Page 16 of A Montana Rodeo Star

But he knew better. Faith didn’t seem like the kind of girl to cower. It was something he liked in a girl.

Fingers snapped in front of his face, and he jolted back to the task at hand. “Dude, where’s your head at? I thought you wanted to get better.”

“I did—do.” Brent cleared his throat, hating the heat that crawled up his neck. He prayed Tate wouldn’t notice. “What’s next?”

They continued to work for the next thirty minutes until Elliott got picked up. Standing beside Tate, watching the truck drive away, Brent chuckled.

His friend tossed him an inscrutable look. “Something funny?”

“I just didn’t know that you taught kids.”

Tate shrugged. “I help a lot of people. I’ve experienced enough that it feels good to show people what they’re capable of. Kids included.”

“Huh.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

Brent shrugged. “It’s kinda nice of you.”

This time his friend laughed. “I’m a nice guy.”

“Yeah,” Brent clapped him on the back. “To everyone but the guys who give your sisters the eye.” Brent immediately grimaced. He really shouldn’t have brought Tate’s attention to the fact that he’d been chatting Faith up before his session.

Too late now.

“Like you were with Faith?”

Brent’s sheepish expression likely said more than he wanted. “To be fair, I’m not here to flirt with her or ask her out. I know better than that.”

“Darn straight you do.” Tate’s eyes narrowed. “So, what were you there for?”

Unable to help himself, Brent glanced over to where Faith was still reading on the porch. She had her legs propped up and crossed at the ankles, but her focus remained on her book. “She brought over some cookies the other day. I wanted to thank her.”

Tate didn’t look convinced. It wasn’t a good enough explanation. He lifted a brow and folded his arms as if to say, ‘try again’.

Brent sighed. “She almost told my mom about the rodeo.”

His friend’s eyes widened and he twisted around to look at his sister. “Geez, I’m sorry, man.”

“It’s fine. She helped cover it up. But I wanted to make it clear that we couldn’t let that happen. I just…” Brent roughed a hand over his face and sighed. “I don’t want to hurt her feelings. Any tips? I didn’t exactly get to talk to her.”

Tate frowned. “I don’t think Faith would get hurt by you telling her that she needs to be more careful. She understands what’s at stake. But I can talk to her if you⁠—”

“No, I’m good. I don’t want her to feel like she’s in trouble.” This explanation wasn’t terrible. And Tate seemed to believe it well enough. Thank goodness he’d managed to come up with something resembling the truth because there was no way that Tate would be okay finding out that his sister nearly kissed him.

Brent blew out a breath. “Thanks for the training session. It was… enlightening.”

“You did good. And honestly? You helped a lot with Elliott. You phrased some stuff in a way I hadn’t thought of.” Tate clapped him on the back. “I’m going to get some stuff cleaned up in the barn. Catch you later.”

Brent watched him go then headed for the porch. For some reason his nerves went on high alert. He needed to make sure that Faith was fully aware of what was going to happen between the two of them.

Absolutely nothing.

He didn’t even have a second to pull his thoughts together before he arrived at the porch and Faith stood to cut him off.

“I know what you’re going to say.”

Frowning, Brent froze at the bottom step. “You… do?”