Free Cowboy Valentine by Mia Hopkins

sleep she’d had in months. Buried in blankets and pillows, she had to wiggle her way free. Sunlight filled the dorm room from between the curtains.
    She looked at the digital clock on her desk—9:48.
    The door opened and in stepped the cowboy.
    “Morning, sunshine,” Caleb said, taking off his hat.
    She looked up at him. Without his hat, his disheveled dark blond hair made his green eyes look almost feral. He put down the coffee and donuts he was carrying and took off his jacket. Tall and toned in his snug-fitting Henley and jeans, he was everything attractive to her about men.
    He leaned down and gave her a kiss on the cheek, bringing with him the smell of fresh coffee. As he stood up straight in the small dorm room, with its pink daisy bedspreads and twinkle lights, he looked as out of place as a longhorn in a nail salon.
    “My smokes are in the top drawer of the desk, if you want one.” She rubbed her eyes.
    “No thanks. Gave it up.” He sat down at the foot of the bed. “What did you give me last night? It put me down like an elephant dart.”
    “Just a little nighty-night cold medicine. How do you feel?”
    “A thousand times better.” He looked at her intently. “Listen. How long will it take you to shower and pack an overnight bag?”
    “What? Why?”
    “I’ve got a surprise for you.” He leaned back on his arms and the caps of muscle on his shoulders flexed forward. “My brother Dean is working tonight. Madison Square Garden. I got us tickets. What d’you say?”
    She sat up. “I say you’re a nutjob. I’ve got a huge project due on Monday.”
    “And if I know you correctly, you’ve been done with it for at least three weeks.”
    He always had her number. “But…I have to review the data,” she said weakly.
    “You can review it on the train. We’ve got a three-hour ride.”
    “Caleb! I can’t just waltz off to the rodeo.”
    He smiled, unfazed by her resistance. “You can and you will. With me. And we’re gonna have a hell of a time.”
    She groaned.
    “Come on, Corazón. Sweetheart. Do it for me.” He flashed her that infuriatingly handsome smirk. “It’ll be fun.”
    The express train sped along Connecticut’s wintry coast. During a stop in New London, Caleb stood up to stretch his legs. When he came back, a clean-cut cadet from the Coast Guard Academy was sitting across the aisle from Cora, chatting with her and being far too friendly for Caleb’s taste. The cowboy eyed the sailor and vice versa until the cadet, knowing he’d been outclassed, bid Cora a polite goodbye and cleared out.
    Cora smiled so sweetly at Caleb as he took his seat that he knew something was wrong. “What?”
    “What do you mean ‘what’? I’ve never seen you act that way.”
    “What way?”
    “Like a snorting bull. That guy was just asking me about my laptop. He wanted to know if I liked it because he was thinking of getting one for himself.”
    “No doubt he wanted to get one for himself,” Caleb said, looking her up and down, “but he wasn’t thinking about no laptop.”
    She rolled her eyes and turned back to her work as the train picked up speed again. Caleb wanted to talk to her some more, but he knew she had to work. Instead, he stared out the window at the steel-gray sky and the cold land spread out beneath it.
    As she typed, Cora’s elbow rubbed gently against his bicep, making the muscle twitch and tingle for more contact. He could smell her freshly shampooed hair. In the warm train car, her cheeks were flushed like pink roses. She was dressed in a soft wool sweater that rode her curves and jeans that hugged her little heart-shaped ass.
    God, how could he blame the cadet? She was beautiful. Who wouldn’t want a chance with her?
    His mind wandered to a night a few weeks before she’d left.
    Cora had been closing up the ice-cream parlor when he stopped by after everyone else had left. Without a word, she led him into the back room, lifted up her dress and pulled down her panties. He