Boots and Buckles Read Free Page A

would, wouldn’t they?”
    “Now you’re thinking.” Bunny clapped her hands. “Have a little fun. If you tell them upfront you’re not looking for commitment, it’s not calculating. You’re pretty, single, over twenty-one and, honey, you’re not gettin’ any younger.”
    “Hey.” Mona backhanded Bunny in the belly. “You could have left off that last comment. I’m not long in the tooth.”
    Audrey shook her head. “Flirt, go out with the guy, do whatever you’re going to do later. Right now, I’ve got thirsty customers ready to spend their money on drinks and tips. Get back to work.” She grinned as she shoved a tray in Mona’s hands.
    Mona dove back into working her tables, keeping an eye out for the tall, dark and handsome cowboy who’d dared to kiss her. Not that he’d want anything to do with her now, after she’d slapped his face in front of God and everyone.
    The Ugly Stick was so packed, she didn’t see him again. But she knew the moment Dalton Faulkner stepped through the entrance. After three long years, he still made her heart flutter, a little. Just as tall as he’d been and still as devastatingly handsome with his sandy blond hair and startling blue eyes. She’d seen him since his and Grant’s break up as a team, plastered on billboards in cowboy boot ads along the highways and in commercials.
    Every woman in the place turned to stare as he waded through the crowd, shaking hands and smiling like a prince working a crowd of his subjects.
    Too bad it was all an act. The man was out for only one thing. Himself. And whatever woman would fall into his bed at the crook of his finger. Too bad Mona hadn’t seen his true nature sooner. She halfway expected it from him then, but not from Grant. He’d seemed more stable and sincere.
    “Did you see?” Bunny slipped up beside Mona as she removed the empty bottles and mugs from her tray and gave Libby her order.
    “I did.” Mona turned to watch as a cowboy got up to offer Dalton his chair in a saloon that had become standing-room only. “Do you think they hope his magic will rub off on them?”
    “Yeah, when you’re on a roll in the rodeo business, you’re like gods. Too bad it went to Dalton’s head.” Bunny turned her friend around. “You’re over him, aren’t you?”
    “Oh, yeah. I’m completely over him.” She said it like she meant it, but that flutter of butterflies in her belly made her wonder if she truly was. Maybe she should test the waters and see if they had really cooled.
    “He’s sitting at one of your tables, you want me to take the tray?” Bunny offered. She’d worked the Ugly Stick before when she’d needed money to tide her over during a cash flow crunch at her florist business.
    “No, thank you. I need to prove to myself I’m well and truly over him. No time like the present.” Armed with the feel of a handsome cowboy’s kiss still tingling on her lips, she marched over to the table where Dalton sat and settled the mugs and bottles in front of the cowboys who’d ordered them. “Can I get you anything?”
    “Mona, baby!” Dalton grabbed her around the middle and dragged her into his lap. “I missed you so much. Give me a kiss.”
    When he would have pressed his lips to hers, she shoved the flat side of her tray up into his face. “I’m sorry, kisses and groping will cost you extra,” she said in what she hoped was a flippant tone when she really wanted to crash the tray over his head. The man hadn’t changed.
    The men around the table laughed heartily.
    Dalton’s face reddened, but he laughed, though it sounded forced. “Just the way I like ’em. Sassy!” He slapped her thigh.
    He was a complete, arrogant bastard and what she’d ever seen in him was beyond her comprehension at that moment. Had she been blind? Or too besotted that someone that popular in the media’s eye would have anything to do with the girl from a small town in Texas?
    Mona shoved Dalton’s hands away from her and hopped