A Cowboy's Pride

Sierra laughed. “I don’t even own a pair.”

“Count yourself lucky,” Katie-Lynn insisted, sounding sincere. Cole’s forehead scrunched in confusion. Wasn’t wearing fancy clothes, looking like a star, why she’d left Carbondale? Him?

“Okay,” Heath hollered into his microphone. “This one’s for everybody who wants to be country for just one day!”

A roar practically lifted Silver Spurs’ tin roof. Katie-Lynn pressed close as people shoved by onto the dance floor. Instinctively, his arm clamped around her waist. His eyes nearly closed at the heavenly softness of her against his hard angles. How long since he’d held a woman?

Too darn long...

Not since Katie-Lynn, years ago.

A lifetime ago, it seemed.

His fingers strummed the length of her back, and she shivered, angling her face up to his, her eyes wide and hazy. The need to get her alone, to undo her braid, to kiss those lips, to smudge her polish, seized him hard.

Katie-Lynn slid left and flowed into the dance’s next move. Mind blank, Cole struggled to match her steps. Since he rarely went out, he’d never danced this newer song before.

Did that make him a hermit?

He jerked right then turned in the wrong direction, bumping into Travis, who shook his head and shot Cole an amused grin.

No. Cole was just private.

His family could tease all they wanted, but he was happy with his life.

An ache twisted through his heart as he eyed Katie-Lynn.

Happy, dang it.

“Wrong way!” His former principal, Miss Groover-Woodhouse, frowned and pointed him in the opposite direction.

When he whirled, he smacked into Katie-Lynn.