Gay for Cowboy Read online

  GAY FOR COWBOY

  Peter has only been in Calgary for a single month and he’s desperate to make some new friends. A trip to the gay rodeo opens his mind and introduces him to out and proud—not to mention burly and bondage-loving—Mitch. He’s never been with anyone like Mitch, but he’s enthralled by the huggable bear, and the attraction is certainly mutual. Can a playful drag queen find love when he goes gay for cowboy?

  PRAISE FOR JADE BUCHANAN

  "The talented Jade Buchanan delivers yet another laugh out loud funny and very sensual story." – Rosemary, Joyfully Reviewed

  “Jade Buchanan is a natural at creating believable characters and stories that reach out to the reader." – Scandalous Minx, Literary Nymphs

  “Jade Buchanan has proven time and again that she is a gifted author...” – Kimberley Spinney, Sensual Reads

  "Jade Buchanan has created a whimsical, funny, short summer read." – JC Dreamer, The Romance Studio

  "Yet another steamy and captivating story from Jade Buchanan....” – Christina, Romance Junkies

  Gay for Cowboy

  by

  Jade Buchanan

  Smashwords Edition

  Copyright 2012 Jade Buchanan

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Two months later...

  Bio

  Chapter One

  Peter shifted on the bench, nervous despite his best efforts to relax. He had no idea what to expect. He’d only been in Calgary for a month now, and he didn’t really know that many people. Which was why he was headed to the rodeo for the whole day. He needed to do something to get out and mingle. This was supposed to be a huge pride event in the area, so he was looking forward to it. Should be fun, right?

  “Time to leave, folks.”

  Glancing up, Peter noticed the bus driver waving for them to get on. Stepping up behind an older gentleman wearing a white cowboy hat, Peter brushed a hand down his shirt. Should he have gotten a cowboy hat? No, he didn’t think he could pull it off. It was bad enough he’d had to go out and buy a plaid shirt. That’s what you wore to a rodeo, right? Hell, he had no idea. This could be bad.

  He stifled a snicker when he boarded the bus. The outside was typical yellow school bus, complete with rust spots, but the inside had been made over into a party bus. Banquet seating had replaced the old double seats, and three stripper poles shone down the aisle.

  Sitting down beside a short redhead, he gave her a quick smile, trying to be friendly. “Do you know how long it will take to get there?” he asked.

  “About 45 minutes, give or take. This is my first year,” she said, smiling.

  “Mine too!” Oh, good. He wasn’t the only one. “I just moved to Calgary.”

  “Where are you from?” she asked.

  “Vancouver.”

  “Must have been a bit of a change.”

  He snorted, unable to hold it in. Yeah, it was a bit of a change for sure. One he wanted, though. He had made the right choice, he knew he had. Didn’t make it any easier though. Things had been bad back home. All the guys around him had been so gossipy, so flighty. His alcoholic roommate hadn’t made things any easier either. No, Peter was looking for a change. The Calgary scene was smaller, quieter, just what he needed right now.

  “Yeah, Calgary takes some getting used to. I can’t believe how flat everything is. I mean, compared to Vancouver. It’s nice to still see mountains though.”

  “Wait until we get further out of the city. Strathmore is to the east of us, and it’s pretty much flat all the way to Winnipeg from here.”

  “Really?”

  They chatted back and forth for the rest of the bus trip, Peter thankful for her company. There were only a handful of others on the bus, but they all seemed to know each other. As the kilometres rolled along, he couldn’t get over the scenery. He kept looking for a pump jack out in the fields but was a little disappointed that he couldn’t see one. Wasn’t this oil country? He’d figured they’d be everywhere.

  Before Peter knew it, they were pulling into the fairgrounds where the Alberta Rockies Gay Rodeo was set to drop. With a wave to his bus partner, he nervously made his way through the booths lined up just past the entrance. He blushed when a guy handed him a free cock ring with a wink. He grinned back at the big guy, putting a little more swish in his walk when he brushed past him.

  There weren’t a whole lot of people here, but maybe a lot of them came later. Peter grabbed a hot dog from a vendor, moving toward the covered stands. On his way he took in the booths set up everywhere. There were gaming booths for charities, including a crown toss to aid domestic violence awareness, which was pretty cool. He spotted Miss IGRA, representing the International Gay Rodeo Association, and drooled over her outfit for a moment, especially her crown. Hot damn, he wanted to steal her blinged-out crown. Three cheers for drag queens wearing crowns. Jealous, him? Naturally.

  Peter finally made his way to the stands and spent the next few hours people watching like crazy and entertaining himself with the rodeo. The crowd was such an eclectic mix… families and couples, twinks flirting with everything that moved, big, burly cowboys who moved with casual grace, butch lesbians who hugged each other and yelled out that their tents were on Butch Bay. He grinned, enjoying himself.

  He was especially enjoying the events. He’d never been to a rodeo, but this was fun. Still a little depressing that he was here by himself, but there was so much to watch he wasn’t too upset.

  But, the events were insane. He’d thought it would be a lot more campy than it was. Maybe he paid too much attention to the stereotypical portrayal of gay rodeos, but this had actual cowboys. Sure, there were the odd bright hats and sequins, but he saw more people in plain denim and plaid shirts, with dusty cowboy hats and boots than he’d originally expected.

  “This seat taken?”

  Peter startled at the deep, bass voice coming from his left. He glanced over, taking in the cowboy with his hat pulled low, blue shirt stretched across his colossal chest with the words Calgary Eagle scrolling over his left pec. Hmm. Peter might not have been here long but he knew what the Eagle was. It was a popular series of leather bars that stretched across North America. Hello, Daddy.

  “No, feel free.”

  When the cowboy brushed past him, Peter glanced up, checking out the guys ass and spotting a rodeo number pinned to his back. Yay, his cowboy was a real cowboy, then.

  He tried not to fidget, but he wanted to stare at the man, just take him in. He was exactly Peter’s type. Not that he’d ever admitted that before. Geez, his friends back in Vancouver would have pissed themselves laughing if they knew he was lusting after some Paul Bunyan type. Okay, so that might not be the best comparison. But, Paul Bunyan if Paul had been a cowboy.

  “Hey handsome, I bet I could stick on you for eight seconds,” a voice cooed.

  Peter couldn’t help but smile at the drag queens standing at the bottom of the stands.

  “Ladies,” Mr. Cowboy drawled, causing a few flutters in Peter’s belly as well as a flurry of giggles from the queens.

  “Catch you later, stud.” They sashayed away, stopping every now and then to wave at someone. Peter watched them go, glancing back just in time to see his cowboy watching them too. Well,
well.

  “Do you know them?” he asked.

  His cowboy shrugged. “Those ladies are harmless, they just like to flirt. Not like the typical buckle bunnies that come out just to screw a cowboy.”

  Crap. Did he think that was what Peter was doing here? “This is my first time,” he blurted out.

  “Yeah?” Cowboy turned to give him another once-over. “You like it?”

  “It’s a lot of fun. Not quite what I was expecting, but that’s okay.”

  “What did you expect?”

  “I’m not sure. Maybe ass-less chaps and riding goats or something.” He blushed, embarrassed. It probably made him sound ridiculously stupid.

  Cowboy laughed. “There’s a bit of that. There’s a goat dressing event later that makes me laugh every time I see it. But there are also the regular events you’d see at any rodeo. Bull Riding, Steer Riding, Barrel Racing, Roping Events and all that. They’re expecting over 4,000 people this year. It’s one of the biggest gay rodeos in the US or Canada. We like to take pride in it.”

  “Wow, that’s pretty impressive.” He hadn’t realized it was such a big deal.

  “Is this your first day of rodeo events?”

  Peter nodded. “I took the bus down. Why. Are there more things than just today?”

  “It last a few days, actually. Events today and tomorrow and on Monday there are some closing parties. We had a wet jockey contest at the Eagle on Thursday to kick everything off.”

  Well, shoot. “Man, too bad I missed that.” He tried not to pout. Honest.

  “I’m Mitch.” A huge paw was held out.

  Peter shook his hand, smiling when the guy held on for just a little too long. “Peter.”

  “You from around here?” Mitch narrowed his gaze, studying him carefully. Peter stifled the urge to fidget again. Why did this cowboy make him so nervous?

  “Vancouver.” Peter paused, trying to feel Mitch out. “I, uh… I used to work at The Junction. I headlined Absolutely Dragulous on Saturday nights. Petra Foxx, at your service.”

  Mitch’s gaze practically lit up. “That right? You staying for the dance, Peter?”

  He hadn’t been planning on it, but hell… if Mitch had that kind of reaction about finding out Peter occasionally worked as a drag queen then he wanted to see what could happen. Looked like his instincts were right when he saw Mitch staring after the queens. “Yeah. Definitely.”

  “Good. You’ll dance with me.”

  That didn’t sound like a question. “Uh…”

  Cowboy—Mitch—smiled at him. “That wasn’t a question.” He placed a proprietary hand on Peter’s knee.

  Well, he wasn’t going to complain about that. Hell, he might just come to love this place.

  Another half hour and he was still sitting beside his cowboy. Luckily, Mitch was there to discuss the events as they watched, so he was getting a new rodeo education as they went along. He’d even explained some of the ones Peter had already seen. He flirted with Mitch outrageously, and his cowboy definitely obliged him.

  “I’m up next, so I’ll catch up with you later. Don’t go too far, I don’t want to lose you.”

  Peter looked up. “You’re up?”

  “Bull Riding is going to start after this, so I need to get back there and get set up. I should have been there half an hour ago, but I’ve been enjoying myself.”

  Peter blushed. Good, he was having a great time, so it was nice to hear that Mitch was enjoying himself, too. “Okay, I’ll probably just stay here. If you, uh, want to come back I’ll still be here.”

  “Of course I’m coming back. Wish me luck?”

  “Yeah!” Peter sat up straight. “Good luck. I don’t want to say break a leg, because that doesn’t seem like the best thing to say in this situation, but I—”

  Mitch placed a finger over Peter’s mouth, grinning down at him. “Thank you.”

  Peter pressed his lips together. He babbled when he was nervous. He wasn’t sure why he was freaking out, but he was really getting to like Mitch and the idea that Mitch was into him was pretty exciting.

  Mitch smiled down at him before caressing the side of Peter’s face. He left with a final brush of his hand over the top of Peter’s head. Peter didn’t take his gaze off Mitch until he disappeared behind the chutes on the other side of the rodeo ring.

  The lady who’d ridden the bus with him waved as she walked up the stands to sit behind him. Peter waved back, gratified to see someone at least halfway familiar. Wait... Shoot. He couldn’t stay for the dance. He’d taken the bus here. So, he had to take the bus back and he’d already checked the times and the bus driver left to go back to Calgary after the main events left. What was he going to do? He hadn’t even gotten Mitch’s phone number.

  Well, he’d stick around until after the Bull Riding anyway. It sucked, but he didn’t want to lose the only ride home he had. He had no idea if you could even catch a cab this far outside Calgary. And he didn’t know anyone here but his cowboy now. Plus, he thought there was some kind of dinner before the dance, and he hadn’t bought tickets to that. What was he supposed to do, just hang out until everyone was done?

  If he’d known he’d meet someone here then he might have done some better planning. But, who would have thought that he’d find a hunk of prime flesh here at the rodeo?

  He watched as they set up everything for the Bull Riding. He’d already been told that there were four different categories of events and this was the biggest. Your average rodeo had speed events consisting of things like Barrel Racing, Pole Bending and Flag Racing. The roping events were Calf Roping on Foot, Breakaway Calf Roping, or Team Roping. Then there were rough stock events like Jr. Bull Riding, Bareback Bronc Riding, Chute Dogging, or Bull Riding. Finally, every good gay rodeo had camp events, like Steer Decorating, the Wild Drag Race and the always entertaining Goat Dressing. Apparently it was harder to put underwear on a goat than he’d thought. Not that that was something he routinely thought about or anything, but it had been entertaining anyway.

  Mitch was apparently in the running for one of the All-Around titles this year, which was pretty darned impressive. That meant he had to participate and do well in three of the four event categories. He’d already placed first in Breakaway Calf Roping and second in Pole Bending, and he still had Bull Riding to do to cap off today’s events. Apparently it would all start over again tomorrow. He may have gotten confused about the order of some of that, but who could blame him when he was faced with Mitch?

  Much to Peter’s surprise, and admitted disappointment, Pole Bending had absolutely nothing to do with pole dancing. Instead the cowboys—and girls—had to weave their horses through a set of poles without knocking them over. The rider with the fastest time won the event.

  The part he loved the best about it was that there was such a difference in skills but everyone was cheered on just the same. You had a large number of pretty serious competitors like Mitch and others with actual ranching and rodeo experience, but then there would be someone just starting out competing at the same time.

  His favourite had been a lesbian couple where the one lady was a seasoned veteran who not only beat Mitch’s time in Pole Bending—and come in first in the ladies division—but, she’d also won the Barrel Racing and Flag Racing titles. Her girlfriend competed in Barrel Racing for the first time and the crowd still cheered loudly even though she practically walked her horse through the configuration. Seeing how happy the couple were when she finished was pretty inspiring for him. Heck, it had nearly made him tear up.

  The feeling of camaraderie around here was beautiful.

  Movement near the chutes brought his attention back to the event getting ready to take place. He’d already sat through the Jr. Bull Riding and had nearly crapped his pants at how big the damned bulls were. He didn’t know how cracked in the head you had to be to consider that a fun thing to do. He also had a feeling the actual Bull Riding event would be a bit more challenging than the Jr. one.

  Mitch had
already told him that Bull Riding was the most dangerous event in rodeo. The bulls had to weigh a minimum of 1200 pounds in order to be used, and there were a number of rules they had to follow in order to get a better score. He couldn’t remember them all, but he did recall Mitch talking about his hands.

  The rodeo clown was already in the ring, his coloured hankies fluttering in the wind as he danced across the sand. He was doing a fair job of keeping the crowd entertained, and Peter knew his real job was about to start. He had to keep the bulls away from the riders once they dismounted. Geez, where could he sign up to do that? Why would anyone want to do that? Peter had to admire him, and the size of his balls, even if he questioned his sanity.

  Peter watched in shock—and a fair amount of awe—as one bull rider after another came out, tried to stick their bull for the required amount of time and were either thrown within seconds or jumped off once the buzzer had sounded. Mitch’s ride was amazing, but he was slightly biased after all. All he knew was that Mitch stuck on for the required amount of time and finished off with a score of 69. Yes, Peter had laughed like a lunatic at that one.

  He waited for a while after the event was finished. Some of the folks wandered off, while quite a few remained in the stands and chatted with each other. Peter waved goodbye to his bus buddy and checked his email while he waited for Mitch to come back out. He was nervous now.

  A commotion at the bottom of the stands drew his attention away from his phone. He grinned widely when he spotted Mitch coming up, being stopped periodically to shake someone’s hand. Finally Mitch reached him and Peter bounced up to press a kiss to his cheek.

  “Congratulations! That was a great ride. Well, I don’t know whether it really was or not, but it sure looked great to me. Although I will be honest that I laughed a little bit about your score.”