Valentine Cowboys

by Cat Johnson

  Resolved, Justus turned to the heifer and calf. They needed more water. He grabbed a bucket and headed for the sink and let the comfortable familiarity of the tasks he’d performed for years lull his mind into a peaceful numbness.

  Chapter Eight

  “Blue, how the hell—”

  “I got the last flight out of New York last night.” Dakota’s boss strode into the dining room and dropped the duffle bag in his hand on the floor.

  Dakota frowned. Blue hadn’t been scheduled to arrive until this afternoon. “You didn’t have to. Justus called and told you it went just fine last night.”

  “I know but it was crazy for me to be away at the start of calving season anyway. I needed to be here. Now I am.” He glanced at the table. There was a place set for Dakota and for Justus with a platter covered in hash browns and bacon in the middle. “God, I need some coffee.”

  “I’ll go tell Mrs. Jones you’re here.” Dakota stood and headed for the kitchen, thinking it was a damn good thing Blue hadn’t managed to get a flight any earlier.

  The image of him and Justus both being balls deep inside Melody when they were supposed to be keeping an eye on the heifer hit him. He couldn’t even imagine what would have happened if Blue had walked into the calving shed then. Well, maybe he could imagine. He and Justus would be looking for another job. Not to mention Melody would have been so embarrassed she likely never would have talked to either of them again.

  But that hadn’t happened and Dakota only worried when there was something real to worry about. They hadn’t gotten caught. Justus was disposing of the evidence right at that very moment, and all was well.

  He found Mrs. Jones in the kitchen frying eggs. “Blue’s back early.”

  Her graying brows rose high. “A little notice would have been nice.”

  “He was worried about the heifer so he got an earlier flight.”

  She didn’t look convinced. “Well, he still could’ve called. Grab me three more eggs out of the fridge.”

  “Sure thing.” Dakota did as asked and decided it would be wise if he just grabbed a mug and filled it for Blue himself, since Mrs. Jones was both busy and cranky. He should probably take in a plate, fork and napkin for Blue, too. That would win points with Mrs. Jones that Dakota might need later on.

  He carried the steaming hot, black coffee and the place setting for Blue back to the dining room and found Justus already there. Good, the shed must be all straightened out. No one would be the wiser.

  “How are they doing?” Dakota sat while questioning Justus.

  “Good. Fine. I gave them fresh water.” Justus glanced up quickly before concentrating solely on the plate in front of him. He reached out and piled it high with bacon and hash browns.

  Justus never was good at hiding stuff. He looked completely guilty. Oh well. Good thing Dakota was good at this kind of shit. He came up with a topic to deflect the attention off Justus. “So, Blue. I thought Miss Casey was coming back with you from New York?”

  “She kept the original flight. She’s got some stuff to tie up at the office this morning…uh, I think I heard her say that at the, uh, meeting. She’ll be here later this evening… You know, because she, uh, wanted to get some photos of the calving. For the website and that blog she started.” Blue avoided meeting Dakota’s gaze and stared into his coffee mug.

  He might try and pretend he hadn’t spent the past week in the bed of Maverick Western’s Director of Marketing in New York, but they all knew better. Blue was as bad as Justus at hiding things. They both sat at the breakfast table looking guilty as sin. Dakota smothered a smile. Mrs. Jones came in carrying a platter full of fried eggs and broke the tension, to Justus and Blue’s great relief, judging by their expressions. Amateurs.

  The rest of breakfast went off without a hitch. They talked a little bit about what had been happening on the ranch since Blue’d been away. As long as there was ranch business to concern him, Blue would never look too closely at anything else. Dakota didn’t know why Justus continued to act so nervous, even as they all walked into the calving shed together.

  Justus should just relax. They weren’t going to get caught for what had happened last night.

  Or maybe they were.

  “What the hell are those?” Blue had no problem making eye contact now as he stood over the trash bin and glared at first Justus and then Dakota. Justus had forgotten to empty the trash and two very used condoms lay right on top in plain view.

  “Shit,” Justus blanched and mumbled the curse under his breath.

  “I thought you emptied that.” Dakota shook his head and kept his voice as soft as he could so only Justus would hear him.

  “I saw they needed water. I got distracted and I guess I forgot.” The panic on Justus’s face would have been funny if the situation weren’t so fucked up.

  Blue’s chin dropped low as he squeezed his eyes shut. Dakota knew him well enough to know that was not a good sign. Yelling he could handle, but a silent Blue was bad. Real bad.

  Finally he opened his eyes and blew out a breath. Blue looked from one to another. “All right. Look. I know you two are close, that you’ve been together pretty much forever. I’m not gonna judge you. If you two wanna live your lives like this, fine. But there’s gonna be some rules. I don’t wanna see it. I don’t wanna see any evidence of it. You two can have your time alone together when I’m not around.”

  As Blue’s words sunk in slowly, Dakota eyes popped open wide. “Holy crap. No, Blue, it’s not like that.”

  Justus, still wearing a stricken expression, looked at Dakota. “Like what?”

  “He thinks you and I…” Dakota pointed at the trashcan. “That you and I were using those on each other.”

  Justus’s mouth dropped open. “Aw, jeez. No. Blue. No.”

  That wasn’t real articulate so Dakota decided to elaborate, and apologize, and lie. Sometimes extreme messes required all that.

  “Justus and I had a couple of girls in here last night.” When Justus swung his surprised gaze to Dakota at that fib, he figured he better start talking faster. “We know it’s wrong, but we knew the calf was gonna take a long time and we’d have nothing to do but sit around and wait for hours, so we thought we could impress these two girls if they saw us working. If you wanna fire us, I’ll understand. It was wrong and I’m sorry. We both are.”

  “That was damn irresponsible of you two.” Blue sounded pissed, but Dakota could still see his relief. Blue was old-fashioned. He’d be so happy that he didn’t have to picture the two of them doing each other in the bedroom next to his in the bunkhouse, they might just get away with this.

  Dakota nodded. “I know it was. I’m sorry, Blue.”

  “I’m sorry, too. It won’t happen again. I promise.” Justus finally got himself together enough to apologize as well.

  “See that it doesn’t. Now empty that damn trash and go check on the herd.”

  “Yes, sir.” Dakota grabbed the bin and with a glance at Justus, headed for the door.

  * * * *

  “That was close,” Justus said as he glanced at Dakota on their way out to check on the herd.

  “No kidding.” Dakota let out a snort. “Too close.”

  “I’m sorry. It’s all my fault.”

  “Don’t worry about it.” Dakota shook his head and trudged forward.

  “But if I hadn’t forgotten—”

  “It’s fine. It’s done. He’s okay with it. He’s not happy, but I don’t think we’re going to get fired over it, so it’s fine.”

  Justus let out a sigh. “Thank you.”

  “For what?”

  “For coming up with that lie about the two girls and protecting Melody.”

  “No problem.”

  Justus stayed quiet for the rest of the walk until Dakota finally turned to look him. “What’s wrong? Why do you look so miserable? I told you everything is fine.”

  “Because we can’t do this anymore.”

  “Sure we can. We just have t
o be more careful.”

  Justus halted to a dead stop. “I’m not talking about just the rest of the week while she’s visiting her grandparents. I mean if she does get the job here, we can’t continue to do this. Eventually we’ll get caught and all of our lives will be ruined.”

  “Maybe not. Blue was willing to accept you and I were gay as long as he didn’t see it. Surely that means he’d accept that we’re straight but are both with the same girl. Right?”

  Justus screwed up his face. “Yeah, well, it’s not just Blue we have to worry about. It’s everybody else.”

  Dakota had never seen Justus look so miserable. He had to do something to fix it. “Then I’ll bow out.”

  “What?” Justus’s blond brows knit together.

  “You and Melody can be together. Without me.”

  “No.” Justus shook his head. “Our agreement—”

  “We fulfilled our agreement. We were both with her. She didn’t break up our friendship. She didn’t choose one of us over the other. We’re not fighting over her, I’m simply bowing out.”

  “Why? You don’t like her?” Justus’s voice rose.

  “Of course I like her.” Dakota let out a short laugh at the understatement. “I like her a lot, but I won’t die without her. I’m not so sure about you.”

  Justus frowned. “That’s not true.”

  “Don’t look so insulted. I’m just saying you two might have something real and I’m not going to stand in your way.”

  “You’re not standing in my way.”

  “Justus, this is a gift. It’s what you’ve always wanted. Accept it and be grateful.” Dakota turned and started walking. He expected Justus to run up behind him and say something. He didn’t.

  Out of the corner of his eye, Dakota saw Justus pause and pull out his cell phone. He was probably calling Melody to tell her the good news that the two of them could be together without him. That was fine. Good. Exactly what he’d wanted. Dakota let out a sigh and kept walking.

  “Dakota! Hold up.”

  He stopped walking as Justus jogged toward him. There was a deep frown creasing his brow. “Melody texted me.”

  Dakota waited. “And?”

  Justus held the phone out toward him and Dakota read the text. I didn’t get the job.

  He blew out a long slow breath. “I’m sorry, Justus. I know you wanted her to stick around.”

  Justus shook his head. “No, I’m sorry for her sake because she needed that job, but it’s better in the long run, I think. She’s smart. She’ll find a job in the city, I’m sure. This way neither one of us is with her. It’s better.”

  “Justus, I told you I’m fine with it—”

  “I heard you the first time. Look, I’m going to text her back and tell her we want to see her again tonight. Both of us.” Justus accentuated the word both. “You okay with that?”

  Dakota smiled. Justus was obviously sticking to their pact. Both of them would be with her or neither of them would. “Yeah, I’m okay with that. She’s probably going to need the cheering up.”

  “That’s what I figured. Where are we going to take her though?” Justus glanced back at the calving shed. “We can’t bring her back here.”

  “No, definitely not. If no calves are coming and we can get away for a few hours tonight, I say we head to that hotel on the highway. We both have money saved up, so paying for it won’t be a problem.” Dakota liked the idea of having Melody totally naked between them in an actual bed.

  Plenty of room and privacy. A whole night would be better, but whatever time they could steal would do.

  “All right. I’ll ask her. Unless you want to ask.” Justus held his phone out toward him again.

  Even though Dakota had essentially backed out of this and given Justus freedom to pursue Melody on his own, Justus was still making sure Dakota was included equally in anything that happened with her. That was Justus for you. Good and loyal, right down to the bone.

  Dakota shook his head and pushed the phone back toward Justus. “No, it’s fine. You can ask her, but make sure you tell her I’m very sorry about her not getting the job.”

  “I will,” Justus said. “And we can both tell her again tonight, in person.”

  “Yes, we will.”

  That’s not all they’d be doing in person. Yeah, Dakota was perfectly willing to bow out gracefully and let his best friend be alone with the girl he’d been in love with since fifth grade, but as long as Justus still invited Dakota to join them, he’d be a fool to say no. Dakota’s mama didn’t raise no fool.

  They’d both do a whole lot more to console her than just tell her they were sorry if Dakota had anything to say about it. They may be sending Melody back to her parents in the city still jobless, but she’d certainly know there were two cowboys back on the ranch who cared about her. That had to count for something.

  Chapter Nine

  Melody lay facedown on the bed in the guest room in her grandparents’ house. She’d have to get up eventually. Her grandmother would wonder where she was and why she was hiding in her room all day. She would also notice Melody’s red, puffy eyes. She’d been crying on and off ever since she’d gotten the call from Mrs. Stowe that morning.

  It wasn’t exactly a shock the school had chosen to go with the applicant who had actual teaching experience over the unemployed graduate with the apparently useless degree in art history and no practical experience of any kind, but it still hurt.

  Now what?

  She forced herself to sit up and swung her feet over the edge of the bed and to the floor. Now, she’d get up and get dressed. She’d put on some makeup to cover her red nose and go meet Justus and Dakota, that’s what she’d do.

  Melody flipped open her phone and read that day’s text-message exchange between them. They wanted to see her tonight to cheer her up. Life still sucked, but if anything could help her forget that for even a little while, it would be Justus and Dakota. She smiled when she reread all the messages again. At least five times throughout the day a new text had come through from Justus’s phone.

  Dakota and I are thinking of you.

  Can’t wait to see you tonight.

  Cheer up. We both luv ya!

  Each and every one had brought fresh tears to her eyes. Two of the nicest guys in the world and she’d be saying goodbye to them in a few days. Swiping her hand over the moisture in her eyes once again, Melody got up and headed for the shower.

  A little flutter started inside her stomach as she stripped naked and stepped beneath the hot stream of water. She’d be naked again soon enough and pressed in between the two men. That thought chased away her tears as nervousness combined with excitement replaced sadness.

  Dakota’s hands and mouth would be all over her, pushing her to places she’d never known she wanted to go. Justus would be there with kisses and loving strokes that soothed her and made her want to lean in for more. Both of their cocks would be inside her again. Her face flushed when she thought of all the ways they would take her tonight. Her muscles clenched in anticipation. She still felt deliciously sore from last night. All the sensation did was make her want more. Make her want to be filled again.

  As she soaped up her hand and washed herself, inside and out, she pictured them with her here under the stream hitting her back. Justus in front of her, his soapy hands running up and down her body as he kissed her. Dakota at her back, his slippery cock teasing her from behind. Her legs wrapped around Justus’s hips as he held her weight in his hands and plunged inside her. Dakota stepping up and teasing her hole with a finger before sliding his cock inside her ass. Being between these two incredible men and feeling the overwhelming sensation of being totally and completely taken once again.

  Justus had mentioned going to a hotel, and asked her if that would be all right with her. Realizing they actually could all shower together there, that her fantasy could easily become reality, she closed her eyes and let the pulsing heat of the water against her skin wash away any last remnants of
her depression.

  Melody heard the chime on her cell phone sound and smiled. She didn’t need to even reach out of the shower stall to where she’d left it on the sink to know who it would be from. Justus and Dakota were thinking of her, just as she was thinking of them.

  How had she gotten so lucky? She didn’t know but she’d hold on to whatever happiness she could find for as long as she could.

  * * * *

  A little nervous, Melody drove up to the tiny hotel along the highway outside of town where they’d told her to meet them. Their truck was already there. Comforted by the sight, she immediately felt a surge of relief. She should have known they wouldn’t leave her waiting alone in a strange place.

  As if it had been choreographed, both truck doors swung open in unison and two cowboys ducked their hat-covered heads and stepped out. Her heart picked up speed and an uncontrollable smile bowed her lips.

  “Hey.” Justus smiled. He ran a hand down her arm and leaned in for a quick kiss on her cheek.

  Dakota, always the darker of the two men in both coloring and mood, was a little more serious than Justus now. He glanced around them and held up a key. “Let’s get on inside.”

  He was worried about them being seen. She probably should have been the one worried about that. Instead, she was too busy being overwhelmed by the mere presence of the two men. What exactly was it about them that got to her? Was it because what they did together felt as wrong as it did right? Or was it just them—these two incredible men who for some strange reason both wanted her?

  Melody couldn’t think more about it because the moment the door closed with all three of them inside, Dakota’s mouth covered hers. With a moan, he pulled her closer and plunged his tongue between her lips. Then he pulled back and glanced at Justus. “Take off your coat and kiss her. I’m getting naked.”