Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
Chance
“ A nd here is your food.” Krissy carefully places my plate in front of me before giving Dakota hers.
I’ve suddenly lost my appetite after my fight with Dakota, but I won’t let her know. I can’t let her know how much her attitude is affecting me.
“Thanks,” I mutter before picking up my burger and taking a bite.
Dakota and Krissy exchange some silent glance, that I’m sure uses some girl telepathy thing that I’ll never understand. Instead of trying to figure it out, I pretend I don’t notice and dive into my burger like I haven’t eaten for a month.
Without taking my eyes off my plate, I see Krissy move on to the next table, leaving me alone with Dakota once again.
“Good burger?” she asks, not touching her own food.
“It’s alright,” I mutter between bites.
“The way you’re attacking it, it looks like the best burger you’ve ever had.” The corner of her mouth ticks up, letting me know that she’s teasing.
I relax, letting my shoulders slump as I put down my food. Grabbing the paper napkin from the middle of the table, I take my time wiping my fingers before I formulate a response.
I’m not sure how to handle teasing Dakota. Pissed off Dakota, that’s easy. Sassy Dakota, I’ll play. Sexy Dakota, hell yeah.
Teasing or flirting Dakota? This is new territory.
“For a pub burger, it’s alright. Brett knows what he’s doing.”
“Brett is…” Dakota trails off.
“Krissy’s fiancé and the owner of the pub.”
“Gotcha.” She looks around the place again, as if seeing it with new eyes. “I don’t know why I haven’t come here more. I always just seem to end up at The Whiskey Dam. Probably because it’s closer to work.”
“The Dam is good if you want loud music and a place to forget. The Lucky Dog is more of a local’s meeting place.” I pick up my beer and take a sip, now even more fascinated with the woman across from me. She’s been in Whiskey Falls for years but still acts as if she’s brand new.
“I’m beginning to see that.” She meets my eyes for a moment—one intense, heat filled moment that takes me by surprise—before she picks up her wrap and takes a bite.
My eyes are drawn to her mouth. Memories of our weekend together race through my mind as I watch her tongue glide over her lips, thinking of the way it ran over my body. I can feel my body reacting to her in such a visceral way that I can’t ignore it.
“Wow, you weren’t kidding. The food here is good. I’m going to have to bring Addie here some time.” She takes another bite, this time closing her eyes as she chews.
She must be doing this to me on purpose. There’s no other reason for it. She’s eating a chicken wrap, for crying out loud.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” she asks, snapping my attention away from lust-filled thoughts that I shouldn’t be having, especially since last weekend was a one-off and will never be happening again.
I let myself lose control in a way I never had before. Not only did I sleep with her in my bed, but I asked her to stay the whole weekend. I cooked for her. We talked. That’s not me. I don’t do those things.
“Chance?”
“Huh?” My mind is reeling and my heart sinks as the reality of our situation is coming to light. I’m in too deep with Dakota. Deeper than I ever meant to be. I think I’m starting to develop feelings for her.
I don’t do feelings.
“Are you alright?” Genuine concern crosses her face, and she twitches her fingers like she’s fighting to reach across the table to touch me.
This is all too much. Everything about her is just too much.
“How’s everything going here?” Krissy asks, waltzing up to the table with an empty tray in her hand.
“Just fucking fine,” I seethe, standing from the booth, leaving the two women gaping up at me. “Just fucking fine.”
I storm off, not looking back. I need to get out of here. I need some fresh air before I completely lose my mind or worse, my heart.
“I thought you said you were going to play the game.”
I rest my arms on the fence and lower my head. The headache I’ve been battling since I got up this morning is only getting worse with every step Wyatt takes toward me.
“Nothing to say?” he says sarcastically.
I can feel him standing behind me. I know him so well that I can picture him with his arms crossed, legs in a wide stance, and a scowl on his face.
“I don’t play games, Wyatt.” I take a breath, breathing in the heavy, hot, summer air.
“Then what the fuck happened at The Lucky Dog last night?”
I take a moment before turning around, leaning against the fence and mimicking his stance. “Dakota and I went for dinner.”
“Right, and as I hear it, you left halfway through, leaving her to foot the bill and Krissy to drive her home after you left her stranded.”
“You really shouldn’t listen to the gossip in town.”
“I didn’t need to get it from the town. Krissy is my sister, remember? Who do you think she called to tell me what an asshole my friend is?”
“This isn’t new information,” I grunt.
“Even more so...” He looks off into the distance over my shoulder with a tick in his jaw. “It’s not going to work if you constantly fight with her while in public.”
“She started it.” I regret it as soon as I say it. It is weak and childish, but I can’t help it.
He tilts his head at me, giving me a look that just reaffirms how pathetic my response was. “Look, I can’t tell you what to do…”
“Then don’t.” I cut him off, not wanting to hear it. There isn’t anything Wyatt can say to me that I haven’t thought of myself. No reprimand. No suggestion. Nothing.
He brings his gaze back to mine and relaxes his body. I know he’s just speaking out of concern for both me and the ranch. If we lose the rodeo deal, it’s going to look poorly on the ranch, not just on me. Being a community presence is a huge factor in how we conduct ourselves. It has been for as long as my family has owned this ranch, and I sure as hell won’t be the one to lose that confidence.
“You need to fix it. I’ve heard talk of some of the sponsors not being happy, especially after the fight with Todd. Your antics last night suggest that Dakota won’t put up with you too much longer, and to be honest, I wouldn’t blame her if she pulled the plug on the whole thing.”
“She has shit to lose, too. I’m not holding her against her will.”
“No, but you have a hell of a lot more to lose than she does. The worst case scenario for her is she’s gossiped about for a little while and then people move on. She won’t lose her livelihood because she dumped you and you’re running out of time. The rodeo is next weekend, and the sponsors are still talking about pulling their support.”
I let his words sink in as the early evening heat starts to fade slightly, but not enough to be comfortable. It’s adding extra pressure; the sweat from both Wyatt’s intervention and the day’s heat rolling down my back.
He’s right, I know he is. I have more at stake. I need to try harder, not just for my company and to save my own ass, but because Dakota deserves better than how I’ve been treating her. Hell, I’m beginning to notice that all the women I’ve been with do, even if they were using me just as much as I used them.
I turn and rest my arms back on the fence, looking out over the pasture. The cows graze the grass, and for once, I find myself envious of them. They don’t need to worry about much—not until they’re off to fulfill their destiny as beef cattle—but for now, all they need to worry about is eating, drinking, and laying lazily in the sun.
“How do I fix this?” My voice is lower than a whisper. For a moment, I’m not sure if Wyatt even hears me.
I see him come up beside me out of the corner of my eye, resting his dirtied boot on the lower wrung of the fence, his forearms resting next to mine. He follows my lead and looks ahead at the cows.
This time there is no judgement in his voice. No anger. This is when I know that it’s my friend that’s next to me about to give me advice, not a pissed off ranch manager that’s worried about his job.
“First, you need to apologize.”
I curse under my breath and drop my chin to my chest. I know he’s right, and I know I’m running out of time.
“You know her better than I do…”
“Barely,” I mutter.
“But you know that all the shit you would pull with your normal rotation of women doesn’t work with her. She doesn’t want to be wooed.”
“Wooed?” I ask, turning to face him, my eyebrow raised. “Did we travel back in time? I don’t fucking ‘woo’ women.”
“No, and maybe that’s your problem.” He challenges me by standing straight and not looking away. He’s one of the few men that will do that, which always makes me respect him more. I’m sure part of it is knowing each other since we were kids, but mostly because he has more balls than most of the bulls around here.
“I’ve learned she doesn’t want flowers. She doesn’t care about fancy meals.”
“She wants honesty. She wants you to be authentic.”
“No she doesn’t. Or she wouldn’t if she knew what that meant she was getting from me.”
“You aren’t giving yourself enough credit, Chance.” He looks to the side, breaking the tension between us. “I heard talk at the last auction. One that might help you.”
I wait a breath for him to continue, but when he doesn’t, I can’t help but let my snarky tone and sarcasm leak through. “Are you going to share this tidbit with me?”
“I wouldn’t start with that attitude,” he says with a smirk. “You need to make a big gesture. Something that will show everyone that you’re in it for real. You can commit. For the long haul.”
“Even though I’m not,” I say more to myself than Wyatt.
I let his words hang between us. He looks at me expectantly, as if he revealed some sort of big secret that was going to solve all of my problems. I’m not sure what it is exactly he thinks I am going to gain from it.
“What…” But then it hits me.
Commit.
Long haul.
My eyes open wide. “No. No! You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. You can’t seriously be suggesting that.”
“I’m suggesting you apologize to Dakota in a way that she needs you to; get her back on your good side and have a big gesture at the dinner the night before the rodeo starts. Anything else you think of or may have thought I implied is on you.”
The wide smile on his face tells me I inferred exactly what he wanted me to.
“You’re an asshole. You’re enjoying this way too much.”
“That the perpetual playboy is being forced into a fake relationship to save his ass? Yes, I’m enjoying this quite a bit.”
“Fucker.” There isn’t any heat in my words. I know if the roles were reversed, I would be enjoy watching him suffer.
“You know I’m right. Just don’t fuck it up—again.” He claps my shoulder and walks away.
I turn my attention back to the cows, noting that they don’t have to worry about impressing anyone. Not in a way that is within their control. Lives don’t depend on them. There isn’t a town whose economy relies on the rodeo my ranch puts on.
I know what I need to do, but it’s the last thing I want to do. I can apologize to Dakota. I can come up with some way to make her come around until the end of the rodeo.
But what the sponsors want me to do? That might be more than I’m willing to offer. More than I can offer.
Even if it’s not real.
Because with Dakota, I’m starting to realize that all the feelings that are supposed to be fake, aren’t fake at all.