Chasin' Eight (Rough Riders #11)(46)

He offered her a wolflike smile. “Because I don’t think you’ll play fair.”

Ava gasped with total sarcasm. “You callin’ me a liar or a cheat, McKay?”

“Both, I reckon.” He patted the bench seat. “Lay it on me, baby.”

I’d like to lay something on you—my lips, my hands, my whole body.
Friends, Ava, remember? Friends, buddies, pals. Focus.
Hiding her superior look because she had planned for using only cash, Ava unsnapped the billfold portion of her wallet. She counted out seventeen hundred dollars and dug in her purse, finding another two hundred dollars worth of crumpled and folded bills.
Chase took out his wallet and counted out twenty-one hundred dollars, then reached in the glove compartment, coming up with five hundred more.
Holy crap. He had more money than she did. Not fair. “Can we stop at a cash machine so we’re even?”

He shook his head. “We’ll never be even. Remember I hafta pay contestant entry fees outta that.”

“But if you win…you’ll have more money.”

“I’m not keeping anything I earn. Don’t know what I’ll do with it yet.” He shoved his money back in his wallet. “So I gotta know, Hollywood. You up to the challenge of living like those of us who don’t have an easily replenished pile of cash?”

“If I say no?”

“Then I’ll know you ain’t serious about wanting to experience something real, ’cause living on a budget is as real as it gets for most people.”

Ava understood why Chase was pushing her. Didn’t mean she appreciated it, but if she said no, everything would end before it began. What was she out? Wasn’t like the temptation for gourmet dining would be an issue. Or boutique shopping for designer originals. Or forking over big bucks for a mani-pedi at an exclusive spa. Or buying pricey cocktails at trendy nightclubs.
“Ava?”

She met his challenging gaze head-on. “I’m in.”

“Now the real adventure begins.” After gifting her with his dazzling smile, he returned to the highway.
She dozed off at some point. After she woke, to the sound of crunching sunflower seeds, she asked, “You’ll be okay to ride with as sore as you’ve been the last couple days?”

“Ain’t as bad as it was. I’ll be stiff no matter what I do, so I might as well try making the buzzer.”

“What’s the entry fee?”

“Sixty-five bucks.”

“Do you want me to drop you off so I can find a hotel?”

“Yep. But it needs to be under a hundred bucks a night.”

Ava started humming the music from Mission Impossible and Chase laughed.
“Since you’re dropping me off, you’ll have to park in public parking since I won’t have a contestant tag yet.”

“They have a separate area for contestants?”

He nodded. “Timed-event competitors take their horses and horse trailers take up a shitload of parking space. The competitors who travel with their family have campers.”

“Sounds like the contestant area is one traveling party town.”

“You’d be right. When I first started competing and I didn’t have a nickel to my name, I’d drag an old tent along. Some of the stuff I saw people doin’…gave me quite the sexual education at the tender age of sixteen.”

“Give me the juicy details so I’m not shocked by what I see.”

Chase smirked. “Shocked. Right. I bet you’ve seen wild stuff in wacky Cal-y-forn-i-ay, so the countrified version will probably seem tame.”