Free Just Shoot Me (Cowboy Way, #1) by Becky McGraw

look
like the fool he was?
    There was no explaining it. But she was a
grown woman, and she knew he was divorced. Out here in the country
there wasn’t an overabundance of available women. He was a man.
With needs. But damn.
    Dean felt his face heat up again, as he worked
the buttons on the shirt, and tucked it into the jeans. The sparkly
belt on the vanity mocked him. He stared it a minute, then decided
that the best thing he could do was keep his mouth shut and do as
he was told. He needed the money he made from this shoot. So maybe
he could run away to Tahiti where nobody knew about what had just
happened. The most he could hope for was that Tina Montgomery knew
how to keep her mouth shut. Dean sucked in a deep breath and let it
out slowly, then slid the belt through the belt loops on the jeans
and buckled it.
    Stiffening his shoulders, Dean grabbed the
knob and opened the bathroom door. He walked down the hallway to
the living room, and saw her entourage standing in a circle on the
other side of the room talking and laughing loudly. Paulo stepped
to the side, holding his flat stomach while he laughed
uproariously. Tina was standing right in the middle of the group
holding court. Her eyes met his, a small knowing grin kicked up the
side of her mouth. The conversation stopped, and all eyes swung his
way.
    The entire group grinned from ear-to-ear,
including Tina, whose grin was wider than the rest. Tina Montgomery
had told them. They were laughing at him. A feeling of betrayal
momentarily displaced his embarrassment, but then turned into full
blown anger.
    If he felt like a teenager jerking off in the
bathroom, then they were acting like teenagers gossiping about it.
And it looked like Tina Montgomery was the head cheerleader. Dean
was done with this shit. And he was done with her. He had work to
do. They could enjoy their laugh, because they wouldn’t be taking
any pictures, since their model had just quit.
    “ I’m outta here,” he said as he
stomped across the room past them to the door.
    He flung it open, and Cord stood there looking
surprised. Dean gave him a heated glare, as he brushed past him. He
was almost to the driveway when Tina yelled behind him. Dean didn’t
stop. He needed to go for a ride. Maybe he’d just keep riding and
never come back. That’s how he felt about his life these days. It
sucked. The situation sucked. Tina called him again, and Dean
increased his pace toward the barn. As short as her legs were, he
could probably have Blaze saddled and be out of the barn before she
caught up to him.
    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.