Chapter Twenty-Three
“What are we thinking?” I asked.
“I’m thinkin’ I haven’t gotten to dance with you yet…” Stetson’s low grumble rumbled through me. “And I’m pretty sure you still owe me one from Booker’s party.”
“Sounds like you two need to hit the dance floor,” Booker chimed in, and looked around at the bar that was beginning to empty out.
“I think Maggie and I are probably gonna call it a night and head back to my place. You two are more than welcome to join, but I don’t know how late we plan on stayin’ up. ”
I peered at Maggie and saw a permanent smile tattooed on her face. I knew that look, and I wouldn’t dare interfere with it.
“No, you guys go ahead,” I said. “Stetson, can you give me a ride home?”
“What kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn’t?” he asked.
“All right, you two go get that dance in. We’ll close out the tab and see you later,” Maggie said, pulling me into a hug.
“I already covered the tab. It’s the least I can do after one hell of a night,” Stetson butted in.
“You’re already my favorite one of Scarlett’s boyfriends.” She grinned and pulled me into a hug. “Call me tomorrow, Scarlett.”
I pulled back. “I love you.”
“Love you too.”
“Ready?” Stetson asked, offering up his hand.
I laid my hand on top of his and he pulled me to the dance floor, my grin answering his question. “Strawberry Wine” by Deana Carter trickled through the speakers. Wilson always loved to end the night on a slow song, specifically old country, and tonight was no different.
Stetson shuffled closer to me, our bodies mirroring one another.
My arms reached up to find a resting spot, landing in the space between his shoulders and jawline, I used the leverage to shift my body even closer. The anticipation of waiting for his hands to find my body was similar to lighting a firework and waiting for it to spark.
I surveyed the rest of the dance floor over his shoulder until finally, the warmth from his palms radiated through my jeans. The instant pulse of electricity brought my attention back to him. For a second the room stood still.
“You’re making it really hard to do my job, you know that?” I admitted.
“Really? Because you’re making my job a whole helluva lot easier.”
“Oh yeah. Which job is that?” I joked. “The one where you pretend to be my boyfriend so I don’t look like a loser in front of the man who left me at the altar? Or the one where you attempt to write a new kind of album, one that feels a little scary but will most definitely pay off in the end?”
We swayed our bodies to the music, moving in slow motion, his hands lying on my hips.
“Both, actually.” He smirked. “But I’m not sure you’re ready for all that.
I mean technically we’ve only been dating for a few hours.
” His bright white teeth poked out from behind his lips before his mouth grew tight.
“However, we do need to get a few things straight: you are not and never will be a loser. In fact, you’re the furthest thing from it.
And I don’t know what Zane is, but he is nothing close to a man—or at least not a man who is worthy of a woman like you. ”
His compliment colored my cheeks pink, coercing my chin to drop, but Stetson’s fingers almost immediately lifted it back up.
“I’m serious. I don’t know how you don’t see it, and I don’t know how someone else hasn’t seen it either, but I’m damn lucky they haven’t because maybe that means I still have a chance.”
“You’re really playin’ into this whole boyfriend thing, aren’t you?” I wanted to ask him more, but finding the right words seemed impossible.
“Who says I’m pretending right now?” he asked, abruptly stopping his feet in order to focus on the room around us. The empty room. “There’s no one watching, I have no reason to pretend anymore.”
I didn’t know if it was the fact that we were alone—except for Wilson who was somewhere around here—or something else, but a jolt of confidence bolted through me. I pulled his head closer, tracing my tongue across my bottom lip before marrying our mouths together.
The hunger in both of us was obvious in the way we couldn’t get enough of one another. Our tongues were in a feeding frenzy as they danced around, swirling together, desperate to explore every inch.
Someone cleared their throat, startling us both.
“Shit. Sorry, Wilson.” I giggled, swiping any remaining kisses from my mouth.
“Don’t you be sorry, darlin’. I would say stay all night, but I’ve got a beer and a nice recliner callin’ my name.”
“My bad, sir. I have a hard time walkin’ away from a pretty lady.”
“Ain’t that the truth. I’ve been there a time or two.” He laughed as he scratched his beard, the slightest bit of nostalgia washing over his face.
“Let me grab my purse and we’ll get outta your hair,” I said, briskly strolling to the barstools and grabbing my bag from the back.
“You kids have fun tonight and be safe,” he shouted after us as Stetson wrangled me through the door.
“Bye, Wilson,” I yelled, the words just barely making it out of my mouth before my piercing shriek replaced it.
Stetson had scooped me up, effortlessly throwing me over his shoulder like a sack of feed. His strong hands rested on the back of my upper thigh.
There were a few stragglers hanging around in the parking lot, smoking their midnight cigarettes, but I didn’t care; I let my laughter fill the nighttime air.
For a moment, everything was familiar, almost as if this weren’t the first bar Stetson and I had closed down together. A little déjà vu invited a country-wide smile onto my face.
Then, a memory came chasing after me, one that had always hid in plain sight.
One summer night, when the air was sticky from the heat and the crickets were working tirelessly, Maggie and I snuck out and went roaming around Rolling Meadows.
We talked for hours about our lives, our dreams, and what we truly wanted.
I’d been sad for what felt like forever.
I didn’t remember having any big dreams or goals, I just remembered saying if I could choose one thing, I’d choose to be happy.
And in this moment, I thought what I was feeling was happiness, or at least the introduction to it.
“Whew,” I breathed, fidgeting with my now wild hair as Stetson propped open the truck door, giving me a steady arm for support as I climbed in.
He strolled in front of the headlights, his all-black outfit blinding in the bright light, but in spite of the contrast, I couldn’t look away. He removed his backward baseball cap, running his fingers through his hair, before turning it forward and plopping it back down on his luscious brown hair.
He carried himself so calmly; his shoulders dropped and his chest proud. Meanwhile, the incessant tapping of my foot echoed through the truck cab while my finger found the familiar cold piece of metal circling it.
My thoughts had started to blur lines, because I’d be lying if I said I was hoping the night would end here.
“I know I’ve already asked this, but are you sure you’re okay? You seemed a little out of sorts, even before Zane showed up,” he stated, taking the gear shift in his hand.
“Yeah.” I nodded. “It’s just been a day.” I threw my head back onto the headrest. His truck had a panoramic sunroof, making me feel up close and personal with the stars. “Thankfully, this view helps. You can’t get this anywhere else.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” he responded.
“Stars are so wild to me. They literally go on forever, and without them our night skies would be nothing but darkness. Isn’t that crazy?” I asked.
“Yeah. Can you imagine how dark our world would be if it weren’t for the billions of stars that show up each night, using their shine to light up someone else’s. They’re kind of like someone else I know.”
I shifted my head off the headrest and turned to look at him, his eyes focused straight ahead. “No wonder you’re country music’s biggest thing.”
My comment forced him to turn his attention to me briefly. “Why is that?”
It was my turn to compliment him.
“You string words together so naturally, giving a deeper meaning to them in one fell swoop. It’s addicting to listen to what you have to say, especially when our conversations go deeper than surface level.
” I breathed. “I’ve noticed that about you and your songs—they’re not just lyrics, they’re strands of wisdom married together with a melody. ”
“Well, damn. That might be the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me,” he said, mocking my compliment in an obvious defense mechanism.
He might appear cocky and confident on the outside, but underneath, he was just as bad as the rest of us at taking a compliment.
“I’m serious, Stetson,” I pushed, trying to pull back his outer layer again. “You truly are a star, and I think you’re only going to shine brighter after you release this new album. It’s been incredible having a front-row seat to this journey of yours.”
“Well, you know what they say?” he asked.
I rolled my shoulders down and back, waiting for his next witty response, assuming a deeper conversation wasn’t in the cards for the car ride home.
“The light can only shine through after you’ve shattered, and unfortunately I’ve done that more than once in my life. ”
There it is again.
The brutal honesty and raw vulnerability I’d grown quite fond of.
“Hm.” I sighed. “I’ve never thought about it like that, but damn, that’s good.”
He nodded. “After my dad passed, I turned to my music in a way that allowed me to run from all the pain and grief instead of actually dealing with it. Hence the excessive partying, the drunken videos, and all the random girls. It didn’t help that I was a young, stupid, immature kid that had just been handed his dreams on a silver platter. ”
“But look how far you’ve come since then,” I validated, wanting him to be fully aware that I recognized the strength and courage it took to show up like this. “And even more than that, look how you’ve grown from your grief this time. Choosing a much harder but better path, if I do say so myself.”
“But that’s just it, when I lost Jackson a year ago, the pain and grief were different.
The tragic circumstances surrounding his death didn’t help either.
” He shuddered. I feared the memory itself was enough to cause him pain, which made me want to reach over and touch him.
“There were days—hell, maybe even weeks—when I was sure the darkness was going to drown me, and if I’m being honest, there were times I wished it would’ve.
” He shifted his weight in his seat, the confession seeming to make him a bit uncomfortable.
“But then I had to take a long hard look in the mirror because I wasn’t just living for me anymore, and I had to decide what kind of man I was going to be.
It was only then that I knew if I had any chance of pulling myself from the depths, I couldn’t go back to the lifestyle from before, because I knew damn well it would’ve absolutely killed me.
I had to do something different, so I did. ”
“You mean you weren’t just living for yourself anymore because of Ruby?” I asked.
“Uh-huh.” He bobbed his head up and down as his hand rushed to his face. It was dark, so I couldn’t see exactly what he was doing, but I could only assume he was swiping away a fallen tear. The thought alone was heartbreaking.
Without thinking, I reached out to touch his forearm that rested on the center console. I was desperate to give him some form of comfort. I gave a squeeze before pulling away, except I didn’t get too far before he snatched my hand, entangling our fingers like vines on a branch.
“Well, I’m proud of you,” I breathed out. “I know how hard it can be to find the light after spending so much time in the dark, especially when closing your eyes and giving in to the darkness seems easier.”
He took his eyes off the road for a split second, just long enough to meet mine. A sense of understanding coursed between us; his tight compression on my hand confirming it.
Our conversation had led my mind astray, so I hadn’t been paying any attention to the drive, but as he put the truck into park, I quickly realized he hadn’t taken me home.
Perched up on a hill was a tiny but perfectly placed A-frame. The house, which had sat empty for years, had just recently been renovated into a bed and breakfast, one I remembered Donna telling me Stetson was staying at.
“Come here,” he said, motioning me toward him.
I didn’t even hesitate before I propped myself up on the center console, leaning over until my face was greeted by his, the air from the vent dancing through my hair.
With one hand, he grabbed my chin between his thumb and pointer finger, using the other to gently push my brown curls out of my eye. “Thank you,” he said softly. His voice was like honey, thick and smooth.
“For what?” I asked.
“For listening. For saying you’re proud of me.
For simply validating my feelings. And for always being a good sport when it comes to my smart-ass mouth.
” His eyes never left mine. “In this world, my world, sometimes it feels like everyone wants the music, but no one wants to understand how hard it is to find the words.”
“I’d do anything to show you your worth.
” I repeated his own words back to him with a grin.
The air between us shifted from serious to more light-hearted.
“Even when it’s not my job anymore,” I said sarcastically, a tiny grin poking out from behind my lips.
“Now…” I paused. “Where are you taking me?”
A low chuckle left his throat, and the groan-like sound mixed with his expression taunted me.
“Back to my place,” he said very matter-of-factly.
I didn’t know what it was about a man driving a truck in a baseball hat and cowboy boots that drove me absolutely fucking insane, but what I did know was that I was about to hijack the driver’s seat and hold him hostage.
A cocky smirk rolled out from under his mustache.
“Something funny?” I asked, my desperation becoming obvious.
“Not at all,” he responded. “I was just waiting for you to reject my comment, and you didn’t. Looks like I got my answer.”
This time his words strummed the want inside of me, but somehow, I composed myself. “I have been meaning to stop by and check out all the new renovations up here.” The corners of my mouth barely curved upward. “Guess that means I’m coming inside.”
His eyes flashed to mine as he cut the engine. He slid out of the car and strolled to my door, my heart pounding faster the closer he got. The nerves. The anticipation. The excitement. It filled me to the brim, my body on the verge of bursting into a million pieces.
He gracefully pulled me from my seat, cradling me like I wasn’t a whole grown-ass woman. My legs dangled over his strong biceps while my arms wrapped around his neck.
He stopped just before we got to the large wooden door, his mouth only centimeters away from mine. “If I only get you for one night, then you can bet your ass I’m about to give you the ride of your life, cowgirl.”