Page 51 of Knot my First Rodeo

Oh...isn’t that interesting.

I set my drink down slowly and look back at the cowboy.

“I can dance.”

Clint’s eyes cut to me as he returns to the table.

The cowboy holds out his hand. “Then come on.”

I should say no. I don’t want him. Not even a little.

But Lacey is pawing at Tripp, and that woman near Clint is staring at him like she’s waiting for another opening. So I put my hand in his.

His palm is warm and rough. He smells clean, like cedar, whiskey and pine that probably works on plenty of women.

It doesn’t do much for me. Still, I stand.

“Autumn,” Clint says.

I look at him then, just long enough.

I smile. “What? It’s just dancing.”

No one answers, and that makes it better.

The cowboy leads me onto the floor, and the music shifts into something slower but still with enough beat to dance to. He puts one hand at my waist, the other holding mine, and I let him move me because I want to feel in control of something.

“You courting them?” he asks.

I glance over his shoulder.

All three are watching.

Tripp’s arms are crossed now, Clint hasn’t touched his beer, and Briggs looks like he’s about to turn to stone.

“They’re doing my brother a favor,” I say.

The cowboy laughs. “That doesn’t sound like an answer.”

“It’s the only one I’ve got.”

“I’m Jacob, by the way.” He smirks.

“Autumn.”

He spins me once, and I go with it, boots catching the floor. Before I turn back into him, I look back at the table.

Their eyes are all still on me. The attention hits harder than it should, enough that I shift my weight without thinking, suddenly too aware of my own skin. My stomach flips. I shouldn’t like that.

I absolutely do.

Jacob’s hand shifts lower on my waist, but I don’t move it.

I laugh at something he says, even though I barely hear him, and when he pulls me a little closer, I let him. Not because I want to be close to him. Because across the room, Clint pushes back from the table.

Just an inch. Enough.

A thrill runs through me before I can stop it.