ONE WILD RIDE
After careful planning, Jess Hayward is finally hitting the bull riding circuit to chase his dreams. Thereâs just one complicationâheâs agreed to bring along his late best friendâs little sister, Emma Sullivan. Jess could use a second driver, and after calling off her wedding, Emma needs an escape. Itâs a win-win arrangement...in theory.
Free-spirited and impulsive, Emma is the exact opposite of Jessâa problem heâs anticipating on the road. Only, sheâs not the annoying little tagalong he remembers. And the intense attraction between them is no childhood crush. If Jess wants to be a champion, he needs to keep his head in the game. But lately all he can think about is Emma...
âTake me with you.â The words came out before the thought was formed.
The look on Jessâs face was priceless. It also ticked Emma off. âIâm not kidding.â
âYou canât come with me.â
âWhy?â
âFor all the reasons Iâve given over the years when you wanted to come along with me and Len.â
âIâm not underage anymore.â She was twenty-five, but he probably didnât realize that. He started to speak, but she interrupted. âI can drive part-time, which will come in handy if you get yourself all beat up, which is a very real possibility.â He opened his mouth again, and again she jumped in. âI have a little money socked away. Not enough to start a new life, as Iâd hoped, but enough to buy food for myself for four weeks.â
Jess eyed her, obviously waiting for her to run out of steam before telling her no way.
âYou can buy the gas, because youâd be doing that no matter what.â
Jess waited a few more seconds, then said, âAre you done.â It was a statement rather than a question.
Dear Reader,
I knew five sets of identical twins growing up. I went to prom with an identical twin. Several years later, my husband and I were watching a television show about identical twins who married identical twins at the twin gathering in Twinsville, Ohio. I was able to point at the screen and say, âThe one on the left was my prom date.â I could tell them apart even then. Funny thing, once you get to know identical twins, they donât look so much alike.
I truly enjoyed writing my twins storiesâThe Bull Riderâs Plan and A Bull Rider to Depend On. Jess and Tyler Hayward look alike, but they have opposite personalitiesâlike many of the identical twins I knowâso I was able to craft two very different stories. Tyler was a wild child who depended on his brother to bail him out of trouble, and Jess is the responsible twin who needs to loosen up and follow his dream. Writing Jessâs story was particularly fun because I gave him a heroine, Emma, guaranteed to drive him crazy. Jess needed some crazy in his life, although in the beginning he would not have agreed with me.
I hope you enjoy reading Jessâs story. Please feel free to stop by my website, jeanniewatt.com, to learn more about me and my books or to sign up for my newsletter. Iâd love to hear from you!
Happy reading!
Jeannie
JEANNIE WATT lives in southwest Montana on a small cattle ranch and hay farm. Before moving to Montana, she spent many years living off the grid in Nevada ranch country and teaching at a rural school. When sheâs not writing, Jeannie enjoys running, sewing, reading and having electricity available at the flip of a switch.
To Jake, the best calf rider in the family.
Chapter One
There were times when a guy needed to be alone with his thoughts.
This wasnât one of them.
Loud voices and louder music washed over Jess Hayward as he pulled open the rear door of the Shamrock Pub and stepped inside out of the light June rain. After too many nights spent alone, second-guessing himself, he wanted noise and lots of it. A way to shut off his brain and focus on things other than the fact that heâd just given up a steady job to follow the rodeo for four weeks.
It was the right choice. His twin brother was tearing up the professional bull-rider circuit, and Jess knew he should take a shot before it was too late. He was a good bull rider, better than Tyler in some respects, but he was also cautiousânot about rough stock, but he did have a backup plan for when things went awry. That was why he was going the rodeo route. If things worked out, heâd join his brother on the pro circuit come January. If not, heâd go back to work for the construction company that sent him all over Montana overseeing the assembly of steel-framed buildings.
But even though heâd made his decision, it was surprisingly hard to shut off the voice of sanity and reasonâpossibly because for most of his life heâd been that voice for both himself and his brother. Tyler had a penchant for wild behaviorâor he had until he hooked up with his now-wife, Skye Larkin. Jess was no saint, but compared to Ty, he was...well...kind of boring.