Three Times The Knockin' Boots: A Why Choose Romance (Dirty Coyote Series Book 6)

Arlo 4

When Dion had first proposed the idea that we might all share the same woman, I thought he couldn’t come up with a dumber idea. I didn’t want any part of it. For one thing, my ego didn’t want to share a woman with anyone, much less these two fuckheads. Sure, we were best friends. And yeah, we did everything together, but adding a woman on top of all that togetherness seemed, well, stupid. Like we’d be in competition or something. Sex with a woman shouldn’t be a competition. It should be a private matter between one of us and a woman. She wasn’t a pizza that we all shared, especially since we all liked different toppings.

We all had different preferences. It wasn’t a bad thing to admit that you were naturally attracted to a woman with blond hair instead of brown. Or that you enjoyed a round ass on a woman instead of something… well… not round. It was natural male attraction. Nothing against women in general. I just had my preferences, so I didn’t see how this idea could ever work.

That was before I met Mindy. Everything changed once I met her. My mindset completely changed. As soon as I saw her, I thought we didn’t stand a chance. The woman was all about her own decisions… making her own way… standing on her own two feet. She needed a man like she needed a third boot. And three men… never going to happen.

“Do you seriously think we stand a chance?” I asked Dion as we waited inside Dirty Coyote for our first group dance lesson. It was still a private lesson, but just for the three of us.

Ever since I spotted her at the funeral, I knew I wanted her and not just for sex. I wanted to get to know her, to talk to her, to laugh with her, to share something meaningful with her, and I hadn’t felt that way in more than five years. Ever since I was married and divorced in one year, my emotions seemed a bit more guarded… all right, a lot more guarded. More like behind a fire wall guarded. That whole experience put the fear of God in me, and up until Mindy walked past all those tombstones and headed our way, wearing a yellow sundress, her hair pulled up with a ribbon and those black ankle cowgirl boots, I didn’t think my heart would ever squeeze again, but it had… big time.

“I can’t answer that, but if there was ever a woman who might be open to the idea, I think Mindy would be,” he said, sounding more skeptical now that we’d all met her.

“I don’t know, man. She’s just a little thing. How the hell is she going to handle all three of us?” Jackson asked. “And at one time? Seems unreasonable.”

He had a point. Jackson could squash her like a bug if he weren’t careful, and from what I’d heard of his nights of sex while we were on the road, he wasn’t always the gentle giant he should be.

“Look, right now, we’re here for a dance lesson,” I reminded them. “Let’s take this one step… so to speak… at a time.”

I didn’t even know what that kind of relationship would look like. Three guys and one woman on a bed. How the hell did that even work… if it, in fact, did work? My brain couldn’t see it. I’d seen porn with two guys on one woman, but three? I’d have to look for that one.

Not that I even liked porn. Yeah, it had its purpose, but for me, it was mostly a turn off rather than a turn on.

“Arlo’s right,” Dion said. “We need to slow down. Right now, all we need to do is learn how to dance, and that’s challenging enough.”

“I thought you said Mindy already had you dancing?” Jackson asked.

“She did, but maybe it was a fluke,” Dion told him. “Maybe I won’t be able to do it again. Could happen.”

“Well, we’re going to find out soon enough. Here she comes,” I told them as I watched her walk towards us, grinning. Damn, she lit up a room. That smile, those eyes, and that walk, pure torture.

Ever since the funeral yesterday, she’d been on my mind like a sweet perfume I couldn’t wash off. Something about her. Something different from all the other women I’d met. I couldn’t figure it out, but it was there. As I watched her come closer, hips swaying, breasts gently bouncing under a black shirt, my entire body reacted to her, like I couldn’t ever get enough of her.

Damn, the attraction stirred me up like a brand-new song I couldn’t stop humming.

“Are you boys ready for a little Tush Push or Electric Slide, or a simple Cowboy Cha Cha? Should we start hard or easy?” she asked as her voice echoed through the empty dance hall. Empty except for the employees who were setting up for the night. I hadn’t met all of them yet, but of the folks I’d already met, I felt right at home.

“Do you really want an answer to that question?” Jackson asked, wearing a big ol’ grin. His mind usually revolved around sex, and any sort of inuendo, like the word hard, was his trigger.

She stuck a hand on her hip. “Are we seriously going there this afternoon, or are we here to dance?”

I liked her spunk. She wasn’t about to take any shit.

“Don’t mind Jackson. He operates from a lower plane. He’s harmless,” Dion told her. “We’re here to learn how to dance. That wedding’s coming up sooner than we’d like, and these two cowboys still don’t know the first thing about any of those dances. How ‘bout we start with easy and see where it goes.”

“Good choice,” she said. “Let’s save the hard for another time.” Her gaze went right to Jackson, and I could tell this woman wasn’t the type to back down, exactly the kind of woman Jackson needed but usually avoided. He liked women who came onto him, and I had a feeling this woman wasn’t about to come onto to him anytime soon.

“I like you already,” he told her, trying to recover his fast-fading charm.

“Was there ever any doubt?” she asked, stepping in closer to him.

“If there was, it was short lived,” he told her, wearing a smirk that told me he wasn’t only interested in her, he was already imagining them together.

Somehow, I didn’t think she had the same vision.

“Okay, then,” Dion said, trying his best to break up wherever this thing between Jackson and Mindy might be headed.

Jackson wasn’t difficult to figure out. He operated on lust and sexual satisfaction. Even the songs he wrote were on that level. Once he discovered sex with a woman, he couldn’t think of anything else. Okay, music. When we were performing, recording, or creating, he always gave it one hundred percent, but on his downtime… if he wasn’t jacking off somewhere, he was with a woman, getting his rocks off.

Jackson was the kind of guy who if he caught even a spark between himself and a woman, he acted on it quicker than a frog could snatch a fly out of the air. I hadn’t seen a spark… yet. But when and if he did, Mindy didn’t stand a chance. The man knew exactly how to charm a woman. Although, from what I was seeing with this woman, Jackson might be in a world of trouble. She looked as though things moved on her terms and not on the guy’s, which would be a change for Jackson. Might do him some good to run up against some resistance. Might learn something from the encounter.

“Let’s start with a simple line dance,” Mindy said. “That way, you boys don’t need a partner. All you have to do is follow me. I’m providing the music this time, so there won’t be anything playing other than some country classics.”

She went over and plugged her phone into one of the smaller speakers near the bar, and within moments, Miranda Lambert’s Strange filled the room. “This is the dance you boys are gonna learn today. It’s called Cowboy Hustle. Easy line dance that I promise you’ll be able to do by the time this lesson is over.”

Then she danced and watching her feet made me woozy. I didn’t think there was anyway on God’s green earth I could do any of that, let alone Dion or Jackson. This woman was dreaming if she thought we could learn all those moves today.

Still, I liked watching her. She made it look so easy, even though I knew it was one of the hardest things ever… especially when I had two left feet.

About halfway through the song, she clicked it off and said, “Okay, y’all ready?”

“Sure,” Dion said, but I saw the nerves popping in his furrowed forehead.

“Let’s git’er done!” Jackson said, using his best country accent. None of us had any kind of Southern accent. We all grew up in the west, but we could pull on that Southern country twang whenever we wanted to. Every now and then, it popped up in one of our songs, and we never went back to fix it. Made the song more authentic to the genre, which our fans seemed to love.

“And you, Arlo? You ready?” she asked, eyes wide, grinning like this was supposed to be fun… which for me, it most certainly was not.

“Absolutely,” I told her, lying through my teeth. I had a policy for most everything I hated doing in front of folks… always show ‘em your bullshit glad side. Keep your scared-ass side to the wall, and you’ll succeed every time.

“Okay,” she began. “Stand side-by-side in a straight line with a few feet between you.”

“We can do that,” I told her with a chuckle.

“Good, just keep that attitude,” she shot back, grinning.

She looked sexy as hell, in her tight jeans, western deep-blue shirt that showed off just enough of her soft breasts to stir things up, and a sweet light-tan cowgirl hat, low on her forehead. High-heeled cowgirl boots that clacked on the wooden floor every time she stepped out. And that dark, long hair… like silk draped over her shoulders and down her back.

I didn’t think she could tempt me any more than she already was if she purposely tried.

Yeah, one hundred percent my kind of woman.

She turned on her heel, with her back to us. I did my best to look at her feet, but it was damn tough to do. Especially with that fine ass of hers.

“Stand with your feet together,” she told us, and we each did exactly that. We all wore cowboy boots, jeans, and dark-colored T-shirts. Nothing fancy and certainly not stage worthy. I was glad this was a private lesson. Having to be “on” all the time got difficult. We’d been on tour for the last eighteen months. It felt good not to have to be anywhere other than a few dance lessons, a small venue concert or two, and an upcoming wedding.

Real good.

“Start with your weight on your left foot, then twist your right foot around to the side, and back two times. Out-in, out-in.”

We followed.

“Okay, cowboys, now do it again,” she ordered. “Out-in. Out-in. And one more time, so y’all have it. Out-in. Out-in.”

Once again, we followed her.

Easy.

She said, “Now, move that same foot forward and tap your heel on the floor two times, then bring that foot back, and tap your toe two times.”

Again, we were able to follow her.

“Now, once forward, tap, and back, tap, and again.”

The steps were getting more complicated, but she repeated the directions over and over again, so we were all able to follow her without any confusion.

“Okay,” she said. “Let’s take it from the top.”

And as slick as frozen snow, we all followed her without any problem. Even when the steps got a little more complicated, we were still able to follow right into the slide part of the line dance. Even Jackson was able to get it.

“What the hell?” I said, once we completed the first whole dance sequence. “That’s it? That’s the whole dance?”

“Pretty much,” she said, smiling at our success. “Now, you boys just need a little rhythm, and you’ll have mastered your first lesson.”

“Just like that?” Jackson asked, looking pleased with his big, brawny self.

“Just like that,” she said, with a little giggle.

“I told you guys; this woman is magic!” Dion said.

“She sure is,” Jackson agreed, tossing her one of his more charming looks that usually got a physical response from a woman… just not this woman. It washed right over her like a pitiful wave that hit the shore. No impact whatsoever.

“Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves,” she said. “We haven’t done it to music yet.”

“What are you waiting for?” Dion asked, touching her arm, like they had something going on. I knew they already had sex. Dion told us that much but didn’t go any further. A lot was going on with those two, even though Dion didn’t want to admit it.

“Nothing,” she told him, gazing into his eyes a little too long. “Let’s do this.”

She walked over to her phone, and Miranda Lambert’s strong voice once again filled the dance hall.

“Here we go,” Mindy said, and suddenly, we were all trying this thing.

I stumbled along, and so did Jackson. Dion got it right off and could follow her.

“Fuck,” Jackson said a couple of times when he tripped over his feet as Mindy gave us the count.

“Don’t stop,” she demanded. “Just keep going. That’s the secret. Never give up… just keep dancing no matter how clumsy or awkward you feel. If you give up now, you’ll never conquer this thing. You have to keep going, even if you fall. You get up and keep moving. Focus. Out-in. Out-in. Forward. Tap-tap. Back. Tap-tap. Forward, back, forward, back. Heel. Toe…. Keep going.”

And suddenly, the song was over, and it started all over again. This time, we danced all through it, clapping our hands, and even feeling the beat as we moved our feet in unison.

I said, “I don’t know how the fuck this is happening, but I’m line dancing… we’re all dancing. How the hell?”

“Like I said,” Dion began. “She’s magic!”

Then he picked her up and twirled her around before he put her down again. We all let out a few whoops and ye-haws for effect, as we kept dancing around her.

And when Dion kissed her, right there in front of us, all I could think of was how I wanted those full lips of hers on mine. Curious thing… I didn’t feel any jealousy, just envy. Which caused me to think that sharing Mindy, if Mindy would even consider the possibility, might actually work out for us.

When they pulled apart, I caught the wicked smile that stretched her lips. It sent a hot rush right to my cock.

Fuck, I had it bad for this woman.

ONCE OUR LESSON was over, Jackson and Dion headed home, while Mindy stayed to give her first lesson at Dirty Coyote for whoever had signed up for it. According to Mindy, she had to cap it off at twenty people. Tammy and Jimmy had talked her up so much, they had to turn away another ten people for lessons.

I hung around and watched the folks learn how to line dance. Some of them were worse than we’d been, but Mindy somehow managed to keep everyone dancing.

After a while, I thought about going home. I was dog tired. Finding a house to buy was a lot of work. More than I thought it would be. We found a place that would meet most of our needs, and Jackson was anxious to get in the offer and sign all the paperwork, so we could move in ASAP. All three of us wanted the exact same thing. We were looking for a short escrow, like fifteen days. We wanted to be moved in way before the wedding. This place had a guest house that hadn’t quite gotten finished and could easily be converted into a music studio. Hell, the place even came with some livestock, horses mostly, and a crew of folks to take care of those beauties, and ten acres that surrounded the perfect house. Five bedrooms and an office. Plus, the price was way within our budget.

Things were looking up. This plan we had going seemed to be coming together. The only thing we were lacking was the woman… this particular woman.

I hung out at the bar for most of her class, talking with Tammy, mostly, then joined in for the last half of the class when two of Mindy’s students had to jump on out. By the time this second lesson was over, and the dance hall was in full swing, I had that damn Cowboy Hustle dance down cold. The sense of accomplishment it gave me was so fucking great, I felt like I’d just come off a sold-out concert. I always got hyped from those, and this feeling was exactly like it.

“What the fuck?” I mumbled to myself as I headed back to grab another seat at the bar before it got too crowded.

“Pardon me?” Mindy asked as she came up next to me.

“Oh, sorry, I was… well… I’m flying on this whole experience tonight. Never thought I could do this… dance like this. I just never seriously tried before. Dancing, any kind of dancing, never seemed important to me. Making music is my jam. Don’t have the mental bandwidth for much of anything else, or at least I thought I didn’t.”

“I get it. Dancing is my total jam, and seeing people enjoy it gives me such a buzz.” Then she took a step closer to me. “You never had the right teacher before. I’m magic… didn’t Dion tell you?”

Then she wrapped her index finger around mine, and I swear that little touch radiated an entire fire that swept through me like a scorched earth kind of thing. “Why Mindy Miller, are you coming on to me? What would Dion say?”

“I don’t think he’d mind at all,” she said, with that wicked little smile I’d caught earlier. And of course, that got the blood rushing to places it shouldn’t.

“So, you are coming on to me, then?” After I asked it, I felt like a fool, but I didn’t want to overstep with this woman. I liked her in our corner. I didn’t want to push her away by being too aggressive.

She took another step even closer. So close I could lean down and kiss her sweet lips, so I did just that. When her tongue swept over mine, I knew it was all over.