they’ve all thought about it, but they’ve got to come into the arena with clear heads today.”
    “A terrible, terrible thing,” the announcer agreed, and the saloon went quiet but for the faint squeak of the ceiling fans. “Now, folks, some of you might want not want to watch this. Out of respect to the bull rider and his family, we won’t