Playing With Fire

by Alison Bliss

  Jake shrugged, unaffected by Cowboy’s temper. “Just looking out for her best interests.”

  “And that isn’t me, right?”

  “Damn it, Cowboy. Anna’s not like other girls you’ve chased. She’s always been so sweet and innocent and…naive. From the looks of her, I don’t think any of that has changed. I just don’t want you to do anything to disrespect her.”

  Sweet and all, Jake, but you could’ve left off the part about me being naive. Jeez.

  “So what you’re really saying is you don’t want me to soil her reputation. Why the hell would I do that?”

  Jake gave him a get-real look. “If she takes a bath with a dog, he’s not going to dirty only his half of the water.”

  Cowboy’s face reddened and anger flashed in his eyes. He took three large strides and got into Jake’s face, making my eyes widen. And Jake didn’t back down. Ox and Judd shifted closer to the faced-off pair, as if they were readying themselves to break up a fist fight.

  “When the fuck did you get so self-righteous, you bastard?” Cowboy snarled. “If it wasn’t for Emily, you’d probably be out at the bar right now looking for some action.”

  “Don’t confuse my string of morality with yours, jackass. And don’t bring Emily into this, either. I’m not the one who went home with every girl who sashayed her ass in my face.” Then Jake’s voice deepened, doing the best Cowboy impression he could muster. “Why buy the milk when I can get the pair of tits for free? Sound familiar, asshole?”

  Cowboy huffed out an annoyed breath, but backed down, stepping away from the other three men. He took his hat off and scrubbed his hand through his unruly sandy-blond hair. “Yeah, well maybe I’m looking to change my ways.”

  I blinked, not sure I heard him correctly. Or maybe he didn’t mean it the way it sounded. But if I pressed my cheek any closer to the slats in the gate, I was going to have splinters in my face. He couldn’t have possibly meant…

  They all stared blankly at Cowboy, and then a slow smile formed on each of their faces.

  “What?” Cowboy asked, seemingly confused by their grins.

  That’s when the laughter began.

  Jake let out a loud barking laugh, chuckling so hard that he held his belly and doubled over with tears springing into his eyes. Judd snorted and threw his head back, chortling himself into hysterics. Ox slapped his knee, hooting and cackling so much I was sure he would fall over any minute and roll around on the ground laughing.

  At first, Cowboy didn’t appear to appreciate their expressed humor. He looked like he was on the verge of having an aneurysm the way the vein in his temple kept popping out. But the more the others laughed, the more Cowboy’s expression softened, until he ended up chuckling a little himself.

  But I wasn’t amused in the least.

  “Never would’ve believed that line of bullshit in a hundred years,” Jake said, still snickering. “Like some stuffy librarian would be the cause of your demise. You can’t even keep your dick in your pants long enough to be serious about any girl, much less a mouse like Anna.”

  Cowboy tossed his hat back onto his head and glared at his friend. “You know what, Jake? Go fuck yourself.”

  Yeah. What he said.

  Jake grinned wider. In fact, they were all smiling, looking quite pleased with themselves. “Oh, calm down,” Jake told him. “We’re just messing around.”

  Judd shook his head and squinted in confusion. “Why are you getting so mad, Cowboy? You got a real hankering for this girl or what?”

  “No!” Cowboy’s mouth tightened into a grim line before he released it on a heavy sigh. “Maybe.”

  I rolled my eyes. Obviously, he said that to shut his friends up. I didn’t know why they continued to pester him about me, but I hated that I was stuck there listening to them talk about me like…like…well, like I wasn’t there. Sheesh.

  “Come on, Cowboy. You have no shortage of women wanting to jump into your bed. What the hell do you want with Anna?” Jake asked.

  “That’s none of your damn business.”

  “It is if you’re going to hurt her.”

  “Yeah, and I’m genetically coded to do that because I’m not you, right?” Cowboy’s tone was anything but friendly.

  “Why her?” Jake asked gruffly. “Why not someone like Mandy? She’d be a better fit for someone like you.”

  “Someone like me, huh?” Cowboy shook his head, allowing irritation to show plainly on his pinched lips and narrowing eyes as he glared at Jake.

  “Well, you said she propositioned you before.”

  “I think that was only to make some boyfriend of hers jealous. But you know damn well I don’t fish in another man’s pond. Never have. It isn’t sportsmanlike and you tend to catch things you don’t want.” Cowboy shook his head at Jake. “I thought you of all people knew that about me. Guess I was wrong.”

  I felt bad being a voyeur to Cowboy’s persecution. He hadn’t done anything to deserve Jake being so hostile.

  “Look, I don’t know what you’re getting pissy about. I just don’t understand what you want with Anna.”

  “Because you think I’m only looking for a piece of ass, is that it?”

  Jake raised one eyebrow. “Well, aren’t you?”

  “Ya know, I almost hate to deflate your already low opinion of me, but I’m not nearly the jackass you automatically assume I am when it comes to women.”

  Jake scratched his head and grinned. “Prove it.”

  “How the hell am I supposed to do that?”

  “By leaving Anna alone so you don’t end up humiliating her.”

  Cowboy marched over to Jake and shoved him. “Fuck you, Jake! Why don’t you mind your own goddamn business and stay out of my relationship with Anna?”

  “So you admit there’s a relationship between you two?”

  “Of course there is, you fucking prick! What the hell do you think we’ve been talking about all this time?”

  Jake grinned, then chuckled.

  Cowboy looked as puzzled as I felt. “What the hell’s so funny?”

  “You are,” Jake said, still laughing his ass off. “You want this girl so bad, you can’t even see straight.”

  What? What the heck was he talking about? Cowboy and I were just friends. Nothing more. There could never be anything more.

  “Ya know, sometimes I fucking hate you.”

  That only made Jake hysterical. “See what I mean?” As his laughter came to an end, there was a brief silence. Then he said, “Funny how one woman can make everything around you look so different, isn’t it?”

  Cowboy rubbed at the back of his neck and grinned. “Like getting lost in my own backyard.”

  I cringed at that, knowing the feeling well myself. After all, it was exactly how I felt every time I was around him. But no matter what Cowboy said, he wasn’t interested in me for anything more than a roll in the proverbial hay.

  “Who would’ve thought Cowboy would get an itchin’ for a girl with a brain,” Judd said, grinning.

  “Well, if Anna had half a brain, she’d run like hell from the likes of him,” Ox said, thumbing over to Cowboy. Ox chuckled and shrugged his eyebrows suggestively. “So, Cowboy, you get her in bed, yet?”

  I mentally gasped. Hey!

  No wonder women had such a hard time trusting men. The callous asses were all the same. Always bragging about getting into a girl’s pants. Guess it only proved what I’d thought all along.

  Cowboy’s eyes burrowed holes in his friend. “Shut up, prick.”

  “Shutting up now,” Ox said, although he continued grinning.

  “Damn,” Jake said, glaring at Cowboy. “What’s wrong with you today? You know we’re just teasing. Anna’s a great girl. Why are you being so overprotective and getting wound up?”

  “Just drop it, okay?” Cowboy leaned back against a nearby stall barely in my field of vision and crossed one boot over the other in a comfortable-looking position. He sighed. “Look, she’s got bigger problems t
han worrying about me chasing after her. She’s having some problems with the Barlow brothers.”

  “Those turds?” Ox asked. “What the hell would they have against our sweet little Anna?”

  Our? Since when had I become theirs?

  “She told them if they didn’t stop shooting fireworks over her house that she’d call the police on them.”

  “Shitfire!” Ox said, letting loose a high-octane laugh. “For a mouse, that girl has some brass balls on her.”

  Judd scratched his head and looked a little worried. “Cowboy, you tell her to be careful with them Barlow boys. Fires have been known to start around them.”

  Ox’s comment had made me smile, but Judd’s wiped it away and had my teeth worrying my bottom lip. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

  “I’m taking care of it,” Cowboy told them.

  He was taking care of it? Yeah, right. By doing what—avoiding me?

  “If you need any help…” Jake started.

  “Yeah, yeah. I know where to find you, Mr. Hotshot FBI man.”

  “Look who’s talking,” Jake said with a teasing grin. “You’ve got all the women of Liberty County hot and bothered over that photo shoot you did. Not counting the ones outside of Liberty. I had three female agents in our Houston office ask me to get them autographed calendars. And one of them wants to know if the hat was photoshopped in. Pretty sure she’s hoping to dig up an original proof somewhere.”

  “That shit wasn’t photoshopped. Used the hat off my own head and placed it on my other head,” Cowboy responded proudly, making the others chuckle.

  I rolled my eyes. Of course he had. Because sexually violating a hat in order to get a rise out of women for the notoriety would be something only Cowboy would do.

  “It was for a good cause,” Ox stated. “Those three charities are going to receive way more funds because of what you did.”

  He did it to raise money for charity? I had no idea, or I never would have walked away from him at the chili cook-off without buying a calendar…even if I would have thrown it away to keep from eyeing it daily. Damn.

  “All right, enough standing around gossiping like a bunch of hens,” Jake said, smiling. “When are you going to go saddle-break that crazy fucking horse? Or are you going to make one of us do it for your lazy ass?”

  Cowboy laughed. A lot. “Like any of you could?”

  “How hard could it be?” Judd asked. “Don’t you just mount up and hold on?”

  “No, no,” Ox said with amusement. “That’s what Jake does with Emily.”

  My God. They were worse than a group of women when it came to gossip.

  Cowboy and Judd chuckled, but Jake’s mouth morphed into an irritated snarl. “Might want to watch how you’re talking about my wife, asshole.”

  “God, why are you and Cowboy so sensitive today? You both on your periods or something? Jesus, Jake, you know we love Emily. Hell, we probably like her better than we do you. At least she’s fun.”

  “Emily’s not fun. She’s frustrating. There’s a difference.”

  Suddenly, a woman cleared her throat somewhere behind them. I hadn’t seen her walk in, but I recognized the sound of her voice immediately.

  Apparently, so did Jake. He silently mouthed the word “Emily” to Cowboy and received a terse nod in return.

  Then Cowboy beamed with a gleam in his eye, silently letting Jake know that he’d seen her standing behind him the whole time.

  Jake turned around to face her, but kept one hand behind his back prominently displaying his middle finger to Cowboy. “Hey, honey.”

  “Don’t ‘hey, honey’ me, Jake,” Emily told him. “So I’m frustrating, huh?”

  “Just kidding around with the guys, baby.”

  “Uh-huh. Sure you were,” she said, moving closer to Jake and into a position where I could see her through the gate. And she didn’t look happy.

  “Need something?” Jake asked, shifting his weight uncomfortably.

  “Momma Belle just called and said she’s on her way over. If you think you can hide out in here like you did last time while that crazy-ass woman feels me up again, I’m going to make sure she’s the only one getting any action from me this week.” Emily grinned wide. “Then you’re going to find out exactly how frustrating I can be.”

  The other men all snickered, while Jake gave her a solemn, “All right. I’ll be there in a minute.”

  Emily put one hand on her hip and cocked a brow at him. “Yeah, I’ve heard that before. I’m not kidding, Jake. If you aren’t out here in two minutes, I’m cutting you off indefinitely.”

  “You wouldn’t dare,” Jake said, grinning, but eyeing her warily. “Because you can’t do that to me without me doing the same to you.”

  “Oh, Jakey,” she said with a sinister gleam in her eyes. “You can’t cut me off. You don’t know who I’m getting it from.” Then she sashayed out of the barn, giggling to herself.

  “Emily, that better be a fucking joke!” Jake called out to her as she disappeared from sight. “Emily…?” He waited for her response, but there was nothing but silence. “Sonofabitch, that woman doesn’t fight fair!” He stormed out after his wife.

  The others had been doing a terrible job at keeping a straight face, but the moment Jake left the barn, they all keeled over with laughter. I bit my tongue to keep from joining them.

  Once they got themselves under control and finally left, I grabbed the bucket I came for and slipped out the barn door as well.

  I wasn’t sure what to make of Cowboy’s comments, though they replayed over and over in my head. Had he meant what he said? Or was it him just playing some kind of sick game? I couldn’t bear to get my hopes up only to be let down when he realized he wasn’t attracted to me nearly as much as he was attracted to something he couldn’t have.

  Trying to stay busy and away from Cowboy, I arranged the foam plates and plastic silverware in neat little piles. Hank rested at the picnic table, drinking a glass of sweet tea I’d poured for him. “Why don’t you go over and join the others, honey? Floss is bringing the last few things down now, and I’m about to pull the meat off the grill. We’ll be eating shortly.”

  I stopped adjusting food platters and looked up at him warily.

  He eyed me with what he must’ve thought was some understanding of the dilemma. “You don’t have to be shy. We’re all family and friends here, and we’re always happy to have a guest join us.”

  I smiled at him. “Thank you. I’m glad to be here.”

  Hank was a sweet man, but I still didn’t feel the need to confess the real reasons I was over there with him rather than with the others. Sure, one of those reasons was Cowboy. But the other had to do with something entirely different.

  The fire.

  Everyone hung out near the burn pit to ward off the swarming mosquitos. It had a stone edge and three thick logs sat in the center, covered with orange flames. Occasionally, the fire spit out embers with a crackle and a pop, but the group barely seemed to notice.

  They looked content sitting in the flickering heat while having a quiet fireside chat. But I couldn’t bear the thought of being that close. Especially after Cowboy accused me of starting the pallet fire at the chili cook-off. I preferred to stay right where I was, watching them all from a distance.

  Hank stood and headed over to the nearby barrel smoker. Ox and Judd joined him, holding out large steel pans, while Hank filled one with barbecue ribs and the other with a huge chunk of brisket.

  Jake lounged in the shade of a tree, holding his sleeping daughter on his chest, while patting her back lightly with his large hands. They looked so comfortable and peaceful.

  Actually, everyone did.

  Cowboy was the only one making any real noise. He sat on a plastic chair bouncing Austin on his knee in time to the Bonanza theme song, providing all the sounds with his mouth. I couldn’t help but grin as he used the baby’s tiny hand to crack an invisible whip.

  When Bobbie Jo took Austin from
him—probably to keep him from getting whiplash from the way his head was lolling around—Cowboy stood and walked away from the fire. He passed by Jake and paused long enough to rub the back of his finger lightly against Lily’s cheek. It was sweet, the way he showed so much attention to the babies.

  A clinking noise interrupted my thoughts, and I turned to see Emily putting some beer and ice into a cooler. “Hey, Anna. Do me a favor?” She handed me the empty beer box. “Throw this into the burn pit for me, will you?”

  My mouth opened, but I froze in place, unable to answer her.

  Cowboy stepped in front of me and looked straight into my eyes. He read my expression and gave me a little wink as if to calm my nerves. “I’ve got it,” he said, then took the box from me before moving back toward the burn pit.

  Relief washed over me, but it was only a temporary fix, since Emily stepped up beside me a second later and asked, “What was that all about?”

  “Well, I…” I closed my eyes, not knowing how to tell her what Cowboy already knew. And it didn’t help that it mortified me.

  “Are you okay, Anna?”

  “I…um, have this thing…about fire.” I lowered my gaze and cringed. “It scares me.”

  “No shit?” Emily said, pausing to contemplate what I told her. “Did Bobbie Jo tell you about last summer when Jake hid me here to keep the mob from finding me?”

  I nodded, hoping she wouldn’t be upset with Bobbie Jo for sharing that bit of personal information with me.

  “Well, even though Hank taught me to shoot a gun, I still hate the sound of gunfire. It makes me nervous.”

  “That’s understandable after what you went through.”

  “Well, you must’ve had a bad experience yourself,” Emily said.

  I nodded, but didn’t bother to elaborate.

  “Don’t worry about it. I know how hard it is to get over something like that. It takes time.”