Cowboy Player: Cowboy Cocktail, Book 3 Read Online Free

cabinet.
    “Tanqueray.”
    “No beer?”
    From the kitchen, Melody watched him as he looked through the records. “Nope. And you heard Harmony. You used to be fun. One cocktail. I know you can handle it.”
    She was squeezing lime wedges into two gin and tonics when George Strait’s voice flowed deep and smooth from the old speakers of her parents’ record player.
    “Nice choice.” She walked into the living room and handed Clark his drink.
    “Classic.” He was sitting cross-legged by the record player, looking at a dozen albums fanned out on the carpet in front of him. “They were like pieces of art, weren’t they? Cardboard cover, liner notes. All the lyrics. We’re never going to have this kind of thing again. Everything’s digital. There won’t be any hard proof of the music we listened to.”
    “Maybe that’s a good thing.” Sitting down on the sofa, Melody took a sip of her drink and ogled the curve of Clark’s broad back, the way his muscles stretched his cotton T-shirt, showing off the hard contours of his body. He was a looker. Always had been.
    “Maybe so.” Clark examined the covers one by one. “Buck Owens. Merle Haggard. Great stuff. How did your parents become fans of country music?”
    “My dad was born in Oleander just after his parents moved here from the Philippines. He started listening to country on the radio when he was a kid working in the fields. My mom was born in the Philippines. He loved the music and she loved him, so it made sense that she’d grow to love it too.”
    “They loved the music enough to call you Melody and Harmony.”
    “Thank God we weren’t boys. What would they have named us?” She grinned to herself. “Buck and Merle. Hee and Haw.”
    Clark turned and looked at her with a crooked smile. “Twang and Yodel.”
    “Ooh, that’s good. Twang Santos, Esquire.” She took another sip and slipped off her shoes. “Dr. Yodel Santos.”
    “Paging Dr. Santos. Dr. Yodel Santos.”
    They snickered, fifteen again and goofing off in the back of geometry class. Still smiling, Clark gathered up the vinyl records and carefully returned them to the cabinet before sitting down beside her. He held his drink in his left hand and draped his right arm on the sofa behind her. She could feel his fingers stroking her hair. Intentional? Not intentional? All she knew was that his touch made her scalp tingle down to the roots.
    “You know, I really am glad we’re working together, Mel,” he said. “Having you around—it’s going to be a big help once Lucky’s on the road.”
    She grimaced, remembering the sight of her sister riding her way to glory. “Ah, God. Lucky. Why’d my sister have to choose Lucky? Have you seen that boy tie down a calf? He’s got the fastest hands in the county.”
    “I know you care about Harmony, but I wouldn’t worry about it too much. They’re both adults. Sometimes these things happen.”
    Spoken like a true player. Melody took another drink as she felt her heart hardening in her chest. For a moment, she wondered if Clark were the kind of man who could walk away from a woman the way her ex-boyfriend had walked away from her. “Sometimes these things happen,” he’d say, riding off into the sunset and leaving a trail of broken hearts in his wake.
    The image annoyed her enough to make her rude. “So that yoga goddess at the market today—was she something that happened to you?”
    Clark looked at her and raised his eyebrows. “I’m a gentleman, Mel. I don’t kiss and tell.”
    Melody blinked. “You did, didn’t you?”
    He shook his head with a smile. “You’re too much.”
    “Was she good?” Another sip. “She looked like she’d be…limber.”
    Clark took his first sip of the drink sweating in his hand. “She was,” he said quietly. “But that was the only thing she had going for her, unfortunately.”
    “I knew it!” Melody exclaimed. “What about the fisherman’s daughter? Or the lady who sells flowers? And the