The Bull Rider's Collection by Lynn Cahoon

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    Cleaning the second cabin took half the time of the first now that she’d found a rhythm. Carrying her load of discard pillows toward the main house, she searched the yard for signs of James and JR. They’d completed the power washing and the lawn area was empty and quiet. She glanced at the river, calling, “Time to get ready for the rodeo. JR? James?” Then headed for the house —
    — where she walked through the kitchen door and into a smiling James.
    “Here, let me take that.” He grabbed the pillows from her and turned to look for a trash bag.
    “What are you guys doing, taking a break while I worked?” Lizzie frowned at JR who was standing on a chair in front of the table. “Get down from there, how many times do I have to tell you?”
    JR jumped to the floor. “Tah-dah.”
    “Very nice, now get upstairs and change into the clothes on your bed.” Lizzie ruffled JR’s hair and then she saw the bouquet of spring wild flowers in the middle of the oak table. “Oh, JR, they’re beautiful.”
    “That’s what we were doing. Picking you flowers.” JR beamed at her.
    She pulled him into a hug. Whatever had she been thinking? She didn’t need to be jealous of the time JR chose to spend with James. Her son still loved his mommy. She smiled at James, who leaned against the doorway, watching.
    “Thank you.”
    “Dad helped. He said you were working hard and deserved a treat.” JR shot a look at James, then turned his attention back to Lizzie. “You really like them?”
    “I love the flowers and the thought. Thanks, buddy.” Lizzie stood. “Now go get ready.”
    JR flew up the stairs. “We’re going to the rodeo again.”
    “Thank you, Captain Obvious,” Lizzie joked. “And thank you for the flowers. They are beautiful.”
    “JR’s idea.” James walked closer.
    “Somehow I doubt that.” If she reached out she could run her hands up his arms, touch those shoulders. It was a shame James had retrieved his shirt. The black tee hugged his body, reminding Lizzie of the man underneath. Her hands twitched.
    “You deserve flowers every day.” He leaned in.
    Lizzie’s eyes closed, waiting for the kiss. She could feel his breath on her face, warm and hinting of mint. Then his lips touched hers and she fell into the kiss. Soft and tender at first, as if James waited for her to stop him. When she responded, he deepened the kiss. She reached up and pulled his head closer, her hands touching those shoulders she’d been thinking about all morning. James groaned, interrupting the kiss.
    “We have to get ready for the rodeo.” He held her close, arms around her waist.
    “Really?” Her eyes danced as she thought about the things she’d rather do than drive into town and sit on wooden bleachers, watching cows run around a pen.
    “Do you want to explain why we aren’t going to JR?” James brushed a cobweb off her cheek. “Because I don’t.”
    “Sure, leave me with the hard stuff.” Lizzie touched his face. His lips.
    What the heck was she doing? JR was upstairs.
    She tried to take a step backwards, but James pulled her back.
    “Stop. We are going to talk about this.”
    “Talk about what, James? This?” She made a back-and-forth finger motion between them. “ This is what it’s always been, hot and ready to run out of control. If you mean something else, quit dancing and speak.”
    James held her gaze. “Tonight’s probably going to be crazy. I need to break the news about JR to Jesse. And he and I need to talk about our partnership. This changes it. JR changes it. He and I have to figure that out.”
    For a long moment Lizzie looked at him, saw the earnestness and sincerity written in with the passion on his face. And she wanted to believe him the way he’d believed her about JR, without thought or question. Accept his desire to make things different at face value. But.
    But no matter how much of the last six years — or really all the years since his mother had left and that included