Page 119 of Spurred On

Surely she hadn’t lied to herself about her feelings all along. Had she?

She saw Cody standing with his brother just offstage and her pulse kicked up at the sight of him. Tonight, she’d make sure she wasn’t too tired. Tonight, she would not fall asleep on him. Tonight it would be rapturous. She’d make sure of it.

She bit back a wicked grin as the last verse of the song swelled, and she glanced back at the stage—just as Brandon yanked off his rip-away pants.

This was hardly something shocking or unexpected at the Stud Ranch, but when Brandon did so, he revealed a secret he’d kept from everyone. He wore a prosthetic on his leg, just above the knee. There was a moment of crushing silence as the crowd took in this revelation and then, a roar arose as he once again launched into action.

Sidney looked at Porsche again and saw the pride, the love, the tears streaming down her cheeks.

That was what it was, she realized.

That was love.

Her gaze flicked to Cody again, standing in the wings, watching his friend perform with a wide grin on his face. He was so handsome. So perfect. So wonderful.

Something warm burned in her chest.

She’d had this feeling before, this strange and alien emotion rising inside her, and it had petrified her, made her want to run.

She didn’t want to run now.

She wanted to face it. Embrace it. She wanted to be as happy as Hanna and Lisa and Claire and Porsche.

She was ready for love.

And it didn’t even scare her.

Not one bit.

***

After the dinner party, it took a while to break down and schlep everything to the ranch house. Fortunately, Claire had gone on ahead and set up the cocktail bar, so it was easy to shoo the lingering guests from the lake back to the house.

Sidney lost track of Cody—no doubt he and Cade had taken one of the trucks with the sound equipment back—but she had plenty of help because Claire had scheduled some of Cody’s actual ranch hands to help with the cleanup.

Still, it was close to midnight by the time they were done.

As she plodded back into the house, a cacophony rose from the front room, where the cocktail party was taking place.

Sidney peeked in as she made her way to her next duty. Claire was there, tending bar, and Cade and Cody were mingling with the guests while she—well, she still had a list of things to do to get ready for the farewell brunch in the morning.

It was silly to feel like Cinderella. This was her job. She was working.

She laughed at the sudden, maudlin, and inappropriate sulk and got back to work.

She was elbow deep in suds, hand-washing the crystal champagne stems for the mimosas when Claire poked her head in the door. “Oh thank God, Sidney,” she gusted. “You’re still up. Can you do me a favor?”

“Sure.” She grabbed a towel and dried her hands—or the yellow gloves she wore. They were tight and tough to get on, so she didn’t pull them off.

“Cody snuck out of the cocktail party and I need him to come back and deal with a customer question. I’m pretty sure he skulked off to his room. Can you find him for me?”

Sidney rolled her eyes. “He snuck out?” What she wouldn’t give to trade duties with him.

“Complained that these women were too . . . grabby. But he also said he was coming right back. He didn’t.”

“No worries. I’ll go get him.”

Poor Cody. Having to prance around looking all adorable while cougars pawed him. Such a life.