Once Upon a Cowboy (11 page)

“I’m totally losing.” Jess mopped her face with a towel four hours later, guzzling from a water bottle as Kyla laughed. “Where did he learn to dance like that?”

“He’s spent a lot of involuntary Friday nights downtown at Salty’s. Must be he’s picked up some dance moves along the way.”

Moves
was one way to put it. The guy could teach a class at her studio, for goodness sake. The kids
had actually started the dance-off with them, but one by one, they’d dropped out until just Cole and Jess were left. At first she hadn’t suspected a thing, but after the fifth kid had fake-tripped and sat down, she’d known there was a plan afoot.

The self-appointed judging panel of Britney and her two friends had made quick work of dismissing the rest of the kids, so now she had to go head-to-head
with Cole in the finals. Yes, there were finals. These kids apparently took their dance-offs seriously.

“Does he
dance
at Salty’s?” Watching Cole goof around with the kids on the lawn behind the stable, Jess couldn’t imagine him out in the middle of a tourist-packed dance floor, turning and dipping to the latest country line dance.

Kyla shook her head. “Nope. Just watches.”

“Great.” Jess narrowed
her eyes. “He doesn’t even practice, and he’s this good? I am sunk.”

“Oh, come on. You know how to dance. Look! You’re a finalist!”

“Stop laughing. You saw how this went down. They’ve rigged the whole thing. I’m destined to lose.” Jess pointed. “The five-year-old is doing it better than I can.” She watched as Cole picked up Ella and spun her around, making her pigtails fly out behind her.

What would that feel like, she wondered? Had anyone besides Grampy ever bothered to pick
her
up when she was little?

What would it feel like if
Cole
did it?

Cole put Ella down, then pointed at Jess. “I think it’s your turn to dance, cowgirl.”

“I’m on break,
cowboy
.”

“You take a break, you forfeit the prize.”

“That could work. What’s the prize?”

Cole looked at the kids sprawled all over the
lawn. “Hey. Good question. What am I going to win after I dance this girl out of the competition?”

Britney laughed—sort of nervously, Jess noticed—and pointed at Cole. “If you win, you get to kiss Jess.”

Jess felt her face go scarlet as Cole’s jaw dropped open.

“And if she wins, she gets to kiss you!”

The kids all melted into hysterics, but neither Cole nor Jess was laughing. She saw him watching
her carefully, so she tried her best to mask her distress with a fake smile.

Cole shook his head. “We don’t do kissing prizes here at Whisper Creek.”

“You said we got to make the rules, though.” Britney pouted.

Cole raised his eyebrows. “New rule: adults make the rules from now on.” He put his hand out for Jess. “Come on, Jess. Let’s show these little cowpokes how it’s done.”

She cringed as
she put her hand in his, even as she loved the feel of his fingers closing around hers. “I don’t
know
how it’s done.”

Still holding onto her hand, he turned to the kids. “Okay, guys. You get one vote. What dance move should we do?”

“Spin her!” Ella called. “Spin her like you spin me!”

Jess pulled her hand back. “Oh, no you don’t.”

“Why not?” Cole raised his eyebrows. “Afraid to get dizzy?”

“No. I’m afraid you’ll drop me. I weigh a lot more than little Ella here.”

“Nah.” He reached out his hand. “Come on, cowgirl. Trust me. I promise I won’t drop you.”

“You say that now.” Jess held back.

“Spin her! Spin her!” Ella chanted, and the rest of the kids quickly chimed in. Jess widened her eyes at them, shaking her head, but it only made them louder.

She felt Cole’s arm slide around
her back, and it made her shiver deliciously. Then he leaned his head down to whisper in her ear. “The sooner we do it, the sooner we’re done, right?”

Jess tried to ignore the zings flying down her neck as his breath touched her ear, but it was nearly impossible. “Okay,” she finally said. “Okay, you can spin me. But if you drop me, I swear you’ll have a lot more than water balloons to deal with
afterward.”

“Deal.” Cole laughed as he swung her into the center of the circle the kids had formed around them. “Ready?”

She closed her eyes tightly, putting her hands gingerly on his shoulders. “Just remember I’m not five. And I’ve been eating Jenny’s and Ma’s cooking for days now.”

Before she could deliver any more warnings, though, his hands were on her hips and her feet were off the ground.
She felt suspended in space, as light as a fluff of cotton as he spun her, and she found herself letting her head fall back so her hair swung out behind her.

As the kids continued to chant, Cole spun her and spun her until he
had
to be dizzy, and then finally he set her down as lightly as if she were a ballet dancer. He kept his hands on her hips until she looked up into his eyes, and then she
felt her whole face break into a smile.

“How was that, cowgirl?”

“That was very, very…fun.” She laughed, heart still pounding from the exhilaration of it.

“Are you dizzy?”

Oh, yes. She was positively drunk-dizzy, that’s what she was. Looking up into his deep blue eyes, itching to trace the dimple in his cheek, dying to maybe sample one little kiss—yes, she was downright spun.

“A little,”
she finally admitted.

“Good.” He pulled his hands back, winking, then turned back to the kids. “I don’t know about you guys, but I call this a tie.” He motioned to them to get them all back out into the circle of grass. “Last dance is guys versus girls! Winners get ice cream!”

Britney frowned. “What do the losers get?”

“Losers get to
scoop
the ice cream!”

Twenty minutes later, Jess was up
to her elbows in mint chocolate chip ice cream, scooping into cones for both the winners and the losers. By unanimous vote, the boys had won, and Cole had been declared the Ultimate Dance Champion.

Thus the scooping.

After all of the kids were settled on the grass with their cones, Cole stepped up to the picnic table. “I’d like a double, cowgirl.”

She paused, scoop in hand. “You totally rigged
the voting.”

He dropped his jaw in mock horror. “I did no such thing. I won fair and square.”

“You won on a moonwalk. Who moonwalks to country music?”

“Hey.” He put up his hands in defense, a grin on his face. “I can’t help it if I just happen to have the exact skills the kids were looking for. Lucky win.”

“Luck, schmuck.” Jess rolled her eyes. “But I will be a gracious loser and scoop your
ice cream for you.”

“Thank you.” He winked. “You know, you’ll have another chance to reclaim the title. Tomorrow night. Salty’s. Bachelor/bachelorette party.”

“I’m pretty sure I don’t
want
this title, but thank you.”

“Now, now. Let’s not be a sore loser. I can teach you to moonwalk so you’ll have a chance next time.”

“My dream.” Jess rolled her eyes.

“How about line dancing? Know how to do
that?”

“Nope. Don’t tell me you do that, too.”

He shook his head. “I watch it. Under duress.”

“Then I guess you’d better not challenge me to a line dancing dance-off, cowboy.”

“We’ll see.” He tipped his head. “I kind of like dancing with you. Might even put up with a line dance at Salty’s if it means I can do it again.”

Jess felt her cheeks flush at his words, then was embarrassed that she’d
let them. For God’s sake, Cole was the consummate flirt. He delivered these lines like it was second nature. His words meant nothing.

“I’m not dancing tomorrow night, Cole. Especially line dancing—in public. Not going to happen.”

“We’ll see about that, cowgirl.” He grinned and tipped his hat, then turned back toward the kids. “We’ll see.”

“Yum. More Jell-O.” Jess reached up for a tiny cup as Kyla came back to their tiny table at Salty’s. “Why do I only ever drink these out here in Carefree? I always forget how much I love them. I definitely need more jiggly drinks in my life.”

Kyla laughed. “Don’t we all?”

“Why does Salty’s Jell-O taste so much better than everybody else’s?”

“Bottom-shelf liquor? I don’t know.”

Hayley motioned at them to
bottoms up,
and at her signal, Jess let the cool Jell-O slide down her throat. The chill was followed by a lovely heat as the tequila warmed her from the inside out.

Tequila.

Shit.

“Kyla? Didn’t we say we were doing the non-alcoholic version of these things tonight?”

Kyla shrugged, feigning innocence. “Salty’s all out. Only had the high-test version left.”

Jess looked
at the table, littered with tiny cups. “How many high-tests have we had?” She pointed to the table. “Not all of these, right?”

It was Hayley’s turn to shrug. “You’ll know when you try to stand up, I guess.”

“You guys! This isn’t funny! I need to be stone-cold sober tonight. You know this!”

Hayley raised her eyebrows. “Because if you’re not, you might finally succumb to Cole’s hotness?”

“Yes!
No!” She buried her face in her hands, then pulled them away, squinting. “Oh no.”

“What?” Kyla leaned in.

“My hands are tingly. And I have four of them.”

Hayley laughed. “Our job here is done.”

“Not funny, people.” Jess sat back, urging her eyes to focus. Exactly how much alcohol had she downed, anyway? She looked around the old-fashioned saloon-slash-dance hall, taking in the cedar-planked
walls and Western décor. The big dance floor was worn and dented, and the tables had definitely seen better days, but even with a busload of tourists vying for dancing space, it still felt homey.

She’d been to Carefree, Montana enough times now that, as she scanned the crowd, she recognized a few faces. The locals tended to hang closer to the bar, or come early and grab tables in the back corner
like she and the girls had. That left the tourist crowd milling around or out on the dance floor. Easy pickings for the ranch hand crew that ambled into town on Thursday and Friday nights, and she could already see some of the guys choosing their targets.

Two years ago, she, Hayley, and Kyla had been those tourists. The three of them had come to Carefree on a mission to get Kyla’s mind and body
on the path to healing after a hellish year, and wow, had they succeeded. She’d met Decker, the stars had aligned, and one year later, they’d all been back out here for a wedding.

And then Hayley, who’d sworn off men for-absolutely-ever, finally fell hard for Daniel
at
said wedding, and bam. Here they were again.
Another
wedding.

Jess sighed. She loved weddings.
Loved
weddings. She even loved
being a bridesmaid, though it was the most loathed job in the world to most thirtyish single women. Always a bridesmaid and all that. But there was nothing she loved more than watching two people pledge everlasting love to each other.

Especially people who’d never thought of themselves as the marrying kind. Those weddings were the absolute best.

However, this wedding left her as the last gal
standing in her particular singles corral, and it was starting to get a little lonely in there. Now that both Hayley and Kyla had moved out to Montana, her Boston circle had shrunk frighteningly. She talked more with her mail carrier than anyone else in the city.

Did she feel abandoned? Yes.
More so tonight, but that might be the tequila speaking.

“So Hayley—” Jess held up another tiny cup.
“Given the fact that you’re apparently going through with this wedding, I think we need to have a word.”

Hayley laughed. “Are you going to give me the birds-and-bees speech? Because I hate to tell you, but it might be a little late.”

“Nope. I’m not talking anatomy with a veterinarian who’s marrying another veterinarian. I assume you’ve got that covered.”

“I can say with complete confidence
that we do.” She winked.

“I wanted to talk about some arrangements we made a long time ago. The kind of arrangements that friends are supposed to honor until death does them part and all that.”

Hayley laughed. “Uh-oh. She’s already forming her words very carefully. Slow down, honey, or Cole will be picking you up off the floor when he gets here.”

“No one will be picking me up from anywhere.”
Jess shook her head, waving away Hayley’s joking concern. “And don’t try to change the subject. I was talking about us having a talk.”

“Okay. Let’s have a talk. What supposed arrangements do you want to talk about?”

“I want to talk about you abandoning me.”

Hayley sat back, surprised. “What?”

“You. Abandoning. Me.” Jess felt her pointer finger go outward and then back in, but it looked funny.
Uh-oh.
“And how much tequila does Salty put in these things, anyway?”

“A lot. And I apologize for abandoning you. In my defense—in
our
defense—Kyla and I keep trying to get you to move out here, too.”

“I don’t just mean the part about you abandoning me in the big, mean city. I meant in general. We had a
plan
.”

“A plan.”

“Yes, a plan. You not getting married was part of that plan. Remember?
We were going to be the swinging single chicks at the retirement home? Remember? Roommates on the dementia ward?”

Hayley laughed. “Don’t worry. I’ll totally outlive Daniel, so we can still be roommates.”

“Pfft. You’ll have eight kids by then, and they’ll be fighting to take care of you. You’ll never have to go to a home. Me, on the other hand—I’ll probably be in that scary, smelly place that
only hires ex-con nurses’ aides.”

“If I have eight kids, I’ll be in the dementia ward
long
before you get there, honey.”

“But you’ll be happy, right? You’ll be there with all your friends— friends who maybe will just live in your head, but still. Friends! You’ll have friends who stay with you and love you.”

Hayley reached for Jess’s cup, which Jess realized
was
a little wobbly. Then she handed
her an icy glass.

“Okay, sweets. Time for some water.”

Jess took a gulp. “Water feels so good out here.” She closed her eyes tightly. “Tastes. I mean it
tastes
so good out here.”

She saw Kyla raise her eyebrows at Hayley. “Maybe it’s time to dance off some of that alcohol?”

“No, I just need to water it down a little. You guys go ahead. I’ll guard the table.” Right. She’d guard. Then she wouldn’t
have to try to get to her feet and find out how wobbly they were. How had she gone from being determined not to drink a drop, right straight to flat-out tipsy?

Hayley smirked. “Oh, come on. You probably haven’t danced since last year when we were here.”

“I danced yesterday,
sweets
. And I think I’m not going to do it again. Not in public, anyway. Cole could come anytime, and I am
not
dancing
in front of him. He’s already had enough entertainment at my expense this week. And furthermore—”

Kyla laughed. “She just said
furthermore
.”

“Mm-hmm.” Hayley smiled. “And we know what that means.” She made a slicing motion across her neck.

Jess growled. “But I think I discovered I actually
like
Salty’s tequila. You can’t shut me off now. I’m just getting good at it.”

“Come on, tequila girl.
Let’s dance.”

“Nope. I’m fine. You guys g’ahead. I’ll just be sitting right here.”

Hayley smiled. “I’ve already abandoned our life plan. Can’t abandon you at the table, hon. Let’s show these tourists how dancing is done at Salty’s.”

Before she could argue, Kyla had one hand and Hayley had the other, and then she was out on the wooden floor, and her feet were moving. The rhythm of the song was
a little screwy—her
feet
were
fine
—but other than that, it was okay. She could do this. So maybe she didn’t have the natural grace Cole had. Maybe she’d never learned to line dance. She could still hold her own in a little country bar, right?

She lifted her eyes from where they’d been glued on her feet, and found Kyla and Hayley looking at her with matching expressions. “You two do
not
look like
you’re having fun.”

“Of course we are!” Kyla’s voice was overly bright. “But how about you? You doing okay?”

“I’m fine. Totally fine. Absolutely, splendiferously fine.” Jess nodded her head once, emphatically. “See? I can even say splendiferous. That’s how fine I am.”

They exchanged another look.

“Stop looking at each other. It’s giving me the creepies.”

“The
creepies
?” Hayley laughed.

“Yes, the creepies. You keep looking at each other like I’m one step shy of the nutter-house. Jeesh, I’m just a little tippy. Tipsy. Yes, tipsy.”

“Tipsy isn’t really your thing, that’s all.” Kyla smiled gently. “We probably should have cut you off about four Jell-Os ago.”

“I’m fine! Totally great! We’re getting married in a few days! I mean, Hayley. Hayley’s getting married in a few days. But
we get to be there, too!”

Jess paused. Looking at her two friends, she felt a sudden and overwhelming urge to hug them both. She reached out and pulled them close, hearing her voice as if it wasn’t quite coming from her own body. “Have I told you how much I love you two?”

“Oh, boy.” Cole spotted the women as soon as he and Daniel walked through the door. “Looks like somebody’s been hitting
the Jell-O already.”

“What is with these three and their Jell-O?” Daniel sidled toward the bar. Cole followed him, hardly taking his eyes off from Jess as he walked. God, she was gorgeous tonight. She’d pulled her hair into some sort of half-up, half-down configuration so it draped down her back, but he could see every curve of her face.

She had on a sleeveless, dark pink sundress, and her wrists
sparkled with bracelets. As he watched her, it was all he could do not to march right out onto the dance floor and take her in his arms.

But no. Hadn’t he told Daniel just the other day that he wasn’t going to even try? Hadn’t he told
himself
that just yesterday—one hundred times?

Yeah, he had, and he’d meant it. But damn, the woman intrigued him. Despite his best attempts at self-preservation,
all he could think about was getting closer to her, making her trust him—helping her chase away her demons, whatever they were.

And that was getting him nowhere fast.

He signaled Salty, and though there was a sea of tourists between him and the bar, Salty handed over two brews and waved off Cole’s money. “Save it for the dollar dance,” he winked.

“So”—Cole clinked his bottle against Daniel’s
as they turned to scan the dance floor—“too bad about this wedding thing. You could have had your pick of hot singles tonight.”

Daniel laughed. “Little late to back out now.”

“No ring on your finger yet.”

“Would
you
want to be the guy who left Hayley Scampini at the altar?”

“Not if I wanted to keep all my parts intact.”

“Exactly.”

They surveyed the crowd in silence for a few minutes, but
Cole was only pretending to look at anyone but Jess. She and the other gals were still dancing, but they were looking decidedly uncoordinated.

Daniel pointed his beer at their table, which was littered with tiny white cups. “How much Jell-O do you think they’ve downed already?”

“Enough that they’re going to be reaching for the Advil in the morning.”

“Whose idea was it to do this combined-party
thing, anyway? And how did they get such a head start on us?”

Cole laughed. “It was your fiancée’s idea, remember? It was the best way she could guarantee we wouldn’t hire a stripper for you.”

“
Would
you have hired me a stripper?”

“No. Hayley would’ve castrated us both.” Cole looked toward the door. “Where’s the rest of the crew?”

“
They’re
probably with the stripper.” Daniel mock-sighed. “Oh,
well. Should we head for the girls? Looks like they might need us to hold them up soon.”

Cole felt his eyes narrow as he scanned the crowd protectively. Almost everyone looked harmless, but there were a couple of cowboy-yokels he didn’t recognize over in the back. They were upending their beers as their eyes glommed onto the trio of Whisper Creek women in the middle of the dance floor.

“Who
are those guys by the back door?” He pointed with his beer.

Daniel followed his gaze. “They work out at the Double-K. Brody hired them about a month ago.”

“You know anything about ’em?”

“I know they’re eyeing our women.” Daniel took another drink. “Which might worry me, if I thought said women couldn’t hold their own.”

“They might be able to hold their own, but I’m not sure how well they’re
holding their liquor. Hayley might come with steel-toed stilettos, but I’ve gotta watch out for the other two. Decker’ll have my head if somebody makes a move on Kyla under my watch.”

Daniel laughed. “I don’t think you need to worry about Kyla. She’s been out here long enough to recognize the type. She’ll be fine. Plus, she’s got the go-away ring on her left hand.”

“And we all know how many
guys see that as a challenge, rather than a deterrent.”

“I’m pretty sure it’s not Kyla
or
Hayley you’re worried about, buddy.”

Cole rolled his eyes. “Not going there.”

“Bullshit. You’d go
there
in one second flat, if you had the chance.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He watched Jess put her arms up in the air and turn a slow circle, wide smile on her face. “Maybe.”

Daniel tipped his head. “I think you should
go for it. What can you lose?”

“Let’s see. My dignity? My self-esteem? All hope for my future?”

“See? Totally worth the risk.”

“Right. Thanks. It’s not that simple.”

Daniel laughed. “Really? You’re going to talk to me about simple? I met Hayley when I was up to my ears in pink laundry and had my mother-in-law threatening to sue me for custody of the girls. I think I might get the prize for
complicated. Sorry.”