Page 20 of Beneath the Midnight Sky
Rowan
I finishedmy drink and paid my tab for the evening. I needed to be clear-headed going into this tonight. I wanted to make her see how serious I was about this—about us. So serious that it actually scared me, if I was going to be honest with myself.
I’d been thinking about it all afternoon since my talk with Oliver. I’d even called my mom on the way over here after I’d finished up with work. She’d gently reminded me that I could end up alone and regret not taking the chance, or I could take the damn chance and find the best thing of my life. She helped me realize the only real way to know if this was real and something I truly wanted was to go for it. So that was my intention. To be real, open, and honest about how I was feeling when it came to Aspen. It scared the fuck out of me, but my dad used to love telling us that we never knew unless we tried. So, I was trying.
Lucas walked back over with my card and receipt. “So did ya scare her off with the talk?”
“Eavesdropping doesn’t look good on you, man,” I chuckled. “But no, I don’t think I scared her off. Honestly, I have no idea what the hell I’m doing with this woman, but I’m trying.”
Lucas and I had gone to school together, and when shifts were slower around the bar, he helped us out at the ranch. It wasn’t as much anymore, though. The Roadhouse was becoming more of a staple during the rodeo circuit for out-of-towners.
He leaned down on his side of the bar in front of me and smiled sadly. “I’ll give you a piece of advice—take it slow. I have no idea where she came from or what made her run, but when she showed up, she was scared of everything and everyone. Every male customer who came in made her jump. She wouldn’t be alone with any of us except Ivy. Someone fucked her up, Rowan.” He shook his head, watching her for a moment before looking back at me. “She seems like she’s finally starting to be okay. So just…don’t fuck it up for her. Ya know? She’s a sweet girl.”
With that, he picked up his rag from the bar and walked away to start cleaning up. I looked down at my hands, still sitting atop the bar, and took a deep breath. I didn’t want to fuck anything up for her, but I genuinely had no idea what I was doing. I just knew that I wanted her every day and all day. But I didn’t know how to commit or make a woman happy outside of my mom and sister, and something told me this definitely was not the same rodeo. I’d never committed to a single person in my life. I didn’t even have a dog for fuck’s sake.
Setting my head in my hands, I ran them up and down my face a few times. It was going to be fine. I could do this for her, fuck the inner turmoil. I was going to do this.
My phone started buzzing in my pocket. Pulling it out of my pocket, I smiled when I realized it was my sibling group chat.
Payton: So, I hear you’re in love, Ro, and I haven’t even gotten to meet the unlucky gal yet. What the hell?
Wyatt: Oh, he’s wayyy in love. I’ve seen it for myself.
Theo: Heart eyes since the moment he saw her across the bar.
Oliver: Damn. Here I thought I was special when you asked for brotherly advice. Seems everyone knows now.
Me: In love? Maybe. Should probably lock her down before y’all bunch of crazies scare her off, though.
Payton: As if I would ever! For Theo? Absolutely. But never the rest of you. Either way, Mom and I can’t wait to meet her!
Theo: I don’t need any help scaring a woman off, Payton. Thanks anyway.
Me: … probably shouldn’t admit that one, bro.
Payton: Moving on.
I shook my head. Of course, Payton had already heard about her. This small town would settle for nothing less. I didn’t know why I was shocked. They’d probably heard about the dance contest last night. I don’t think there was a person there who didn’t have their jaw on the floor seeing us dance together. Not that Aspen seemed to notice, which was fine with me. Her eyes were on me all night, not worried about a single thing happening around us. It felt damn good.
Looking back down at the message thread with my siblings, I smiled as a few photos came through. It was screenshots from The Raven’s social media page. Apparently, they’d gotten a couple of candids of us dancing together and shared them with the caption announcing us as last night’s winners.
This was how Payton had known. I scrolled through the three photos she’d sent and realized quickly how she figured out I was in love. I looked really fucking in love. I cropped my favorite of the three, setting it as my new background.
One of the photos was from when we were line dancing. I had just spun her out, and she was holding my hand and looking back at me laughing.
The second was us side by side doing the two-step, smiling at each other, our eyes locked.
The third, however, was my new background. It was when we had been slow dancing. My hand was on her lower back, the other holding her opposite hand. Our foreheads were pressed together, looking deep into each other’s eyes. We did look madly in love, and I wasn’t nearly as upset about it as I thought I’d be. If anything, it inflated my caveman male ego. It made me want to jump atop this bar and scream “she’s mine” at anyone who wasn’t sure or looked at her for too long.
I was shaking my head, trying to clear away the crazy male testosterone thoughts that had consumed me, when she finally sat down beside me again. “Did you still want to do…whatever?”
I could tell she was nervous. She was fidgeting slightly and refusing to look me in the eyes for too long. “Yes. Yes, I do. Did you need anything from your apartment?”
Her eyes widened. “Are we going to your place?”
“If you’d like to. I think I’d like to show it to you.”
She slowly nodded, eyes still wide. “Oh, uhm, I should probably grab a change of clothes or whatever.”
