Bobbie Jo answered him, but I couldn’t bring myself to respond. The idea of a fire breaking out so close to me had kicked my nerves into high gear. Now that the danger had officially passed, my adrenaline crashed, causing my body to tremble.
“Hey,” Mandy asked, staring at me with wide eyes. “Are you all right?”
“I, uh…yes. It just startled me, that’s all.”
Bobbie Jo stepped around me to take a better look. “What happened? How did the fire start?”
“I don’t know,” Mandy said, gazing at the mess on the table. “I guess the candle under the warming tray must’ve caused it. But I don’t know how the napkins got near the flame. They were in a pile over there just a minute ago.” She indicated a spot on the table right behind where I’d been standing and shrugged. “Maybe the wind blew them across the table.” Then she glanced to me and smiled lightly.
It was a nice gesture on her part. Not only because there wasn’t much of a breeze, but the tent was covered by tarps on three sides, which kept her conjured-up scenario from being a remote possibility. It was much more likely I’d bumped the table in my hurry to move out of the fireman’s path as he carried the chili past us.
But had I?
I couldn’t remember doing so, but that didn’t mean it didn’t happen. “I’m sorry if I did anything to knock those over.”
“Well, we don’t know what actually happened, so I wouldn’t worry about it,” Mandy said, waving it off with her hand. “Besides, what better place to start a fire than in front of a bunch of firefighters?”
After a few more minutes—and another apology—Bobbie Jo and I moved on and found some new entertainment. We rode the Ferris wheel and the Tilt-a-Whirl, as well as a few other carnival rides, which was something I’d never done before. Then we sat at a picnic table and shared a hot funnel cake covered in powdered sugar. Once that was devoured, I bought a paper cone of pink cotton candy and munched on it while we played a game of Ring Toss.
As I polished off the last of the cotton candy, I scanned the area for the nearest trash can and stepped away to throw out the leftover paper cone. When I returned, she grinned at me. “What?”
“I don’t know how you can be so skinny the way you eat,” Bobbie Jo said as we meandered past the beer tent. “Where did you even put that?” She placed her hand on her stomach and feigned looking ill. “After all the chili-tasting and the funnel cake, I feel sick just thinking about eating anything else.”
I shrugged. “It really wasn’t all that much if you figure one skein of cotton candy is only about forty-two grams of sugar. It’s mostly air, really.”
Bobbie Jo smiled and shook her head. “Only you would know how many grams of sugar are in cotton candy. You’re like a walking encyclopedia.” Then something caught her eye over my shoulder. “Oh, hey, there’s Cowboy! Let’s go say hello.”
She didn’t see it, but I cringed. “Um, okay.”
We made our way through the crowd until we reached a booth where Cowboy sat with a large group of men. As we approached from the side, an extremely impatient hoard of women blocked the front of the table, all jockeying to be the next in line. They were giggly and several were trying to push their way to the front. Since all of these guys had their shirts on, I couldn’t imagine what they could be selling that was so popular with the ladies. Then I glanced to the wall behind Cowboy and my mouth went dry.
A huge banner that read Liberty County Bachelors displayed thirteen calendar-sized portraits—twelve individuals and one group shot. The men in each individual photo were good-looking and had terrific bodies, but none of them were wearing much more than a pair of briefs, at best. And although I told my eyes not to, they zoomed straight to the month of May.
I had expected his to be red-hot and possibly a little brazen. But in the picture, Cowboy was facing forward in a standing position, wearing that sexy little smirk he was so well-known for, with his white Stetson covering his…obvious nakedness. Nothing I found appalling, indecent, or shameful. Until I realized both of his hands were behind his head. Oh, my Lord.
An overwhelming urge to examine the photograph up close consumed me. I squeezed my thighs together, but an immensely pleasurable ache hit me low and deep, taking me by surprise, and leaving me feeling empty and frustrated.
I seldom thought about sex. But his provocative stance brought it forefront in my mind, thrusting me out of my comfort zone. No doubt, my cheeks bloomed furiously with my discomfort.
Eventually, I scanned the other pictures, noting that none of the other men had taken their sexiness to the limit the way Cowboy had. Leave it to him to be the outrageous and wicked one in the bunch.
“Hey, ladies,” he said with a grin. “Did you come to get a calendar? At the rate they’re going, we’re going to be sold out before the end of the night.”
Bobbie Jo looked at me. “I haven’t bought one yet. Do you mind hanging out for a few minutes? The line looks pretty long.”
“No, that’s fine,” I told her, keeping my eyes from returning to Cowboy’s picture in an effort to regain my poise. “I’ll just check out one of the nearby rides while I’m waiting for you.”
“You should buy a calendar, too, Anna,” Cowboy said, giving me a wink. “I’ll even sign it for you real quick before I go on my break.”
The cockiness oozed from him. I doubted the man could even help it. But I didn’t want a sexy man calendar. What I wanted was to forget I ever saw so much of his muscular frame lacking in the clothing department.
That’s all I needed. To spend every waking minute staring at his naked form on my wall. “No, thank you.” I turned to Bobbie Jo, putting my back to him. “I’ll be back soon,” I promised her.
“Okay,” she said, though her tone said otherwise. She gave me a strange look as I meandered away.
I made my way over to a ride called The Swizzler and waited in line until the operator took the three tickets I held out. If I had to wait for Bobbie Jo to indulge in her single woman fantasies, then I was going to enjoy myself in the meantime. Besides, this ride looked like a fun one.
Once the worker allowed my group through the gate, most of them scattered in different directions. I walked across a metal platform to an unoccupied red bucket on the far end. My flat heels clacked across the metal grating until I stepped into the bucket and sat in the middle of the spacious seat meant for three. There was a lap bar, but I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to do anything with it, so I waited. The operator of the ride had started walking on the opposite side, checking each bucket’s safety equipment, and would eventually get to me.
But while I sat there alone, I caught sight of Cowboy leaping over the ride’s fence and climbing onto the metal arm of the machine my bucket was attached to. “What are you doing? Are you crazy?”
“Just thought you’d like some company,” he said, hopping down into my bucket and squeezing into the seat next to me. He made himself comfortable by throwing his arm along the bench behind me.
No way. Being in such close quarters with Cowboy was a delicious kind of torture, but one I could do without. I started to rise, but Cowboy pulled the lap bar toward us which automatically locked into place, forcing me to stay put. “What did you do that for? I was going to leave.”
He smirked. “I know.”
“You do realize I can just ask the operator to let me out, right?”
Cowboy stretched his legs out in front of him and smiled confidently. “Yeah, but you won’t.”
“You seem awfully sure about that,” I challenged.
“Oh, come on. You wouldn’t want to hold the ride up for the next kids in line, would you?”
My eyes cut to the line forming once again at the entrance, filling with children who were patiently waiting their turn with excitement in their eyes. I huffed under my breath and scooted away from him. “Fine. But stay on your side and I’ll stay on mine.”
Cowboy grinned again. “You haven’t ever ridden The Swizzler, have you?”
Before I could answer him, the operator stopped by our bucket and tugged on the bar to make sure it was in place. “All right guys, we’re ready to rock and roll,” the man said as he made his way back to the control box.