Rodeo Reunion by Shannon Taylor Vannatter

Author:Shannon Taylor Vannatter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2015-02-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

“Look, Brant, we got off on the wrong foot.” Slade’s fingers tightened on the fence until his knuckles turned white. “I should have told you who I was that first day when I ran into you and Tori. But it just didn’t seem like something I needed to dump on her in the middle of the sidewalk.”

“Maybe if you’d been honest from the get-go, I’d feel better about your motives. You could have contacted me—broken the news to me. And then we could have broken the news to Tori,” Brant growled.

“Ah, I get it. So you could be in control.” Sarcasm dripped from Slade’s tone.

“Maybe I do like to be in control, but I’m not gonna stand around and watch you hurt Tori. Or Raquel.”

“All I’ve done is try to get to know my sister and help Raquel and Hunter.”

“Are you staying in Aubrey?”

“To tell you the truth, I’d like to.” Slade lowered his gaze to the arena floor. “But I don’t know what God has in store for me.”

“Tori is here to stay. And so is Rock. Neither one of them needs to get attached to you and then you end up leaving. And Hunter certainly doesn’t need to get attached to you. He and Rock have been through enough.”

“I’m aware of that.” His gut twisted. “And that’s why I’ve made a point to keep my relationship on a friends basis. With both of them.”

“See that it stays that way.”

“But there’s not much you can do about blood. Tori’s my sister and you can’t change that.”

“We’ll see about that.” Brant turned back toward the stands and left him standing there.

We’ll see about that? There wasn’t a thing Brant could do about it. Slade would get to know Tori. They would have a relationship, whether he went back on the road or not.

And with all his caution and all his just-friends talk, Slade wanted to be way more than friends with Raquel.

But Brant’s remark knocked Slade back to reality. With his future up in the air, he had no right to pursue Raquel. Not unless he planned to stay in Aubrey and settle down for good. Especially since Raquel and Hunter had already been hurt by Dylan’s death.

What’s next, Lord? I still don’t know and I’d really like it if You’d let me in on my future.

* * *

The boys lined up together, amazingly clean and spiffy in their red baseball uniforms, with their way-too-good-looking coach in the center for the team picture.

Finally April, their first game, and Raquel’s insides wouldn’t settle as she and Lacie leaned against the dugout. “How do you know the photographer? She looks familiar.”

“Kendra’s a friend from church.” Lacie was all baseball mom with her blond ponytail sticking out of the hole in the back of her cap. “You’ve probably seen her and her husband, Stetson, at Moms on Main. He’s one of the bullfighters at the Cowtown rodeo. We’re lucky to get her. She used to work for some big fancy advertising firm in Dallas.

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