Playing With Fire (Tangled in Texas #2) - Alison Bliss Page 0,73

a pocket-sized version of the Liberty County Bachelor calendar.

“Uh, sure,” Cowboy replied uncomfortably. He shifted in his chair as he flipped to the month of May and scrawled his name across his racy photograph before handing it back to her. “There ya go.”

“Would you sign mine, too?” Another woman popped up beside him, holding out a pocket calendar, looking hopeful and eager.

Cowboy smiled politely and gave her a nod as he took her calendar and administered the same treatment to it as the one before. But as he handed the woman back her calendar, another took her place. She held out a Sharpie and smiled flirtatiously at him. “Would you mind?”

“No problem,” Cowboy answered, waiting for her to hand him her calendar.

But instead, she bent down, practically shoving her cleavage in his face. “Just sign anywhere you like,” she purred with a blatant sexual overtone.

My eyes widened. Though it was rude for her to hit on my date, especially right in front of me, I didn’t say anything. I had no claim on Cowboy and wouldn’t pretend like I did. But Cowboy glanced over at me with uncertainty in his eyes, as if he wasn’t sure how to handle the situation any more than I was. So I did the only thing I could do to put him at ease. I pretended to be oblivious to the woman’s request by starting up a neutral conversation with his friends.

“Emily, did you have a good time last night?”

“Yep. Especially when you slapped the crap out of Cowboy. I’m guessing that wasn’t a love tap you gave him on the dance floor.”

I cringed. Well, that didn’t work out in my favor. “Oh. You saw that?”

The woman standing there giggled, though Cowboy clenched his jaw. He quickly signed his name on her forearm and handed the marker back. “Sorry, I’m on a date. Best I can do.” The woman sighed, disappointment tugging at her features, but retreated without another word. As she walked away, Cowboy mouthed a silent “sorry” to me and draped his arm on the back of my chair.

“Are you kidding? Everyone saw it. No doubt Jeremy did, too. That’s probably the reason he targeted you. Jeremy’s an ass like that. But then again, I guess he isn’t the only one,” she said, directing her attention to Cowboy with a suspicious gleam in her eye. “You must’ve done something pretty bad to cause our sweet little Anna to have that reaction.”

God, I wish everyone would stop calling me that. It makes me sound like a four-year-old.

Cowboy’s gaze cut to me, but I just lifted a brow and shrugged. Technically, they were his friends first, and if he wanted them to know, then he should be the one to tell them.

He combed his fingers through his hair, as if he were contemplating what to say. “I sort of…called her a liar.”

Emily’s eyes widened, but Jake chuckled and said, “That was your bright idea? To go over there and insult her? Jesus, Cowboy. Talk about open mouth, insert boot.”

“Shut up,” Cowboy sneered, firing daggers at Jake with his eyes.

Emily cringed, then leaned over to her husband. “Um, Jake, why don’t we go look for the waitress?”

But he was oblivious to the reason for her request. “You do know in here the waitresses come to the table. We don’t have to go look—” The contemptuous glare Emily gave him finally sank in. “Oh. Okay, sure.”

The moment they walked away, Cowboy grasped my hand in his. “I’m sorry. I guess I’m not very good at the whole dating thing. Tonight’s not going at all the way I planned.”

“That’s okay,” I said, giving him a genuine smile. “To be honest, I haven’t been on many dates before so I didn’t have any pre-conceived notions.” Not about the dinner portion of our date, anyway.

Cowboy’s brows furrowed. “My original idea was to take you by horseback down to Rickety Bridge, have a picnic, and then we could have cooled off in the old watering hole, but I wasn’t sure if you would think it was lame or not.”

“Actually, it sounds wonderful, but I…well, I don’t swim.”

“That’s okay. I could teach you,” he offered, looking hopeful.

“No, that’s not exactly…um, what I mean is, I know how to swim. I just…” I peered down at our hands as he linked his fingers with mine.

“You don’t want to get into a swimsuit?” he asked. When I nodded silently, he reached over and tilted my chin up until my eyes met his gaze.