Cowboy Save Me: By Judith Lee (Tiller Brothers Book 1) (2 page)

Tammy was thrilled with her win.  Sure there were only 200 quilts at the show, but there were pretty amazing quilters that lived in Wyoming. 

But what had astonished her the most was the way she had flirted with the gorgeous looking cowboy. 
Cowboy, ha! He is no boy!
 
No, he is all man
. When he had hugged her, she had felt his manly steel spring to life under those Wranglers he wore low on his hips.  There was no question about the mutual attraction. God it had been too long since someone as delicious as Cody had felt desire for her. 
Wow.
She was so ready to break out of her three year self-imposed ban on men. It just wasn’t in her nature to flirt with a man she didn’t know.  Or any man for that matter.  It had been three years since her disastrous marriage, and she had never been a flirter, not in high-school or college. She had been the quiet type who spent more time in the library than at parties. What had come over her to challenge him like that?  At the time, she had been more excited about staring into his scorching blue eyes, than her first ever Best of Show win.  Maybe, it was Mother Nature’s way of telling her it was time to get out of the sewing room and start living among adults again instead of just playing with cotton fabric.

“Tammy?” a voice called out behind her.  She turned around to see Cody’s sister; at least she guessed it was his sister.”  She remembered two other women named Tiller, besides the Grandmother, when she had helped check the quilts in yesterday.

The crowd had thinned, and she automatically held out her hand in greeting.  “Hi, you’re Cody’s sister?”

“Yep, I’m Jenny, although I don’t look much like Cody, more like momma, but you must have seen me hugging grandma.”

“Yes I did.  Don’t you and your mom have quilts in the show that also won ribbons?”

“We have quilts here but I haven’t had a chance to check on how they did.”

“Let’s go find them.  If I remember right I think you both got first place in your categories.”  They started walking away from the stage.

“I actually came back to give you a ticket to the rodeo tonight.  Cody wanted me to give it to you and ask you to come.”

Tammy stopped walking and smiled as she looked at his sister.  Just thinking of Cody brought goose bumps to her arms.  She surprised herself when she answered, “Thank you but, no, I can’t go,”  while the woman inside her, who had flirted with Cody, was jumping up and down saying,
Yes, Yes, Yes, Go you idiot
!

“Darn, do you have something else going on or a boyfriend?” Jenny asked out of curiosity.

“Not ‘til much later tonight, but honestly your brother is way out of my league…hell, he’s bigger than life, and I’m not interested,” she laughed, “…and no boyfriend.”

“Oh my God, have I finally met the first woman who has ever turned Cody down, even if it’s just that he wanted you to come watch him at the rodeo tonight? I need to enter this in my diary as a day in history.”

Laughing, Tammy looked at Jenny, and said, “You know I just haven’t dated anyone for a while, not that this was a date.” 

“Really, a woman as talented and beautiful as you are… not dating?” she asked with skepticism.   “I can’t believe it. Have you lost your mind girl?  Have you seen my brother?  Of course, you’ve seen him.”

“He is quite a looker, no doubt about that, but I’ve been trying to find myself these last three years.  And as they say, ‘I’ve come a long ways baby’…but I’m not ready to jump back in the shark tank with someone like your brother who can and probably does get every woman he wants, and probably on a daily basis, if you know what I mean?”

“Believe me, I understand.  He really is a great guy though but I’m not here to pimp my brother.  He just asked me to help him out and I agreed under the condition that he introduce me to Jared Stevens.  No worry though.  I did my part by asking.  Let’s look at the quilts.”

“You know Jenny, I’ve heard…things…about Jared, not that I can confirm them, but I would be careful with him if I were you.”

“Now you sound just like my brother.  Jared is just…eye candy.  I’d like to eat him up but I  wouldn’t ever do that.  I even had to promise Cody that I’d behave, for God’s sake.  I don’t think Cody knows I’m 22 years old and not a dumb little kid anymore.”

“I like you Jenny Tiller.  Listen to your brother on this one, at least until you know if there is fire with the smoke with Jared? He may be different than everyone thinks.”

“Same goes for my brother, you know… Ah there’s my quilt. I wanted to ask you a question about my binding…”  Jenny decided to change the subject and even though she was curious about what happened three years ago, Jenny wasn’t going to ask.

***

“She said what?  Bigger than life? That’s crazy.  She’s the one that’s drop dead gorgeous.”

“Don’t beat up the messenger. I told you everything she said Cody, word for word.  She seems like a nice woman.  Not sure what happened to her three years ago, but sounds like she isn’t ready for your kind of dynamics.”

“Dynamics, bullshit! All I did was offer her a ticket to the damn rodeo.  I didn’t ask her to….”

“I know. I’m pretty sure she knew you weren’t the marrying type, Cody.”  She turned her back on her brother, disgusted with his attitude.  If he couldn’t see that Tammy wasn’t like all his buckle bunnies, she was done with this conversation.

Well he didn’t give a damn if Tammy and her sexy freckles didn’t want any more to do with him.  Although he wondered why she had stared at him with that challenge in her eyes? He had just tried to be polite by asking if she wanted to come to the rodeo.  He hadn’t really been looking forward to seeing her sitting in the stands with his mom and sister, right?  Okay, so if he admitted the truth, he was a little disappointed. He had kept looking up at the stands wondering where she was.  Well, this was nothing that one of those chicks waiting for his autograph couldn’t cure in an hour or so.

When the rodeo was over, he kissed his mom on the cheek and told her to drive home safe. The dirt road to the ranch was filled with holes, which he needed to get the plow out and fix before they got any worse. 

His grandmother had already left earlier in the day and gone to her home with one of her friends after watching her son Josh and Cameron get 2
nd
place in steer roping. Jenny was staying the night in town with her best friend, Jan. His dad, Matt and Cameron were loading the bulls, and would be following mom shortly.  He and Dakota were staying in the horse trailer, which was more like a motor home on wheels.  Dakota would probably be hitting the Honky-Tonk Bar about now, but Cody didn’t feel like joining him just yet.  He decided to walk through the exhibits which would be closing soon. There was a feeling of vitality still flowing as the fair and rodeo got ready to wind down for the day, and Cody had always liked walking around and feeling the left over energy. The smells of cotton candy, fried turkey legs, and steak and onions filled his nose, and he had to step over a few puddles of vomit near some of the high flying rides.

He found himself walking toward the 4-H and Open Exhibitors section.  Maybe he would just peek in and see his mom and sister’s quilts.  He hadn’t had time to see them displayed yet and he heard they had both won first place ribbons.  At least that’s the reason he gave himself, as he peeked in the door and not that
she
might be working there late tonight.

What he saw stopped him in his tracks.  Tammy was leaning down picking something off one of the quilts. The smooth skirt was tight over her ass and she looked inviting. His heart sped up a beat. She straightened up and slowly turned around to see who had entered.  She had white gloves on and an apron that was embroidered with the word, ‘Volunteer’. 

“Hey,” he said.

“Hey, back to ya,” she smiled at him.

He smiled back, his eyes soaking in everything about her, her face, her body, her pleasantly surprised expression.  What was it about this woman that drew him to her like a moth to a spider’s web?

“How’d you do tonight, cowboy?”

“Actually I disqualified myself. I’m supposed to keep both spurs touching the horse’s shoulders until the horse’s front feet hit the ground after the initial jump out of the shoot. And my left spur came off early. I have a tendency to do that. Hell, I’ve done it so many times that I get teased about it all the time from the regulars who always ride bareback. I did ride it for eight seconds just to prove I could, and then crashed and burned.  Hurt my pride more than anything.” He slapped his ass with his hand to let her know where he’d crashed.

“… My brother Dakota did okay; he made the short ride and placed in the money.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t get to see you get your buckle award this afternoon.  Your sister said you won.”

“Yeah, wish you could have been there tonight. I kinda felt like I got stood up.”

She walked up to him and looked up into his eyes, “Why Cody?  We didn’t have a date or anything.”

“I gave the ticket to Jenny to give to you, to ask you.”

“But you didn’t ask me in person Cody.” 

“I had to get back, but I should have asked you myself.  No excuses.  Are you about done here?”

As if on cue, the security guard popped his head in the door and said he was there to lock up.  She walked over and took off her apron and white gloves, put on her jacket, and grabbed her purse.  She thanked the guard, before they exited the building.

“Can I walk you to your car? Or buy you a beer? Or take you dancing?” He smiled a sheepish grin and took her hand in his as they started walking.

She looked up at him, and looked surprised that he had taken her hand.

“To my car, thank you.”  Her eyes twinkled impishly up into his eyes.

He had thought she would say no to everything so he was thrilled for this one small victory. He asked her which way her car was and kept a tight grip on her hand as they began walking toward the back parking lot.

He stopped in the first parking lot section, and said, “Listen.”

She heard someone singing Kenny Roger’s song, ‘Lady’ from the nearby bar.

“Let’s dance.”  He swung her into his arms before she could say no and pulled her close.  Her copper locks rested perfectly under his chin.  He moved slowly as his hand caressed her back and he held her other hand next to his shoulder. 
Mmmm, nice
. He wanted to pull her closer so he could feel every curve of her body. Her smell, gardenia, was powerfully intoxicating and he drew his face closer to her neck.  Her neck was smooth and soft like velvet, and he wanted to kiss her so much. If he didn’t think that she already believed he was a womanizer he would have lived up to his reputation
. Damn, I still might
.

The words of the song surrounded them as they danced, “Lady, I’m your knight in shining armor and I love you.  You have made me what I am and I’m your love.”  The words blared out into the parking lot from the bar.  Cody leaned in close to her ear and sang the next verse softly, “Let me hold you in my arms forever more.”  She smiled up at him.  They danced for a few more minutes under the moonlight.

“For so many years I’d never thought I’d find you.  You came into my life and made me whole. I’ve waited for you so long,” Cody continued to sing to her in his soft baritone voice. He heard her sweet giggle.

“Such a cowboy,” she whispered to him.

After a few minutes, she pulled back.  She seemed overwhelmed and said in a low voice, “It’s getting late Cody.”

Feeling the loss of her body next to his made him feel empty.  They quietly started walking to the car. He scrambled to think of some way to get to see her again.

“You know my sister is showing her rabbits in the open class tomorrow morning at 10:00.  She’s pretty proud of them, and thinks the rabbit category never gets its just recognition. Do you think you would want to go with me to support her?”

She smiled, and he knew she knew, he was reaching with that one.  Since when had he started acting like he was still in high school?

“Alright, since you asked me in person, and I really like your sister, I will meet you there at 10:00.”

“Then could I take you to lunch?”

“Don’t push it cowboy,” she laughed.

When they got to her car, she pulled her keys out of her purse.  He took her keys and leaned in to unlock her door.   Standing close to her, almost touching her, he ran his fingertips over her freckles. 

“Darlin’ you remind me of sunshine, so fresh and pretty.”

“Does that line work a lot?” she smiled up at him.

He laughed, “Don’t believe I’ve ever used that one.  Corny, huh?”

“Cody, I think you really are a nice guy, but I’m just not ready to start dating again. I have lots of issues that I don’t want to talk about.  I just don’t want to lead you on or give you the impression that I’m….”

“If you are going to say ‘easy’ I can tell you, I know, you…are…not… easy.”  He spoke in a low voice.   “And I mean no disrespect.  I really would just like to get to know you. And just so you know, I’m kinda’ in a transition stage myself, and I don’t want to talk about it either.” He echoed her words back to her.

After she studied him pensively, she replied, “Thank you for walking me to my car.  I will come watch your sister and her rabbits tomorrow.  Good night and thank you for the invite to the rodeo, too.  I wish I had gone.”