Today on First
Kiss Friday, we welcome romance author, Bonnie Phelps, and an excerpt from her Contemporary
Romance, “My Rodeo Man: The Texas Kincaids #1.”
Zach Kincaid was definitely not what Ashley Drayton
was looking for – one more risk-taking, bad boy to add to that long list of
narcissistic, jerks who kept breaking her heart. Well, she was fed up. From
here on out, bad boys need not apply. So how in the world had this cocky,
confident cowboy charmed his way into her affections? She sure wasn’t going to
succumb without a fight.
Ashley Drayton looked like the typical, spoiled Southern Belle that made Zach turn tail and head for the hills. As a champion team roper on the rodeo circuit and ranch owner, he sure didn’t need the complications a feisty, prima donna would bring to his life. When he finally did settle down, he wanted a woman strong enough to stand beside him in the hard-knock world of ranching and rodeoing.
Can a rough and rugged cowboy live happily ever after with a sassy and sophisticated socialite?
Ashley Drayton looked like the typical, spoiled Southern Belle that made Zach turn tail and head for the hills. As a champion team roper on the rodeo circuit and ranch owner, he sure didn’t need the complications a feisty, prima donna would bring to his life. When he finally did settle down, he wanted a woman strong enough to stand beside him in the hard-knock world of ranching and rodeoing.
Can a rough and rugged cowboy live happily ever after with a sassy and sophisticated socialite?
First Kiss Excerpt
“I’ll
be darned,” drawled Zach in his turn-your-insides-to-molten-lava voice after he
made his way to her side. “You were just in my dreams and now here you are in
the flesh. I am one lucky man.” He leaned forward and let their lips brush
briefly. “Hello,” he said with that smile that melted her heart.
Despite
the brevity – or maybe because of the brevity – her lips, her heart and every
female bit of her wanted more. Momentarily at a loss for words, something
totally out of character for her, she just stared.
Zach
waved a hand in front of her face. “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your
friend?”
Her
cool mask fell back into place. “Zach, I’d like you to meet my date for the evening, Robert Prichard…
Robert, this overly friendly fellow is Zach Kincaid.”
The
men shook hands. “And these are my brothers, Nate and Josh,” said Zach.
“I’ve
heard of you. Nice belt buckle,” Robert observed. “Pro rodeo World Champion
Team Roper three years in a row. I saw you at the last Stephenville rodeo.
Those runs you made were amazing. Didn’t think that steer could be caught in
under 5 seconds.”
“I
had no idea you followed the rodeo,” Ashley said to Robert.
“I’m
a Texan so there’s a little cowboy in all of us. He glanced across the room.
“Sweetie, I see one of my clients over there and I need to go say hi. If you
want to chat with your friends a little longer, that’s fine by me. Just catch
up with me when you’re done.” He looped his arm across her shoulders and gave
her a quick, friendly squeeze.
“Sure,
I’ll be along shortly,” she said with a puzzled frown.
The
brothers exchanged an ‘is this man crazy’ look.
“Bet
you’re not used to having your guy leave you stranded. Frankly I’d say he is
one bubble off plumb,” Zach rubbed the stubble on his jaw. “Far be it from me
though to look a gift horse in the mouth.” He hooked his thumbs into his belt
loops and rocked back on his heels. “I’d be more than happy to keep you
company.”
He
glanced over at his brothers. “Don’t you two have someplace else you need to
be?”
Nate
looked at Zach and shook his head. “No, I’m fine right here. Josh, you?”
“Me
neither,” Josh said. He stuck out his hand, looking a bit uncomfortable, but
smiled shyly. “Hi, I’m Josh,” he said to Ashley.
Zach
scowled at his brothers, then turned his back on them to face Ashley. His
brothers shrugged and wandered off to the next food station.
“You’ve
got just a bit of sauce right here.” He touched her chin with his thumb while
he feathered his finger across her lip.
Everything
stopped like one of those freeze frames in the movies. She couldn’t form a
coherent thought for the span of 30 seconds. She gazed deeply into his eyes
lost in their Topaz depths and in a room crowded with people, filled with noise
– there was silence.
A
man bumped Ashley as he reached for a sample on the table jolting her back into
action. She dabbed at her chin with her napkin.
“Did
I get it?”
“Almost…
Here, let me help.” Zach softly kissed the spot on her chin, then used his
thumb to wipe away the trace of sauce that remained. He sucked the remnants off
his thumb and smiled in that way that short-circuited her system and had
fireworks exploding in her brain. Didn’t wolves have blue eyes she wondered? If
the smoky look he was giving her was any indication, then it would seem he
wanted to devour more than the smidgen of sauce on his thumb.
“Thanks,”
she whispered, her usual witty repartee disappearing into the ether, but
somewhere she heard the tom-tom beat… Good boy. Bad boy. Choose. Choose.
Choose.
He
wanted to whoop for joy at the dazed expression on her face, but was afraid his
expression matched hers and decided to shelve the implications of his reaction.
Talk about a herd of stampeding cattle churning their way through his gut.
Damn, was about all his brain could process which is why he said the most inane
thing possible…
“My Rodeo Man” is available through:
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