Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
Lauren
As “Sold (The Grundy County Auction Incident)” plays for the third time on our five-hour drive, I groan. “Do we have to listen to John Michael Montgomery the whole way?”
“What do you have against John Michael Montgomery?” Jax frowns from the driver’s seat.
“Nothing. It’s just that I don’t feel the need to listen to him for hours on end, and I definitely don’t need to listen to the same song three times.”
“But we already established I get to be the—”
“I know. I know. It’s your truck, you’re driving, and if I want us to get there in one piece then you should get a say in what we’re playing.” I roll my eyes. “That’s a really stupid rule by the way. I’m driving myself next time.”
“Here, I’ll skip the song if it bothers you that much.” He presses a button on the dash, and “I Can Love You Like That” drifts from the stereo.
He turns to me with a goofy grin on his face. “This is a good one. Let’s listen and then we can play whatever you want.”
When we pull up to a red light, the song escalates, and Jax meets my gaze, singing along as John Michael Montgomery croons about how he can love his woman exactly like they did in all the romantic movies and fairytales she grew up loving.
I shake my head at him, laughing while he belts out the chorus, but my stomach is doing a thousand cartwheels right now. It feels like Jax is singing this song directly to me, and it makes me feel giddy but sweaty.
The song winds down, and I quickly try to brush the feeling away. “Can I play Christmas music now?”
Jax throws his head back. “Do we have to?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize I agreed to road trip with the Grinch.”
“I’m not the Grinch.”
“Then why can’t we listen to Christmas music?”
“Because I don’t feel like it.”
“Oh, I see. You don’t feel like it because you’re a Grinch.” I cross my arms, trying to hide the smile that’s creeping onto my face.
“Why are you so insistent on playing Christmas music?”
“Because I love Christmas. Thanksgiving is over. I waited the appropriate amount of time to listen to it around other people.”
He turns to me as we pull up to yet another red light. “What do you mean around other people? Do you listen to Christmas music before Thanksgiving?”
“Only when I watch Christmas movies.”
“I’m guessing that means you watch Christmas movies before Thanksgiving?”
“Of course.” I shrug, shifting in my seat. “I watch them all year around. There’s no sense in restricting the times I get to watch a good movie.”
“A little heads-up next time would be nice. I wouldn’t have agreed to come if I knew I was going on a road trip with a crazy person.”
“I’m not crazy.” We pull into the parking lot, and I swivel toward him in disbelief. “Did you stall on purpose?”
“I swear I didn’t.” He parks. “Go ahead and queue up a song. We can sit here and listen to it before we go inside if it makes you happy.”
“It does.”
As the cheery song slips through the speakers, I press myself up against the window to watch the swarm of trucks and cowboys.
These are my kind of people. As much as I love Roots, not everyone there is a rancher.
Not everyone gets the hard work that goes into the day to day.
Only about one percent of the population, including both farmers and ranchers, is responsible for providing food for the rest of the United States.
That percentage has drastically decreased over the last couple of generations, and the business gets a little lonely.
It’s exciting to finally be amongst people who share common values, goals, and life experiences.
“You’ve got a little drool on your chin.” Jax smirks as he reaches over and jokingly swipes it off.
It sets flutters loose in my stomach, but I swat him away. “Stop! I’m just so excited. I can’t believe I’m here. It kind of ticks me off that I pretended to be okay with not coming to one of these sooner.”
“Well, you’re here now, so let’s make the most of it.”
We get out of the truck, grabbing our luggage from the back seat.
“I like the vibes I’m getting already,” I say with a sigh. “This is going to be a good conference. We’re going to have a good time.”
“I’m getting ditched on this trip, aren’t I?”
“You might.”
He gives me an annoyed look, but I can tell from how quickly it wears off that he knows I’m joking.
I open the door to the hotel, telling Jax, “In all honesty, you’re probably going to be the one to ditch me. Look at all these beautiful cowgirls. At least put a sock on the door or something if you’re going to bring one back.”
He stops in his tracks. “I’m not going to do that.”
“Okay, fine. We don’t have to do the sock thing, but you have to give me some sort of warning.”
I glance up at him to find a frown on his face and pain in his eyes. “I’m not going to bring some girl back to my room. I’m here for you.”
My heart sings, but I work to shut it down.
Jax is here for me but only like a brother is there for his little sister.
That’s all I am to him—someone he needs to protect.
He said as much at the bar the other night.
No matter what he makes me feel, I can’t forget the things he’s made abundantly clear.
“You don’t need to babysit me, Jax.”
Giving him a curt nod, I march up toward the desk, but he pulls me back by the elbow. “I want to be here.” He drops his hand. “Do you really think I’d come here with you just to pick up girls?”
“No, but I’m still figuring you out.”
He nods then wordlessly dashes off to check-in. When the woman asks about our reservation, I give her my last name, and she types a few things on her keyboard before pulling out an envelope with two keycards in it.
“Here you go. One king bed. You’ll be in room 518.”
“I’m sorry. I think there’s some sort of mistake. We asked for two full beds.”
She furrows her brow and returns to her computer, clacking away again. After a few moments, she shakes her head. “I have one king bed on the reservation. I can put you on a waiting list in case anyone else was switched, but the whole hotel is booked out for the conference. Sorry.”
“Is there at least a pull-out couch or something in the room?”
She shakes her head.
Jax takes the keys from her. “That’s okay. Thank you.”
I follow him in a haze, trying to figure out a way to avoid sharing a bed with my brother’s extremely hot best friend who I should not have a crush on. Just the faintest touch from him is enough to cover me in goosebumps. I can’t imagine being that close to him all night long.
As we get into the elevator, I turn to him. “I’m building a pillow fort between us.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“Nope.”
He shakes his head as he presses the button for the fifth floor. “Don’t be ridiculous. We’re both adults. We can share a bed.” He smirks. “I remember you begging me to share a room with you not that long ago.”
“Exactly. A room, not a bed. Plus, I was—”
“Drunk? That’s the only way you’ll sleep with me, huh?”
I release a puff of air as the doors open. “You’re twisting my words.”
“It’s fine. I get it. I’ll sleep on the floor.”
He dramatically thrusts his hand to his forehead, giving me his best woe-is-me look before getting off the elevator and hanging a right toward our room.
“Fine, we’ll share.” I swipe my keycard, opening the door and immediately setting my bag against the wall.
Jax’s lips quirk as he flounces onto the bed. “So, what do you want to do the rest of the night?”
“We definitely need to get some food. I’m starving.”
“Okay, and then what?”
I shrug. “I guess we see where the night takes us.”