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

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?