There’s lots of shouting and whistling and general loud-mouthing, but no one steps forward. I can see several people trying to get Trick to go first, but he’s resisting, content to sit by his hot fiancée.
I hear Jenna’s name above the fray, called once, twice then multiple times. In a few seconds, everyone is chanting for her to give that bull a ride.
With an exasperated shake of her head, she turns toward the bull. “Fine. I’ll show you how it’s done. I just hate to make the rest of you look bad,” she teases with a cocky grin.
The old man, awake and alert after all, slides off his stool and hobbles over to Jenna to lend her a hand as she climbs up onto the bull. When she’s seated on its wide, leather back, I see her frown. “Something else is missing,” she muses loudly, pausing for a second before she shouts, “Music!”
The lights over the stage come on in a burst of color. Standing with their instruments, and one member sitting behind his drums, are the members of Saltwater Creek, the band I used to play in. I glance over at Trick. He’s howling happily, his arms raised into the air. He used to play with us, too. He looks at me and smiles. I know this probably makes his night that much better. I return his smile then look back to the stage.
“Something’s still missing,” Jenna yells. “Oh, I know what it is. We’re gonna need more bass.”
Heads start turning toward me and I finally look up at Jenna where she’s sitting atop the bull. She’s looking right at me, grinning. She tips her head toward the stage and I look back in that direction. Everyone in the band is watching me, smiling, and Sam, the bass guitar player, is taking the strap of his guitar off his shoulder. He walks to the front of the stage and holds it out to me.
Quitting the band was a tough decision, but it was the right one. Business at the garage started picking up and it was a matter of growing up and facing my responsibilities, laying the groundwork for my future, or playing with the boys.
Adulthood won out.
But getting a chance to get back up on stage still holds a special lure. And Jenna knows that.
I can’t hide my smile as I hop up on the platform and take the guitar. Sam nods at me and I nod back, slipping the leather strap over my shoulder and taking the pick from his outstretched hand. I lay my palm against the body of the guitar and curl my fingers around the neck, settling in to the feel of the cool metal against my skin.
I look out at Jenna and her eyes tell me she knows I’m on top of the world right now. It reminds me of all the things that I love about her that have nothing to do with her body, but with her heart and her soul. She winks and calls out a question that doubles as a song request.
“Who feels like makin’ love?”
A rowdy bunch, pretty much everyone in the bar yells out in agreement, so I close my eyes and reach back in my memory for the chords to the song. For a few seconds, everyone quiets and the world fades away as they all wait for me to start picking out the notes. With the first one, I remember how much I love the feel of the strings under my fingertips.
After eight beats, the rest of the band jumps in. I open my eyes and look back out at Jenna. She takes her hat off and gives her head a shake, her dark hair shimmering down her slender back. When she puts it back on her head, her eyes find mine and she winks at me from under the brim. I could easily drop my guitar, jump off the stage and spread her out on that bull and eat her like dessert. But before I can really finish the thought, she reaches down for the leather strap and nods for the bull operator to wind it up.
The rotation starts out slow, like the operator is trying to match the beat of the song. Jenna’s body moves in perfect time with it. It’s like everything between us and around us is in sync.
It’s almost painful to watch her ride that damn bull. Her back arches with each buck of the machine and her hips swivel fluidly, like she’s connected to it. Her cheeks are flushed, her lips are parted just a little and I can see the tip of her tongue grazing her teeth. I hope she’s thinking what I’m thinking—that the only thing better than this would be if it was me between her legs.
The operator increases the speed and Jenna’s body shifts and sways in time with it. All too clearly, I can imagine us in front of a mirror with her moving just like that on top of me. Up and down on my cock, her thighs clamped around my sides, her creamy body squeezing me.
My jeans get tight. Real tight. As the song winds down and the operator slows the bull again, Jenna glances up at me. The look she gives me says she knows what I’m thinking. And I mutter again, “Holy shit, it’s gonna be a long night!”
CHAPTER NINE - Jenna
After getting so turned-on by Rusty watching me ride the bull, it’s all I can do to keep my composure for the rest of the night. I want him so bad I ache with it.
But stay composed I do. Somehow, I manage to keep it together while cranking up the heat. It’s my mission to make the want as painful for Rusty as it is for me. And every time I look at him, I know it’s working a little more. The crotch of his jeans is probably extended to the tensile limit of denim. I can’t stop the satisfied smirk that comes to my lips as I think of it.
I glance over at Rusty as he watches another girl ride the bull. As if sensing my eyes and my thoughts on him, he turns those bright-blues on me. I wink sassily at him and he raises one eyebrow.
I make myself turn away after that. I’m tempted to go order another shot when I hear the bartender ring the bell that signals last call. I resist the urge because part of my deal with Daryl in him letting us “borrow” Lucky’s tonight was that I’d lock up after closing and then come back bright and early in the morning to meet the truck when it comes to collect the mechanical bull. The last thing I need is to be shitfaced while trying to secure a bar that isn’t mine.
Less than an hour later, the house lights flash three times in a row and the lights over the stage shut off, my signal to start shooing people out the door. Luckily, the band stopped playing about an hour ago, so no one cares about the stage anymore.
When the bar is empty, but for the little old man who operates the mechanical bull, I give him a fifty dollar tip and push him out into the lot, too, flipping the lock behind him so I can make my way around, cutting off lights before I go home.
I find OFF switches for every light in the place except the one over the dance floor, the dance floor that, for tonight, was occupied by a mechanical bull. I walk behind the bar, searching for a hidden switch. I look through the small storage and break room in back. Still no luck. The only thing I find back there is the radio, which is clearly labeled LEAVE ON, but no other light switches. I decide to check the other side of the building, somewhere near the stage, hoping I can find the controls there.