Chapter 24
Ty had not been on a Valentine’s date in a very long time. Three years. No, four. Four long years, and every step he took down this road with Winnie felt like he was trying to run when he should be crawling.
He’d managed to get himself dressed as if going to church. Fine, a really fancy church sermon. A wedding.
“Yeah, your own.” He half-scoffed and half-chuckled as he made the turn onto Winnie’s street. His gaze zoomed in on her house, and everything looked peaceful and normal on this golden-bathed-in-sunset-glow evening.
If only he felt peaceful and normal on the inside. He pulled into her driveway and killed the engine. After reaching for the roses he’d bought after breakfast with his parents that morning, Ty dropped to the ground and started up the sidewalk to the front door.
“Howdy, ma’am,” he called to Valerie Thompson, and the woman waved to him tonight, a smile appearing on her face.
Ty moved in a slow, steady way up the steps to the porch, and he knocked on the door before falling back. One hand automatically moved to his throat, where he wore a red bow tie for the first time in his life.
Definitely something a man would wear to get married, he thought, though this one had tiny white hearts all over it. He’d bought it at the downtown mall, along with the sleek, almost shiny black jacket he wore tonight.
He dismissed his thoughts about weddings and marriage. This was Valentine’s Day, and he was going out with Winnie. That required polished boots, a new hat and jacket, the blood red roses in his hands, and yes, that bow tie sitting neatly at his throat.
He dropped his hand just as the door opened, and Ty’s smile started to spread across his face before he even saw his girlfriend. Just the idea of her had him grinning like a lovesick schoolboy.
His heartbeat struck against his ribs like a rattler attacking, and every coherent thought Ty had ever possessed flew right out of his head.
Winnie stood there in a jumpsuit that defied every law of physics and good sense. The fabric shone a deep, rich purple, and it clung to her curves in ways that made Ty’s mouth go dry.
One shoulder remained completely bare, the fabric draping elegantly across her collarbone and down her other arm in a way that was both modest and devastatingly sexy. Her hair fell in loose waves around her shoulders, and her lips were painted the same shade of red as his bow tie.
“Hey, Ty,” she whispered, her eyes traveling down to his boots and back to his eyes.
Ty couldn’t speak. He could only stare at the expanse of bare shoulder, the graceful curve of her neck, the way the purple fabric made her hazel eyes look more green than brown.
“Ty?” Winnie’s smile faltered and fell off her face. “Are you okay?” She nodded to the roses. “Are those for me?”
He stepped forward, crushing the flowers between them as he cupped her face in his free hand and kissed her. Not the sweet, hopeful, blazing kisses they’d shared before, but something deeper. Something that tasted like need and want and…mine.
Winnie was his, and he was hers, and that thought burned through Ty’s mind, heart, and soul as strongly as anything else ever had.
Winnie gasped against his mouth but didn’t pull away. Instead, her hands fisted in his suit jacket, pulling him closer as she kissed him back with equal fervor.
When Ty finally pulled away, it was because of the ache in his left knee and not because he wanted to stop kissing Winnie.
“You’re beautiful,” he said, his voice rough and yet tender at the same time.
“I mean, you’re always beautiful, but tonight you’re—” He shook his head, unable to find adequate words.
He did find the wherewithal to back up a step and get his weight settled in a better way.
Winnie’s smile radiated pure sunshine. “You’re not so bad yourself, cowboy.” She touched the red bow tie. “I like this bow tie. Very festive.”
“You said red was your favorite color.”
“It is.” Her eyes sparkled with this sense of knowing. “And you wore it for me?”
“I’d wear any color under the sun if it made you smile like that.”
Giggling, she took the roses from him and lifted them to her nose. “These are gorgeous.” She looked up at him again, a pure playful, desirous edge in her eyes. “Let me put them in water, and then we can go.”
Ty followed her inside, unable to stop watching the way she moved. When she reached up to get a vase from a high cabinet in the kitchen, that bare shoulder flexed, and Ty found himself moving closer without conscious thought.
“Here,” he murmured, reaching past her to collect the vase. But instead of handing it to her, he set it on the counter and turned back to face her. His hand came up to trace the line of her collarbone, and she shivered under his touch.
“I need to know something,” he said quietly, pressing her back into the counter beside the refrigerator.
“What’s that?” She didn’t look away as her gray-and-white cat came meowing into the kitchen.
Ty likewise ignored the feline as he leaned down and pressed his lips to her bare shoulder—just once, soft and reverent. Then he raised his head to look at her, his fingertips tracing down the slender column of her neck until his hand fell away and he tucked it into his pocket.
“Why don’t you wear dresses?” he whispered.
Winnie’s expression shifted, something vulnerable flashing in her eyes. But she didn’t push him back, and she didn’t sigh, and she didn’t look away either.
She took a breath, swallowed, and then all of her anxiety dissolved into a softness that Ty really liked.
“Carver told me once that he preferred me in a dress. So I wore one every time we went out after that. Every single date, every church service, every family dinner. I wore what he wanted me to wear.”
Ty’s jaw tightened, and he felt something spark down in his ribs.
“After he broke up with me and left town,” Winnie said, her voice steady despite the pain flowing through it. “I burned them in my backyard, my wedding dress included.” She laughed, but it came out hollow and made Rocky yowl again. “I haven’t worn a dress since.”
She reached up and wiped the corner of her eye. “I know it’s stupid, and I shouldn’t let him have that power over me, but it’s actually how I’ve taken back some of the power I gave him.”
“Good for you, Win,” Ty said fiercely. “Because this?” He indicated her jumpsuit, and brushed his fingertips along the hem of the single sleeve. “This is perfect. You’re perfect, and I don’t want you to be anyone—or wear anything—but exactly what you want.”
Winnie’s eyes stayed bright with her unshed tears. “Thank you, Ty.”
“I mean it, sweetheart. Dresses, jumpsuits, those bright purple scrubs with trains—I don’t care. As long as you’re happy, I’m happy.”
She rose on her toes and kissed him again, this one softer but no less meaningful. When she pulled back, she whispered, “But you did say tonight was more formal, right?”
Ty’s mind had gone a little mushy, but he opened his eyes and came back to reality. “Yeah, I did say that.”
“So the scrubs with trains wouldn’t have worked.”
“But you could’ve worn them,” he said.
Winnie gave him that playful, I-want-to-kiss-you look again and gently pressed against his chest. “Let me put the roses in water, and you better behave yourself.”
Ty couldn’t quite make himself remove his hand from her waist as she fiddled with the blooms. She didn’t swat him back, and in fact, her smile stayed etched right there on her face.
Rocky meowed again, and Ty leaned in close. “Does he need to be fed?”
“No, he’s just begging, and he knows you’ll cave.” She gave him a pointed look and stepped back. “How cold is it outside? Do I need a jacket?”
Ty’s eyes swept her bare skin all the way from wrist to earlobe. “I absolutely forbid you from wearing a jacket.” He took her hand. “I’ll blow the heater in the truck.”
She grinned at him. “You’ll keep me warm is what I’m hearing.”
Heat flamed through Ty right now. “That’s right, sweetheart. I’ll keep you warm.” He took her hand and led her out to the truck. Once he got behind the wheel and got the engine growling and the heater going, he met Winnie’s eye.
She watched him with obvious curiosity. “So where are we going? You’ve been very mysterious about tonight.”
“I told you to dress nicely.” Ty grinned as he backed out onto the street. “Link and Mitch told me about this place. Apparently, it’s where all the Glovers go when they want to impress someone.”
“The Glovers have a secret romantic restaurant?” Her eyes widened. “Is it on their ranch?
Ty laughed and shook his head. “No, it’s not theirs. It’s just this place they know.” He aimed them north and west, like they’d go to Amarillo.
As he drove toward the setting sun, the landscape opened up into rolling hills dotted with cattle and the occasional farmhouse.
After only about ten minutes, Ty turned left down a long, tree-lined drive that opened up to reveal a stunning stone building that looked like it had been transplanted from Tuscany.
Relief painted through him, because he hadn’t had time to come scope this place out himself. They were only open on weekends, and Ty hadn’t been in town long enough—with the need to take someone on a very romantic, very expensive date—to know about it.
He honestly wasn’t sure he was fancy enough to dine at a place like this. How many forks would there be? Ty’s mind whirred as he tried to remember his teenage etiquette lessons, which his momma and daddy had insisted he take since he’d have to go to banquets and galas as a rodeo star.
“Wow,” Winnie breathed out as she leaned forward and looked up and out the windshield. “What is this place?”
“Bellissima,” Ty said, proud that he’d managed to pronounce it correctly after practicing with Link. “It means ‘most beautiful’ in Italian.”
The honey-colored stone stood two stories tall, with arched windows and wrought-iron balconies. Soft golden light spilled from inside, a fountain bubbled in the courtyard, and the whole place had an air of quiet elegance that made Ty glad he’d dressed as well as he had.
He pulled through the circle drive as Winnie stared up at the building with wonder. “Ty, this is incredible.”
“I hope the food is as good,” he said as someone opened his door.
A valet grinned at him, and Ty nodded at the man. He’d ridden in limousines, with drivers, and the pop of photography in his eyes when he’d won the National Championship in Las Vegas.
He knew how to shutter everything away behind a mask of nonchalance, but he could scarcely believe a place like this existed in Three Rivers, Texas.
He moved around the truck and helped Winnie down, tucking her arm in the crook of his elbow as he noted the overhead heaters warding off any chill in the covered drop-off zone.
A man opened the doors for them as they approached, and Winnie looked at him while he looked at her. He grinned, nodded to the man, and then entered Bellissima through carved wooden doors. As he stepped into the restaurant, it felt like he’d stepped into another country entirely.
Exposed stone and dark wood beams stretched everywhere, with an enormous fireplace crackling in the center of the room.
Fresh flowers overflowed from vases on every surface, and soft Italian music played from hidden speakers.
The maitre d’—a man in an actual tuxedo—greeted them with a wide, warm smile.
“Mister Greene, welcome to Bellissima.” He nodded to Winnie, his voice filled with radiance. “Ma’am. Your table is ready.”
He led them through the main dining room and out onto a covered terrace that overlooked the Texas hills. Even Ty wanted to take a moment to soak it all in—the beauty of the earth, the way it rolled and rose, the evergreen trees, and those that were still bare of leaves but absolutely stunning.
Heaters kept the February chill at bay, and their table sat in a private corner with a view of the sunset painting the sky in shades of pink, violet, and gold.
“This is perfect,” Winnie said after she’d sat down, they had their menus, and they’d been told their waitress—a woman named Liv—would be with them in a moment.
“Ty—”
“Welcome,” a woman said, and Ty looked up at Liv. It really had only been a moment. She came with a man holding a wine bottle and glasses, both of them exuding Southern charm.
“Happy Valentine’s Day,” she said, glancing from him to Winnie. “Are you two celebrating anything special?”
Ty looked at Winnie too, his mind once again a blank slate. But Winnie raised her chin, grinned with all she had, and nodded.
“Yes, ma’am,” she said, and Ty thought she sounded a little more Texan in that moment. A smile curved his lips as he watched a hint of pinkness come into her cheeks.
Winnie reached across the table, and Ty met her halfway, feeling the tension in her touch as she squeezed his hand. “We’re celebrating the fact that I didn’t marry the wrong man a year ago.”
“Oh, uh.” Liv glanced at Ty, who ducked his head and started to chuckle. Winnie was such an incredible woman, and he realized in that moment that he’d have to continue to work to be the man she deserved.
And he’d never wanted to work so hard for something in his life than to be the man on Winnie’s arm.
“It’s okay,” Winnie said. “I mean, for a long time, I wasn’t sure it would be okay, but it is.
” She smiled over to Ty. “And now I’m on a date with someone who treats me like a queen, and wears a red bow tie for me when he never wears anything but black, and has found this gem out in the country to make the whole month of February something brand new for me. ”
Liv smiled too, and the man said, “We’re very happy for you.”
“Thank you,” Winnie said, and she released Ty’s hand with a small nod.
He looked up at the waitstaff. “I’m sure you have wines that will pair amazingly well with the food, but neither of us drink. What have you got in terms of mocktails?” He nodded over to Winnie. “That one likes something fruity and fun, and I want something sour.”
He looked up at Liv, who beamed down at him, nodded to her second, and said, “Yeah, that about tracks.”
Winnie burst out laughing, and even Ty joined in, because tonight was Valentine’s Day, he’d worn a red bow tie, and Winnie had said so many things, done so many things, and wore so many things that had him spiraling into a freefall.
If he wasn’t careful, he was going to be in love with her before he dropped her off tonight… and right now, Ty was okay with that.