And Then You Dare (Crested Butte Cowboys Series Book 5) by Heather A Buchman

all day were
wearing on her. The next one was her meeting, and that made all the difference.
She was equal parts nervous and excited about signing new team members. In
years past they hadn’t signed five competitors in a year. Today they were
signing twenty. And Bullet wasn’t one of them.
    He hadn’t brought it up last night either. She’d expected him
to, particularly after the run-in with Stormy. Instead, he danced with her.
Tristan lost count of how many times. After the first two songs, Bullet went to
the bar and got them both a drink while Tristan talked to Lyric about today’s
meetings. Before she could get too deep into business mode, he whisked her back
to the dance floor.
    Bullet was a good dancer. That hadn’t been a surprise. His
graciousness, and their conversations were unexpected.
    Tristan was beginning to think she’d been wrong in her initial
assessment of Bullet. Maybe he was more talk than action. Last night Lyric told
her about his late wife’s struggles with bipolar disorder, and how hard Bullet
had tried to make their marriage work.
    “You talkin’ to yourself or horses this afternoon?” she
shouted out to him. Bullet waved, slapped the horse’s hindquarters, and walked
over to her.
    “Needed some time outdoors. Bein’ inside all day was gettin’
to me. I’m not one for sittin’ in meetings.”
    “Me too.” Tristan looked up at the mountains surrounding the
ranch. The sky, set against the green of the trees, was so blue. No photo could
capture its intensity.
    “Beautiful here, isn’t it?”
    Tristan opened her eyes. Bullet
stood right next to her. “It’s the same in Black Forest. Sometimes Grey and I
lie right down on the grass and watch the clouds move across the sky.”
    “Mmm, that sounds wonderful.”
    Bullet hopped the fence, and pulled her by the hand. “Come on,
we got a few minutes before you gotta get back inside.” He didn’t let go of her
hand until he’d pulled her down on the grass with him. She expected it to be
damp and cold. Instead it was warm from the sun.
    “Look there,” Bullet pointed to a cloud. “Looks a lot like the
filly when she reared up on me a bit ago.”
    Tristan put her hand across her brow to shade the sun’s glare.
“It does.”
    “Reminded me of you.”
    “What?” Tristan started to sit up, but saw Bullet’s grin and
laid back down.
    “Dada!” Grey came running across the lawn and jumped on
Bullet’s stomach.
    “Sorry,” said Liv, chasing
after him. “He saw you out here and was through the front door before I could
stop him.”
    Bullet lifted the little boy up in the air and spun him around
until he giggled. “How’s my big boy?”
    Tristan couldn’t understand any of what Grey said in response,
but it seemed as though Bullet did. Watching him with his son made her think
again that she had misjudged him. Perhaps she should invite him to the
sponsorship meeting. If they could sponsor twenty, they could certainly sponsor
twenty-one.
    Bullet set Grey on his bottom on the grass and pulled his
ringing phone out of his pocket.
    “Yeah,” he answered. “’Bout
damn time.” Pause. “Sure, I can meet ya. Just give me a couple days to make
arrangements.”
    When he hung up he picked
Grey up again. “You ready to see sissy?”
    Grey squealed and let forth
another slew of unintelligible words.
    “Sissy?”
    “My daughter. Her mama
finally agreed to let her come visit. Been too damn long, hasn’t it Grey?” He
set Grey down again, who laid down in the grass next to Tristan.
    Her head was spinning with
questions. Daughter? Mama? Bullet had another child? Had he been married
before? Why hadn’t Lyric told her that part of the story?
    “Pearl is goin’ on four,”
he said, as though that was all the explanation necessary.
    “Time for my meeting,” she
stood and walked toward the house.
    “Tristan?” he asked after
her.
    “What Bullet?”
    He was on his feet,
striding toward her. “What’s goin’ through your