Taming a Texas Devil (Bad Boy Ranch Book 5), стр. 18

“I was going to, but then I got a little distracted.” Val brushed a strand of Reba’s dark red hair behind her ear and smiled. “You are very good at distraction, baby.”

Reba hooked her arms around his neck and smiled contently. “You aren’t so bad at it yourself.”

Feeling like a third wheel, Lincoln cleared his throat. “If the door’s open, I’ll just go get Lucas.”

Val got up from the swing. “He’s not here. He and Gertie went to Cotton-Eyed Joe’s.”

“The bar?”

Val shook his head. “We tried to talk them out of it, but Lucas was dead set on two-stepping with his woman. I insisted on dropping them off just in case they drank too much.” He glanced at his watch. “That was about an hour and a half ago. They should be two-stepped out by now. You want to go with me to pick them up?”

Lincoln held up a hand. “That’s okay. You stay here with Reba. I’ll pick them up and drop Miss Gertie back by.” Before Val could argue, he pulled on his hat and headed down the steps.

Cotton-Eyed Joe’s was a huge warehouse about ten minutes away from Simple. Lincoln had been to the bar a couple of times, so he had no problem finding it. Once, he had been there to celebrate Val’s impending marriage, and the time before that was when he was sixteen and he and all the Double Diamond boys had tried to sneak in. They had been tossed out by a burly bouncer only seconds later. Always the hothead, Logan had given the bouncer some guff and received a black eye for his trouble. He would’ve gotten more than that if Lincoln hadn’t stepped in and held the bouncer back.

The same bouncer was working the front door when Lincoln walked in, but now he had more gut than muscle. When he saw Lincoln, he immediately got up from the barstool he was sitting on and puffed out his chest.

“Ten-dollar cover.”

“I’m only picking up some friends.”

“Still a ten-dollar cover.”

Lincoln pulled out the cash in his pocket and handed the guy a ten. He waited for him to ask to see his ID, but the bouncer seemed more concerned with making money than following the law. Lincoln was about to point out that he should be carding everyone who comes in the door when a round of boisterous whistles and cheering erupted. Something was happening in the mechanical bull pit. Most of the men in the bar were clustered around the pit, waving their hats and carrying on. Which probably meant that some woman was showing off her riding skills.

The bouncer left his post to investigate, or just to get a peek, while Lincoln went in search of Lucas. He found him on the dance floor with Miss Gertie. The two old people weren’t doing such a bad job of two-stepping. They were slow, but in sync. Not wanting to interrupt the couple, Lincoln sat down at a table and ordered a beer from a pretty waitress with a welcoming smile.

“What’s going on in the bull pit?” he asked when she returned with his beer.

“Some girl is teaching her friend how to ride the bull.” The waitress laughed. “And we all know how much men like to see women ride that thing. Especially when the woman is our beauty queen deputy.”

Lincoln choked on his sip of beer.

“You okay?” the waitress asked as she patted him on the back.

No, he wasn’t okay. He wasn’t okay at all. The first day at his job watching out for Deputy Meriwether and she was going to break her fool neck.

After leaving the waitress a healthy tip, he grabbed his hat and headed to the pit. Sure enough, there was Deputy Meriwether astride the mechanical bull while a petite woman in a straw cowboy hat yelled instructions above the male catcalls and whistles.

“That’s it, Dixie, keep that hand up and those legs forward. You’ve got this, girl!”

Deputy Meriwether didn’t have it. Her form was awful, but thankfully the guy operating the bull was taking it slow. So slow the deputy was having no trouble staying on, even though she was obviously drunk. Her thick, wavy hair was mussed, her high cheekbones flushed, her green eyes heavy-lidded, and her plump lips puckered in concentration. Lincoln now knew exactly what all the whistling and hoots were about. With her breasts bouncing and her hips pumping up and down with each slow buck, Deputy Meriwether had become every man’s fantasy.

Even Lincoln’s cock grew hard at the sight, and his sexual desire had been non-existent ever since his divorce. But along with the sexual desire came a healthy dose of anger. Anger at all the men whistling like idiots. Anger at the mechanical bull operator for continuing the show. And anger at Deputy Meriwether for not having a clue about appropriate behavior for a deputy.

Lincoln pushed his way through the crowd of men to the bull operator. “Turn it off.”

Either the man ignored him or he couldn’t hear him over the whistling and hooting. So Lincoln followed the cord to the socket and pulled the plug. When the bull slowed to a stop, the operator glanced behind him.

“Hey! You can’t do that.”

Lincoln ignored him and jumped down into the pit where Deputy Meriwether was still sitting on the bull.

“Aww,” she said as she patted the fake fur between the bullhorns. “I tuckered the poor thing out.”

Lincoln rolled his eyes as he held out a hand. “Get down.”

Deputy Meriwether’s eyes widened. “Well, if it isn’t Lincoln Hayes, Texas Ranger. What are you doin’ here, Ossifer Hayes.” She giggled. “I mean, Ossifer.” She giggled even harder.

“Get off the bull, Deputy Meriwether,” he said.

She shook her mane of hair. “Nope. I was just getting the hang of it.”

“Your ride is over.”

“Hey!” Some guy in the crowd yelled. “If she wants to ride, let her ride.” A majority of other men chimed in at having their fantasy disrupted.

“I mean it, Deputy Meriwether,” he