Page 63 of Wild and Wrangled

“So,” he said after a minute, “is it true that this place won an architectural award for their bathrooms?”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “What are you talking about?”

“Bathrooms,” he said with a smile. “I heard they have backlit white onyx and gold-plated sinks.”

“They do,” I supplied. “The bathrooms are actually annoyingly gorgeous.”

“Annoying,” he repeated, and I gave him a small smile. I knew what he was doing—lifting the weight again. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

“No,” I said honestly, but I was hoping this might help change my parents’ opinion of me. Maybe they’d see that I was fine. I didn’t make it down the aisle, and everyone survived. I still had a good job, and I lived in a house I loved. I was happy. Maybe they’d see that was more important than their expectations of me.

Even though I wasn’t quite happy—not yet. But I thought that I could be.

“You don’t have to do this,” Dusty said. “We can go hit up a middle-class chain restaurant instead.”

I shook my head. “I have to,” I said, and when I looked over at Dusty, I thought I saw him physically bite his tongue. I knew how he felt about my parents. I didn’t need to hear it right now. They would probably think I brought him to piss them off on purpose, but I didn’t. I brought him because even though I could do this alone—I could do everything alone—I liked that I didn’t have to.

“Okay, then,” Dusty said. “Let’s go check out these bathrooms.”

Chapter 28

Cam

The inside of the lodge was beautiful. It was gorgeous on a normal day, but tonight, it was sparkling. White and red rose flower arrangements, frosted glasses, and bubbly champagne. The Ashwoods spared no expense—they never did.

Dusty checked my coat for me and then returned to my side. “Do you want a drink?” he asked, and I nodded. He grabbed two flutes of champagne off a tray as a waiter passed by. I watched the waiter give Dusty a double take. The tattoos on his neck and hands were the only ones visible at the moment, but that was enough for him to stand out—plus the long hair and the nose ring.

Dusty didn’t seem to notice, though. His eyes were just on me. “What do you think your parents will think when they see me here?” He took a sip of champagne and placed his hand on the middle of my back.

“They’ll live,” I said, taking a shaggy breath, as if trying to convince myself. Dusty was what got me here, so for that, they should at least be kind of grateful.

“I love to see that spine, Ash…and feel it,” Dusty said. His hand dipped a little lower just as I took a sip of champagne, which was not great timing, because it caught in my throat, and I started to cough.

“Easy there, killer.” Dusty laughed. He took the champagne flute out of my hand and set both of our glasses on a table. “Dance with me.”

This time, when he stretched out his hand, I took it and let him lead me to the dance floor.

The song was a simple waltz, but I didn’t expect Dusty to know that, so I just put my arms over his shoulders so we could step and sway to the music. But Dusty took one of my hands in his and placed the other on my waist before he started leading us.

“You know how to waltz?” I asked.

“Full of surprises.” He grinned, and I let out a shocked laugh. He was a little fumbly, but mostly, he was good—more than passable. “I used to watch YouTube videos when we were in high school,” he said. “I remembered you saying that you had to dance whenever your parents had or went to an event, and I wanted to be prepared…just in case I ever got to go with you.”

“You mean in case I ever forced you to come with me?”

Dusty shook his head. “No. You’re a privilege, Cam. Being in your presence is a goddamn honor.” I looked over his shoulder instead of at him. What the hell was I supposed to say to that?

“I can’t believe you did that when you were so young…for someone who wasn’t even a sure thing,” I said.

I felt his shoulder shrug under my hand. “You’ve always been a sure thing to me,” he said softly.

“Dusty…” I trailed off. “You can’t talk like that.”

“Like what?” he asked.

“Like we’re more than what we are,” I said.

“I think you’re going to have to enlighten me then,” he responded. “What are we?”

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