A/N: A great big Howdy! I know, y'all thought I up and died or something! I forgot I had finished this chapter and been holdling on it for an extremely long time. This chapter is unbetaed, so any errors you find are mine! Enjoy!

Chapter 6 – Rodeo Romeo

He'll dust off his hat clean out his ole pickup truck
He's going playin' when he should be prayin' for luck
Cause tomorrow he's ridin' the meanest bull he'll ever see
But tonight he'll forget all about it he's headin' for some cowgirl's dreams

He's a rodeo romeo cowgirls and bulls are his life
He loves what he does and he does what he loves ev'ry night
He'll hit the dance halls flashin' the girls his best smile
He's burnin' both ends of the candle rodeo romeo style

He don't even care that while he's out lovin' all night
The bulls will be savin' their strength for that eight second ride
The white lace and whiskey they'll have him feelin' half dead
And even though odds are against him he'll come out a winner instead

He's a rodeo romeo cowgirls and bulls are his life
He loves what he does and he does what he loves ev'ry night
He'll hit the dance halls flashin' the girls his best smile
He's burnin' both ends of the candle rodeo romeo style

-Rodeo Romeo by Moe Bandy

Carlisle reluctantly let go of Bella, but not before asking her, "Will you wait for me?"

Happy tears began running down Bella's face. With his thumbs, he wiped them off the apple of her cheeks as he waited for her answer. She didn't even have to think of her answer. Even though it had been four years since she had last seen or heard from him, her heart knew the right answer to say... "Yes!"

Cupping her face between his hands, he placed a kiss on her sweet lips. Carlisle climbed back over the fence with a big ol' grin on his face and jumped onto the horse behind the outrider. He kept looking back over his shoulder at Bella as he made his way to the other side of the arena.

After all that had just happened in the last few minutes, Carlisle realized he had no idea how he scored. Then again, he didn't really care at this point. All that mattered to him, was that Bella would be back in his life and he was damn well sure that he wasn't going to screw it up again and lose her.

Back in the stands, Bella was in a world of her own, tuning out everything around her. She had no idea if there were still riders to come or if it was over. She didn't even notice Jasper had to ride a tie breaker for second place. All she wanted to do was get back to her cowboy. Her cowboy? Now where did that come from? They had only been back in contact for a few minutes and she was already making a claim on him, at least her heart was trying to.

It took Alice a few minutes to get Bella's attention, "Bella. Bella. BELLA", she shouted at her friend in exasperation.

"Huh?" She asked, still not really paying attention to her.

Her friend just rolls her eyes at her, "I've only been trying to get your attention for the past 15 minutes. You kind of zoned out on me,"

"I'm sorry," she replied with a sigh, "What were you saying?"

"No problem, I know where your head was at!" Alice said, inducing Bella to blush.

"Alice!" Bella gasped at her turning a bit redder.

Alice just snickered at her friend's embarrassment. "We haven't got time for that right now, we have to get down to the boys, there getting ready to present the awards."

"I don't know..." Bella hesitated and before she could finish, Alice dragged her over closer towards where the award ceremony would be.

The girls could see their men standing together, waiting for the announcement.

"Ladies and gentlemen. As we wait for the final scores to be processed, we here at the Bull Riding Finals want to thank everyone for coming and let's give a big hand to the riders for the wonderful show!

The crowd breaks out into cheers, whistles and foot stomping.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, the moment we have all been waiting for, the top ten finishers!

As the announcer worked his way from 10th place to 3rd, the girls were getting excited. Bella had no idea what Carlisle's final score was so by the time the announcer had mentioned who would get 3rd, Bella was sure that Carlisle was out of the running

"Second place with a score of 88 after a ride-off, from Houston, Texas, Jasper Whitlock!"

The crowd roars.

Alice just about broke Bella's eardrum with her screaming and not to mention just about climbing on her! Bella was happy that at least one of their men would walk away with a prize buckle and check. But what happened next, had Bella in total shock herself.

"And in first place with a score of 91 from Forks, Washington, Carlisle Cullen!"

And Bella just about fainted dead away. She couldn't hardly believe it, that Carlisle was the winner of the Finals.

Both of the boys looked over to where the girls were and motioned for them to join them for pictures. Several were made with the winners together and separately and now the reporters wanted some with their loved ones. Carlisle relished the idea of sharing this great win with the one he so dearly loved and missed. He made sure during the pictures that his arm was around her waist, pulling Bella as close to him as possible.

Moving his head down towards her with a huge grin on his face, he kiss to the top of her head. Not being able to help himself, he placed a couple of fingers under her chin to tilt her face up towards his and proceeded to kiss her with all he had. Remembering where he was, he broke of the kiss to a bevy of cameras flashes and wolf whistles all around them not escaping the notice of the reporters. The kiss wasn't long enough as far as he was concerned, but he knew it really wasn't the place for it.

Of course, all the reporters wanted details and Carlisle who normally kept his private life just that, couldn't help but talk about the woman he loved, now that she was back in his life, he wanted the world to know. "This beautiful woman standing her with me is my girlfriend, Isabella Swan," he stated proudly.

To say Bella was shocked when she heard him tell the reporters that she was his girlfriend, was an understatement. She listened with awe as Carlisle explained why they hadn't seen her before at any of his events, even bragging about her had work in earning her college degree. Then the reporters turn to her and asked how she felt about his win. All Bella could said to them was how proud she was of him and his accomplishments in the sport and that she supports what he does.

Soon the press began to wander off to talk to the other contestants. Carlisle figured it was a good time to try to leave. They had a lot of things to discuss and he felt that it couldn't wait any more. Slowly they made to way to the exit tunnel.

Standing inside the tunnel and leaning against the wall was one of the reporters who constantly followed the circuit. Most of the bullriders considered him to be the paparazzi of the rodeo world. James Hunter noticed that this was the first time he had seen Cullen with a woman at the photo ops and James decided right then to do a little investigative reporting of his own. He couldn't help but notice the hot little brunette that Cullen had his arm around. Since he didn't get a chance to interview him during the photo ops due the crowd, he decided there was no time like the present to confront them.

Now even though Carlisle knew that reporters came with the territory, they were all professional for the most part. Still, they could get on his nerves at time with their personal questions. He would answer their questions politely while telling them that his personal life was none of their business.

There was one reporter, in particular that bugged him the most. He thought no question was too persona and he wouldn't take no for an answer. This man was a real piece of work. Carlisle had seen him after the events, hitting on anything in a skirt. He had really hoped that he wouldn't be there tonight, but unfortunately that wasn't going to be the case.

"Hey Cullen," the reporter yelled trying to get his attention.

"Oh blimey!" Carlisle thought when he heard his name being called. He did not want to talk to his reporter. He was always asking questions that he did not want to answer and he told him that on several occasions that his private life was just that...private.

He noticed that Hunter kept staring at his bird. "His bird," he loved the sound of that, after all, her last name was Swan! Carlisle decided he would ignore him this time and just walk away. Placing his hand in the small of Bella back, he tried to guide her away from the report before he could start asking questions. But it was too late, before they could get more than a couple feet down one of the tunnels leading out of the arena, the reporter somehow managed to catch up with them and stepped in front of them to effectively block their way.

Carlisle snapped at him, "What do you want, Hunter?"

"My, aren't you a happy camper tonight." James just laughing at his own joke like the jackass he was. He just stood there, blatantly staring at Bella, as he gave her a good once over... or two.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here? Who's the buckle bunny? I bet she's a wild ride in bed." James said, while continuing to leer Bella, licking his dry lips.

'Oh, he shouldn't have said that!' Carlisle thought to himself. This was exactly the reason why he hated this man. It's true he had had a buckle bunny or two in the past, but to call Bella one? Those were fighting words as far as he was concerned. He would never, ever consider Bella as one of those hussies that followed the rodeo circuit. Mind you, Carlisle is a compassion man, not one to be angered very easily. But when he feels that someone he loves is in danger... watch out! Carlisle wanted nothing more than to beat the daylights out of him. And he would have too, if it weren't for the love of his life standing there beside him.

Bella could feel the anger coming off of Carlisle and she placed a hand on his arm and whispered reassuringly to him that James wasn't worth the effort. That seemed to settle him down some and he pulled her closer to his side with his arms around her possessively.

Evidently, James must have had a death wish or something for the way he kept leering at Bella and making more crass remarks.

That was the straw that broke the Brahma bull's back. Letting go of Bella for a moment, Carlisle reach out and grabbed a fist full of shirt and slammed him against the wall.

He jerked James up high enough his feet just barely touching floor. Speaking slowly and clearly to make sure that Hunter could hear every word and know that he meant it. "If you EVER, and I do mean EVER refer to my fiancée in a derogatory fashion again, I will kill you," Carlisle told him with an intimidating look on his face as he released him.

James slumped to the ground as soon Carlisle released his grip on him. As quickly as he could, James stood up shaky legs and he moved away from the wall, only to back up into another one. Only this one was not a wall, but a very disgruntled bull rider.

"And if he doesn'," came a quiet southern drawl from behind James. "You can bet your boots that I'll open a good ol' fashion can of whoopass on you, Boy."

When Hunter turned round to see who had threatened him, all the color drained from his face. Jasper was standing right behind him, along with several other riders. He didn't even hear them come in the tunnel, he was too busy harassing Carlisle and Bella.

The other riders who came in at the same time as Jasper also heard the entire exchange. That was one thing about the bull riders, they will stick up for their own.

Hunter thought he could slip away unnoticed, while the riders were talking amongst themselves. He didn't even make it past the first a couple of the riders as they grabbed him and escorted him out of the building.

Bella was still standing where Carlisle had left her to confront Hunter. She was in a bit of a shock at what Carlisle had said to him. Not the death threat, but him calling her his fiancée. Wasn't it only a tiny bit ago he called her his girlfriend? She was going to ask Alice if she had heard him right. It was obvious she had, as Alice was jumping up and down in excitement over the turn of events she thought had happened for her friend.

Snapping out of the small haze she was in, she found her voice. "Stop it, Alice!" She grabbed her friend's hands trying to get her to calm down for a minute.

"You're getting married!" Alice squealed, "We're having a Vegas wedding!"

"No Alice, I'm not getting married." Bella glared at her friend.

Alice's face dropped, "But didn't he just call you his fiancée?"

"I...I thought that's what I heard him say, but he hasn't even asked me! Besides, we just got to see each other again after four long years." Speaking quietly to Alice.

"Are you sure he didn't ask you?" she grabbed at Bella's left hand, looking for a ring.

"Believe me," Bella said as she yanked her hand back. "You would be the first to know if he did!"

"If he did what?" Carlisle asked coming up behind Bella and wrapping his arms around her and kissing her on the head.

"It nothing," she answered blushing.

"It can't be 'nothing' if the thought of it is making you blush such a lovely shade of pink." He teased.

Bella turned around in his arms and buried her face in his chest. "Alice thinks were getting married," she mummed to him.

"And why would she think that?" He tapped her on the chin lightly to get her to look up at him.

With a deep sigh, Bella noticed a twinkle in his eyes as she admitted that she heard him tell that jerk that she was his fiancée and Alice had heard it, too. Which is way Alice was still bouncing excitedly next to Jasper.

Carlisle decided it was now or never to come clean and what better way than in front of the people you considered as friends. Slowly, he stepped away from Bella and reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a small, worn, velvet covered box.

She watched every movement he made, her eyes almost bugged out when she saw the little box he was holding. Then and when he dropped to one knee and began to speak, she just about lost it. She couldn't hardly believe that Alice was going to be right. Her hands flew up to mouth and the tears started to fall before he even said a word.

He watched her reaction as he knelt down in front of her. Slowly he opened the worn velvet box to expose an exquisite platinum 3 ct. diamond ring. He wasn't sure if he could go through with this, it was not how he had it planned in his head, then he thought what the hell.

It got deathly quiet in the tunnel as all eyes were on Bella and Carlisle. Looking into her eyes, he spoke the words that came straight from his heart.

"Bella... Four years ago at a small county rodeo, I rode my first bull. Never in a million years, did I think that my world would be turned upside down. When I jumped on the fence to get away from that bull, I saw the most gorgeous pair of chocolate eyes. They depths of those eyes captured my heart. I knew right then, that you were the girl I wanted to marry. I had fallen head over heels in love with you right then.

"But with you just starting college and my bull riding career just beginning to taking off, we lost our way to each other. I realize now and can admit that there were things I could have done differently. I guess at that time, it was just not meant to be.

"Even though I had moved on or thought that I had, there was still something holding me back from finding happiness. Something was missing from my life. Today, I found out what I was missing... You.

"When I saw you there in the stands today, it was four years ago all over again. It was then I realized that you were it for me. I know we have just reconnected today and you probably think this presumptuous of me, but I need you, Bella, I love you will all of my heart. I need you to be with me always. I want you to be the last thing I see at night and the first thing I see in the morning.

"You complete me, Bella. I love you so much that I want you to be my wife.

Carlisle takes the ring from the box and reaches for Bella's hand. "Isabella Swan... Would you do me the great honor of becoming my wife?"

Bella didn't even have to think about it. "Yes, Carlisle. Yes, I'll marry you!" she said with tears streaming down her face.

With a shaking hand, Carlisle placed the ring on her finger, sealing it with a kiss. Standing up, he collected her in his arms. Their lips met in the sweetest kiss of all. The crowd around them erupted into a bunch of hootin' 'n' 'hollerin' with congratulatory slaps and handshakes to Carlisle. Soon everyone went their own way, leaving the two couples standing there.

Alice pulled Bella away from him to hug her best friend. "I told you, Bella," she squealed, "were having a Vegas wedding!" Jasper didn't even try to contain her, he knew it would be of no use once she got started.

Bella looked over at Carlisle. "Is that what you want, Carlisle. To get married right now?"

E/N: I do have a good excuse for not updating like I should, I've gone back to school! I'm taking online classes and hope to earn a B.A. in Creative Writing and English with a concentration in Fiction. To be honest, after writting two 6 page pain in the butt reports at the same time, writing fanfiction is child's play! LOL So to celebrate the end of my second term with an A and a B, I updated Rodeo Drive for you!

I know some of you are also following my story Compassion and I want you to know that it is not forgotton or abandoned. It's just getting so much harder to write, so just hang with me.

I do want to thank everyone for their patience in waiting for updates on any of my stories, it's greatly appreciated.

So, don't forget to leave a little love, all reviews are welcome!

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