Rockin' O: Lone Star Honky-Tonk, #3

By Roz Lee

It's Friday night, and hardworking cowboys and ranchers from all around Fort Worth come to The Lone Star for a cold brew and someone warm to dance with. Lucky for them, one table is always reserved for Bailey Rose and her friends, who come there to unwind and maybe to get wound up by a good-looking guy with a big smile and a bigger rodeo buckle.

I can't imagine not marrying Brendan, but I can't bring this discontent into our marriage either. My friend, Beth, is right. I have to talk to my fiancé, but how do you tell a man who does everything right in the bedroom that you need more—that you need him to spank you? ~ April

• Language: English
• Publisher: Roz Lee
• Release date: Aug 26, 2023
• ISBN: 9780998570655

Roz Lee

USA Today Best-Selling author Roz Lee is the author of thirty romances. The first, The Lust Boat, was born of an idea acquired while on a Caribbean cruise with her family and soon blossomed into a five-book series published by Red Sage. Following her love of baseball, she turned her attention to sexy athletes in tight pants, writing the critically acclaimed Mustangs Baseball series.Roz has been married to her best friend, and high school sweetheart, for nearly four decades. Roz and her husband have two grown daughters and are the proud grandparents of three adorable grandkids.Even though Roz has lived on both coasts, her heart lies in between, in Texas. A Texan by birth, she can trace her family back to the Republic of Texas. With roots that deep, she says, “You can’t ever really leave.”When Roz isn’t writing, she’s reading, or traipsing around the country on one adventure or another. No trip is too small, no tourist trap too cheesy, and no road unworthy of travel.Visit Roz’s website – www.RozLee.net

Book preview

Defiance and Discontent

The Lone Star is hoppin’ tonight—nothing unusual for a Friday in the heat of the summer. Seems like everyone I know is here to blow off steam with an ice-cold longneck and some dancin’. We ditched our usual girls’-night-out table for one near the dance floor that can accommodate all twelve of us. It’s good to see everybody, even if it means the single girls don’t have dates. Judging from the looks coming our way, more than a few of them might remedy the situation before the night is done. Of the women at the table, only Beth, Bailey Rose, and I have regular guys.

Beth recently got engaged to Colton Barnes, the retired bull-riding champ, and Bailey Rose finally got back together with Travis Martin who’s been tearing up the rodeo circuit for the last few years. Both women are disgustingly happy. Permanent smiles plastered on their faces encourage the singles to keep lookin’ for their own happy ever after.

It’s too early for the band, but the DJ is a good substitute. Maybe I’m PMSing, but the cry-in-your-beer songs are getting to me tonight. It’s all I can do to keep a smile on my face and hold up my end of the required banter.

Where’s Brendan tonight? Penny’s family owns the biggest western-wear store in town, but you’d never know it. I’ve never seen her in a pair of boots, and the world would probably end before she’d wear anything with a pearl snap on it. But the woman loves cowboys from the top of their Stetsons to the tips of their shit-kickers.

I flick the diamond on my ring finger with my thumb as I glance at the masculine faces turned our way. They’re bringing in hay today.

No need to say more. Everyone around here understands that means late and unpredictable hours. No matter what time they finish, he’ll come to town to see me, and he’ll expect me to be at my apartment, waiting for him. But tonight I needed to get out, even if I had to go alone. Sipping my first margarita of the night, I search my brain for reasons.

Maybe it’s the wedding. Planning it has taken nearly every spare minute of my time for the last few months, but I know that’s not it. I’m an organizer by nature, so the details don’t bother me. What I’m really afraid of is that it’s not the wedding making me antsy, but the marriage.

Don’t get me wrong. I love Brendan. I can’t imagine my life without him in it, but maybe, just maybe, he should be something besides my husband.

God! I can’t believe I’m even thinking something so crazy. He’d have a coronary if he knew. Hell, I’m not sure my heart can take it.

As the conversations swirl around me, I let my brain toy with the idea of not becoming April O’Donnell. It’s too foreign a concept to consciously think about. I need to sneak up on the idea, let it age for a while before I test it to see if it’s going to be palatable.

Penny tips the lime wedge riding the edge of her glass into