Just Shoot Me (Cowboy Way, #1) (9 page)

When he walked inside, the familiar smells
comforted him, and he took a deep breath. This was what made him
happy. Hope said he needed friends? The animals in this barn were
his friends. They understood him, he could talk to them and not
worry about them telling tales and laughing behind his back. These
were the only friends he needed.

At least he could trust them.

Dean walked to the tack room, and pulled his
saddle off the rack. He grabbed a striped blanket from the stack on
a shelf, then took his bridle down from the peg by the door. When
he walked out the door of the tack room, he went straight to
Blaze’s stall, where he angrily unlatched the door. Blaze nudged
his shoulder with his nose, but stepped back when he walked inside.
Dean didn’t waste time with cross-ties today, he tossed the saddle
blanket over the horse’s back, then haphazardly sat the saddle on
top and secured it. He needed to get out of here fast.

The stall door creaked and swung wide. Even as
small as she was, Tina Montgomery filled the space with all five
feet of her angry body. “What the hell are you doing? We have a
photo shoot to do.”

“
We don’t have anything. I’m done
with this shit,” Dean replied just as angrily, moving around in
front of Blaze to slide the bit between his teeth. He pulled the
straps over his ears, then scratched his jaw before grabbing the
reins to move him out of the stall. Tina didn’t move. She stood
there with her tiny fists perched on her hips, and her eyes burning
him.

“
Move,” he grated through his
teeth.

“
Not until you tell me what the
hell is wrong with you.”

Dean laughed dryly. “You have to ask me
that?”

“
Are you upset because I walked in
on you choking your chicken?” she asked and her lips twitched.
“Because if so, trust me, I wanted you to finish. It might improve
your disposition.”

“
My disposition?” Dean repeated
with a snort.

“
Yeah. I think I finally figured
out why you’re such an asshole.”

“
Oh yeah? Do tell,” Dean invited
sarcastically. “I can’t wait to hear this.”

To Dean’s mind, the only thing wrong with him
was the woman standing in front of him being at the ranch. Ever
since he met her, his life had been one trial after another. His
peace was shattered, and his life disrupted. She just needed to
take herself and her entourage right back wherever they came from
and he would be just fine.

“
I think you need to get laid,” she
announced bluntly.

Shock shot through him, then anger. “Is that
what you and your friends concluded after your discussion?” he
asked gruffly, taking a step forward, leading Blaze with him. She
had no choice but to move. Dean tied Blaze to the rail, then closed
the stall door.

“
Me and my friends?” Was that
confusion he heard in her voice? He took a sideways glance at her,
and saw it in her face too. No, he heard what he heard, saw what he
saw. They had been laughing at him.

Dean shook his head, and untied the reins.
“Playing dumb doesn’t work for you, buttercup. You’re too smart to
pull it off.”

Her brows pinched tighter between her gray
eyes, then suddenly her face lit up and her eyebrows shot toward
her hairline. “You think I told them what you were doing in the
bathroom?” she asked with an incredulous laugh.

Dean didn’t laugh. He didn’t find a damned
thing funny about the situation. “Ya’ll were sure enjoying
something when I walked into the room. Everyone shut up real fast
to stare.”

“
We weren’t laughing at you, and I
didn’t tell them. I wouldn’t embarrass you like that. Paulo was
telling us about his date from hell on Saturday night. That’s what
we were laughing about,” she said, coming to stand in front of
him.

Dean looked deeply into her eyes, gauged the
sincerity in her tone and almost believed her. Almost. His chest
loosened a little.

Tina took a step forward to put her hand on
his chest and his heart did a funny little hop. “The reason we shut
up was because we were all in awe of how handsome you looked. How
perfect you are for the Texas Tomcat.” She moved her hand up to his
face, and her thumb stroked his cheekbone. “Thank you for agreeing
to do the shoot. It means everything to me.”

Silence settled between them, as their eyes
held. The air between them sizzled, and tasting her lips became a
driving need inside of him. Dean’s head gravitated toward hers as
if pulled there by a magnetic force. Tina slid her hand to the back
of his neck and pulled him toward her. The reins slithered from his
fingers, and he put his hands at her hips to pull her closer. His
lips met hers, and she sighed.

Her plump lips tasted like water to him, a
dying man who had been marooned in a desert of loneliness far too
long. Sweet desire ripped through his veins, and Dean lapped it up.
Her tongue traced the seam of his lips, and his heart kicked in his
chest. Opening his mouth, he deepened the kiss and lifted her
against his body.

Tina moaned, leaning in to press her breasts
against his chest, and he held her tighter. She said he needed to
get laid. Well at that moment, she couldn’t be more right. And Dean
was definitely on board with the sexy woman in his arms being the
layer. Her enthusiasm for the kiss told him she was offering, and
he was not about to refuse.

At least he might get something out of this
damned situation.

“
Daddy why were you choking the
chickens? Grandma gets mad at me for chasing them. She’s
really
gonna be mad at you,” Jeremy informed and his
laughter mixed with feminine giggles.

Shock broke the sensual dream world Dean had
been caught in and he moaned, as he eased Tina back to her feet,
and took a step back. She stumbled and put a hand on his arm to
steady herself. His eyes flew to the stall adjacent to Blaze’s
stall then back to his son. “Were you eavesdropping?” he asked
sharply.

Jeremy cast his eyes down at the toes of his
boots. “No, sir, we were just playing a game of marbles in there
and heard ya’ll talking.”

The little blonde girl beside Jeremy folded
her arms over her chest, and her eyes took on a look very similar
to her aunt when she was pissed. “Aunt T, why were you kissing him?
He’s mean to Jeremy!”

Tina groaned and slapped a hand to her
forehead, then cast him a mischievous sideways glance at him. “He’s
not mean, sweetie. He’s just frustrated from having to choke the
chickens. Me, I just prefer a nice sharp knife to take care of
them.”

A cold chill passed through Dean’s body, and
he slid his hand up between her shoulder blades to grab a hank of
Tina’s silky black hair and jerk.

She squealed then laughed. Both kids said,
“Ewwww.” Tina’s laughter mixed with Jeremy and Laney’s. The joyful
sound danced around inside of Dean’s skull, and carried a happy
feeling through his body. At that moment, the last thing he wanted
to do was work, either on a photo shoot or ranch chores. What he
wanted to do was get this woman alone and kiss her
again.

“
Do you ride?” Dean asked when
Tina’s laughter subsided.

“
As in horses?” she replied and her
eyes shot to Blaze.

“
Unless you want me to saddle up a
chicken for you?” he teased and Tina’s eyes widened. “That could
definitely be arranged.” Dean winked at her then threw his head
back and laughed like he hadn’t laughed in three years
now.

It felt damned good.

Still smiling, because he couldn’t seem to
flatten out the curve, he said, “Jeremy you and Laney go up to the
house and hang out with Grandma until we get back. I think she made
brownies.” Jeremy looked a little surprised, but then whooped and
grabbed Laney’s hand to drag her toward the barn door.

CHAPTER SIX

Tina watched as Dean positioned the huge black
horse at the rail and fear squeezed her heart. Large animals
weren’t her thing. She was so small they scared the crap out of
her.

“
I don’t think this is a good
idea,” she said, taking a step back, then another. “We, ah, need to
get some work done.” Tina took another step back, then improvised,
“It’s supposed to rain tomorrow, so we need to get what we can done
today.”

The weather had been good, would probably be
good tomorrow too. She had no idea if it would rain or not, but it
seemed as good an excuse as any. It was the best she could come up
with on the spot to get out of riding, without admitting her fear
to this cowboy who had probably ridden since he could
walk.

Dean turned toward her. “Have you found a
place where you want to take photos?”

Tina huffed out a breath. She and Hope had
only been out as far as they could walk. Tina didn’t ride, and Hope
couldn’t because she was pregnant. The golf cart would’ve been much
too bumpy for Hope too, according to her overprotective husband.
Tina found some places on the ranch that might work, but none that
excited her. “Not really. We couldn’t get everywhere. I thought
we’d do some test shots and see what we get.”

“
Well, we’ll be working then. Tell
your crew we’re going to scout locations. I know the perfect
place,” Dean told her with excitement in his tone, as he gave her
the second smile she’d seen on his face since she met him. It was
fleeting and disappeared, but she had seen it. And liked it. When
he smiled, Dean Dixon looked younger, softer around the mouth. And
a helluva lot more handsome, if that was possible.

He and his famous brother weren’t so different
after all. The panties of the women who saw the Texas Tomcat
catalog would melt just as fast as they had with the Laramie Jeans
publication featuring his brother. Faster probably, considering
Dean Dixon’s dark edge. Women loved edgy men. Those who were a
little less than friendly and approachable. Dark and brooding types
were a challenge, and Dean was definitely that.

There was nothing Tina loved more than a
challenge.

Another kiss from those hot lips of his was
the prize for overcoming that challenge. That unexpected, magical
kiss evidently had powers other than making her want more from him.
His attitude toward her had obviously changed too. If it took
kissing Dean Dixon between frames to drag out that smile, get him
to relax for the photos, it certainly wouldn’t be a hardship for
her. It would be an excuse to get more of those magical kisses and
see where that might lead.

I think you need to get laid
. The same
could be said of her. It had been a long damned time since Tina had
sex, and the last time hadn’t even been good. Her eyes traveled
over Dean Dixon’s muscular thighs, and delicious ass as he bent
over to fiddle underneath his horse.

She had a feeling with him she wouldn’t worry
about him being good, she’d have to worry about keeping up with
him. As stoic and surly as he usually was, there was some serious
heat inside that man. If that heat was captured in the photos for
Texas Tomcat, the pages of the magazine would probably
spontaneously combust. The women who saw the photos would for sure.
She knew she almost had. A lovely tingle flitted through her to
settle between her legs.

Texas Tomcat jeans would fly off the shelves.
Tina would get her promotion, and probably a huge bonus at the end
of the year to use for the down payment on the house she wanted for
herself and Laney. Her sister could live there too, if she got her
act together. Maybe she’d use part of her bonus to see about
getting custody of Laney. Becoming the real mother to Laney that
her sister wasn’t. Maybe just the threat of that would be enough to
motivate her sister to get her head out of her ass.

“
Daylight’s wastin’, buttercup. You
want to go or not?” Dean asked, and Tina realized she had drifted
off into dreamland and he was standing there waiting for an answer
from her.

Wherever he must be wanting to take her must
be special to him for some reason. She suddenly also realized he
was about to go riding in her custom-made Texas Tomcat jeans and
shirt. “I’ll go tell them, but you have to change out of those
clothes. Those are the only samples I have.”

“
Yes, ma’am. I have a change of
clothes in the tack room,” he drawled, giving her a broad smile
that did funny things to her insides. “I’d be more than happy to
take these clothes off.”

His fingers went to the button of the jeans,
and Tina spun around. “Um, make sure you’re dressed and the
chickens are in the coop when I get back,” she said as she walked
quickly toward the barn door. She heard the uncommon sound of his
hearty laughter follow her out into the yard and smiled
herself.

“
I’ll pick you up at the
bunkhouse!” Dean yelled.

Pick her up? On that huge horse of his. Fear
shot through her, and Tina stumbled before getting her balance to
make her way up the steps to the front porch. Her hand landed on
the doorknob, but the door flew inward. Paulo, Belinda and Cord
stood there in the doorway. Hope stood behind Cord fiddling with
her camera. “Did you talk some sense into him?” Belinda asked with
agitation. “Was it the belt?” she asked with a puff of
breath.

“
Belt?” Tina asked pushing between
them to get inside.