Mine

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my made up characters!

Chapter 1 "Who are you?"

Tuesday September 20th, 2pm, Kit POV

After hours of travel, we finally arrived in Desert Valley, Arizona for the small-time rodeo championships.

We pulled up to the fairgrounds, where the rodeo would be held and got out to stretch. I could see a couple of cowboys by the chutes watching a rider out in the arena, looking at my watch I could see it was early afternoon, probably someone practicing. I thought with a smile.

I saw Jason, a good friend of mine who was also riding in the championships, wave to me. I started walking over to him. "'Bout time you got here Ely."

I grinned. "Long drive from up North in California. That little rodeo was fun though."

"I heard you won another belt buckle." Jason grinned back at me. I laughed and nodded.

"Yeah, nice looking one to add to my collection." I said and rolled my shoulders. "I think I earned it enough after riding that bronc."

Jason chuckled. "Crazy Wasp. That horse is a maniac."

"I can still feel his bucks." I groaned, thinking about his sun fishing ways. First he'd buck, then rear towards the sky and do it all over again.

Jason chuckled again then I nodded towards the arena. "Who's that?"

"Molly Parker. Very talented barrel racer and roper. She'll be competing in barrels." Jason informed me.

I watched her as she warmed up her horse. Beautiful grulla colored horse that had good movements, the girl had a good seat and as she turned her horse towards us, I could see her face.

She was beautiful, with her dark brown hair coming down past her shoulders and her smile on her face as she cantered. She cantered past us and I saw more of her features. Big brown eyes, normal nose, wide smile.

"Looking good honey!" I heard a guy shout and looked farther down to see a guy in his late thirties sitting on the fence, watching her. He looked a lit bit old to be calling her honey.

Jason caught my stare. "That's Molly's father. You might know him, Hal Parker, champion roper."

I nodded as I recognized him. Hal Parker was an amazing roper, still going strong. He's made it to the finals in Las Vegas plenty of times. "Guess riding and roping runs in the family." I commented with a smile.

Jason nodded. A guy on Jason's right leaned over. "Wonder if the mother was a roper too." The guy said as we continued to watch Molly ride around the arena.

Another guy leaned over to interject himself into the conversation. "We don't really know anything about her mother. I heard once that he was dating this girl, they broke up, she found out she was pregnant, nine months later the baby came along she found him on the road and left the baby with him, never to be seen or heard from again."

The guy whistled. "Bet that was a hell of a surprise for him." We all nodded in agreement.

After that, I tuned Jason and the other two out, watching Molly. You could tell she was a good rider just by watching her. Good seat, soft hands, nearly invisible cues to the horse. You could also tell the rider and horse had a good bond; they were in sync with each other, one being able to almost read the other's mind.

We all watched silently. I don't know what it was about this girl but she had something that made everyone want to watch.

…...

Molly POV

I cantered Honor around the arena as everyone watched. I smiled; I knew most of the cowboys sitting on the rails that were watching me. It wasn't uncommon to have a crowd when someone was practicing.

As I passed Jason, one of the bronc riders I knew very well, I saw a face that looked familiar but I couldn't place the name. He had black hair, I'd say about six feet tall, and was wearing jeans, a white short sleeved t-shirt and his black cowboy hat.

"Looking good Honey!" I heard my father shout and I turned my attention back to Honor. I could feel the excitement coming from Honor at the sight of the barrels sitting in the arena. Honor honestly loved to barrel race and she competed like she was born to do it.

I turned Honor fast towards the first barrel and she took it on eagerly. She continued eagerly as we completed the pattern.

We raced towards the fence quickly and with just a bit of movement, I had Honor sliding to a stop right before the fence. I smiled at the cowboy who held the gate open so we could walk through. "Thanks Henry."

"That was a good ride out there, Molly." Henry smiled back. Before he could say anything else, my father was beside me.

"Well done, Mol. You both looked great out there. Honor is in top shape." My father smiled at me and so quick that I wasn't sure, gave Henry a dirty look.

"Thanks Dad...hey do you know who that cowboy is next to Jason? I feel like I've seen him before but can't put a name to the face." I gestured towards where Jason was standing.

Dad glanced over and nodded. "Oh, that's Kit Ely, good bronc rider on the circuit. We've seen him ride once or twice; you remember?"

And once he said his name, I did. Most of the time when I watched Jason ride, Kit was riding too. He was good, giving Jason a run for his money usually.

"Yeah, that's right. I just couldn't remember his name." I was looking Kit's way now. My father grabbed my hand and I looked down at my father.

"Molly, I don't want you around him. He's older, about twenty-five and he's got other things than just talking on his mind...so you stay away from him, okay?" My father said quietly but sternly.

Instantly, I knew I was going to talk to him. My father telling me not to, made me want to. Plus, I wanted to talk to him about his bronc riding, I mean really, my dad thought every guy would just try to get me into bed. And like I would just go along with it, as if. Dad was extremely over-protective of me – even at my age – when it came to men of the rodeo.

I nodded slowly. "I'm going to cool Honor out Dad; you should go check on Shadow." I told him, referring to his roping horse.

"I might just do that, remember Molly, stay away from him." Then my father left. I waited until my dad was out of sight then turned Honor towards Jason.

"Hey Jason!" I called to him as I rode over. Jason looked up with a smile.

"Hey there, Molly. You and Honor looked good out there. I'd say you're ready for the finals!" Jason told me, still smiling.

"Thanks! I think I'm ready but you know, I'll be a mess by morning when they start." I laughed, pulling Honor up next to him.

Jason laughed too. "I know what ya mean, I still get that way about rodeos and I've been doing this for nearly eight years now."

I smiled at Jason, then at Kit. "Kit Ely, right?" I dismounted Honor and held my hand out to Kit.

"You know who I am?" Kit's face was shocked.

I giggled once. "Don't a lot of people? I mean you're a really good bronc rider."

Jason groaned, running a hand over his face. "Oh great, his ego just got ten times bigger, Molly."

I laughed as Kit pretended to glare at Jason. "What ego?" Kit asked, acting offended.

Jason just shook his head and Kit turned back to me. "So, you're Molly Parker?" I nodded. Kit took my hand and shook it. "Nice to meet you Molly."

"You too...Can I ask you some questions about your riding?"

"'Course you can." Kit smiled friendly at me.

So I started asking him all the questions and we talked for a while. I didn't notice when Jason left or when all the other cowboys left, all I knew was when we stopped talking for a minute, I saw no one and Honor was grazing peacefully beside me.

"Oh my God, where did everyone go?" I looked around, amazed. Hoping my dad hadn't seen us.

"I guess they left." Kit chuckled. "We were really into our conversation."

I nodded. "Well, I better un-tack Honor and put her away, then better get to my classes."

"Classes?" Kit asked, curious.

"Oh, yeah I take online college courses since we travel a lot to rodeos..."

"Yeah? What for?" Kit was smiling again. Something in his gaze made me want to blush.

"Riding Instructor." I said, feeling my face flush but trying to return his smile.

"That's nice, you wanna teach kids?" Kit asked, leaning against the fence rails.

I nodded. "I want to teach kids all about rodeo and all about horses. I'm really grateful to have grown up around horses and riding and want to pass that along."

"Well Molly I hope, very much, that your dreams come true like mine have." Kit smiled at me and I blushed again.

"Rodeo is your dream?"

"Yep, it always has been. Now I'm living the dream." Kit chuckled, watching me with his dark eyes.

"It's amazing, isn't it?" I was talking about the rodeo.

"It is. My family doesn't understand my love for it...but they support me in it." Kit was being honest and I liked that, that he could tell me that.

"Where are you from?" I asked, curiously.

"A small town called Darton, in Nevada…How about you?"

I shrugged. "I'm not sure. I've traveled all my life with my father. I've never had a place to call home, to call mine."

Kit was shocked. "Really? You've never stayed in one place?"

I shook my head. "No, I've been a traveling rodeo girl ever since I was a baby."

"That must be hard." Kit said sympathetically with a frown.

"Ah, sometimes." I answered with a shrug. "But it's been my life forever so I don't know much else."

"Have you ever thought about stopping the rodeo life? Getting your own apartment, going to a real college?"

I looked at Kit and I stared right into his eyes. "No, have you?" Liar. Something inside me hissed.

…...

Kit POV

I looked at Molly for a second before answering. "No, I haven't. I love it too much."

"Guess we're addicted to this kind of life." She smiled, rubbing her horse's shoulder.

I laughed. "Guess so." I still had to get a hotel room so I unfortunately had to say goodbye. "Molly, it has been really nice talking to you...but I have to go grab a hotel room before they're all taken...so maybe I could talk to you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, of course. See you tomorrow." Molly hesitated then left.

"This is bad, Kit." I turned to see Jason standing there, watching me.

"What's bad?" I asked, feeling defensive. I was just talking to the girl.

"You shouldn't get involved with Molly." Jason sighed, shaking his head.

"I'm not involved with her—we were just talking." I snapped, wondering what his problem was.

"I saw the way you were looking at her while she was talking. You like her. But let me tell you something, her dad will kill you if you try to get with her. He's very protective of her." Jason told me, crossing his arms.

"How old is she?"

"Nineteen." Jason said and I grimaced.

I was twenty-five...that was a bit of an age difference. "I was just talking to her." I said again.

Jason relaxed. "Look, I'm just warning you. I don't want you to get the shit beat out of you by her dad." I rolled my eyes.

"She's a little old for him to get so worked up over her talking to a guy. Don't you talk to her? " I asked. Why would her father have a problem with me, but not Jason?

"I have my girl, Lynn, back home. Molly and Hal both know her and know how committed I am to her. Hal knows I have no interest in Molly, she's more like a best friend, a little sister to me." Jason shrugged as he explained. "I know she's old enough but I guess it's different when it's your daughter."

"All I want to do is talk to her. She seems like an interesting person." I looked down, trying to remember the last time I had said those words. That I really wanted to get to know a girl and not get to know her in a different way than just talking to her.

Jason smiled. "She is. Why do you think her father is so protective of her? Most of the guys do like to talk to her and hell, she's not so bad looking either. She's pretty."

Jason was almost right but she was more than pretty. She was beautiful, in that cowgirl way every cowboy loved. "But listen, if you can promise me that all you want to do is talk...I can maybe arrange something. Lynn is supposed to be here tomorrow morning and is staying for the rest of the week. I could convince her father to let her go with Lynn and I to dinner or the movies and you could tag along."

I rolled my eyes, thinking of being chaperoned on a date. "I'll think about it."

I told Jason goodbye and headed towards the hotel beside the fairgrounds, thinking the whole time about how I could meet with Molly without her dad finding out.

…...

A/N: Hey all readers! Sorry it took so long to post the first chapter but it's finally up and I hope you enjoy! I know it might seem a little out of character for Kit but as we go along, I'll try to keep up with his character. I'll try to UD soon but I have my other stories to UD first and I've officially started on a Chloe/Bryan story from RP.

Anyways, hope you liked this chapter and review to tell me if you like/wanna see more of this story!

From: QuinnandSeth'sgirl15

PS: Anyone ever been on Fictionpress? I also have a non FF story on there called Rodeo Dreams if you'd like to check it out. My Author name is the same from here so look me up!