A Cowboy for June, page 3
His favorite was June. One of these days, he’d get up enough nerve to introduce himself to her when she came back to town. The trick was fighting through the throng of partygoers to even get close to her. Esteban had had a crush on her since high school, when he’d seen her ride for the first time.
Her hair had been bright pink back then, and she’d had a nose ring. She’d been so “in your face” with her hell-raising attitude that she’d caught his attention and his heart immediately. June hadn’t posted in a while, and she had missed a bunch of events. There were rumors on the chat boards that she had gotten busted for something and tossed into jail, but he didn’t believe it. Still, he thought as he thumbed through some glamour shots she’d posted, the Three Sisters Ranch was boarding her horse, Athena. He’d seen Emily riding the mare a few times. There had to be a reason why June didn’t have her horse with her, wherever she was.
He’d heard another rumor that June would be coming back to Last Stand for Emily’s wedding at the end of the month. Merry would probably come too, because the Last Stand Rodeo was the week after. Maybe, he’d get up enough courage to see if June would go out for a beer with him.
As he was staring into June Grayson’s deep brown eyes and wishing the smile she was flashing at the camera was directed at him, a woman sat down next to him, almost too close for comfort.
He shifted to frown at her and had to do a double take. He looked at the woman. Looked at the phone. Looked back at the cowgirl sitting next to him.
“June Grayson?” Esteban said, frozen in shock.
“In the flesh.”
She was just as gorgeous in person as she was in photos. Her sandy-brown hair was tinged with pink highlights and he caught a tantalizing glimpse of a tattoo on the curve of her leg when she crossed them. She wore a frothy pastel sundress that looked like it was made of cotton candy.
“Hi,” he said unintelligently.
She held out her hand for him to shake. He was a little surprised at her firm grip and the calluses on her palm. She looked so much like a fashion model, he had forgotten that she spent most of her life on the back of a horse, just like he did.
“I was wondering if you could help me with a joke,” she said.
Esteban nodded, wondering if the joke was on him, and not caring.
“You look like you’ve got steady hands.” She leaned in and he caught a whiff of men’s cologne. It was familiar and he realized it was the same type he used.
June Grayson smelled like him. And up close, she had lips he wanted to cover with his own. He shifted, his pants suddenly tight. “Steady.”
“There’s some danger involved.” She licked her lips and that glimpse of her little pink tongue nearly dropped him.
“Dangerous? Danger is my middle name.”
Oh no. He did not just say that. Brain first. Mouth second. When would he ever learn?
“Mine’s trouble.”
“I can see that,” he said. “What do you need?”
“I need to reenact a scene from my wild younger days.”
“How wild?”
“I rode my horse naked down Main Street.”
Esteban choked on air.
“And I need you to film it for my TikTok.”
“I think that violates the terms of Tik…” Esteban shut up. Why am I trying to talk her out of this? “Yeah, of course, I’ll film you.”
“Great.” She leaned in and kissed him quick on the mouth and then popped up before he could react. “Here,” she said. “Press the button as soon as you see me.”
“You got it,” he said.
“It’ll be like herding the longhorns, only better.”
“You got that right.” Esteban looked around for the hidden camera and waited for Ringo or Frenchie to jump out and jeer at him for falling for this. But they were out riding the back forty with Nate, and were far away from here.
This was happening. June Grayson—June Freakin’ Grayson—had kissed him, and now she was darting down Laurel Street. He stood up, wondering how he could stop traffic so that she and her horse didn’t get caught up in it. His lips tingled from her kiss. He wanted more.
“Mijo, are you ready?” his mother asked, coming out of the shop.
Not now.
“I just need a few minutes. Why don’t you go to the car, and I’ll meet you there?” He started fast walking toward Laurel Street.
“Esteban, where are you going?”
Seeing the horse’s head, Esteban lifted the phone and zoomed in as best as he could. This had to be a trick, a publicity stunt. She’d come into view in a WPRC bikini or something.
“Holy shit,” he breathed.
June wore only her Bad Reputation Stetson.
His mother screamed.
Traffic stopped.
His hand never shook, but he couldn’t take his eyes off her soft curves, and the creamy expanse of her skin. She had long, toned legs with a tattoo of a bucking horse on her thigh. Her belly was perfection. He wanted to lick his way up to the long, graceful line of her neck.
She tossed a few flyers at gawkers. Esteban tried to zoom in on them. Bachelorette party? Could it be she was doing this for Emily’s party?
“Esteban,” his mother shrieked. “Don’t film that.”
“It’s okay, Mamá. It’s her phone. She asked me to do this.”
“What?” she screeched.
He was probably going to pay for this later, but damn, it was so worth it.
June rode astride Athena, clip-clopping down Main Street. She waved happily at everyone and handed out more flyers. Esteban needn’t have worried about the cars. They stopped dead in the street.
She rode her horse slowly toward him and came up alongside.
“You… You…” his mother stammered. “You put on some clothes, young lady.”
Holding out her hand for her phone, June winked at him. “Did you get it?”
He nodded, trying desperately to maintain eye contact. But he was only human. Up this close he saw she was wearing flesh-colored pasties over her nipples and the thinnest G-string he had ever seen, not that he was a connoisseur of those type of things.
“Come by Callum’s Country Party House after the bachelorette party tonight and I’ll buy you a drink,” she said.
“He most certainly will not,” his mother said, pulling on his arm. Good luck with that—he outweighed her by a good seventy-five pounds.
“See you there,” Esteban said.
“Esteban Alejandro Cristobal Lopez,” his mother said threateningly.
June tipped her hat at him and turned Athena around. The back view was just as nice as the front. He never thought he’d be envious of a saddle.
The whoop of a siren jolted him out of his thoughts as Police Chief Highwater pulled his squad car down Main Street, just as she turned back down Laurel.
His mother grabbed his ear and twisted.
“Ow, Mamá.” Esteban struggled free.
“Let’s go,” she said, seething.
Somehow, he didn’t think she’d be setting him up with Sofia after all. And that was just fine with him.
Chapter Three
“Were you drunk?” her sister April asked, after she picked June up from the police station.
“No, just bored.” June had had a blast. It was the first time she had felt like her old self in a long time.
“You’re just lucky that it was a school day. Do you know you could have had to register with the sex offenders list if you exposed yourself to a child?”
“It was a joke,” June groaned. “I made people laugh and clutch their pearls. It was the best day ever.”
“You’re crazy. You’re going viral and for all the wrong reasons.”
“What’s the worst that could happen? I get fired from the WPRC?” Been there, done that, wore the Stetson today just to cram it up their ass when they saw it on TikTok.
“According to the lawyer I talked to, six months in county and a thousand-dollar fine.”
“No one has any sense of humor anymore.” June sighed. “I wore a thong, and my nips were covered. But even if I hadn’t, being topless is legal in Texas. They can’t pin an indecent exposure rap on me because my hoo-ha wasn’t showing.”
“Barely.”
“You worry too much.”
“And you don’t worry about anything.”
“So together, we even each other out.” And that was pretty much their relationship in a nutshell. They would never see eye to eye on anything, but they’d always have each other’s backs. “It all worked out. Nobody got hurt and in the end, I put a lot of smiles on people’s faces.” Of course, there were a lot of frowns as well, but June didn’t count them.
“Then why were you arrested?”
“Littering and disorderly conduct.”
“Oh no. What did you do?”
“I mouthed off to Highwater.”
April squinted at her. “You have been drinking.”
“No. I wouldn’t ride Athena if I was drunk,” June said. “She might have gotten hurt. Anyway, I apologized to Highwater. Emily came and got Athena with her horse trailer, but she couldn’t give me a ride home because she had stuff to do and I didn’t want to drag my sorry ass all over Last Stand. Mama’s working, so I called you.”
“Does Mama know what you did?”
“Who do you think brought me back my clothes?”
April banged her head on the steering wheel. “You can’t do things like this.”
“Well, not anymore. I had to promise not to streak across Main Street ever again. In return, Highwater is going to drop the charges.”
“June, no one is going to hire you after they hear about this stunt.”
June didn’t want to think about being tied down to a stodgy place and she certainly didn’t want to be indoors any more than she had to be.
“I’ve got a lead on a job.”
“Where?” April asked.
“That’s where you come in.”
“I’m not getting naked.”
“No one asked you to. Look, I just need you to talk to Cole and see if Trent is willing to have me there to teach girls wanting to learn barrel racing from a pro.”
“If you hadn’t pulled your Lady Godiva shtick today, you might have had a better shot.”
“I did it for Emily.”
April shook her head. “Oh bullshit. You were looking for a reason to take your clothes off.”
“Maybe I was. But it was fun.”
“I’ll ask Cole. But don’t get your hopes up. They don’t get many girls at the school.”
“Maybe I can change that. Or maybe I’ll ask Emily to hire me on as a ranch hand.”
“That’s some serious hard work. Cole moonlights a few days a month and he’s always exhausted. Are you sure you’re up for it?”
“I sat on my ass for three months in that rehab facility. It’ll be good to get outside and ride all day.”
April shook her head. “You always have to do things the hard way, don’t you?”
“That’s just the way things turn out for me.”
“Please don’t go crazy tonight,” April said. “You know how you get when you’re drinking.”
“First of all, I’m not going to be drinking, and second of all, I’m looking forward to this. Don’t shit all over it.”
“I’m not. I just want what’s best for you.”
“How can you know that, when I don’t even know what that is?”
June was also looking forward to seeing that cute cowboy tonight. She should have gotten his name. The old woman behind him was screaming it. Alejandro? Chris? June shook her head. She couldn’t remember. “I looked great, though. Did you see the video?” June had uploaded it everywhere before Chief Highwater caught up with her and wrapped her in one of those blankets that looked like tin foil.
“No,” April said, snorting.
“Do you think Dustin is going to see it?”
“Why would you want your ex to see it?”
“So he can be reminded of what he gave up when he asked Shayna James, Princess of Pain, to marry him.”
“Are you pissed off about that?”
Was she? “No,” June decided. “I’m pissed off that he cheated and that I was dumb enough to agree to have an exclusive relationship. But I’m never getting married. So if he and Shayna want to chase that happily-ever-after scam, I wish them all the best that karma has to offer them. I’m glad to be away from them and all the drama.”
But she wasn’t glad to be away from the rodeo.
They drove back to Mama’s trailer and then sat in silence for a few moments.
“I am pissed about how the WPRC handled the situation,” June grumbled. “I didn’t need to go to rehab.”
April shrugged. “I think it helped.”
“Maybe a little,” June admitted. She’d hated being cooped up in the rehab center, though. She hadn’t minded the counseling part. It was the cold, sterile environment that she hadn’t been able to stand.
“Are you going to try and get Dustin back?”
“Hell no. He blew his chance.”
“Have you asked the WPRC to reinstate you?”
“They’re not returning my calls. And I think Sinclair Thompson blocked my number.”
April handed June her phone.
After a moment’s consideration, June looked up his number and called him from April’s phone.
“Sinclair Thompson,” he answered on the first ring.
Rage fought with the need to be professional. “I want you to reconsider the decision to have me retire,” she said and was pleased that her voice didn’t shake with suppressed emotion.
Sinclair sighed heavily. “Ms. Grayson, I’ll be blunt. You don’t fit our image.”
“Oh, but Shayna James using a cattle prod on her horse does?”
“Your hatred of Shayna has made you a volatile competitor.”
June set her jaw. “And your favoritism of her is suspect. She had to take anger management classes and she’s still allowed to compete. How is that different from my counseling sessions?”
“If Shayna gets on her horse angry, it’s not the same risk as if you get on your horse drunk,” he said viciously.
April winced.
“I have never ridden my horse under the influence,” June said slowly and deliberately. “Shayna, on the other hand, can’t win a round without cheating and inflicting pain on her horse.”
“I’m not listening to this nonsense.”
“It’s not nonsense. Ask any other rider.”
But he had hung up on her.
“And now you’re blocked,” June said, handing her sister back her phone.
“He’s a real piece of work,” April said. “You’re better off without him.”
“I’m going to get back into the circuit,” June vowed. “And if I have to run over Sinclair Thompson to do it, that’s even better.”
“Well, don’t do it tonight. If you get arrested, I can’t come bail you out. Cole and I have plans.”
“You’re leaving the bachelorette party early?”
“It’s not my scene anyway. Besides, he’s been working at Trent’s school during the day and at another ranch overnight for the past two weeks. We haven’t had a lot of time together.”
“Date night, huh?” June said, getting out of the car and stretching.
“I hope I can stay awake,” April grumbled.
“Start drinking coffee now.”
“Then I’ll be peeing all night.”
“TMI.” June waved as April backed out of the driveway.
June was pleased that she’d stood up for herself. Her therapist would have been proud, too. Talking to Sinclair had loosened some of the anger that had lodged in her gut like a rock. And flashing her goods down Main Street had made her feel like her old self again. The only problem with acting and feeling like her old self, though, was that she had to make sure she didn’t fall back into any bad habits. Bad habits…like going out to a bar for a bachelorette party and having a drink or two. Or like taking a stripper home.
June was a little worried about tonight, especially if the locals offered to buy her a celebratory drink or wanted to go shot for shot with her the way she’d done in the past. She didn’t want to explain why she was dry because she didn’t want the whole town talking about her problems. On the other hand, she could have a few drinks and not get blackout drunk. There had to be a middle road she could take.
“Ugh.” June leaned her head back and screamed at the sky. That wound up scaring the shit out of her mother’s pony, Tulip. “Sorry, girl,” she said as Tulip stared at her, wild-eyed.
Overthinking things was April’s gig, not hers. June wanted to make sure that she still knew how to have fun without alcohol. If it got too difficult being at the bachelorette party with the booze, she could just leave.
But first, she needed to talk to someone. June dialed the number that her counselor from rehab had given her. Almost as soon as the phone rang, it was immediately answered.
“Rats, I was hoping that I would have to leave a message,” June said.
“That sounds like you’re trying to hide what you’re doing from me, but still get the credit for calling me first.” Linda had been her counselor in the rehab center, and accepted absolutely no bullshit from anyone. That was too bad, because June was very good at bullshit.
“I road my horse down Main Street today,” June announced. “I was naked.” She was almost naked, but it made for a more dramatic line to take out the qualifiers.
“Again?” Linda quipped. “How about we discuss doing things that will help you break out of this destructive cycle that you’ve found yourself in over the last couple of years?”
“That’s what this was. I was feeling a little disconnected from myself. So I did something wild and crazy to bring me back.”
