Page 53 of Fastlander Fealty

The need to touch him became overwhelming, and she slid her flipflop clad feet between his work boots, and put a small tension of her ankles around one of his. He squeezed her back, and a fluttering sensation consumed her stomach.

Oooh, she really liked him.

Here in this moment, it felt like nothing bad could touch her. It was just her and Owen—they were the only ones who existed. After the emotional up-and-down day, this was the perfect ending.

They weren’t around the Fastlanders, or around the Holland Pride. She and Owen were just in neutral territory exploring each other, with no one looking over their shoulder, and it felt so good. Better than anything she could remember. It felt like freedom.

Owen wouldn’t let her help pay for dinner, on account of him being the one who asked her out on the date, and afterward, she thought he would march her back across the street to the hotel, but instead he took her by the hand and led her down the sidewalk toward a strip of stores.

They window-shopped and chatted easily, and she thought it couldn’t get any more perfect than tonight. The weather was warm, but the breeze created the perfect temperature, Owen seemed so happy to just be with her, exploring this part of Cheyenne. When they came up to a shop that sold western boots, he opened the door for her and waited for her to go inside. It smelled like rich leather, and she fingered the fabric of a spaghetti strap dress in a pretty burgundy color.

“You would look hot in that,” Owen told her.

“Me?” she asked automatically.

“Try it on. You have to do the entire outfit though. Belt over the waist like on the manikin, and a hat and boots. Here,” he said, pulling a second dress in white off the rack. “Try this one too.”

“I’ll never have anywhere to wear this stuff to,” she pointed out.

“Just have fun,” he told her, flipping through a rack of cut-off shorts with W’s stitched onto the back pockets. Cute.

She had a stack of clothes by the time she made it to the dressing room, and a worker was excitedly helping her and Owen, who was picking out clothes for himself as well.

The dressing rooms were gender neutral, which was fun because they would count down and jump out of their rooms to show each other each outfit. And Owen liked posing with her in front of a full-length mirror. She had never laughed so much in her life!

He was goofy and quick-witted, and adventurous and fun.

He loved the burgundy dress on her, but even better, he liked a pair of the cut-off W shorts on her paired with a white eyelet, thin-strapped top, and a pair of tan boots with stitched humming birds on them. The boots even had a little heel so her legs looked longer in them. He put a tan hat on her head and stood back, clad in his thin white beer logo T-shirt, and new jeans, and boots.

From the way he dragged his gaze up and down her body, pausing at the hot spots, she could tell he really liked this outfit on her.

“I’m getting this for you,” he rumbled.

“What? All of it? Owen, that’s a lot of money.” The boots alone were two hundred dollars. “I won’t have anywhere to wear any of this to. No.” She shook her head and looked at the outfit in the mirror again. “Thank you, but no. It’s too much.”

“When was the last time you felt this damn good in an outfit?” he asked.

She didn’t want to answer.

“When?” he pushed.

“Never,” she admitted low.

“Plus, me buying you this is a selfish thing. It’s really for me.”

“For you how?”

“Because it sets up the next question.”

“What question?” she asked softly.

“Will you go on another date with me?”

Stunned, she whispered, “When?”

“Tomorrow night. It’s the last night of the rodeo. I can still get us tickets. You’ll have somewhere to wear this to.”

She gripped the raw hem of the shorts and glanced at herself in the mirror again, hope filling her chest. Everything fit her like it was made for her. Could she allow him to do this? Spend this much money on her?

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