Ride: A Bad Boy Romance by Roxie Noir Read Free Book Online Page B

camera just sitting there, ready to get trampled.
    I feel nauseous, my head spinning. The guy who bumped me is saying something, but the blood is roaring through my ears because I just dropped five thousand dollars’ worth of equipment and it’s about to get smashed into smithereens.
    Just rope it over there, I think. Just stay on that side, and then I can go down there and get it back, please, God, please...
    The steer makes a sudden turn. A lasso misses, and now he’s headed back toward us from the opposite side of the arena. I can’t even breathe. I can’t believe how stupid I am.
    There’s a quick flash of motion down below.
    Someone vaults over the barrier, lands on his feet, stumbles, and then runs hell-for-leather for my camera, his hat covering his face.
    My fingertips go cold.
    What is he doing , I think.
    “Don’t!” I shout uselessly. “Get out of there!”
    Not that anyone can hear me.
    Please, God, don’t let this idiot die to get my camera back, I think.
    I feel lightheaded.
    The steer’s bearing down. It’s going straight for my camera and this moron trying to grab it, galloping and snorting. I’m gripping the railing around the platform so hard my hands are white, holding my breath.
    I don’t want to watch someone get trampled, but my eyes won’t shut. He’s feet away, the steer still coming on, and then in one quick motion he bends down, his hat falls off, he grabs the camera by the strap, and then he keeps going, a split second before the steer tramples that exact spot.
    Then he leaps onto the gate of the bucking chute right below us. The steer blows past, the two cowboys chasing after it, both of them hollering at the top of their lungs. The guy who saved my camera waves at them and looks up at me.
    It’s Jackson.
    He’s grinning like he just won the lottery. People start cheering, and he gives the grandstands a wave too.
    He’s insane , I think. Jackson Cody is an actual lunatic with a death wish.
    The adrenaline is still rattling through my veins, and I feel shaky as I stand up, getting dizzy for a moment. My heart’s pounding in my chest, and I barely hear the guy behind me apologizing as I head for the aluminum steps down to ground level, everyone watching me.
    When I get there Jackson’s standing just this side of the bucking chutes, blowing sand off my camera like it’s a seashell he found at the beach. Even the way he stands has this cocksure swagger to it, like he’s absolutely confident of everything he does, like the world revolves around him.
    A knot tightens in my stomach, because I can feel people looking at me, looking at us . Maybe he’s not famous famous, but everyone in this arena right now knows who he is, and he just risked his life to save some idiot’s camera.
    I walk over, still shaking, my heart beating wildly. He looks up at me and grins, the camera in his hands.
    “You drop something?” he asks.
    “What were you doing? ” I say. “That thing almost trampled you to death!”
    Jackson laughs.
    “You’re welcome,” he says.
    “You can’t just do that,” I say, suddenly angry. “What if you’d gotten run over? Then it’s my fault you’re dead, because I dropped my camera.”
    “Nobody’s gonna put you on trial, darlin’,” he says. “I’m not known for doing things I don’t want to.”
    “Are you known for being a complete and utter idiot?” I ask, my voice pitching a little higher.
    I’m not being very nice, but the last thing I want is Jackson Cody’s blood on my hands. People are still looking at us. If I caused his death somehow I’d probably get lynched.
    “I’m a professional bull rider,” he says, his voice teasing. “Being a complete and utter idiot is all I’m known for.”
    He steps closer to me and holds the camera out. I feel eighteen again. There’s some deep, primal part of me that still likes this: the swagger, cockiness, the sheer enthusiasm for danger.
    He just risked his life for a camera. My camera. It’s