For a Few Lattes More [a short story]

Terri grew up watching spaghetti Westerns on TV. She never expected to meet a real cowboy, especially not one who parks his horse in front of the Starbucks where grad-student Terri works nights.

Talk about your disappointment! Movie cowboys were the epitome of cool. They saved the town, rescued the girl, and rode off into the sunset. This real life cowpoke can't even get his coffee order right. Plus, he's a little too interested in the poster of a girl who went missing from the college campus next to Terri's Starbucks.

Not every cowboy's a hero, and not every bad guy wears a black hat. Most importantly, not every modern-day damsel needs rescuing.

Or do they?

Annie Reed is a prolific short story writer whose fiction has been published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine as well as in numerous anthologies from Daw and Pocket Books.