Chapter 17
CHAPTER 17
Brody finished rubbing Chaos down, then gave him some oats. “You worked hard today. I appreciate it.” Giving his horse a pat, he stepped out of the stall.
He was covered in dirt, and his own sweat made him feel like he was a walking mud man, like the one he’d seen on one of the old B horror movies he’d watched as a child with his mom. He’d never thought he’d turn into one.
Striding out of the barn toward the house, he had only one thing on his mind—a nice hot shower. When he reached the front door, it opened before he touched the knob.
“Oh, Brody. I was just coming to see if you’d come in yet.” Mandy backed into the house.
He strode through the door and dropped his hat on the entry table, while she closed the door behind him. “If you need my help, you’ll have to wait until I shower. I’ve got dirt on top of caked-on mud.”
She smiled. “Good. Then go shower. We’re all going to Boots n’ Brew. Roadhouse Tricksters is playing tonight.”
“Roadhouse Tricksters?” They were the best band to step foot in Four Peaks, and only came through once a year. But he’d catch them next year. “You guys go ahead without me. I’m not in the mood.”
Mandy set her hands on her hips. “You can’t just mope around the ranch forever.”
“Actually, I can. I’m bound to the ranch, but nothing says I have to like it.” He turned on his heel and started down the hall.
“You know your brother is going to make you come.”
He waved his hand as if it didn’t matter, but if Tanner really got it in his head, they were bound to get in a fight. It never failed. Not even caring about that, he went straight to the bathroom, turned on the shower, and toed off his boots. Stripping down in record time, he stepped beneath the warm water and sighed.
Mandy might say he’d been moping, but he’d thrown his all into the work around the ranch just to pass the time. Nash had given him hope that Hannah would return, but after fourteen long days, she still wasn’t home. He’d checked just the night before last. It was making it damn hard to keep his hope alive. The last place he wanted to be was with a crush of people at Boots n’ Brew, watching as couples two-stepped around the dance floor or held each other close in a slow dance. He was tough, but not that tough.
The hot water felt good. He shampooed his hair and lathered his body. Suddenly, the water stopped. “What the heck?”
A pounding on the door had him frowning.
“Brody, time’s up. Get your ass dressed.”
“Go to hell!”
The door opened, and Brody spun around.
“Dad wants to have a private talk with Jackson, so get dressed and be in the truck in fifteen minutes.”
“I’m full of soap you asshole.”
Tanner grinned. “I’ll give you five minutes to rinse off if you promise to get dressed and come with us.”
Asshole. “The heck with that. I’ll just go in the pool and rinse off.”
“Sure. But be sure to dry off before walking through the house. Dad will have your head if you leave a trail of water.”
He gritted his teeth, more than pissed at Tanner. “Fine. But I want ten minutes to rinse off and ten minutes to dress.”
“I can live with that.” Tanner closed the door.
Brody waited for the water to turn back on, the soap starting to itch. Finally, it sprayed out, and he quickly made sure to get the soap off everywhere. After turning the water off before Tanner could, he stepped out and dried himself. He wrapped the towel around his hips, grabbed his dirty clothes and boots, and left the bathroom.
Once in his room, he threw on a pair of jeans, socks, and pulled on a blue t-shirt from a drawer. After grabbing his black hat from his closet to match his mood, he headed down the hall. He’d be damned if he was going to dress for the evening. He planned to sit at the bar with his back to the dance floor until he could make his escape. Nash would give him a ride home if necessary.
He'd just reached for the front door when his dad spoke from behind him. “Have fun.”
Unable to manage a polite response, he nodded without looking back. He stalked across the dirt yard to Tanner’s truck and opened the back door. “I can drive myself.”
“Get in.”
He hesitated for a moment, then figuring he could drink away his sorrows and not have to drive, he got in.
It didn’t take long to reach Boots n’ Brew, where the parking lot was half full already and they were early. As soon as they entered, he went straight to the bar, taking a seat with his back to the dance floor. Once he had his beer in hand, he just watched the bartender as more and more drink orders came in.
About an hour later when the band was announced, he turned around to look as the crowd erupted into applause. At least he could listen to good music. He turned back and finished off his beer.
“What are you doing here?”
At the sound of Nash’s voice, he turned around. “Tanner made me come.” He waved to the bartender to let him know another beer was needed.
“Good. It won’t kill you.”
He frowned, not liking the smirk on his friend’s face. “No, but it will strain my patience. Let me know when you leave because I’m going with you.”
“Only if I’m alone.” Nash reset his hat on his head. “I may be lucky tonight. You never know.”
“What are you going to do, take her back to your place with your aunt sleeping in the next room?”
Nash shook his head. “Of course not. Any woman who comes home with me would never pass her inspection.” He grinned. “I’ll go to the lady’s place.”
“You sound pretty confident. You have anyone in mind?”
Nash looked toward the dance floor where a line dance had started. “I do. Stacy’s cousin is in town. Met her at the grocery store yesterday. She made me promise her a slow dance.”
He forgot his own pique in light of Nash’s possible relationship. “That sounds promising. Which one is she?”
Nash pointed to a woman with long, straight black hair dancing beside Layne. “I’m not really expecting anything, but a few dances, drinks, and conversation would be a good start.”
Brody smiled for the first time in a long while. He lifted his beer. “I’ll toast to that.”
They clinked beer bottles and he swallowed, then almost started to choke as he saw Hannah at a table off the dance floor.
“Hey, Brody.” Nash pounded him on the back. “You okay.”
He coughed to get the clogged feeling in his throat to go away. “Yeah. Yeah.” Swallowing hard, he nodded in Hannah’s direction. “Hannah’s back.” He couldn’t take his eyes off her. She looked like an angel to him. Dressed in a short white skirt, pink tank, pink cowboy hat, and her auburn hair plaited in a braid down her back, she looked good enough to eat, or kiss, or lick, and everything else he wanted to do.
“What are you going to do?”
Nash’s question brought him back to reality. “Whatever I need to do. Excuse me.” He handed his empty seat to Nash and slowly made his way through the crowd on the far side of the stage from where Hannah sat. If he went to her, then Sheila and whoever else saw him would be sure to add their two cents. He wasn’t putting up with that. Hannah was far too important.
When he reached the door to backstage, he didn’t hesitate to open it and step into the small stairwell. It was only five steps up and he was in the wings. Motioning over a roadie, he explained what he wished to do. Then he waited, hoping his request would be granted.
His hands started to sweat because he didn’t have any back-up ideas. Even as he ran scenarios in his head, they all failed miserably. This one could fail too, and if it did, he’d just have to keep trying. With that determination in place, he steeled himself as the roadie came back to him.
“They’re cool with it, cowboy. Good luck.” The man gave him a thumbs up as he listened to his instructions on his head set and disappeared.
Brody’s hope soared. Then he spent the next two songs the band played thinking about all the ways his actions could go terribly wrong. But then the band announced their first break of the night and walked off the other side of the stage to applause and cheers.
The roadie appeared out of nowhere. “Here’s your mic. Just turn it on here.”
He held the microphone for a moment, feeling frozen to the spot, but all he had to do was picture Hannah sitting out there, thinking he was an ass, and his feet took him across the stage. When he reached center stage, he stopped and searched for her in the crowd. He finally found her. In the bar lighting, he couldn’t see her expression, but he could see her pink hat and top, so he clicked on the mic.
“Hey, Brody. What are you doing? You can’t play.”
He had no idea who it was, but he didn’t care. He was there for only one person. “Hannah Kingsley.”
He kept his eyes on her as she chatted with Sheila.
“Hannah Kingsley!”
This time half the crowd quieted, and she finally turned toward the stage.
“Hannah, I need to say I’m sorry for being a jerk.”
“So what’s new?” He recognized the voice, but ignored an old high school friend as the room filled with low chuckles.
He didn’t care what anyone thought of him. Only what Hannah thought. “I didn’t realize how much you meant to me.”
The entire crowd quieted.
“I thought I needed to fulfill my destiny, to be something meaningful off the ranch to make my mother proud. I knew in my gut that I would make a great wildlife manager. So much so that I had blinders on. My mind was set on a goal with no deviation.”
He took a breath, ignoring the fact that there wasn’t even the clink of glasses being washed behind the bar. “But then you came into my life, or rather, I came into yours. You look at everything I find tedious as an adventure. You never cease to amaze me with how quickly you embrace the unknown to make it known. That’s what you did with me.”
He shrugged his shoulders. “You came to know me better than I knew myself. And when I continued down the wrong path, you called me on it. But I had those blinders on. Like a horse, only worse. I couldn’t see what was right in front of me, either. You.”
He took a breath to gather his courage. “It wasn’t until you left and I couldn’t understand why I felt like a javelina caught in a horse stall that I finally understood nothing was right and everything was wrong without you. Even the pursuit of my career was wrong. If you want, I’ll give it up and stay on the ranch for you. You mean that much to me.”
There were a few gasps in the crowd, which he ignored to focus on making her understand. “Hannah, I love you. Nothing can ever be right in my life without you. Please say you’ll forgive me. I was a jerk, and as much as I try not to be, it happens sometimes. Please say that I haven’t ruined the best thing I ever had in my life. Most importantly, please say you’ll consider, maybe down the road when I prove myself and you can forgive me, that you’ll be my wife.” His heart pounded in his chest as he waited for a reaction.
She hadn’t moved an inch, and he wished he could see her expression. What he could see is that everyone had turned to face her. Then, as if on cue, a stagehand turned one of the lights on and moved the beam to Hannah. It was an orange light, which put her in a pretty glow, and most importantly, he could see her face. Unfortunately, she looked stunned.
Was he too late? Had he killed her feelings for him? Was she completely embarrassed now? His chest tightened at his thoughts, making it difficult to breathe.
Sheila nudged Hannah with her elbow.
As the woman he loved walked forward with no expression on her face at all, his heart seemed to slow until he forced in a deep breath to keep it going.
When Hannah reached the stage, she lifted her hand for the mic.
Begrudgingly, he crouched down and gave it to her, wanting to know and yet not wanting to know what she would say.
Her brown gaze didn’t leave his face as she lifted the mic to hold it before her mouth. “Brody, I understand your frustration. However, I will never understand why you wish to leave everything you have, everything I didn’t have until now. Can you honestly tell me you can be happy on the ranch?”
He nodded emphatically. He could be happy anywhere as long as she was with him.
She opened her arm toward the room before turning back to him. “And can you be happy with your neighbors and friends you’ve lived with your entire life?”
He looked out at the crowd, for the first time seeing their faces in the orange light. They were all grinning at him. They seemed happy for him, even though for years he told everyone who would listen that he couldn’t wait to leave. He was an idiot. He really hadn’t understood how lucky he was to be part of a community. He turned back to Hannah and nodded.
Then she smiled widely, crinkling the corner of her eyes. “Then yes, I’ll marry you in a bit when I forgive you, even though you’re an ass sometimes.”
His heart filled with love as relief powered through him and he knelt before her.
The crowd erupted into cheers, but he only had eyes for Hannah, even if she seemed a bit blurry. Cupping her face, he gave her the gentlest of kisses before whispering against her lips. “I love you.”
She set down the mic, before whispering in his ear. “I love you, too.”
He needed her in his arms, so he sat on the stage and threw his legs over, intending to jump down, when two people lifted him in the air before setting him next to Hannah.
He grabbed her to him as everyone converged upon them, not letting go of her for even a second. And there they stood for the rest of the band’s intermission, accepting well-wishes from everyone there, or almost everyone. He did notice the Hayden brothers didn’t come up, but he was fine with that.
As the band came back on stage, he was finally able to pull Hannah to the side as the dancers flooded the floor. “Did you want to dance?”
She shook her head and gave him a secretive smile. “No. I missed you. I want to ride.”
His body reacted immediately, but he held it in check. “As long as I can make love to you, I don’t care how we do it.”
Looping her arms around his neck, she bumped her hat against his. “And I want to wake up next to you tomorrow morning and every day after that.”
He didn’t know if he deserved her, but he’d damn well work to prove he did for the rest of his life. “If that’s what you want, then that’s what we’ll do.”
Her eyes rounded as her brows raised. “Even in my tiny casita?”
“Even in your tiny casita…until I can get an addition built.”
Her face turned serious. “What about your dad wanting my land?”
Now that he planned to marry her, he found the idea of letting his father buy the land not so much to his liking. “I’m sure we can come to an agreement of some kind. I’ll talk to Tanner. I see no reason why you should sell.”
“Oh, Brody.” Her lips came up to meet his and he kissed her back, slipping his tongue between her lips to taste her sweetness.
“Hey, get a room.”
At Tanner’s comment, Brody broke a kiss that promised a lot more. “You should talk.”
His brother pulled his wife closer at the waist. “I am. I heard my name.”
As Hannah cuddled against his side, she nodded. “Yes, we were just discussing how to make your dad happy that we aren’t selling my land.”
“Ah. I’m sure we can come up with something. Let me think.”
When Mandy started adding her ideas, he knew his hope to take Hannah back to her casita would be a long time coming, but since he’d promised to wake up next to her tomorrow morning and every day after that, he found some patience. This was important, as it would affect their future together.
Their future. He gave her a small squeeze, still stunned she would be his forever, something that had scared him with other women. His mother had always said he was like her, and he’d know his soulmate when he found her. Now he truly understood what she meant.
Hannah looked up at him. “What do you think about that idea?”
“I will go with whatever you decide. It’s your land.”
She shook her head. “No, it’s ours.”
He knew he’d catch crap for it, but he couldn’t resist. He titled her chin up and kissed her with all the love flowing through him.
Mandy laughed. “Come on, Tanner. I think they can take it from here.”
And that’s exactly what he would do, take Hannah from the bar so he could show her fully how he felt. Scooping her into his arms, he headed for the exit, surprised as everyone parted to allow him easy access.
“Make her proud, Brody.” Sheila yelled, as they passed by her table.
Hannah giggled. “Oh, I’m already proud.”
Humbled by her faith in him, he quickly got her outside and to her Jeep. Setting her down, he had to give her one more kiss. “Would you like to drive?”
She shook her head and handed him the keys. “No, I told you. I want to ride.”
This time a completely different part of his anatomy reacted and he held his hand out for the keys. “Then ride you will.”