Read Just Shoot Me (Cowboy Way, #1) Online

Authors: Becky McGraw

Tags: #erotica, #erotic romance, #contemporary romance, #western romance, #cowboy romance, #contemporary western romance, #becky mcgraw, #texas trouble, #cowboy way

Just Shoot Me (Cowboy Way, #1)

BOOK: Just Shoot Me (Cowboy Way, #1)
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Just Shoot Me

 

The Cowboy Way, Book
One

Dean’s Story

BECKY McGRAW

This is a work of fiction.
Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the
author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be
construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales,
organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely
coincidental.

JUST SHOOT ME, Copyright ©
February, 2014
by Becky McGraw.

ISBN:
9781311200730

All rights reserved under
International and Pan American Copyright Conventions. By payment of
the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive,
nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on
screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted,
downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or
introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in
any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now
known or hereinafter invented, without the express written
permission of the author.

Acknowledgements

 

Thank you to my Troublemaking friends for
making Trouble everywhere you go! And thank you for nicknaming Mr.
Cranky Pants!! Glad he got his pipes fixed. Love you
ladies.

 

SMASHWORDS EDITION

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook
is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be
re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share
this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy
for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not
purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please
return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for
respecting the hard work of this author.

* *
* * *

PUBLISHED BY:

Becky McGraw on Smashwords

 

Be sure to check out all
of the books in the

Texas Trouble Series by
Becky McGraw
:

 

Book #1 - My Kind of Trouble (Cassie &
Luke)

Book #2 - The Trouble With Love (Sabrina &
Cole)

Book #3 - Double the Trouble (Karlie &
Gabe)

Book #4 - Looking for Trouble (Jess &
Wade)

Book #5 - Trouble in Dixie (Katie &
Tommy)

Book #6 - Asking for Trouble (Jazzie &
Beau)

Book #7 - Chasing Trouble (Jenny &
Chase)

Book #8 - Here Comes Trouble (Terri &
Joel)

Book #9 - Worth the Trouble (Roxanne &
Ethan)

Book #10 - Royal Trouble (Leigh Ann &
Wes)

Book #11 - Trouble With the Law (Veronica
& Trace)

The Cowboy Way Series by Becky
McGraw

Hope for Christmas (Cord’s Story – novella
included in Santa Wore Spurs)

Just Shoot Me (#1, Cowboy Way, Dean’s
story)

CHAPTER ONE

 


Tina Montgomery,” Tina announced,
cradling the phone between her shoulder and chin to keep her hands
free. She flipped through the pile of glossy photographs again,
knowing it was useless. None of these men was her Texas Tomcat.
Photographs of professional models pretending to be cowboys were
scattered from one end of her desk to the other and none of them
was right. They were handsome enough. What was missing though, was
the attitude and life experience that would be in a real cowboy’s
eyes. Toughness.

Those men would never have that. It was what
she knew Texas Tomcat needed to be different, to stand out from
their biggest competitor, Laramie Western Wear. Even her friend
Hope’s new husband, Cord Dixon, former Mr. Laramie Jeans himself,
was too pretty to fit the bill, in her opinion. All of the models
at Laramie were too pretty. Hell, at this point if any of those men
was close to what she was looking for, Tina wasn’t above making
them an offer they couldn’t refuse to steal them away.

Maybe she needed to do like Tonya Laramie did
to find Cord. Visit the rodeo. But then Tonya Laramie wasn’t at
those rodeos shopping for cowboys for the same reason as Tina was,
if Cord Dixon was to be believed. Mostly, Tonya had been a fixture
at the events to find lovers who might work as models in her
catalogs. But if she got desperate enough, Tina might just have to
buy a pair of boots and try that. If that took trying on a few
cowboys for size too, she wouldn’t mind that a bit if she found one
as good looking as Cord Dixon.

Tina was hard up in more ways than one these
days, thanks to her damned sister.

She huffed out a breath. Of the two hundred
photographs she’d looked at so far, of all the men she had
considered, Tina only had two weak possibilities, so she was almost
there. Her time was running out. In two weeks she had to present
her marketing plan to the board and her bosses. To convince them to
launch this new men’s line, she knew her presentation had to be
irresistible. Finding the right face, the right marketing strategy
for the new line would be the key to accomplish that. She was
beginning to lose hope that she would find her Texas Tomcat in
time.

Tina couldn’t reschedule that meeting. It was
her only chance to get into the production lineup for the season,
maybe even the year. If she missed her window, the company may
shelve the idea until next year, or for good. Her major selling
tool, the momentum from the Christmas calendar sales, would be gone
next year. The line might never happen then, and neither would her
promotion. Tina was determined that wasn’t going to happen. She
wanted that promotion, needed it, had more than earned it in the
six years she had worked at Texas Tomboy.


Tina, this is Hope. You called?”
her friend said. “Is everything okay with the calendar?”


Oh yeah, the calendar is perfect,”
Tina replied absently, while reaching for the envelope of photos
from yet another agency she had received that morning. “Sales are
through the roof from the giveaways. Even the standalone calendar
sales are amazing.”

That was why she had this idea in the first
place. It was also why her bosses were salivating to see her ideas
on paper. Now, she had done research, talked to suppliers and
designers, had gotten everyone worked up in her preliminary pitch.
A lot of damned work for nothing if she didn’t find her man soon.
And she would look like an idiot.

She didn’t know whether she was just being too
picky, or if she was just afraid to move off the dime and pick
someone. This was her baby. If it failed to walk, it would be all
her fault. Instead of a promotion, she might end up jobless. Her
perfect reward for sticking her neck out for a promotion instead of
just going with the flow and doing the job she’d fought hard to get
in the first place.

Six years of ladder climbing would be gone,
and who knew if she could find another job if she lost this one.
Unlike her younger co-workers who took their jobs lightly, even
though nobody outside of Human Resources knew it, because it wasn’t
something she advertised, Tina hadn’t had the opportunity to finish
her college degree. Her education came from the school of hard work
and hard knocks. If she got fired from Texas Tomboy, even with six
years of experience, her job opportunities would be limited
elsewhere.

On the other hand, if she got this promotion
and was successful, her lack of a degree wouldn’t matter anymore.
Heading up the launch of a new line would mean companies would come
to her begging her to work for them. Pulling out their pocketbooks
to get her to jump ship. Maybe then she could give her niece the
house and stable environment she and Lori had never had in their
lives. Tina had been saving for five years for that day, and was
still nowhere close to accomplishing that goal. And her sister was
still nowhere close to settling down to be the mother that Laney
needed.

Tina was still practically raising the child,
but she was going to have a long overdue talk to her sister about
that very soon. As soon as she found the time, and her sister
wasn’t on a date with a new flavor of the week. Tina hadn’t even
had a date herself in three years herself.

What was wrong with that picture?

Hope breathed what sounded to Tina like a sigh
of relief. “What’s up then?” Hope asked.


I need some help.” Tina needed a
lot of help, and hoped her friend could provide it.


You name it. I owe you,” Hope
replied with a laugh. “Want my firstborn? You’ll have to wait a few
months.”

Shock rocked Tina and the photos slipped from
her fingers to slither onto the desk. “You’re pregnant?”


Yeah.” Hope’s voice was all soft
and dreamy, and jealousy punched Tina in the gut. She wondered if
she would ever be as happy as her friend seemed to be since she
married Cord Dixon.

But Tina would never begrudge her friend that
happiness. Hope had been through a lot, was still going through a
lot. She deserved every minute of her joy.


Good Lord, girl. You work fast,”
Tina said shaking her head.

Hope had just married Cord Dixon at the end of
last year. She could understand why her friend would be practicing
making babies with her new husband though. That man was sex on
legs. Very long legs. Tina had a crush on him since his face first
appeared in the ads for Laramie Jeans. But even if he’d been
interested in her, Tina wouldn’t have gone there. She just didn’t
have time for a man in her life, hadn’t had time in a long while
thanks to her sister and her job.

Which was just too damned bad.


Yeah, we’re both thrilled…but
that’s not why you called. You sounded frazzled in your message.
How can I help you?”

That’s because she was frazzled, Tina thought,
gripping the phone tighter to her ear. Still was frazzled. “I sold
a new menswear line to Texas Tomboy. And if I can get things off
the ground, I’m going to head it up.”

Hope squealed and Tina flinched. She held the
phone out from her ear then eased it back. “Don’t get too excited
yet.”


Why the hell not?” Hope asked, her
tone still brimming with excitement.


I need to find a Texas Tomcat and
I’m at the bottom of the barrel.”

Hope giggled. “Cord’s done with modeling, but
I’m sure he knows a few tomcats from his rodeo days. I’ve met a few
of them that he calls friends.”


I would ask your smoking hot
husband, but he’s just too damned pretty.”


You’re looking for an ugly
cowboy?” Hope asked, with a snicker.

Tina snorted. “Hell no. But I want attitude, I
don’t want someone perfect. Like you said at Christmas, perfect has
been done to death.” And so had pretty cowboys. Tina wanted nice
looking, but she also wanted interesting. Something about her man
that would make people stop at their ads in magazines, instead of
flipping the page to the next pretty face. “I don’t want Texas
Tomcat to just be a poor imitation of Laramie. The guys we used in
the calendar are good, but they are too damned young and
inexperienced. That Zack guy might have worked, he’s a little
older, but even he is too pretty.”

Hope gave a disbelieving laugh. “You have
access to every good looking man in Texas, and you can’t find a man
that fits?”


Trust me, I’ve looked at every man
in Texas. I know what I want and I’ve looked at every model from
every agency in town. Not one of them fits.” Tina picked up the
last packet and tossed it on top of the pile to her
left.


Go to the rodeo, like Tonya
Laramie did,” Hope suggested. “Maybe you’ll find someone there.
That’s where she found Cord.”


I don’t have time,” Tina said and
huffed a breath. “If I find the right guy, would you be on board
with being my photographer?”


Sure,” Hope replied happily. “I
just have to work around my doctor’s appointments and probably
sidestep my husband. He’s gotten awfully protective lately. Could
we do it out here?”


That was going to be my next
question,” Tina replied with a laugh.


You got it. Just let me know
when.”

BOOK: Just Shoot Me (Cowboy Way, #1)
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