Cowboys & Kisses by Sasha Summers Page B

crushed between my knees. Anything but him.
    “Allie?” my mom whispered. I turned. “Are you okay?” I nodded. “You sure?” she said, putting her hand over my knee. I nodded again. “You want to go?” she asked, so softly I knew no one else could hear her. “I didn’t think about how stressful this might be.”
    “The needless endangering of human life for sport, you mean?” I asked, keeping my tone as light as possible.
    She smiled, her blue eyes twinkling. “Exactly.”
    She was giving me an out. We could leave. I wouldn’t have to deal with Wyatt or Levi…or Wyatt…or the way I felt around Wyatt.
    “Barrel racing is next,” Dax said.
    And just like that I knew I couldn’t bail on him. “I’m good,” I said. “It’s not like…what happened…had anything to do with this.”
    Her eyes widened. Probably because I never brought up what happened, ever .
    “No…I suppose not,” she agreed. I could tell she was working through things to say. “Funnel cake?”
    I blinked at her then burst out laughing.
    With Wyatt’s events over and Molly placing second, things got a lot less stressful. Bull riding was beyond me. The fact that there was an ambulance standing by said it all. But, as Bubba pointed out, there was an ambulance standing by at football games too. When I tried to argue that a single player didn’t carry around a knife or weigh a couple thousand pounds, he just stared at me.
    Then it was over. “Not too late,” Dad said to Dax and me. “Nothing stupid or risky.”
    Dax nodded. “Yes, sir.”
    “They’ll be fine,” my mom assured him. “You have your phones?” Dax nodded.
    “If Levi or Wyatt drink—”
    “Dad,” Dax cut him off. “Wyatt doesn’t drink. But, yes, we’d call you for a ride.”
    My dad’s expression was hard. He opened his mouth, then shut it, looking at Dax, then me.
    I stared at the wide leather cuff I wore around my wrist, pretending one of the pieces of turquoise was loose just so I didn’t have to acknowledge him.
    “Have a good time.” Dad’s voice was rough.
    I followed Dax to the far side of the arena. Levi was there, with Austin and Dylan and a bunch of other people I didn’t know. Molly was there, all smiles for Dax. She was sitting with a group of blinged-out cowgirls.
    “Ready?” Levi asked, smiling at me.
    Why couldn’t I be more like Lindie? Levi was cute. He had a decent sense of humor. He was clearly into me. But I was so not into him. I nodded anyway.
    “Let’s go.” He tilted his head in a this-way movement. I followed him. “What’d you think?” he asked.
    I shrugged. “It was interesting.” He laughed. I glanced back. Molly and Dax were following, walking close together. I hurried to catch up to Levi, giving them some privacy.
    “Your brother’s into Molly?” Levi asked.
    “Looks like it,” I agreed.
    “She’s kind of…well, she…” He shrugged.
    “She’s what?” I asked, worried.
    He lowered his voice. “She’s kind of…a tease.”
    “What do you mean?” I didn’t like where this was going.
    “She smiles and dolls herself up but she doesn’t date,” he said.
    Meaning she’d probably turned him and all of his friends down. I liked her even more. “Looks like she’s into Dax,” I said.
    He nodded. “I guess.”
    Levi drove a four-door Blazer, old and so jacked-up he had added two steps to get inside. I used the handle he’d welded to the front and pulled myself up and into the front passenger seat. It was surprisingly clean on the inside, smelling like cleaner and a splash of cologne. When he turned the key, the engine roared to life.
    I had no idea where we were going or what was going to happen, but Molly chattered away in the backseat.
    “You should be happy,” Dax said to her.
    “I am, Dax,” she replied. “I’m happy that’s over and we can enjoy tonight.”
    I smiled out the window of the car, imagining the grin on my brother’s face.
    “What did y’all do to celebrate wins?” Levi