I have a huge announcement that I'm sure all you barrel racing fans will love! Stay tuned till the end!
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I opened the door to find Beverley patiently waiting.

"Hey Bev!" I said hugging her.

"Hey girly! Are you ready?" She asked.

"I hope so." I laughed.

She looked around before asking, "Where's your escort?"

"I sent him the directions to get here. He should be here any minute. You can go ahead and set your stuff up." I told Bev.

"Is anywhere good?" She asked.

I nodded. She walked to her SUV and took numerous cases out of the back.
As she got everything ready I walked to my room to find my phone. I looked everywhere before finding it in a pair of my boots. There's no reasonable explanation so, I'm not going to try to give you one.

"Someone's down here to see you, Aurora!" Mom shouted from the base of the staircase.

"I'm coming!" I shouted back before throwing my phone in a clutch and hurrying out the door. As I came down the steps I saw Brayden standing beside of my father and mother. When they found out I had an escort mom was excited, but dad was being a little difficult. On the bottom stair my foot slipped and I started to fall. A pair of strong warm arms wrapped around me before I could.

"Are you okay, Princess?" Brayden whispered.

I nodded my head as I steadied myself.

"Mom...Dad this is Brayden. " I said introducing him.

"Hello, Brayden. It's nice to meet you! Aurora talks about you a lot." Mom said most likely to embarrass me.

Dad cleared his throat before speaking.
"It's nice to meet you so far, but if you hurt..."

I gave a embarrassed laugh before pushing Brayden out the front door.

"Sorry about that." I told Brayden.

"You don't have anything to be sorry about." He replied as we walked to the field that Bev was standing in. She had a couple stands set up with reflectors fixed on the end. Several camera cases sat on the ground along with a case that had various lenses in it.

I introduced Brayden to Beverley and then the photoshoot began. Every time she would catch Brayden not looking she would wiggle her eyebrows at us. The photoshoot was a lot of fun, but soon it was time to go to the pageant.

"Well that's all I needed." Beverley said as she finished packing up her equipment. I thanked her and we said our goodbyes.

"See you at the Ball!" I told her as she drove down the driveway. I looked over at Brayden. I hadn't paid any attention to his appearance before, but I wish I had. He was wearing a sharp looking black tuxedo with a white dress shirt underneath with some black dress shoes. He looked as if he had shaved recently. His hair was as perfect as always.

"So, What now?" Brayden asked breaking me if the trance.

"Now we go to the pageant!" I said enthusiastically.

----
We pulled up to the mayors house. A big white two story colonial style home. Cars were parked along side the brick driveway. A large field across from the house was prepped for the traffic to park on tonight.

A large weeping willow stood beside of a fairly good sized pond. Flowers and hedges were planted and neatly kept around the house. A brick pathway lead the way to the front door.

I could feel my hands shake as we walked down the pathway. Brayden slipped his hand into my own. At the front door a man took our names and pointed us towards the back of the house. Despite being an old house the interior was surprisingly modern. Most of the house was in shades of white. Dark maple flooring gave the house more of a warm feeling.

We came to a large room where some of the contestants were waiting for the pageant to begin. Round tables and chairs were sat out for the contestants and audience. At the front of the room a stage was set up for the pageant with curtains hanging up to hide what was behind it.

Glancing around, I saw Lauren and Mark amongst the group. My grip on Brayden's hand tightened.

"Is something wrong, princess?" He asked.

I shook my head 'no' before looking at him confused.

"Why do you call me princess?" I asked.

"Because you look like a princess...especially this evening." He said smiling.

My cheeks heated up in response as I led him to a seat as far away from the group as I could get.

I looked around the room once we were seated. My eyes fell upon a frowning Lauren. She was looking in my direction with a disappointed frown. My only ideal is she was disappointed I didn't come alone. I've been disappointing since 1993 so, she shouldn't have counted on me be being dateless.

Lauren stood up and started walking towards where Brayden and I were seated. I sighed knowing cow patties were going to hit the fan.

"Hey Aurora." Lauren said.

"Hey." I said in a clipped tone.

"I didn't expect you to even show up." 

" I wouldn't miss this for the world." I told her.

"Who's this?" She said looking at Brayden.

I felt the little green monster surfacing as she checked him out. Brayden put a hand on my knee as if to support me before introducing himself.

"I'm Brayden. And you are?" He asked.

"I'm Lauren. I figured Aurora would've mentioned me before." She almost spat out.

"I'm sorry. We've been too busy being boyfriend and girlfriend for me to give him a roster of everyone in Plum Grove."  I snapped.

"You're dating?" She asked in disbelief.

"Why? Would you want to sleep with him too?" I asked as my face reddened with anger.

They say to turn the other cheek, but I can only take so much before I break. Lauren's mouth opened and closed almost like a fish.

"It wasn't my fault your boyfriend got tired of you. I'm actually getting very bored just looking at you now. It won't be long before your new boyfriend here understands just how dull you are." She said finally before walking back to her seat.

I hung my head in shame. Maybe she was right. I don't know why I lied about Brayden and I being together. I think it was to show her I can get over Mark and I already am, but the betrayal still hurts.

"What was that all about?" Brayden asked.

"I'll tell you later." I told him.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

I looked up at him with tears in my eyes.

"Do you think I'm boring?" I asked curiously.

"Absolutely not! You are the most interesting girl I've ever met. Everyday we're together you always find some way to amaze me. Don't listen to what her or anyone else says. You are the most attractive and the most captivating girl I've ever met. " he said as he inched closer.

My stomach started doing flips and I know it wasn't from nervousness. His beautiful blue green eyes were locked on my lips. There was an unreadable expression on his face. His long black eyelashes fluttered closed and so did mine. His lips started to graze mine, but the moment was soon interrupted.

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PLEASE READ:
Now that the chapters done I have some exciting news. I entered a contest to design an outfit for World Champion Barrel Racer, Fallon Taylor. I was chosen along with 19 others to make an outfit for Fallon to possibly wear at the NFR. I am super excited! I'm not going to tell you what the design actually is until she posts it during the NFR to Social Media. I'll try to update pretty regularly during December to give you updates on what's going on.

So this chapter's question is, Do you barrel race or ride horses?

I really love hearing feedback! If you liked this chapter give it a vote pretty please.  Thank you guys so much for reading.

Rodeo Hearts is almost to 2k reads! When I first started I thought at best the whole book once done would only get a couple hundred reads at the most! You guys are literally the best! 😊