Chapter 39
CHAPTER 39
OLIVIA
“ I have a surprise for you,” Charlie said as he climbed in the driver’s side of his truck.
I studied his shadowed profile. He buckled up, the muted orange and blue lights glowing from the dash just enough to let me know he was trying to fight a grin. My head tilted as I snapped my own seatbelt into place—before he tried to do it for me.
While I could get onboard with making some concessions to him, I didn’t need help with such a simple task. He flicked a glance at me, registering that my belt was clicked into place and sighing softly.
“Oh?” I lifted my eyebrows at him. “Here I thought the fancy steakhouse had been the surprise.”
A smirk curved those full lips, but then, without saying a word, he reached over to grip my seatback and backed out of his parking space. My shoulder tingled with the proximity of his hand to my skin, but he didn’t touch me.
Not even an accidental graze.
“The steakhouse was only the first surprise,” he said. “This one is going to be even better.”
“Better?” I echoed, not ashamed of the faint ring of incredulity in my tone. “The wine was fantastic, the steak melted like butter in my mouth, and you weren’t bad company either. What could be better than that?”
“Not bad?” He scoffed, glancing at me only to give an exaggerated roll of his eyes. Then he punched the truck into gear and drove out of the parking lot. “I’m not sure if that’s a challenge to try harder or an insult.”
“Does it have to be one or the other?”
“Yes.”
“Then take it as a challenge,” I suggested playfully. I leaned back in my seat, struggling to wrap my head around how generous he had been back at the restaurant.
Tipping every member of staff must’ve cost him a sizeable chunk of money, but he’d shrugged it off as if he really hadn’t even wanted me to know about it. Which meant he hadn’t done it to earn any points with me or simply in an attempt to impress a date.
He’d done it out of the goodness of his heart, and that was much more attractive to me than anything else. As he drove us through Houston at night, I didn’t ask where he was taking me. I had a feeling he wouldn’t have told me anyway, but I also kind of just trusted him to take me wherever he wanted.
The steakhouse had been amazing, and I’d thought he was going to take me home after. I’d thought we might…
My eyes widened as I glanced back at him. “The surprise isn’t your bed or your dic?—”
“No,” he cut me off, laughing. He shot me a puzzled look. “Jeez, Liv. Who hurt you? Why would you even ask me that?”
I chuckled, but I had to admit that a sliver of relief slid through me that he wasn’t quite so much of a cliché. “No one hurt me. Well, actually, that’s not entirely true. Todd led me to believe for an entire day once that he had the most romantic surprise waiting for me at home. I kind of thought he might propose. Instead, he was waiting naked on my couch.”
Charlie flinched. “Fucker. If I ever meet him, I’m going to?—”
“You’re going to nothing ,” I finished for him, even as my lower belly clenched with desire at the outright display of those protective urges of his. “It was a long time ago and it was my fault that I was expecting an engagement ring instead of a cock ring.”
“A…” He trailed off, snorting as if he couldn’t even bring himself to say it. I saw him tighten his fingers around the steering wheel before he shook his head. “What an asshole.”
“Agreed,” I said happily, back to trusting Charlie to take me wherever now that we’d sorted that out.
It turned out that where we were going wasn’t close to the steakhouse at all, and for the first time, I got to see some parts of Houston. Honestly, I hadn’t realized it was such a big city, with lights, and people, and lots of things New York had—just a lot less people and noise.
Despite the fact that I was confident I’d never driven on most of the streets we were taking tonight, I felt oddly at home. I was kind of loving it here, like the Texan part of my blood, my father’s DNA, was singing in my veins, ecstatic to be home.
I smiled into the darkness, suddenly feeling compelled to make sure Charlie knew I had only been joking before. “This has been an incredible evening so far, Cowboy. You’ve been great company. Thank you.”
Reaching a hand across the center console seemingly without hesitation, he wrapped his fingers around my thigh and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I know, City. It really is about to get better, though.”
As if he’d timed the words with our arrival, he parked the car in the garage of a huge tower. Then he practically flew out of the truck and around it to open my door before I could do it myself. Extending a hand to me, he smiled when I accepted it and let him help me out.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
It seemed like we were uptown. Maybe in a business district, yet there was a park of sorts not far away. So we could either be attending a meeting or going for a literal walk in the park.
Actually, I wasn’t sure which one of those prospects I found more appealing. While a meeting sure wouldn’t be romantic, it would mean something to me if he’d set it up for us despite not having wanted to work with me at all just a few weeks ago.
On the other hand, it was a Saturday night. So a walk in the park, it probably is.
Charlie took my hand. He led me toward the green space and the giant trees lining it, sweeping his free hand out toward a pathway. “Welcome to Waterfall Park, Liv.”
My breath caught. “I’ve heard about this. I can’t believe I haven’t come here yet.”
I shivered with excitement, and Charlie released my hand to wrap an arm around my shoulders as though it was the most natural thing in the world. The air was cool out, even crisper here than it had been at the restaurant, and I burrowed shamelessly into his side, happy about the heat radiating from him but even happier for the excuse to get even closer.
A gentle breeze stirred the leaves of the trees around us. Flickering lights lined the pathways and cast a warm, golden hue that illuminated our way forward. Every step brought us closer to the massive, U-shaped waterfall, its sheer power softened by the dim light and making it feel a little like a dream.
The gentle sound of water created a soothing ambiance, and the mist rising from the base of the waterfall added an ethereal, almost magical quality to the air. I sucked in a breath. “Oh, my god. I’ve never seen anything like this.”
I was speechless as he led me closer. His heat enveloped me as I stared, speechless, at the waterfall glowing like liquid silver in the night. The world around us faded away, leaving just us two, lost in the beauty of the moment.
The rhythmic rush of water was louder this close, almost completely blocking out the sounds of the city we were somehow still right in the middle of. The space itself felt peaceful and even secluded despite its location. In the background, however, the twinkling lights from nearby buildings and the skyline reminded me of where we were.
I glanced up at him, our gazes catching and holding when he looked at the same time. My heart rate sped up as we stood there, staring at each other as the spark of our connection seemed to deepen in our moment of shared silence.
“This is breathtaking,” I finally murmured. The sound of the water falling, the faint mist and tiny drops around us, and the lights that lit it all up in the most exquisite way. How is it possible to feel so at peace in something so huge?
Charlie’s blue eyes seemed more silver than blue as they looked into mine. “It’s my favorite spot in the whole city.”
“It’s magical.” I smiled, turning toward him and brushing that stray lock of his that always seemed to fall over his forehead back for him. “Can I share it with you? I think it might’ve just become my favorite spot too.”
Surrounded by the cascading water, it was like a secret space just for us, a place where the outside world couldn’t reach. It was the perfect moment—unhurried, serene, and brimming with the kind of quiet intimacy that only someplace really special could bring.
He laughed, the sound soft and sincere. “My dad proposed to my mom here. We’ve been back tons of times, so I already share it with my whole family. I’m happy to share it with you, too.”
I frowned. “I thought he proposed to her under the tree by the stream on the ranch.”
“He proposed to her here first,” he explained. “They were on a date and they ended the night here. He claims that when he looked at the awe on her face no matter how many times she’d seen it before, he knew he couldn’t go another day without asking, so he went down on his knee. He didn’t have a ring, though.”
“Ah.” I tried to imagine the Jack I knew on his knee in front of the woman who had now been his wife for longer than I’d been alive, and somehow, despite being a tough rancher, it wasn’t hard to picture him getting into the moment like that. “Let me guess. She said yes here, but he did the whole thing again, with a ring that time, back on the ranch?”
Charlie grinned, shifting so his front was pressed fully to mine. He peered into my eyes much the same way his father might’ve with his mother all those years ago, and I heard his breathing hitch before he pressed his eyes shut.
“Yeah, it was pretty much exactly like that.”
I chuckled, though my heart was pounding. He blinked those eyes open and looked at me like his was doing the exact same thing. “I think I might prefer it happening like that.”
“Like what?”
“In the moment,” I said, swiping my tongue across my lips and desperately trying not to picture ever getting engaged to him. Stop it, Liv. Way too soon, remember? Wayyyyy too soon.
He cocked a brow at me. “Even if it meant you had to wait to get the big diamond ring?”
“I don’t need a diamond ring,” I stated, matter of fact. “Not to sound like a brat, but I can buy my own diamonds whenever I want.” I squeezed my eyes shut when I realized I’d lost track of the point I’d been trying to make. “All I’m saying is that if it happens in the moment like that, it would feel a lot more genuine, you know?”
“So you don’t want an engagement ring?”
I groaned and reopened my eyes, my hands moving to his hips and gripping them firmly as my gaze clashed with his. “Of course, I want one. I appreciate the symbolism. The promise. It’s just that if I had to choose between a manufactured moment for the sake of the ring or a proposal while swept up in a real moment, I’d choose the real moment.”
“So would I,” he admitted, pulse hammering under his jaw. “It doesn’t have to be one or the other though, I don’t think. All you need is to be prepared when you know the time is getting closer.”
“Would you be prepared, Cowboy?” I didn’t know why I’d just asked him that. Why we were talking so intently at all about getting engaged, but at least it was a genuine moment.
Authentic. Us.
Charlie and I had our own way of doing things. This weird, possibly inappropriate topic for the stage of our relationship seemed so natural that I just rolled with it.
He tucked my hair behind my ear and smirked. “I’m always prepared, City. I thought you’d learned that about me by now.”