Playing With Fire (Tangled in Texas, #2)(38)

“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, *?”

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 f*ck 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 f*cking 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 f*cking hate you.”