Just Shoot Me (Cowboy Way, #1) Read online

  Just Shoot Me (Cowboy Way, #1)

  Title Page

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  EPILOGUE

  Just Shoot Me

  The Cowboy Way, Book One

  Dean’s Story

  BECKY McGRAW

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  JUST SHOOT ME, Copyright © February, 2014 by Becky McGraw.

  ISBN: 9781311200730

  All rights reserved under International and Pan American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the author.

  Acknowledgements

  Thank you to my Troublemaking friends for making Trouble everywhere you go! And thank you for nicknaming Mr. Cranky Pants!! Glad he got his pipes fixed. Love you ladies.

  SMASHWORDS EDITION

  Smashwords Edition, License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  * * * * *

  PUBLISHED BY:

  Becky McGraw on Smashwords

  Be sure to check out all of the books in the

  Texas Trouble Series by Becky McGraw:

  Book #1 - My Kind of Trouble (Cassie & Luke)

  Book #2 - The Trouble With Love (Sabrina & Cole)

  Book #3 - Double the Trouble (Karlie & Gabe)

  Book #4 - Looking for Trouble (Jess & Wade)

  Book #5 - Trouble in Dixie (Katie & Tommy)

  Book #6 - Asking for Trouble (Jazzie & Beau)

  Book #7 - Chasing Trouble (Jenny & Chase)

  Book #8 - Here Comes Trouble (Terri & Joel)

  Book #9 - Worth the Trouble (Roxanne & Ethan)

  Book #10 - Royal Trouble (Leigh Ann & Wes)

  Book #11 - Trouble With the Law (Veronica & Trace)

  The Cowboy Way Series by Becky McGraw

  Hope for Christmas (Cord’s Story – novella included in Santa Wore Spurs)

  Just Shoot Me (#1, Cowboy Way, Dean’s story)

  CHAPTER ONE

  “Tina Montgomery,” Tina announced, cradling the phone between her shoulder and chin to keep her hands free. She flipped through the pile of glossy photographs again, knowing it was useless. None of these men was her Texas Tomcat. Photographs of professional models pretending to be cowboys were scattered from one end of her desk to the other and none of them was right. They were handsome enough. What was missing though, was the attitude and life experience that would be in a real cowboy’s eyes. Toughness.

  Those men would never have that. It was what she knew Texas Tomcat needed to be different, to stand out from their biggest competitor, Laramie Western Wear. Even her friend Hope’s new husband, Cord Dixon, former Mr. Laramie Jeans himself, was too pretty to fit the bill, in her opinion. All of the models at Laramie were too pretty. Hell, at this point if any of those men was close to what she was looking for, Tina wasn’t above making them an offer they couldn’t refuse to steal them away.

  Maybe she needed to do like Tonya Laramie did to find Cord. Visit the rodeo. But then Tonya Laramie wasn’t at those rodeos shopping for cowboys for the same reason as Tina was, if Cord Dixon was to be believed. Mostly, Tonya had been a fixture at the events to find lovers who might work as models in her catalogs. But if she got desperate enough, Tina might just have to buy a pair of boots and try that. If that took trying on a few cowboys for size too, she wouldn’t mind that a bit if she found one as good looking as Cord Dixon.

  Tina was hard up in more ways than one these days, thanks to her damned sister.

  She huffed out a breath. Of the two hundred photographs she’d looked at so far, of all the men she had considered, Tina only had two weak possibilities, so she was almost there. Her time was running out. In two weeks she had to present her marketing plan to the board and her bosses. To convince them to launch this new men’s line, she knew her presentation had to be irresistible. Finding the right face, the right marketing strategy for the new line would be the key to accomplish that. She was beginning to lose hope that she would find her Texas Tomcat in time.

  Tina couldn’t reschedule that meeting. It was her only chance to get into the production lineup for the season, maybe even the year. If she missed her window, the company may shelve the idea until next year, or for good. Her major selling tool, the momentum from the Christmas calendar sales, would be gone next year. The line might never happen then, and neither would her promotion. Tina was determined that wasn’t going to happen. She wanted that promotion, needed it, had more than earned it in the six years she had worked at Texas Tomboy.

  “Tina, this is Hope. You called?” her friend said. “Is everything okay with the calendar?”

  “Oh yeah, the calendar is perfect,” Tina replied absently, while reaching for the envelope of photos from yet another agency she had received that morning. “Sales are through the roof from the giveaways. Even the standalone calendar sales are amazing.”

  That was why she had this idea in the first place. It was also why her bosses were salivating to see her ideas on paper. Now, she had done research, talked to suppliers and designers, had gotten everyone worked up in her preliminary pitch. A lot of damned work for nothing if she didn’t find her man soon. And she would look like an idiot.

  She didn’t know whether she was just being too picky, or if she was just afraid to move off the dime and pick someone. This was her baby. If it failed to walk, it would be all her fault. Instead of a promotion, she might end up jobless. Her perfect reward for sticking her neck out for a promotion instead of just going with the flow and doing the job she’d fought hard to get in the first place.

  Six years of ladder climbing would be gone, and who knew if she could find another job if she lost this one. Unlike her younger co-workers who took their jobs lightly, even though nobody outside of Human Resources knew it, because it wasn’t something she advertised, Tina hadn’t had the opportunity to finish her college degree. Her education came from the school of hard work and hard knocks. If she got fired from Texas Tomboy, even with six years of experience, her job opportunities would be limited elsewhere.

  On the other hand, if she got this promotion and was successful, her lack of a degree wouldn’t matter anymore. Heading up the launch of a new line would mean companies would come to her begging her to work for them. Pulling out their pocketbooks to get her to jump ship. Maybe then she could give her n
iece the house and stable environment she and Lori had never had in their lives. Tina had been saving for five years for that day, and was still nowhere close to accomplishing that goal. And her sister was still nowhere close to settling down to be the mother that Laney needed.

  Tina was still practically raising the child, but she was going to have a long overdue talk to her sister about that very soon. As soon as she found the time, and her sister wasn’t on a date with a new flavor of the week. Tina hadn’t even had a date herself in three years herself.

  What was wrong with that picture?

  Hope breathed what sounded to Tina like a sigh of relief. “What’s up then?” Hope asked.

  “I need some help.” Tina needed a lot of help, and hoped her friend could provide it.

  “You name it. I owe you,” Hope replied with a laugh. “Want my firstborn? You’ll have to wait a few months.”

  Shock rocked Tina and the photos slipped from her fingers to slither onto the desk. “You’re pregnant?”

  “Yeah.” Hope’s voice was all soft and dreamy, and jealousy punched Tina in the gut. She wondered if she would ever be as happy as her friend seemed to be since she married Cord Dixon.

  But Tina would never begrudge her friend that happiness. Hope had been through a lot, was still going through a lot. She deserved every minute of her joy.

  “Good Lord, girl. You work fast,” Tina said shaking her head.

  Hope had just married Cord Dixon at the end of last year. She could understand why her friend would be practicing making babies with her new husband though. That man was sex on legs. Very long legs. Tina had a crush on him since his face first appeared in the ads for Laramie Jeans. But even if he’d been interested in her, Tina wouldn’t have gone there. She just didn’t have time for a man in her life, hadn’t had time in a long while thanks to her sister and her job.

  Which was just too damned bad.

  “Yeah, we’re both thrilled…but that’s not why you called. You sounded frazzled in your message. How can I help you?”

  That’s because she was frazzled, Tina thought, gripping the phone tighter to her ear. Still was frazzled. “I sold a new menswear line to Texas Tomboy. And if I can get things off the ground, I’m going to head it up.”

  Hope squealed and Tina flinched. She held the phone out from her ear then eased it back. “Don’t get too excited yet.”

  “Why the hell not?” Hope asked, her tone still brimming with excitement.

  “I need to find a Texas Tomcat and I’m at the bottom of the barrel.”

  Hope giggled. “Cord’s done with modeling, but I’m sure he knows a few tomcats from his rodeo days. I’ve met a few of them that he calls friends.”

  “I would ask your smoking hot husband, but he’s just too damned pretty.”

  “You’re looking for an ugly cowboy?” Hope asked, with a snicker.

  Tina snorted. “Hell no. But I want attitude, I don’t want someone perfect. Like you said at Christmas, perfect has been done to death.” And so had pretty cowboys. Tina wanted nice looking, but she also wanted interesting. Something about her man that would make people stop at their ads in magazines, instead of flipping the page to the next pretty face. “I don’t want Texas Tomcat to just be a poor imitation of Laramie. The guys we used in the calendar are good, but they are too damned young and inexperienced. That Zack guy might have worked, he’s a little older, but even he is too pretty.”

  Hope gave a disbelieving laugh. “You have access to every good looking man in Texas, and you can’t find a man that fits?”

  “Trust me, I’ve looked at every man in Texas. I know what I want and I’ve looked at every model from every agency in town. Not one of them fits.” Tina picked up the last packet and tossed it on top of the pile to her left.

  “Go to the rodeo, like Tonya Laramie did,” Hope suggested. “Maybe you’ll find someone there. That’s where she found Cord.”

  “I don’t have time,” Tina said and huffed a breath. “If I find the right guy, would you be on board with being my photographer?”

  “Sure,” Hope replied happily. “I just have to work around my doctor’s appointments and probably sidestep my husband. He’s gotten awfully protective lately. Could we do it out here?”

  “That was going to be my next question,” Tina replied with a laugh.

  “You got it. Just let me know when.”

  “Tomorrow?”

  “I thought you didn’t have anyone in mind?”

  Tina heaved another heavy sigh. “I have two maybes. I’d like to do some test shots. I’m probably spinning my wheels, but you never know how they’ll look once I slap a cowboy hat and jeans on them.”

  “I’ll help you cowboy them up,” Hope assured her. “Don’t worry, T—we’ll work it out.”

  Her friend had a helluva lot more confidence in that than she did. “Whatever you say.” Slapping a hat and boots on a man did not make him a cowboy. Both she and Hope knew that. Not the ideal cowboy to represent Texas Tomcat anyway.

  “Keep your chin up, and get your ass out here tomorrow. Stay the weekend. I need some girl time. There’s too much testosterone around here.”

  “I need to work this weekend,” Tina replied flatly. Working was the last thing she needed, but it was what she had to do if she had any hope of getting this stuff together for her status meeting with her boss on Tuesday.

  “It’ll be there on Monday, I promise. And you sound awful. Stressing about it isn’t going to get you anywhere. Trust me, I know that firsthand.”

  “Brittany Weston still on your two yard line?” Tina asked, knowing that was the source of Hope’s stress. Being sued for five million dollars would up anyone’s pucker factor. Having the fact broadcast in every paper in the city multiplied that tenfold.

  “No she’s at the goal line with inches to go.” Hope huffed out a frustrated breath and Tina wanted to do the same. Her friend probably could use someone to talk to as much as Tina could right now. But she also promised to babysit her niece this weekend. Lori was going away for the weekend again. Her sister needed to stay home for a change to give Tina a break. And if she ever saw Lori, maybe she would tell her that.

  “I have to keep Laney this weekend. I’ll come out tomorrow for the shoot to make sure the models don’t turn into divas, but I have to come back to Dallas tomorrow night.”

  “Bring Laney with you. She can play with my nephew Jeremy,” Hope suggested. “And bring your work, I’ll help you. No excuses,” she said firmly.

  A weekend in the country did sound good. Even though she wasn’t a country girl, hadn’t ever spent much time out there, the slower pace would probably do both her and Laney some good. That kid needed a break. Her mother was going to drive both of them crazy before long. Tina gnawed her lip, glanced at the stack of envelopes and then said quickly, “Okay, I could use a second set of eyes. I’ve looked at so many photographs, I’m probably not seeing them anymore.”

  Maybe being away from the office would give her a clearer perspective on her vision for Texas Tomcat. And Tina also hoped in the quiet of the country, she could decide what she was going to do to help Laney. Lori needed to get her head screwed on straight, and it was time for Tina to have a serious talk with her about doing that.

  “Good, I’ll let Cord know you’re coming. He’ll be excited to finally meet you.”

  ***

  “Hope is pregnant,” Cord said happily, looking down at his wife, the perky redhead sitting beside him who looked at him like the sun rose and set in his eyes. His brother’s voice echoed through the living room of his mother’s house, broken only by the crackling of the logs burning in the fireplace and his mother’s excited gasp. The words ping-ponged around in Dean’s skull to mold the shock inside of him into a tight band around his brain.

  Hope. His brother’s wife. He wasn’t supposed to covet her, but he did. She was the kind of woman he needed for himself. A woman who cared more about other people than she cared about herself. Someone unlike the woma
n he had married. The woman who had given him a son then left him in the dust on her way to town to meet her lover.

  His brother Cord, the man Dean thought was a flighty, irresponsible tumbleweed, was not only a husband now, he was going to be a father. In the space of five months, his brother had become the responsible one of the two of them. Of course his brother always found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Hope was that pot of gold, and Dean was jealous.

  Dean’s claim to fame was being a single father, who had a failed marriage behind him, and a motherless son, who may not even be his son, that needed more of him than he had to give. And now he was playing second fiddle to his brother on a ranch where he’d invested every ounce of his blood, sweat and tears his entire life. More so the last three years, while his brother had been off finding his fame and fortune. Dean was starting to think that Cord had a horseshoe up his ass, he was so damned lucky. Not only had he been a famous model making fistfuls of cash in Dallas, he had been a successful rodeo bull rider before that.

  And while he was off getting famous, Dean had stayed here keeping the home fires burning, trying to keep them all fed, and worrying about their daddy. It just wasn’t right now that he was back, their parents seemed to think the second coming had happened.

  “When’s the baby due?” Barb Dixon asked with excitement.

  Hope’s green eyes lit up and she leaned forward. “The doctor says I’m due in August.”

  Dean’s eyes fell to Hope’s stomach which was concealed beneath the baggy sweater she wore. He could just see a small mound there. Four and a half months pregnant. In four and a half more she would be the mother of his brother’s child. He’d bet Hope Car—Dixon wouldn’t be leaving her child to go meet a lover she’d kept since before she married his brother. Jealousy hit Dean in the center of his chest and he couldn’t catch a breath.