Wild Cowboy Ways (Lucky Penny Ranch #1)(63)

Chapter Eighteen



The Bent Spur, a cowboy bar that Toby and Blake found just over the border into Wilbarger County, Texas, was hopping that Friday night. The parking lot was full enough that they had to park Toby’s truck at the outer edge and the music so loud that Blake felt the ground pulsating under his boots.

“We’ll have to remember this place. I already like it,” Toby yelled above the din when they pushed open the double door and joined the noisy crowd.

A tall blonde dressed in skintight jeans, a top that dipped low enough to reveal two inches of cleavage, and a provocative look in her eye quickly crossed the floor in a man-teasing wiggle and ran a hand down Toby’s forearm. She looked up at him, batted her blue eyes, and smiled brightly.

“Hey, cowboy. Wanna dance?” she asked in a husky voice.

“Absolutely, sweet darlin’, but let’s get a beer first,” Toby said.

The woman looped her arm in Toby’s and wove her way through the line-dancing couples to the bar with Blake bringing up the rear right behind them. Toby ordered two beers and the woman asked for a double shot of Jack on the rocks.

“Hey, what are you doin’ here?” Deke turned around on the bar stool.

“Toby, this is Deke. Deke, my brother Toby. And this is?” Blake nodded toward the blonde sitting beside him.

“This is Lisa,” Deke said. “That would be her twin sister with the double shot of Jack sitting beside Toby there.”

“Fine way to start the night,” Toby said.

“Depends.” Blake sipped his beer.

“You sick or something?” Toby asked.

Blake smiled and held up his beer in a toast. “Been workin’ hard all week.”

Toby frowned. “You’ve never been too tired to party after a week’s work before.”

The blonde wrapped her arms around Toby’s neck. “Forgot to tell you my name and here you already bought me a drink. I’m Laney, darlin’, and I understand that you are Toby. If you ain’t the hottest thing I’ve ever seen. Come on and dance with me, cowboy.”

Toby set his beer down on the bar, winked at Blake, and two-stepped across the floor with the woman who’d pressed her body so close to his that air would have had a hard time wiggling its way between them.

Conway Twitty’s voice sang “I See the Want to in Your Eyes.” When Twitty mentioned that he saw the sparkling little diamond on her hand, Blake instinctively looked for a ring on Laney’s finger.

“Neither of them are married,” Deke said. “Hey, girl, this here old cowboy’s feet are aching to dance.” He held out his hand to Lisa, she threw back the rest of her drink, and they disappeared in the crowd of dancing folks.

A short redhead popped her butt on the bar stool Lisa had vacated and smiled at Blake. “You must like Conway.”

“What makes you think that?”

“You’re keeping time with your thumb on your beer glass.”

“I do like him.” Blake nodded. The lady was a cute little thing and her eyes said that she was interested, but something wasn’t clicking.

She leaned closer to him and touched his cheek with her fingertips. “Well, darlin’, so do I and for the next half hour that’s what we’re going to hear because I plugged a bunch of money into the jukebox. Buy me a drink to celebrate our mutual love of Mr. Twitty?”

Blake held up a hand and the bartender quickly made his way to that end of the bar. “This Conway-lovin’ lady would like a drink.”

“Long-neck Coors, in the bottle,” she said.

Blake laid a bill on the bar and pointed to his glass. “Refill, please, of the same.”

“I’m Kayla. Thanks for the drink. You could ask me to dance,” she said.

“Got two left feet,” Blake said. What was the matter with him? He should be already on the dance floor with Kayla wrapped around him like a pet python.

She took his hand and tugged at it. “I don’t believe you.”

“Don’t say you wasn’t warned.” He took another sip of his beer and let her lead him out onto the dance floor.

She melted into his arms as the jukebox played “Rest Your Love on Me.”

She rose on her toes and breathed into his ear. “Like the words of the song says, I’d like to put my worries in your pocket and rest my love on you all night. I see some sadness in those green eyes, cowboy. Let me make you happy tonight.”

“I bet you tell all the old ugly cowboys that,” he said.

“Darlin’, whoever told you that you are ugly has shit for brains.” She laughed. “You didn’t tell me your name.”

“Blake Dawson.”

“Blake and Kayla. Goes together real good, at least for one night.”

A tall brunette moved into Kayla’s place and looped her arms around his neck when that song ended and Conway started singing “House on Old Lonesome Road.”

“It’s my birthday and my friends dared me to come over and dance with you,” she whispered. “I have a boyfriend at home.”

He twirled her out and brought her back to him and even dipped her at the end of the dance. “Happy birthday, darlin’. Your boyfriend is one lucky feller.”

Blake made his way to the men’s room where he checked his reflection in the mirror. It was the same face that he shaved every morning, same dark hair, and same green eyes, so why in the hell wasn’t he having a good time. He felt his forehead. No fever so he wasn’t sick.