One Night with a Cowboy by Cat Johnson

 

This is the first book I've read by this author. At the opening of the book, Rebecca Hart is in a bad place emotionally because she is laid off from her teaching job at Vassar and she comes home to find her boyfriend moving out of their place. Consequently, she is kind of a downer. Thankfully her bubbly sister Emma helps pull her out of her funk and helps her with her job situation. Unbeknownst to Becca, Emma submits Becca's resume to OSU for an associate professor position - which would be an even better position than she had at the previous school she taught at. Emma and Becca travel out to Oklahoma after Becca gets picked for an interview. Emma convinces her to have some fun and go to a rodeo their first night. Tucker Jenkins is participating in the rodeo with his buddy Jace. Tucker is still nursing a bruised heart from his ex-wife's cheating ways. He and Becca lock eyes at the rodeo and he and Jace introduce themselves to Emma & Becca. He and Becca manage to have an extremely hot one-night stand. I did appreciate that both parties thought about and practiced safe sex in spite of opting to hook up so soon after meeting. The morning after they both part reluctantly, no numbers are exchanged. Becca figures that Tucker, while nice, is probably in a different town each night riding the rodeo circuit with rodeo groupies aplenty. Tucker figures Becca will be headed back to New York, thus never seeing her and making anything long term impossible. In the end, Becca gets the position at OSU and she and Tucker are surprised to find that they are now co-workers. Becca works in the English department at OSU and Tucker is on the payroll instructing cadets in the military science department. Both are shocked. Both think that the other should have volunteered more information about themselves at their last meeting. They end up rekindling the flame and sparks fly. Things get very hot. The only reason I gave this a 4 star rating instead of 5 stars is because the book description made it seem as though Tucker was strictly a cowboy. I thought maybe he worked on or owned a ranch in addition to riding in rodeos. That's not entirely an accurate picture of him though. He only does the rodeo thing on the side. He is a soldier and primarily a military instructor. If anything, he is more of a military guy rather than a cowboy. I enjoyed the supporting characters like Jace, Logan & Emma. I look forward to reading Emma's story.