LRPD sneak peek

I've had a brutal week this week and I'm slacking a bit but here's a preview of the next LRPD:

“Riley wait!”

Your voice cracks as the dust kicks up at her back, and he settles his hand between your shoulder blades, thumb stroking circles just under the edge of your scapula.

“Let her go.” She’s shrieking with laughter, cowboy boots tipping toe to toe through the crowd, another little girl hot on her heels, both of them bee-lining to a… cow.

American rodeo is bloody weird.

You lean into him. Sigh. Turn your face into his chest as he folds you into his side. There’s no protest, hesitation, no second thoughts, you go easy.

It’s like a dream.

One he knows he’s going to wake up from because it can’t possibly be this easy, but he wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth.

“Riley would’ve grown up here.” You give someone a nod as they pass, silver lines of sympathy in their eyes. You’re known here, the two of you, and being in it with you has painted the picture for him. This would have been Tess. Tess and Riley. Walking the grounds together, visiting friends, loading and unloading horses in trailers, oiling saddles and braiding manes. “She should grow up here.” Regret twists your tongue and the last word is thick. “She would have, if I had been better.”

“Daisy…”

“I just… I’m not her. It didn’t feel right, trying to insert myself in a place where I don’t belong.” People move in every direction, fans, vendors, competitors, cowboys, cowgirls, kids, families. You maneuver around all of it with grace, pulling him in your wake. For someone who doesn’t belong here, you fit pretty well. “Not like I had the time anyway. Or the money.” You come to a stop on the outside of a ring, big metal fencing looped around where a woman sits comfortably on an idle horse.

“You’ve done your best.” The horse moves, but the rider doesn’t. She’s still, somewhat slouched, but if he looks closer, he can see the muscles in her thighs flexing, dots and dashes written out like morse code, each one eliciting a movement beneath her.

He bites his tongue at the mention of money. Battle for another day.