Falling for a Cowboy by Karen Rock

Author:Karen Rock
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2017-10-16T15:09:47+00:00

Chapter Ten

A SHRILL WHISTLE BLASTED, and Jared exploded off the painted line on a practice field beside the Cade homestead. Peering through the dim, predawn light, he bolted to an old tractor tire, heaved it over, jumped inside it, then sprang out again and dashed to the rope ladder atop flattened grass. His feet weaved, in and out, as he navigated the rungs, and his heart bashed madly against his chest. Sweat dripped from his hair, trickled down his cheeks and slicked his steaming torso.

Clear of the rope, he blasted to a stack of hay bales, spun, reversed course, dodged around them, then repeated the maneuver when a second, then third group loomed. His cleats churned up the soft earth as he sprinted to the marked “end zone,” pushing his screaming muscles to keep working, despite the grueling workout he’d begun an hour and a half ago.

He slowed to a jog, then a walk, then a stop. Bent at the waist, he heaved air into his burning chest. He’d pushed himself hard today, and every part of his body felt broken, including his heart.

He blinked hard in the dawn light, allowing the events of the previous day to seep slowly into him. Amberley hadn’t let him drive her home and was blocking all his calls. It stung hard that he’d left her feeling confused and wounded. He hurt, too. And his head buzzed, his thoughts muddled. Grabbing the toe of his cleat, he pulled his heel up behind him and stretched.

Yesterday’s kiss had knocked him flat. Every emotion he’d ever had for her, ones he didn’t know he possessed, had bubbled to the surface. He loved Amberley, always had, always would. Only now those feelings felt deeper, fiercer, harder. Like he could conquer the world with just one hand as long as she held the other one.

Was he in love with her?

He’d never been in love before and didn’t know what it felt like. It’d be every kind of wrong to mess with Amberley’s heart while he tried figuring it out. Was he ready for a real relationship?

He’d never done anything by half. When he loved a woman, he’d love hard, with everything that he was, with all that he had. But what he had right now wasn’t much. Until he achieved his goal to return to a starting football position, reclaimed his hero status, he’d never have a worthy life to offer another, especially someone like Amberley.

“A minute forty,” his mother called, interrupting his thoughts as she hurried his way. “You shaved off six seconds!” The pinkening light gleamed on her silver hair and set her frameless lenses aglow. She wore a light pink sweater buttoned over a flowered house dress and white sneakers with a matching pink swoosh decal. “Very good.”

“Not good enough,” he muttered, twisting side to side, elongating his lats.

A soft hand fell on his shoulder. “You’re trying, honey. That’s what matters.”

He bent at the waist and touched his toes. “Dad wouldn’t agree.” Pa wanted a winner, a hero.

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