Valentine Cowboys (3 page)

She smiled. “I’d love one. Thank you.”

“Be right back.” Justus pushed off the pool table, and tried to ignore Dakota’s glare.

“I’ll come with you.” Dakota launched himself after Justus, and the moment they were out of earshot he poked him in the side. “Justus, what the hell are you doing?”

“Buying an old school friend a drink.” Justus kept walking toward the bar.

“She hasn’t changed.” Dakota’s tone let him know he wasn’t happy with this new turn of events.

“One draft please.” Justus leaned an elbow on the bar and turned toward Dakota. “I don’t know. She seems a little bit more humble now that she has a fancy college degree and still can’t find a job.”

“And that’ll change once she does get one. Then she’ll be playing her little games with us again, just like she did back in Mrs. Stowe’s class. What are you going to do then? Buy her another beer?” Dakota’s expression turned hard.

After digging his wallet out of his pocket, Justus threw a five-dollar bill to the bartender. “No, I’m not. No girl comes between our friendship again. Remember?”

Dakota’s brows rose. “Oh, I remember. It’s your memory I’m worried about.”

“Well, stop worrying. Kill them with kindness. That’s what my gramps always used to say.” He pushed a dollar bill from his change back toward the bartender and grabbed the foam-filled mug off the bar.

“Let’s hope your kindness doesn’t kill our friendship. I’m going to take a piss.” Dakota turned and stalked toward the restrooms in the back as Justus sighed.

Yup. Women sure did complicate things.

Dakota made his way back to where he’d left his beer on the table and picked the mug up. Taking a swallow, he leaned against the pool table again—these new going-out boots weren’t broken in yet and they were starting to pinch.

“So, you’re back and looking for work.” They’d covered this topic already, but Dakota enjoyed it so much the first time, he decided to revisit the subject.

“You don’t like me very much, do you, Dakota?”

“Nope.” He shook his head and sipped at his beer.

She laughed. “Well at least you’re honest about it.”

“I’m always honest, which is more than you were when you invited Justus and I to fight over you in front of the whole fifth grade.”

“First of all, I can’t believe you’re actually still upset over something that happened in fifth grade. And second, I was being honest back then. I really didn’t know which one of you I liked best.”

Dakota’s brows shot up. “So you thought you’d see which one of us could beat the crap out of the other? Then what? You’d suddenly like the winner best? Nice.”

“No.” Her dark brows knit in a frown. “I really wanted to kiss you both. You two are the ones who started fighting. I never wanted that.”

“Bullshit. You smiled through the whole thing.” He knocked the brim of his hat back a bit so he could better glare at her.

“Because I couldn’t believe you both liked me enough to fight over me.” She put her mug down on the table with a splash and planted her fists on her hips.

“You’re right, fifth grade is long gone. That shit doesn’t matter now.” He made direct eye contact with her to make sure she knew he was serious. “But I’m telling you one thing—Justus and I are closer than brothers now. We’re not ten years old any more and we sure as hell ain’t gonna be fighting over you again. So if you’ve got any ideas in your pretty little head about pitting us against each other in some sort of competition for you, you can just forget about it.”

Movement caught his eye and he turned to see Justus standing nearby, watching them. Dakota spun to face him, silently daring him to contradict what he’d said.

“Dakota’s right, Melody. He and I aren’t going to be fighting over anything.” Justus swung his glance from Melody to Dakota. “But I’m sure Melody has more weighing on her mind right now. Her interview for one thing. She won’t have time to be worrying about us. Right?” He shot her a look.

“Right.”

Dakota’s gaze moved between Justus and Melody. “That’s fine, but I needed to set things straight, right up front so there’s no doubt in anybody’s mind how things stand.”

“I understand just fine,” Melody snorted. “And don’t you worry because I have a boyfriend.”

“Oh?” Justus swatted him in the ribs. “See, Dakota, she has a boyfriend.”

Yeah, and Dakota had a million dollars buried under the bunkhouse. Bullshit. He knew a lie when he heard it. Damn girl had better never play poker because she couldn’t bluff for crap. “Uh, huh. That’s nice. What’s his name?”

“Bob.” There had been the briefest hesitation before Melody answered, during which she got a look of panic on her face.

Dakota stood by his theory that she was lying. “Bob, huh? And what does Bob do for a living?”

“He’s a, uh, attorney.”

“Attorney? Wow. That’s impressive. How old is he?”

“He’s my age. Well maybe he’s a year older.”

She didn’t know how old her boyfriend was? She was totally lying. Dakota smiled. “Hmm, that’s extra impressive since attorneys have to go to regular college for four years then to law school for three years, and then take the bar exam. He must be really smart. Did he graduate high school at like fourteen?”

Melody’s eyes narrowed. “Okay, fine. There is no Bob.”

Justus spun to her with a frown. “Then why did you lie?”

“Because you two have your lives together and I don’t, and all these years later I still wonder what it would be like to kiss you both, which is really annoying because he’s being such a dick to me.” Melody’s rant concluded with a frustrated huff, as Dakota stood by in shock.

He didn’t mind being called a dick, but the rest was quite a revelation. She still, after all these years, wondered what it would be like to kiss them…both of them.

Melody hadn’t changed at all. This was all part of her game. Her life was a mess but she still had her looks. She’d probably just love to ride the high of having two guys after her again. Dakota was sure of it. Well, if that’s what she wanted, then that’s what she’d get.

He’d kiss her, all right. So would Justus, if Dakota had anything to say about it. They would call her bluff, only this time, unlike all those years ago, they would be united against her. If she were playing games and saying she wanted them both when all she really wanted was the attention of them fighting over her, she’d likely run out of the bar and never bother them again. But if she was serious, and was really willing to kiss them both, and more, then hell, he was up for giving her what she wanted. No problem. What man didn’t fantasize about having a threesome at least once in his life? Damn, just the thought had his throat feeling tight—parts lower, as well.

“Melody.” Dakota cleared his throat after his voice came out sounding a little hoarse.

“Yeah.” She swung her gaze to him, looking pissed off, at what he wasn’t sure. At him for being a dick? At herself for her rant, which didn’t get a rise out of him?

“If you still want both Justus and me, like you say, then I’m up for it. But here’s the thing—it’s going to be with both of us, or nothing at all, and it’s not going to end at just a kiss. We’re men. We’re not ten years old any more. The decision is yours.” Dakota folded his arms. He glanced at Justus and saw he’d gone pale. “Right, bud?”

Justus stared wide-eyed at Dakota. He visibly swallowed and then opened his mouth but it took a few seconds for any sound to come out. “Uh, right.”

He didn’t sound all that sure of his answer, and he looked even more uncertain than he sounded, but Justus had said the word and that was good enough for Dakota.

Dakota turned back to Melody, surprised she was still here. “Well?”

She treated them to a crooked grin and shook her head. “You two don’t have the balls to really do what you’re suggesting.”

“Oh, no?” Dakota’s eyebrows shot up beneath the brim of his hat. No one said that to him and got away with it. “Try us.”

“Fine. Let’s go.” Melody tipped her mug and downed the remains of her beer. She turned toward the door, and then glanced over her shoulder at them. “You coming or are you too afraid?”

Oh, they’d be coming all right, in more ways than one. “Now, now. Don’t be so impatient. Just finishing my beer, darlin’. Can’t let good alcohol go to waste.” Dakota glanced at Justus, clutching the mug like a lifeline. “Finish that and let’s go.”

“Are you sure about this?”

“Hell yeah, I’m sure. She’s bluffing.” Dakota kept his voice low and hid his mouth behind his big glass beer mug.

“You think?” Justus sent him a shocked look.

“Yup.” In Dakota’s experience, girls like Melody were big talkers and master manipulators, but when push came to shove, they were not doers.

“And what if she’s not bluffing?”

Dakota didn’t think that was an issue at all, but now that Justus mentioned it, his cock was starting to wake up just at the idea. “Then we’ll have a hell of a night to look back on when we’re old and married.”

Justus’s eyes remained opened wide. Finally he glanced at Melody, standing by the door and looking impatient, and let out a long, slow breath. “Okay. Let’s go.”

Dakota grinned and downed the last sip of beer.

Beer mugs abandoned on the table, the two grabbed their jackets off the back of their chairs and headed for the door. As they got near, Melody cocked one brow. “So, where we going to do this?
If
we do this at all.”

Dakota ignored her final dig. “Well, you’re staying with family, so it’ll have to be our place, I guess.”

“At the Maverick’s?” Justus’s tone of voice had risen so high, it actually squeaked.

“Sure, why not? Blue’s still away. Mrs. Jones is in the main house and she’ll be asleep by now anyway. We’ve got the whole bunkhouse to ourselves.”

“I don’t know.” Justus shook his head, still looking doubtful.

“Me either.”

Dakota spun to Melody when she voiced her own doubt. He cocked a brow. “Oh really? Having second thoughts, are you?”

“The only thing I’m having second thoughts about is being in a vehicle with either of you driving after all the beer you drank. The Maverick place is far from here.”

He frowned. “Not that far. And we had two beers each over the last two hours. We’re both fine to drive. If you’re that worried, then you can drive.”

She was making excuses to get out of this, but Dakota wasn’t going to let her off the hook that easily. As Justus watched speechless, which was probably for the better, Dakota dug the keys out of his jeans pocket. He held them out to her.

She eyed the keychain dangling before her for a second and then shook her head. “No, it’s fine. If you really only had two, you can drive. That one beer I drank went to my head already anyway.”

Ah-ha. So now she was pretending to be drunk from one beer. That way she could use that as an excuse for backing out of taking on both him and Justus at once. Clever girl, but not smarter than Dakota. He knew all the tricks girls used and he wasn’t going to let her play him, or Justus, ever again.

Dakota pulled the keys back into his palm. “Okay. I’ll drive. Let’s go.”

“What about her car?” Justus asked as Dakota pushed open the front door and held it for Melody to walk through.

”We’ll bring her back here to her car later.” Not that Dakota thought they’d even get out of the parking lot before she backed out of this. He eyed her. “Okay?”