Valentine Cowboys (2 page)

Justus still held tight. “Only if you stop punching me.”

“Fine.” Dakota’s hands were starting to hurt from the cold anyway.

“Dakota. Where is your coat?” Mrs. Stowe brushed the snow off both of them once they finally stood.

What was it with everyone and his coat? Dakota shrugged. “In my locker.”

Mrs. Stowe shook her head. “Inside now. Both of you. The rest of you go back to recess.”

As he shoved his numb fingers into the front pockets of his jeans, Dakota glanced at Melody. She stood by, a wide smile on her face.

Walking next to him out of the woods, Justus glanced sideways. “She wanted us to fight.”

“Mrs. Stowe?” Dakota frowned.

“No, idiot. Melody. She enjoyed it. She was smiling. Melody invited us both here at the same time so we’d fight over her.”

“You think?”

“Sure. If she just wanted to kiss us both like she said, she could have invited us at different times and to different places. Instead, she made sure we were both here at the same place and at the same time.”

Though Dakota hated to admit Justus was right about anything, what he said did make sense. “Why would she want us to fight over her?”

Justus shrugged. “Because all girls are stupid.”

If Melody had planned this just so she could get two guys to fight over her, Dakota had a better word for her than stupid. It started with a B and rhymed with
witch
. Meanwhile, he was very aware that every student on the playground was staring and whispering about them. That made him even angrier than he’d been before.

Dakota glanced sideways at Justus. “I’m sorry I punched you.”

Justus turned his head to look at him as they both plodded toward the door of the building. “I’m sorry I pushed you and then pulled your hair.”

“Yeah, about that.” Dakota shook his head. “Dude, you need to learn how to fight better.”

“Hey! I know how to fight.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Dakota laughed. “You know, my brother is an amateur boxer.”

“Really? He’s a boxer? That’s cool.” Justus looked impressed.

Proud, Dakota stood a bit straighter. “Yup, and he taught me how to throw a punch. If you come over after school, I can show you what he showed me if you want.”

“Okay, I guess.”

Dakota, feeling the cold even more now that his clothes were wet and the excitement of the fight was subsiding, glanced at Justus again. “Friends?”

“Yeah. Friends. But let’s make a pact. We’ll never let a girl get between us again. Deal?” Justus reached out and pulled open the door. He held it as Dakota walked through.

Inside the blessed warmth of the school, Dakota nodded. “Deal.”

“What are you doing back here? Didn’t you move to Denver?” His gaze dropped briefly to her tits, which had definitely grown since fifth grade, before looked back up to her face.

“We did. My parents are still there. I’m here visiting my grandparents.”

Her hair was shorter, hitting her shoulder rather than touching her waist the way it had in school when he’d stared at her whenever he could without her noticing. It was amazing he’d passed that grade, given how much time and thought he’d given to Melody rather than his schoolwork.

Justus was paying so much attention to Melody, he didn’t notice Dakota until he thrust a beer mug into his line of sight and asked, “Who’s this?”

Dakota hadn’t recognized her. Justus’s instinct to be jealous began to kick in before he squashed it.

“Dakota?” Melody laughed. “Wow. You guys are still friends? That’s great.”

Looking confused, Dakota frowned. After a few seconds, realization dawned and his eyes opened wide. “Melody? You’re back.” He shot a sideways look at Justus.

“She’s back for a visit with her grandparents.” Justus knew they were both remembering the same thing—their fight in the woods behind the monkey bars.

“Ah.” Dakota nodded.

The players may be the same, but things were very different now. Mainly, he and Dakota were twenty-two-year-old men, not ten-year-old boys. They lived and worked together, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, at the Maverick ranch. They were best friends. More than that, they’d begun to train and compete together as team ropers, so they were partners, too.

Twelve years ago they’d vowed to never let a girl get in the way of their friendship, and now the girl who’d caused them to make that promise stood before them. Justus glanced at Dakota, trying to judge if they were still on the same page in that respect. Dakota liked the ladies well enough. Hell, so did Justus. But this particular one had spelled trouble for them both. Though that was a long time ago. People changed. Had Melody?

“So how long you here for?” Dakota took a step closer to where Justus stood. He leaned his ass against the edge of the pool table so they were shoulder to shoulder, facing her opposite them. Was that move meant to show Melody it was the boys against the girls? Maybe things hadn’t changed all that much since fifth grade.

Then again, maybe Dakota’s new boots hurt his feet and he needed to lean against something.

Matters involving females were just as confusing to Justus now as they had been then. Sad but true. He needed to get out more.

“Just for the week, but if things work out, there’s a chance I may be moving back.” Melody eyed their mugs. “That beer looks nice and cold.”

That was a hint if ever Justus heard one. His brow rose as he waited to see how Dakota would react.

Dakota took a sip and nodded slowly. “Yup. It sure is. You should get yourself one.”

Melody’s brows rose in surprise and Justus had to restrain a smile. Dakota was still pissed about what she’d done all those years ago. They had gotten in some pretty big trouble for fighting. Their parents had been notified, so they’d both been grounded. And then for the rest of the month the two of them had to sit inside the classroom alone during recess and do schoolwork while the others in the class played outside. All that punishment had done was seal their friendship. They grew closer from spending all that time together.

But once the rumor had spread they were fighting over Melody, she got even more popular while Justus and Dakota got nothing but teased about it. Come to think of it, Dakota probably had a right to be pissed off. Hell, if Justus wasn’t such a forgiving person, he might still be mad too.

Melody, in the meantime, had pasted a sweet smile on her face. If she was shocked that the two cowboys she’d played so easily twelve years ago weren’t going to jump to buy her a beer now, she’d hidden it. “So do you two still live with your parents?”

Ouch. There was a dig in that question. He’d heard a rumor she’d gone to college. She was probably insinuating two cowboys with no more than a high school diploma couldn’t make enough at whatever they did for a living to afford to move out.

Justus shook his head. “Nope. We both moved out years ago.”

“Oh? You got your own places.” Her brows rose.

“We both live at the Maverick ranch.” Dakota delivered that piece of news with a cocky smile.

In these parts, hell anywhere really, the name Maverick commanded a lot of respect. Old Jake Maverick may no longer be around, but the retail corporation his family had founded a hundred years ago, and the four-thousand-acre cattle ranch that had been in his family for generations, were household names.

Growing up, Justus could remember sitting in his father’s truck and passing the big gates over the ranch entrance that read Maverick. Back then, Justus had never dreamed he’d ever work there, or actually live there, right along with the Maverick family.

Pride swelled in his chest. “We don’t just live there. We work there, too, as ranch hands. Blue Boyd’s our boss.”

“Bonner Blue Boyd, the state rodeo champion?” Her eyes opened wider.

Ha! Score one for the cowboys. Whether she wanted to be or not, she was obviously impressed they knew Blue so well. Justus nodded. “Yup.”

“Well, I see I was wrong about you two.” Melody crossed her arms over her chest.

“Wrong about what?” A deep frown creased Dakota’s forehead.

She shrugged. “I’d assumed you’d never amount to anything. Ranch hands, impressive.”

Justus didn’t know much about a lot of things, but he knew sarcasm when he heard it. She was making fun of them. His insides steamed.

“Dakota, we probably should be getting home soon.” Justus glanced at Dakota, and then swung his gaze back to Melody. “The live-in housekeeper has breakfast on the dining room table for us at dawn every morning. She gets mighty pissed if we’re late.”

“That’s right. And besides that, with Blue still away in New York handling stuff at Maverick Western corporate headquarters, we’re in charge of the whole operation here. It’s only four-hundred head, but we’re nearing calving season, so there’s a lot more to worry about.” Dakota, quick as a whip, caught right on to Justus’s plan and added more information that would hopefully fuel Melody’s envy.

The best part was, not a word of it was a lie. They may sleep in the bunkhouse, but they did get to eat three meals a day, served to them by Mrs. Jones in the Maverick homestead’s dining room. On holidays they even ate with the good silver. And with Blue away they really were in charge of the whole place. Blue may keep talking about hiring a ranch manager to run things when he was traveling, but he never seemed to get around to doing it.

Justus nudged Dakota in the side with his elbow as he thought of more to say to impress Melody. “Oh, and you know what else? We still have to email Miss Casey the changes we made to the agenda for that executive retreat she’s planning to hold at the ranch next month.”

“You’re right.” Dakota glanced at Melody. “Miss Casey is Maverick Western’s director of marketing. When Mr. Maverick hired her for the New York headquarters last year, Justus and I had to take her around and show her ranch life and stuff. Now she wants us to help with this big training thing next month for the other managers and directors and stuff from New York.”

That was kind of a stretch since it had been Blue who’d been assigned to show Miss Casey around, but they were right there working with him, so it was close enough to the truth. Justus glanced at Melody and saw an odd expression on her face. Maybe she was starting to realize they weren’t such dumb hicks after all.

Justus smothered his smile at that. “So, Melody. What are you doing with yourself nowadays? You working? Going to school?”

“Well, um, I graduated from college.”

“Congratulations.” Dakota managed to be gracious. Meanwhile, all Justus could think was
aw, crap
. She had a college degree. No wonder she was acting all superior.

“Yeah, thanks.” Melody kicked the toe of her boot against the dingy bar floor and didn’t make eye contact with him, which made Justus think there was more here than met the eye.

He decided to pursue it. “So you must have a really great job then. Right?”

“Not exactly.” For the first time tonight, Melody looked human, with all the insecurities the rest of them had. Gone was Miss Perfect with the superior attitude. Cracking through the uppity façade she’d put on since walking in here was what he suspected was the real Melody, the person she was when she wasn’t putting on a show for everyone.

“Oh? What’s up?” Justus asked.

“It’s a really bad economy. And in hindsight, getting a degree in art history probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do.” She finally raised her gaze from the floor. “I’m having trouble finding a job. I’ve been looking since I graduated last May.”

Today was February first. That was a long time to be without work. Justus had started working part time when he was fifteen and hadn’t been without employment since. He couldn’t even imagine what Melody was feeling. He glanced at Dakota. Even he looked like he had softened a little bit toward her as well.

Justus turned back to Melody. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“I’m sure you’ll find one eventually,” Dakota added.

“Yeah. Eventually. That’s why I’m here actually. There’s an opening at our old school for a teacher. I have an interview. Can you imagine if I get the job? Me teaching fifth grade.” She smiled and this time, it looked genuine.

“You’ll be a huge improvement over old Mrs. Stowe,” Justus said with a grin.

Melody laughed. “The sad thing is,
old
Mrs. Stowe was probably only like thirty when she taught us.”

“Could be,” Justus agreed, remembering their teacher’s signature ugly sweaters. She had a different one for each holiday. “She’s still there, you know, but she’s assistant principal now.”

“Yeah, that’s what I heard,” Melody said.

“Hey, you want a beer?” Justus was aware of the look Dakota shot him at that offer.