Hunt, Sofia - Riding the Circuit [Rodeo Riders 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Read Free Page B

to be taken seriously.”
    “So you talked to him about helping your brother manage rodeo stock.”
    Mitzi sighed. “Yes. He actually laughed in my face and told me to worry about my rodeo outfits and whether my hair is out of place. Let the men take care of the real work.” Her father kept trying to shove that square peg into that round hole. Her brother wasn’t made to be a stock contractor and rancher. Mitzi was, but the lack of balls and a penis exempted her from consideration as far as daddy was concerned.
    Tanya shook her head. “Your dad is something.”
    “Tell me about it.” Mitzi tossed her hair back and rested her chin on her hand. Her father was the world’s most impossible man—overbearing, self-righteous, and infuriatingly chauvinistic. He treated Mitzi like a ten-year-old. She’d give anything if just once he’d acknowledge her as a person with a brain, not just a pretty face he showed off to his buddies, a princess on display.
    Her friend glanced toward the unwanted neighbors again. “I don’t know how you’re going to ditch them.”
    “Jonah might be okay, but Riley—”
    “You’re still harboring a grudge.”
    “I am not.” Mitzi focused her irritation on her friend, who dared broach the truth.
    “Oh, but you are, my dear. Riley got to you.”
    Mitzi threw up her arms in exasperation. “Okay, fine. I just thought Riley would be different. I expected a love-’ em -leave-’ em attitude from his buddy, but Riley seemed more serious, not as much of a player and not so swayed by superficial stuff. Turns out I was wrong.”
    “So? You just want superficial relationships with men.”
    “I know, but I also like to be the one in control.” Mitzi smiled a wry smile.
    “When are you going to learn? You need to practice using the word ‘no.’”
    “I can’t help myself. I’m addicted to gorgeous bastards. I didn’t want to say no at the time. Later, well, that’s a whole different pile of bull manure.” Mitzi sighed and propped her siren-red cowboy boots on the opposite couch.
    “I know that story, but sometimes doesn’t it all seem so—” Tanya struggled for the right words. “So hollow? Don’t you feel empty after an orgasm with an interchangeable hunk?”
    “A little.” Mitzi shrugged and sighed.
    “We’re testosterone junkies.”
    Mitzi nodded her agreement. “Someday, we need to grow up.”
    “Not yet. I’m only twenty-six, and you’re only twenty-five.” Tanya tossed back her long blonde hair. Her teeth worried at her lower lip.
    They should’ve been rivals, archenemies always competing for the same prize, battling it out to the end. Yet, somewhere in their long acquaintance, they recognized kindred souls, poor little rich girls gifted with every physical attribute a woman could have, yet penniless when it came to love from their families and from men.
    Other women hated them with a jealous passion just because they were beautiful. Men didn’t want to know them as people, only as possessions, beautiful trophies to flaunt to their buddies. They wanted the conquest, the bragging rights, and the body under those tight western outfits.
    Mitzi and Tanya met in college. After a wild night of partying, they’d staggered out of an anonymous frat house at the same time, both disgusted with certain men and all men in general. They sat on a beach until daylight, sharing a bottle of tequila and their complaints about the opposite sex.
    They’d forged a fast friendship—two women who didn’t make girlfriends easily. Both had learned to mask their pain and loneliness behind dazzling smiles, perfect teeth, painstakingly applied makeup, and designer clothes. Even though they’d competed against each other for numerous rodeo queen titles through the years, they stayed close. Tanya, an excellent horsewoman, had taken a fall in the national rodeo queen finals last winter and finished second runner-up. The first runner-up being the she-bitch, Brooke Regan, whom neither of them