Read Just Shoot Me (Cowboy Way, #1) for Free Online Page A

steering
wheel.
    Dean picked up the rubber boots and walked to
the door to tap on the window. She rolled it down, but he opened
the door. “That’s fine. I can get out now,” he said, dropping the
boots beside the car. “Put those boots on, because there are
stickers out here.”
    She growled, then jerked the keys from the
ignition then pivoted on the seat to swing her legs outside. “Yes
sir, anything else sir?” she asked in a snarky
tone.
    Damn she was cute when she was mad.
    “ Yeah…have a nice day,” he said
with a wink. She growled at his back as he walked off, feeling
lighter than he had in a long time. Dean didn’t hold back, he did
laugh.
    It was almost sundown when he got back to the
ranch. After the feed store, Dean had to stop at the hardware store
to pick up some wire and a few posts. Big mistake. Walter Sims, the
owner, decided he wanted to catch up.
    Dean didn’t want to be rude to the old-timer
who had been good to his family. Before he could escape though, he
had to talk about his daddy’s condition, Cord’s coming back home
with a new wife, and beef cattle prices. They talked about that so
long Dean could probably quote the current prices of every breed by
memory. That was useless information to him though, since he
couldn’t buy any beef cattle at the moment.
    And now it was dark. Another day pissed
away.
    But something good did come out of his
conversation with Walter. The old man gave him a lead on a good
breeder bull a neighbor had for sale. As if he could afford to buy
the bull right now either. Dean knew by the time he got that much
money again that bull would probably have third-generation calves
old enough to breed.
    Huffing a breath, he picked up his hat from
the seat and slapped it on his head. He got out and walked to the
house. Wishing things were better for them wasn’t going to make it
happen. He just needed to be thankful that his daddy was healed.
Whatever it took to make that happen was worth it. Even losing the
ranch would be worth it. But hopefully it didn’t come to
that.
    There had to be something he could do to buy
new stock.
    If his brother would stop trying to convince
his daddy to go with some get-rich-quick scheme, maybe they could
figure it out. Recovery was going to be a slow and steady race
here, not a sprint. Dean had faced the fact that they weren’t going
to make the ranch successful again overnight, and he wished his
brother and father would too.
    Dean’s hand was on the doorknob of the front
door when he heard giggling and then a soft curse from around the
corner of the wraparound porch. Curiosity set his feet on a path in
that direction. He rounded the corner and rocked back on his heels.
Tina Montgomery, Laney and Jeremy were engrossed in a heated board
game.
    None of them noticed him, but he noticed her.
She sat cross-legged in a pair of soft, grey sweat pants that were
a size too small. The cropped football-type jersey shirt she wore
stopped right under her full breasts, leaving a lot of smooth. bare
skin visible. Her dark hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and her
feet were bare.
    She looked fresh, and about sixteen years old.
His body reacted instantly, and it pissed him off. Dean dragged his
eyes away, and cleared his throat. He pinned his son with a stern
look then said, “Jeremy you need to get ready for
supper.”
    “ But daddy we were playing a game,“
Jeremy whined as he glanced slyly at Tina Montgomery for
support.
    Her full lips pinched, and there was a
challenge in her eyes, like she was daring him to argue, when she
said, “We’re almost finished here.”
    “ Yeah, please let him finish,”
Laney piped in. Dean’s eyes swung to the tiny blonde girl with the
big blue eyes just like her aunt’s. He realized he was outnumbered.
If he met the challenge the girls were issuing, insisted that
Jeremy leave the game, he was going to have a fight on his hands.
It just wasn’t worth it. And it was Saturday.
    “ Fifteen minutes,” he said