Chapter 32
CHAPTER 32
IS GRIFFIN BARLOW A ROMANTIC AT HEART?
Griffin
As much as it pains me to say this, Founder’s Day might be my favorite day of the year we have here in town. It’s our busiest day at the bar. Likely, the only two places someone can drink are here or buying something from the General Store to bring back home with you.
When it comes to Founder’s Day, though, everyone always wants to be in the heart of the town. I don’t blame them, because we go all out. They set up a live band in the middle of Main Street and balloons are set up on every streetlight.
Schools and construction sites are even closed.
Thank fuck, because it’s a day where I need the extra hands behind the bar for the afternoon shift. Tucker could spend the whole day here without a single complaint. His coworker, Levi, also volunteered some time for the evening shift since they both know I hate the crowd.
However, tonight…part of me wants to stay.
A totally new revelation for me.
My sisters are planning to come by, and I hope that Blair is coming with them. I’m finding myself consumed by her every minute of the day. I wake up to thoughts of her, go to sleep with thoughts of her, and everything in between is her .
If she comes in with Poppy and Lily, I’m not so sure I’ll be able to tend this bar. I know I won’t be able to keep my hands off of her. They crave to touch her. The desire burns inside of me to always keep her nestled in my arms and protect her. From what? I don’t know, because there’s no need to protect her from anything in this town.
Just as the thoughts race through my mind, the bell chimes for the front door.
“I thought I told you to disconnect that shit,” I shout across the bar to Tucker, who’s delivering drinks to a table.
“Did you?” He smirks.
That smug son of a bitch.
I shake my head, but don’t have time to respond because my sisters are standing in front of me. I scan their features and they each have shit-eating grins on their face.
“What’s wrong with your faces?” I ask, my tone laced with question.
“My girls.” Tucker beams before they can even respond to me. “You finally made it.”
“Hey Tuck,” they both say in unison.
“You ready to turn up?” Tucker asks them.
“Are you a teenager?” Poppy barks out a laugh. “No grown adult says that these days.”
“I’m forever young at heart,” Tucker says with a hand to his chest like he’s proud of himself.
“But you’re twenty-three,” Lily scoffs. “Let’s act like it.”
Tucker pouts. “You’re no fun, Lil.”
The conversation is cut short when shouting starts from the other side of the bar. “Hey, Seven Stools!” Nan commands the room. We all turn our heads to find Nan standing on a chair. “It’s Founder’s Day!” Nan screams with a bottle of beer in each hand, raised in the air. “Best day ever!”
And the crowd surrounding her follows her cheers .
“Do you think she knows any of those people?” Poppy asks.
“Nope,” Tucker, Lily, and I all say in unison.
“See, Lil?” Tucker points to Nan. “I aspire to be as cool as her all my life. Young at heart.”
“Give it up, Tucker. There’s no one out there like Nan.”
Tucker huffs and wrinkles his face in disgust. “Again…no fun.”
I can’t help myself, looking around during this entire conversation happening in front of me, hoping Blair is going to walk in behind them any minute.
“Hey, Griffy.” Lily beams, forcing me to look at her. When I do, she looks down at her wrist as if she has a watch on, but doesn’t. “You’re here later than usual.”
I shrug. “It’s a busy day.”
“Tell me about it,” she says, fighting a yawn. “I feel bad because I worked Blair to the bone this morning. She had no idea what to expect for the day when I texted her last night, telling her we needed to start a whole three hours earlier than usual.” She laughs.
Memories from last night flood my brain.
I look around again, mostly to avoid looking at my sister and giving away any thoughts I have about her at the moment. Like the way she moaned on my lap when?—
“She’s not here,” Poppy cuts through my thoughts.
When I snap my gaze to hers, she sends me a wink.
She knows.
Of course, she does.
These two know me better than anyone else.
“She was exhausted from the day and said she was just going to watch the fireworks from her deck,” Poppy adds.
The idea of Blair watching the greatest fireworks the country will ever see from her deck hits me in my chest. Maybe I haven’t seen any in other places, but I’m confident we have some of the best because of the wide-open space that stretches the horizon. I want her to experience the beauty of them from the only spot I know won’t be littered with town folk.
My spot .
“You know…Levi is here to help for the evening shift,” Tucker says beside me. His elbow is on the table, his knuckles are resting under his chin, and the look on his face is telling me everything. It screams get the hell out of here and go get your girl.
“You guys have everything covered?” I ask him.
He nods knowingly, grabbing the dishrag from the bar top in front of me, and begins wiping down the space where I just stood.
“Get outta here, old man.” Tucker laughs.
Grabbing my flannel off the hook by the kitchen door, I round the bar to leave, but Poppy stops me before I can make it to the door.
“Hey, Griffin?”
“Yeah?”
“Make sure you’re sure about this…with Blair,” she says, locking sympathetic eyes with me. “I don’t want to see you…well, you know.”
I give her a quick nod and offer her a smile. I love that my sisters worry about me. Hell, I worry about me too.
But this is different.
“I’ve never been more sure of anything.”
I pull up to Blair’s house and every single light is shining through the windows of the tiny home. I exit my car quickly because the anticipation of seeing her for the first time since yesterday forces a little pep in my step.
As soon as I step onto her porch and see what’s happening inside through the glass door, my footsteps slow .
Blair is bouncing around her living room, her hair flying in every direction, and she has a broom in her hand. Some kind of loud music blasts through the walls and the vibration of the beat thrums in my body as I come to a stop right outside of the door.
She’s using the stick of the broom as a microphone, and a smile stretches across my face.
She looks so free.
She looks like everything I want in life.
Visions of coming home from work just like this and finding her in my kitchen dancing, laughing, and loving her life to the point she can let loose like this float around in my head.
I can’t remember the last time I let loose like that myself.
I’ve never been more sure of anything .
I open her front door because there’s no way she’ll hear me knocking over the beat, and to my surprise, it’s unlocked. As if she can sense the presence of someone in the room, she stops and snaps her head in my direction.
Running a hand through her hair to smooth it down, she smiles wildly at me, holding the broom next to her in her hands with her other hand on her hip.
“Hey there, Angry Cowboy.”
I shake my head at her for still calling me that.
Doesn’t she know that she’s replaced every bit of anger that once consumed my life with something new? Something bright. Like sunshine on a rainy day. Blair has stormed into my life—my town—like a hurricane.
And we don’t fucking get those here in Wyoming.
Her eyes scan my body, and I can’t help but do the same.
“Did it hurt when you fell from the vending machine?” she asks. I eye her curiously, wondering where the hell that came from. She moves to the counter to take a sip from the glass of wine sitting there. “Because you’re looking like a snack tonight.”
Feeling the corner of my mouth tip up, I make my way to her. Stopping only inches from her and resting the back of my finger under her chin to lock her gaze with mine .
“Are you hitting on me?”
She swallows, but her grin matches mine. “Have been since I got here.”
“No, you haven’t.”
“Okay, fine,” she says confidently. “Maybe not since then, but eventually I was.”
I shake my head. “You’re insane, you know that?”
“And yet, here you stand,” she mocks.
“Guess I should leave then,” I say in the same tone.
“Wait.” She pushes away from me, hustling down the hall. “I’ll bring out my other personality. Hold on.”
She runs into the bathroom and comes back out seconds later with her arms wide in the air, laughing as if it’s the best joke she’s ever told.
“Here I am.”
I bark out a laugh, bending at the waist and resting my hands on my thighs to hold me up because I can’t believe her right now.
Everything I thought before walking into her house, I think about again. This. This right here is what I want for the rest of my life.
The laughter.
The antics.
This feeling .
I look up through my fit of hysterics and find her standing there, eyes wide and very much not laughing with me.
“Success,” she breathes out, barely loud enough for me to hear.
“Huh?” I ask, letting myself relax from that. There’s still a chuckle in my tone, but not as much as before.
Her signature smile hits her face again and I would give anything to press my lips to them and taste the joy she radiates.
“I’ve been trying to make you laugh since I got here,” she admits.
Stalking over to her, I twist my baseball cap backward and refuse to waste another minute. My hands grip her waist, pulling her flush to me and I crash my lips to hers. Instantly, her arms are around my neck while her body melts into mine.
This kiss is fierce and passionate.
Like we’ve both been waiting for it to happen again since the first time.
She tilts her head to the side, moaning and allowing me access to deepen the kiss to taste everything she’s willing to give me.
Kissing Blair is like waking from a deep sleep to the rumble of thunder. A lightning strike to the chest that I would gladly let hit me repeatedly if it meant getting to do this for the rest of my life.
Maybe it’s that I don’t run around kissing women.
Maybe it’s just her .
Reluctantly, I pull away, keeping my lips hovering over hers. “Get changed. I want to take you somewhere.”
“So bossy,” she says playfully, before locking her lips with mine one more time and retreating up the small stairs to the bedroom.
“Something warm,” I shout up to her.
“You mean you won’t be keeping me warm?” she shouts back with a giggle.
“Blair,” I warn, waiting for a response, but it doesn’t come. “I’ll be right back.”
She mumbles something in response, but I’m already halfway out the door. I rush back to my place to grab a few things to load into the bed of the truck. I said I wanted Blair to experience these fireworks at my spot, but I also crave this time with her. Do I want it to feel like a date of sorts? Yeah, I do.
She has to know I want her in every sense of the word.
She makes me want to go above and beyond to show it.
When I head back to her house, I find her already standing on her deck, waiting for me. She’s wearing a pair of bootcut jeans and an oversized sweater. It looks so big on her that it’s bunched at her wrists. She brings one arm across her stomach, with the other elbow resting on top of it while her thumb plays with her bottom lip. It’s cute, and sexy, and, fuck, she drives me wild just standing there the way she is.
Opening the truck door, I pull myself to a standing position with one hand on the door and the other on the roof of my truck.
“Bring the dog,” I tell her.
“What?”
“Bring the dog,” I repeat, gesturing to the house. “He will love it.”
She stands there, shocked for a moment, before retreating inside to grab Reginald. She emerges with him on his leash, and he offers me a bark before descending the steps with her right behind him. I jump down from the car and try to reach my passenger door before she does, but fail.
“It’s my job to open the door for you, sweetheart.”
“Always such a gentleman,” she says, stepping back and allowing me to do it. I watch her intently as her eyes track every movement. Almost as if she’s not used to this type of treatment.
Once she’s in, I jump back in right after. Reginald nestles himself in the middle of the bench seat, and I already hate the space between us.
The ride is quick.
Likely because I gunned it here to make sure I could get set up before the fireworks start.
I don’t head for the same trail I use to get there by horse, because it’s too small for the truck. Instead, I pass the ranch and make my way down a wooded path I carved out for myself. I created it with just the right amount hidden at the entry of the road so that people didn’t get curious and try to explore back here.
Not that many people explore outside the heart of town.
But it’s my private getaway in Bluestone Lakes.
“Wow,” Blair says from the passenger seat, lifting herself up to see the trail the headlights illuminate for us. “I had no idea this was all back here.”
“I made sure of that.”
We hit a few bumps that cause Reginald to startle in his seat, but when we finally reach the space, Blair’s eyes widen.
She’s seen this lake before.
Everyone has.
It’s the reason people visit.
I’m just showing her from a completely new viewpoint on the outskirts of town. The opposite side of the lake that tourists visit. I whip the truck around to back it up into the space I created, angling the truck to where I know the fireworks will go off.
After throwing the truck in park, I jump out, rounding the back of the truck and opening the bed hatch. I set up the array of blankets I loaded in, as well as pillows along the back.
“Is Griffin Barlow a romantic at heart?” I hear Blair ask from behind me.
I turn to face her, sitting back on my heels and sending her a knowing smile. One that tells her this is all for you, sweetheart.’
“I wouldn’t call myself a romantic, but there’s this new girl in town?—”
“There’s a new girl in town?” she feigns shock, cutting me off. “Well, I must meet her. She and I would hit it off perfectly since I know what it’s like. I can probably show her around. Make sure she knows to stay off that one dead-end road that apparently has a ditch. Share what it’s like around here as a former new girl. Urge her to stay away from the angry cowboy who lives on Barlow Drive.”
I shake my head, standing before jumping off the back of the truck and coming to a stop in front of her. My hand comes up, cupping the side of her face, and she leans into my touch.
“You want the new girl to stay away from me, huh?”
She nods, unable to respond.
“Why’s that? ”
She lifts a shoulder but doesn’t immediately say anything back. Her eyes fall closed as my thumb brushes the apple of her cheek. “Because I don’t want her seeing this side of you,” she finally says, barely above a whisper.
Bringing my other hand up, I hold her face as I tilt her head up, urging her to open her eyes and look at me. When she does, the world around me goes quiet. A feeling I’ll never get used to, because it happens every single time. A burning whiskey through my blood with just one look from her.
“There’s only one girl I want to see this side of me.”
Silence stretches between us at my admission.
It’s out there.
My heart is on the line, and it’s up to her to hold it and protect it or stomp it on the ground and put me in my grave.
I just hope it’s the first of the two.