Chapter Four #2
“You were about to.” Ethan looked at Aftyn and all she did was shrug.
Cole smiled and looked out at the dance floor. “She’s beautiful, Ethan.”
“She works for me.”
“You keep saying that like it settles something.”
Seth appeared at Cole’s shoulder, Ryan on his arm, both of them glowing as people did on their wedding day. Seth looked at Ethan, then across the room at Naomi, then back at Ethan.
“Nice dancing,” he said.
Ethan picked up his drink. “Shouldn’t you be talking to your wife?”
Seth grinned. “I like that word.” He turned to Ryan. “He called you my wife.”
Ryan patted Ethan’s arm. “She seems wonderful.”
“She’s my employee,” Ethan said, and could have kicked himself for repeating it.
All four of them looked at him.
He lifted his drink and said nothing.
****
Naomi watched Ethan cross the room back to his brothers and their wives and tried to look like she wasn’t watching.
She wasn’t doing a very good job of it.
“So,” Serena said.
“Nope.”
“I was just going to ask if you wanted another drink.”
Naomi looked at her glass. It was empty. “Yes. Please.”
Serena flagged down the bartender, and Johnny leaned around her with raised eyebrows. Naomi pointed at him before he could say a word.
“Don’t you either.”
He held up both hands, grinning, and turned back to his drink.
Naomi looked back across the room. Ethan was listening to something Cole was saying, his jaw tight, his expression the carefully composed one she was starting to recognize as him working to keep something off his face.
She knew the feeling.
The bartender slid a fresh drink in front of her, she picked it up and turned back to the dance floor where Seth and Ryan were making their way through the crowd, stopping to hug people, laughing, completely wrapped up in each other and the night.
She wanted that someday. She hadn’t let herself want it in a long time.
She took a sip of her drink and didn’t look across the room again.
The band played another hour, working through a mix of fast numbers and slow ones, and Naomi danced twice more, once with Johnny, who turned out to be surprisingly light on his feet, and once with an older man named Walt who spun her around like he’d been dancing since before she was born.
She laughed more than she had in a long time.
At some point a woman appeared beside her at the bar, a striking redhead with warm eyes and an easy confidence about her, wiping her hands on a towel.
“You must be Naomi. I’m Scarlett. This is my place.” She nodded toward the bar where a man who was built like a barn door was pulling drafts without breaking a sweat. “That’s my husband Noah.”
Noah looked up and lifted his chin in greeting.
“It’s a wonderful place,” Naomi said. “Thank you for hosting.”
“We wouldn’t have it any other way.” Scarlett smiled. “Seth and Ryan are good people. This town takes care of its own.” She looked at Naomi warmly. “And you’re one of us now, so don’t be a stranger.”
Naomi felt something settle in her chest. “I won’t. Thank you, Scarlett.”
Scarlett disappeared back into the crowd and Ryan found her not long after, hugging her like they’d been friends for years.
“I’m so glad you came,” Ryan said.
“Thank you for inviting me.” Naomi meant it completely. “This place is wonderful and your dress is absolutely stunning.”
“Thank you.” Ryan glanced across the room at Seth with a look so soft it made Naomi’s chest ache in the best possible way. “I still can’t believe this is my life sometimes.”
“Believe it.” Naomi squeezed her hand. “Congratulations, Ryan. Really.”
Ryan hugged her again and disappeared back into the crowd.
Naomi was up before six Sunday, which wasn’t unusual, but this morning she lay there for a few minutes staring at the ceiling before she got up.
She could still feel his hand at her waist.
She sat up, pushed her hair back, and told herself to get it together.
They’d danced. They’d talked. They’d agreed to take it slow, which meant nothing had actually changed.
She still had a job to do, he was still her boss, and the sun was coming up over the Montana mountains the same as it did every morning regardless of what happened at Dewey’s the night before.
She got up, made coffee, and went to check on Jewel.
The barn was quiet in the early morning, just the soft sounds of horses moving in their stalls and the barn swallows going about their business in the rafters. She let herself into Jewel’s stall. The mare turned and pushed her nose into her chest.
“Morning, sweet girl.” She stroked her neck and stood there for a moment, just breathing.
She heard the barn door open at the far end.
She knew his footsteps already, which was a little alarming.
Ethan appeared around the corner, coffee cup in hand, and stopped when he saw her. For just a second neither of them moved.
“Morning,” he said.
“Morning.” She kept her hand on Jewel’s neck. “How was the rest of the night?”
“Long.” He looked at her over his cup. “You get home alright?”
“Serena dropped me off.” She smiled. “She didn’t say a word the whole way home.”
Something shifted in his expression. “That’s unlike her.”
“I thought so too.”
He nodded slowly and looked down the aisle, then back at her. Like he was working something out.
“You eaten yet?” he said finally.
She shook her head.
“I make good, scrambled eggs.” He said it simply, like it wasn’t a big thing. “If you want.”
She looked at him for a moment.
“Yeah,” she said. “I’d like that.”
The kitchen was exactly what she’d have expected from him. Clean, functional, nothing unnecessary. A table sat against the window, two chairs. A Keurig coffee maker that looked like it got used hard every single day.
“Sit,” he said, moving to the fridge.
She pulled out a chair and sat, wrapped both hands around her coffee cup, and watched him move around the kitchen. He was still in his ranch clothes, hat on, completely at ease and she found it unreasonably appealing.
He pulled out eggs, butter, a block of cheese, and set a pan on the burner without measuring anything, checking a recipe, or doing any of the things people did when they were cooking for someone else for the first time.
“Cheese?” he asked over his shoulder.
“Please.”
He nodded and cracked four eggs into a bowl, whisked them without looking, and poured them into the pan. The kitchen smelled like butter and coffee and something else she couldn’t name that was just the house, just him.
She looked out the window at the pastures.
“Did Cole give you a hard time last night?” she asked.
He made a sound that wasn’t quite a laugh. “Cole always gives me a hard time.”
“What did he say?”
Ethan glanced at her over his shoulder. “Nothing worth repeating.”
She smiled. “That bad?”
“He’s my brother.” He turned back to the eggs. “It’s his job.”
“His wife is very pretty.”
“Yeah. They met when he rescued her. Her car broke down and she entered his pasture to look for help.” Ethan chuckled. “His steer was in there and ran after her. Cole came on his horse, picked her up, then jumped back over the fence. They fell in love.”
“What a way to meet.” She shook her head.
He slid a plate in front of her a few minutes later and sat down across the table with his own. She took a bite and raised her eyebrows.
“These are really good.”
“I told you.”
She laughed softly and he looked at her across the table and for a moment it felt completely natural, the two of them sitting here in the early morning quiet like they’d been doing it for years.
Then he looked back down at his plate and she did the same.
Taking it slow. She could do that. She hoped. The only thing she was sure of was that she wanted to tear his clothes off. She snorted, making him look at her with a raised eyebrow but she just shook her head.
****
Ethan pushed his empty plate aside and picked up his coffee. She was looking out the window at the pastures, the morning light catching her hair, and he made himself look away.
Sundays he rode. Had done it for years, every Sunday without fail. It was the one morning he gave himself permission to do nothing useful.
He looked at her again.
“I ride on Sunday mornings,” he said. “See the property, check the fence line.” He hesitated. “You’re welcome to come along if you want. I can show you my land.”
She turned from the window and looked at him. A slow smile came across her face.
“I’d like that very much,” she said.
He nodded, stood, and picked up both their plates. “Give me twenty minutes.”
“I’ll go change into my boots.” She stood and pushed her chair in. “I was hoping to explore but I didn’t want to go out alone when I don’t know the land yet.”
“I’d rather you didn’t, at first.” He set the plates in the sink. “Once you know your way around you’re welcome to ride wherever you want. Just take a walkie-talkie with you in case something comes up.”
“We always took them with us at my last job.” She headed for the back door, then paused with her hand on the frame and looked back at him. “Thank you for breakfast, Ethan.”
“You’re welcome.” He kept his voice even. “Twenty minutes.”
She smiled and walked out.
He stood at the sink and listened to her footsteps cross the yard toward the barn.
By the time she came back across the yard in her boots he had both horses tied at the rail outside the barn, saddled and ready.
She stopped when she saw the horse and Ethan watched her eyes go wide. She walked straight to him, bypassing Jewel entirely, and put her hand on his neck.
“Oh my.” She looked him over from nose to tail. “He’s magnificent.” She glanced back at Ethan. “What’s his name?”