Just Shoot Me (Cowboy Way, #1) (13 page)

Hope was fussing over Cord like a mother hen.
He’d had worse. Dean had given him worse, and gotten worse from him
too. They were brothers. That’s just how they settled things. And
they knew when to stop. Before they did serious damage to each
other.

“
Dean wait!” Cord yelled behind
him, but Dean kept walking toward the ranch house. His brother
caught up to him at the front porch. He grabbed his arm and Dean
tensed up, getting ready for round two. “What the hell is wrong
with you today?”

“
Same thing that’s wrong with me
every day. I’m tired of carrying the entire load around here
alone.” Dean took the three steps and was at the door when Cord
stopped him again.

“
Zack and Ryan are coming out here
tonight with some of the guys and their girlfriends. They have a
business idea I think you should listen to. It could really be the
answer to our problems. After looking at the tractor, and running
the numbers on planting a crop with Daddy, you’re right, it’s not a
good idea, but this is.”

Fucking fantastic. Another hair-brained idea
of his brother’s to fix things. If he’d work half as hard as he
thought about working, the ranch would be in high cotton. And now
he had his damned rodeo buddies on the bandwagon. Like they knew
their ass from a hole in the ground when it came to
ranching.

“
I need to be alone,” Dean replied
shortly as he twisted the doorknob. He was halfway into the foyer
when Cord caught him again. Before Cord started again, Dean
growled, “The mood I’m in isn’t fit for company, polite or
otherwise.”

“
So get rid of it. You need some
stress relief. We both know that’s what that fight in the yard was
about. Mama’s watching Jeremy and Laney. We’re going to build a
bonfire out back, and have some beer.”

“
I said I need some space,” Dean
growled, jerking his arm from Cord’s grasp as he headed for the
living room.

“
Goddammit, Dean. Don’t make me
beat your ass again,” Cord threatened from the foyer.

Dean spun around to glare at him. “Beat my ass
again
?”

Cord huffed out a breath and had the audacity
to smile at him. “Just get your ass cleaned up, and stop being a
hard ass. Meet us in the field at seven-thirty. I’m driving the
golf cart, so you can have as many beers as you want.”

Damn, a beer did sound good. Several beers. He
could have those here at the house, but drinking alone just sounded
so…pathetic. “Just don’t give me shit tonight. I don’t want to end
up in jail, because I had to kill your ugly ass.”

“
Promise,” Cord replied with a
wider grin, marking an X over his chest with his finger. “The guys
are bringing women with them, so who the hell knows, maybe you’ll
even get lucky tonight. Lord knows you need to. Maybe it would
improve your mood.”

Another person telling him he needed to get
laid. They just all needed to mind their own fucking business. He
was fine. What Dean needed was every one of them to get off his
back.

CHAPTER EIGHT

After he showered, Dean decided he might as
well go to the damned bonfire and drink. He didn’t have anything
else to do, other than lay in his bed and stare at the ceiling
thinking about the damned woman he couldn’t seem to get off his
mind. And with Cord’s rodeo buddies coming, if he wasn’t out there,
those saddle tramps would probably be all over her, while he laid
in his room thinking about her.

He walked into the kitchen and opened the
fridge to get a pre-beer to settle his nerves. Pulling open the
drawer, he found the opener and popped off the cap. It had been a
helluva long time since he’d been around people in a social
setting, and that’s exactly what a bonfire in the country was. As
close to a party as country folk got. Even though this was a
spur-of-the-moment gathering, by the time all was said and done,
they could have half the county at the ranch. Word usually spread
like wildfire through town, and invitations weren’t needed. Anyone
who wanted to come showed up.

Dean had liked them when he was younger, but
he was a different man now. Groups of people made him itchy and
nervous since his divorce. Cindy used to drag him down to the
Electric Cowboy often, and other than the dancing all he had to
look forward to was a fight. He could always count on her doing
something with someone that made him angry. So, toward the end of
their marriage he figured out he was best to avoid
crowds.

Thank God his brother hadn’t suggested going
to the only bar within fifty miles.

This would be a lot more laid back than the
Cowboy and maybe he could reinitiate himself into polite company
since his ex-wife wouldn’t be in the mix. But there would still be
people out there. People who he no longer had a damned thing in
common with. Young freewheeling guys who were just looking for
their next good time. Dean had responsibilities now, including a
kid. They had women to chase.

“
Oh, honey, you look nice,” his
mother said with a wide smile as she walked into the room. She
stopped in front of him to study his face. With a frown she reached
up and touched his cheek, and he flinched at the sting. “You have a
bruise,” she said, with a click of her tongue and a frown. “You and
Cord don’t need to be fighting.” Dean pulled his face away and
after a shake of her head, she turned to walk to the oven. “Do you
want dinner before you leave?”

“
No, ma’am. I ate a sandwich. And I
think they’re roasting hot dogs out there too.”

Dean glanced at the clock above the wall
phone. Six fifteen. Maybe he should head back to the field, or walk
over to the bunkhouse now. The sooner they got this show on the
road, the sooner it would be over and he could come home. Dean took
a long drink of his beer, then another to finish it off, before he
threw the bottle in the trash.

“
I’m just gonna go over to the
bunkhouse, Mama. You need anything before I go?”

She was keeping two six-year-olds tonight
alone, and he was sure she had forgotten how trying keeping even
one that age could be. Dean was usually around to take care of
Jeremy. Even though she helped out a lot going it alone at her age
could be nerve-wracking. “Mama, if they give you any trouble, call
me and I’ll come home.”

Dean was almost thinking about changing his
mind.

“
Don’t be silly, Dean. I raised you
two boys, and if I can do that, I can take care of Jeremy and
Laney. Ya’ll broke me in well,” Barb Dixon said with a snort.
“Almost broke me.”

It was a wonder they hadn’t broken their
mother. He and Cord were hellions of the first order. He was
surprised his mother’s hair wasn’t gray by the time she was thirty
years old. She was right, she could handle the kids. He kissed her
cheek then gave her shoulders a squeeze. “Thank you for
babysitting.”

“
I’ll do it more, if you’ll start
going out and enjoying yourself again,” she said seriously. “You’re
getting too old too fast, son. You’re a young man and you need to
start acting like one again.”

“
Mama, I wouldn’t want to be young
again.” Dean laughed dryly, then reminded, “Think about what you’re
saying there. I was a hell-raiser from the seventh ring of hell.”
His father had bailed him out of jail enough to know, even though
he hadn’t always told his mother. Thank God.

Barb Dixon narrowed her blue eyes. “You still
are, just in a different way. Not a good one either. Son, lose your
attitude, and get your head right tonight.” She tilted her head
then winked at him. A small smile eased up the corner of her mouth.
“Whatever
that
takes. I have the kids
all
night.”

Oh, good Lord—did his
mother
actually
just tell him to get laid too?!?

Heat rushed to his face. “Good night, Mama!”
he said with disgust, then turned on his heel and headed for the
front door. Dean was getting out of there, before his father chimed
in with the same opinion.

It looked like his whole damned family thought
he was a crazy, sex-starved idiot.

Who knew, maybe he was. Dean really hadn’t
realized what a grumpy asshole he must’ve become, but it looked
like everyone was calling him on it. Some in nicer ways than
others.

On his walk to the bunkhouse, the beer he’d
drank started working its magic. By the time he opened the front
door, he was feeling a lot more relaxed than he had been. Dean had
no idea what he would find out there. Paulo and Belinda were still
at the ranch, even though they hadn’t done the photo shoot today.
It looked like even though it was only a little over an hour back
to Dallas, they were staying at the bunkhouse until the photos were
done.

And Tina Montgomery was still there too. Would
probably be there until next weekend. They would all probably be at
the bonfire tonight. Thank God there would most likely be a lot of
people at the party, so he could avoid her. He certainly didn’t
want any more of her advice or questions. And he sure didn’t want
to give in to the temptation to have her be the one to clean the
pipes his family thought needed cleaning.

That temptation would be there until she left
the ranch. But he had a feeling Tina wasn’t the pipe cleaning, head
out the next morning kind of woman. She’d want a side of
relationship with her sex, and that wasn’t something Dean was
willing to give her.

It was only Tuesday. If Dean planned on
avoiding her, he had a long row to hoe until next weekend when she
and Laney would leave. If he could just last that long though,
after that he’d probably never see her again, except for the
occasional visit she might make to see Hope.

His heart did a strange little twist in his
chest, but he untwisted it fast. The thought of never seeing her
again did make him think more though. Maybe he was thinking wrong
and she was a clean-the-pipes-and-head-out-town type of
woman.

This afternoon, if he had been agreeable, they
would have had sex out there in that bluebonnet field by the lake,
and Tina Montgomery knew she was leaving in a few days. Maybe she
was the perfect solution to his problem. Or what everyone thought
was his problem, including her. They could have sex, then she would
leave. Go back to her big job in Dallas. He’d never have to see her
again. Problem solved, and no hard feelings or hassle.

His pool of potential candidates out here in
the country was as dry as the creek bed in a drought. It was now or
never, and her or no one. If she came back for a visit with Hope,
he could just make himself scarce. Dean had become good at
that.

Instead of going into the bunkhouse, Dean did
an about face and made a beeline for his truck. He opened the door
and climbed up inside to dig around in the glove box. He was damned
rusty at this thing, but he’d had sex enough times in his life to
write a book on it probably. Kinky, straight up, vanilla. You name
it, he’d tried it in his younger years. It had been a helluva long
time for him, but whatever Miss Montgomery’s flavor was, Dean was
sure he could more than accommodate her. He was definitely primed
for it. Because of her.

Dean found the box of condoms he’d put in
there a couple of years ago when the thought of going to town hit
him, but he chickened out. He pulled out a couple then put them
back into the box, and took out a whole string of them instead. If
he was going to have one night with her, he was going to make it a
long night, and make sure they both remembered it. Folding them up,
he pulled his wallet out and tucked them inside then closed the
glove box.

“
Hurry up, Paulo…we’re going to be
late!” Tina said, squirming in the chair while the hairdresser
teased her hair up even higher on top. He reached around her and
sprayed it more than thoroughly, until she inhaled a lungful and
coughed.

“
It’s just a bonfire. That’s
enough!” she said firmly. “You keep going and my hair is gonna be
bigger than Dolly Parton’s—“ Their eyes met in the mirror and Paulo
lifted a perfectly arched brow to give her ‘that’ look. They had
been co-workers and friends for a long time, and he had the
darndest way of saying things without uttering a single word. And
she read him right now. He’d worked hard on her hair and makeup,
and she was being critical. “Thank you for doing my hair and
makeup, Paulo. I love it,” she said, standing to kiss his
cheek.

“
Well I’ll say it…” Belinda leaned
toward the mirror to separate her bangs. “My hair is stiffer than
Dean Dixon’s—“ The door opened and Belinda’s thin lips pinched off
her words as her eyes darted toward the doorway. Tina spun around
and saw Dean standing there.

“
Finish it, Belinda. As stiff as
Dean Dixon’s?” he repeated walking over to stare down at her
darkly. “I know you weren’t talking about my upper lip.”

Her assistant and Dean Dixon faced off, and
Tina knew if she didn’t do something the night would go downhill
before it even started. Tina stepped between them and put her hand
in the center of Dean’s chest. “Spine…as stiff as your spine,” she
inserted quickly.

A crisp, woodsy scent wafted down to her and
it was so heady, she was stunned for a second. He didn’t have a lot
of cologne on, but whatever he was wearing was as good as
guaranteed sex in a bottle. All she could do was inhale deeply and
hold back a moan. Clearing her throat, she said, “You have to
admit, you’re a little uptight.”