Cowboys-Dont-Dance (11 page)

“Hey, what’s holding you two up?” Lydia’s whiny voice sent Jesse back with a jerk.

“Nothing, Lydia. Everything’s fine. I’m just remindin’ Angie to fasten her seat belt.”

Angela kicked out a pointed toe, barely missing Jesse’s cock.

“Whoa!”

“Now what’s the matter?” Lydia was staring at herself in the passenger side mirror.

“Nothing, Lydia. We’re about ready to head out.”

“Hurry up, Jesse. I wish you could have brought the Cadillac tonight. I just hate getting into this beast.”

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Angela buckled up her seatbelt and motioned Jesse away. She couldn’t look him in the eye one more minute.

“I don’t plan on drinking tonight. I don’t mind being the designated driver. Alcohol might ruin my moves.” He did a quick salsa step, and Angela, who could never stay mad at Jesse for long, chuckled when he shut her door.

Jesse settled behind the steering wheel and caught Angela’s eyes in the rearview mirror. He winked, and Angela couldn’t believe he’d do something so obvious in front of his fiancée. He must be crazy or just plain stupid. No, Jesse wasn’t stupid. He simply had the devil spurring his side.

Angela sighed. If Jesse Burke had a brain cell in his head he should have noticed long ago how much she loved him. He had to be blind, deaf, and dumb to have missed the signals she'd given him.

She’d been crazy about Jesse for years, and he only saw her as an easy lay.

She’d seduced Jesse hoping he’d figure it out, but so far all he’d done was use her body. It hurt, but Angela wasn’t going to give up.

Some day he would see her as more than a warm body.

Some day. Angela hoped it would be soon because she couldn’t take the stress of being his sex toy much longer.

Angela sighed. No use crying over spilled milk. It had been her own fault for giving herself to him. She should have told him how much she loved him. Now it was too late.

Turning her mind to other things, Angela glanced over the seat at Jesse. Dressed for the contest, he was gorgeous. He was sexy as hell in his usual chambray shirt and jeans, but tonight he looked downright edible.

He'd taken her suggestion on a dance outfit and wore a form-fitting pair of black linen trousers, patent leather shoes and a sand-washed silk shirt one size larger than he usually wore. He'd replaced his usual plain black Stetson with a tan Stetson. The rattle snake hat Ebook piracy is stealing. It is a federal offense.

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band dressed up the plain hat. If nothing else, he’d win tonight on his sheer good looks.

“You got a hot date tonight, Angie?” Lydia turned her head and gave Angela a nasty smirk.

“Not tonight. I don’t have much time to date with my schedule.”

Angela shrugged,
and no interest in other men, since none of them
could compare to Jesse
. “Not many men can keep up with me. My brother said he’d come tonight and be my partner. He probably only wants to make sure I stay out of trouble.”

“How cute. Dancing with your brother.”

“Yeah, cute.” Angela seriously contemplated smacking the smirk off of Lydia’s heavily made up face.

* * * *

Lydia put her red-clawed fingers on Jesse’s nape and began to twirl one of his curls around her finger. Angela gagged. If they didn't get to the bar soon, she was going to lose what little she'd eaten today.

Angela swallowed hard a couple of times and took a deep breath.

This too shall pass
.

The remainder of the trip wasn’t long, but the awkward silence made it seem like days instead of minutes. Dusk blended into night.

The city lights flashed in gaudy neon along the downtown strip. The Raven nightclub was a squat, square, single story building set in a Best Western hotel parking lot.

Every Saturday night was Latin dance night, live band and all.

Tonight a large colorful banner hung from the tiled roof, advertising the Havana Nights Salsa Contest.

* * * *

Jesse pulled up to the valet parking, not even bothering to look for a spot in the crammed parking lot for his oversized ride. Even if he Ebook piracy is stealing. It is a federal offense.

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could find a parking spot it wouldn’t have been wide enough for anyone to open any of the doors on the vehicle. The valet could worry about what to do with the beast.

Jesse stepped out of the truck taking care not to scuff his shoes.

Angela had helped pick them out at a store specializing in dance shoes. He handed the red-coated kid a twenty and the keys. “Take it easy with my baby,” he warned the young man.

“Yes, sir.” The kid’s voice quivered as he held out a trembling hand.

Angela smiled at the kid, and he returned her smile with a wide, dimpled grin.

Lydia had a death grip on Jesse’s arm. He looked down to see her white knuckles. “Lighten up, Lydia.”

“Mmm? Oh, sorry, Jesse. I’m so excited about tonight. We’re gonna knock ’em dead.”

“Whatever.” Jesse didn’t sound as if he were looking forward to it.

“You’ll do fine,” Angela whispered. “Quit stressing out, Jesse.

You’re a good dancer.”

“Thanks, Angie. You’re a doll.”

Oh goody.
Now she was a doll. What next? Would he ever think of her as anything else?

Angela couldn’t bear watching Lydia touching Jesse. No one would ever love Jesse as much as she did.

No one. Especially not Lydia. Lydia was only out for Lydia and Jesse's money. Angela planned to get good and wasted tonight. She was going to get Jesse out of her hair and out of her life tonight. She might even pick some sexy guy and take him home for the ride of his life.

As if she could do such a thing. She’d never done it before. Why start now? She'd hurt herself enough being Jesse's whore.

Angela wondered how much booze it would take to forget Jesse and everything else.

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Beau crushed out a cigarette with his heel when the three of them walked up onto the wide wooden porch. He eased Angela’s hand off of Jesse’s arm and gave her a brotherly kiss on the cheek. “Hey, baby girl. I was beginning to wonder if you’d forgotten we had a date.”

Angela brushed the smoke away. “I thought you were going to quit.”

“Guess you were wrong, huh?”

“It’s a bad habit, Beau. Are you trying to kill yourself? Remember what happened to Grandpa?”

“Sure do, but it isn’t going to happen to me.”

“Since you’re my favorite brother, I'll have to forgive you, but you'd better stop or you'll be sorry. Not many women like kissing an ashtray.”

“Favorite brother, hell. I’m your one and only brother.”

Angela wrapped her arms around Beau’s firm waist and hugged him tight. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

“Something the matter, Angie?” Beau whispered.

“Nothing, Beau.”
Nothing that Jesse couldn't fix.

His eyebrow shot up, and Angela shrugged. “Honest, Beau. I’m fine.”

“If you say so, but I don’t believe you for one minute. We’ll discuss this later.”

Great. Just what she didn’t need—more brotherly advice.

Beau noticed Jesse. “Nice outfit, cowboy.”

Jesse preened. “Glad you like it.”

“Didn’t say I liked it. Just giving you a hard time. His large fist connected with Jesse’s bicep. “When you didn't show up, I figured you'd chickened out."”

“No way, bro. There’s gonna be too many ladies here for just one cowboy.”

Beau smirked. “As if you care? You can only handle one woman at a time. I can handle the rest of the ladies for you.”

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Jesse massaged his upper arm. “Damn, man, do ya have to be so rough? I may have to take you on and show you who the real man around here is.”

“Ooh, you got me running scared. Let’s take this inside where we can get a little more rowdy.” Beau draped one arm over Jesse’s shoulder and another over his kid sister’s shoulder.

Jesse and Beau could have been brothers with their tall, lean, muscular bodies and blond hair. No wonder they were babe magnets.

Angela had spent much of her childhood wishing she was tall and beautiful, but no matter how long she hung by her hands on the monkey bars at school, she’d never been taller than four foot eleven.

It wasn’t easy being the little one in a tall family, but eventually she’d accepted the fact she was never going to be like the rest of the family.

She would always be short, with long dark hair and creamy beige skin.

Mom and Dad assured her throughout the years she was beautiful.

Beau agreed in his brotherly way, but she’d never believed them.

Being raised around all of Beau’s friends had made her into a little tomboy. Fitting in with girls had proved difficult, and when she had to lose weight, she decided to get into sports. Early on, she’d learned to hold her own in any battle be it mental or physical. Eventually trying to keep up with the boys had led to karate and eventually dance.

Once she’d discovered dance, she knew she had found her place in the world.

Despite the fact Angela loved to dance, she still loved the outdoors and wasn’t afraid to join a football game or a baseball game.

Mention volley ball, and she’d be there with her hat on backwards ready to fly.

Lydia would never fit into Jesse’s world. He loved the outdoors, hunting, fishing, chasing cattle, riding horses and camping. Lydia's whole persona screamed party girl. Angela had never seen Lydia when she wasn't wearing high heels. Not to mention painted fingernails and her hair salon perfect.

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Jesse needed someone who loved the outdoors as much as he did

—a woman who could keep up with him. In this neck of the woods, he’d have no problem finding a woman to fill his needs, but it wasn’t Lydia.

Beau, like Jesse, attracted women like flies to honey. Either man could have any woman weak-kneed and drooling in seconds. Angela counted herself as one of those women when it came to Jesse, but she'd better learn to ignore her feelings.

“I’m with you, Beau. Give me a beer in one hand and a woman in the other, and I’m a happy man.”

“Not just any woman, right, honey?” Lydia purred, cuddling into Jesse’s side.

Angela wasn’t sure, but it looked to her as if Jesse leaned out of Lydia’s personal space. It didn’t make sense, but nothing about tonight made sense. She was here with her brother as a date and the man she loved was with another woman. Sometimes life seemed so unfair.

Angela couldn’t decide if she wanted to scream or cry.

Once inside, she immediately flagged down a waitress and ordered a Sex on the Beach.

Lydia and Beau registered for the contest, leaving Angela alone with the one man she feared most because she didn’t trust herself near him.

“You’re kind of quiet tonight.” Jesse covered her hand with his.

She pulled her hand free and tried to act nonchalant. Her hand burned where his had touched her. How much longer could she go on hungering for him?

Angela rolled her eyes. “Well, it’s not exactly fun being the third wheel.”

“What do you mean?” His eyes narrowed to thin slits, the dark brows looming low.

“Go ask your girlfriend. More than once she’s made it clear how she feels about my being around.”

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“What Lydia thinks or feels isn’t necessarily how I feel, Angie.”

Now he knew how Lydia had been treating her, and Jesse didn’t care.

Angela’s heart turned to stone. Her whole body froze. “I don’t give a rip about how you feel, Jesse.”

“What the hell?” He got no further. Lydia slid up beside him and slipped her arm around Jesse’s body.

“We’ve got our numbers, Jesse. Get me a drink and then we can warm up.”

Beau held up a number. “I thought we’d enter and see how we do.”

Angela groaned. “Great. Just great.”

Jesse caught Angela’s eye. “We’re not done, Angela. I want to talk about this. The sooner the better.”

* * * *

It didn’t take long for Beau and Angela to be tapped and asked to leave the floor. Angela wasn’t surprised. She'd danced like she had two left feet tonight, and Beau couldn't dance on a good day.

At least when they’d been dancing she didn’t have time to worry about what Lydia and Jesse were doing.

Now she would have to stand on the sidelines and watch the man she loved moving as one with Lydia.

Angela sighed. All the dance classes she’d suffered through teaching Jesse the moves had paid off. Every step they took was perfectly synchronized, and they moved as fluid as water. The dance was so intimate and sensual, that Angela died a little more inside with each move they made.

It should be her out there, floating on the clouds of heaven in Jesse’s arms. Instead, she stood like a statue, fighting to keep her dinner down. It was pure gut wrenching agony borne of love and despair.

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More couples were tapped on the shoulder and disappeared into the crowd. Soon only Jesse and Lydia remained under a single light.

Lydia’s dress sparkled and shimmered with each turn, and Jesse's shirt touched his body lovingly, showing every muscle as he moved.