Page 26 of Headstrong Cowboy
“Dashing and handsome, huh?”He glanced down at his pressed black trousers and black button-down shirt.He wore one of the commemorative bolos from a rodeo’s hundredth celebration.She’d noticed he didn’t have his hat on and liked it.“I was going for dangerous.”He waggled his eyebrows and Chrissy giggled at him.
“I suppose dashing, handsome,anddangerous work.Tell me something...”She leaned in so that her lips brushed his ear.“Are you going to kidnap me and tie me to the train tracks?”
Ryder burst out laughing, drawing the attention of a couple of the people standing near them.“I don’t know about the railroad tracks, but kidnapping you and having you all to myself wouldn’t be a bad thing.”
Had he pushed too far again?
No, she wasn’t pulling away or looking horrified.In fact, she looked like the idea appealed to her.
“I could get on board with that,” she said quietly.
Was that a hint of wistfulness in her voice?He had to have imagined it.Or was it wishful thinking on his part?He definitely had the financial means to whisk her away to any place she wanted to go.Maybe he’d ask her over dinner if there was a particular place she wanted to visit most in the world.“I’ll keep that in mind.Shall we go to the bar and have a drink?I got us a reservation for dinner, but it’s not until seven thirty.”
“Sounds great.Lead the way.”She held out her hand and he took it, loving the feel of her lightly callused hand in his.
They found a free table and sat.He couldn’t take his eyes off Chrissy.Whatever she wore, whether it was jeans and a T-shirt or a dress, like she had on tonight, she was beautiful.“You take my breath away.”The words burst out of him and he didn’t want to snatch them back.
She dropped her head a fraction, and her wavy caramel brown fell across her face like a curtain.“I don’t know what to say to that.”
“You don’t need to say anything.Just take it for what it is—a compliment.”
Did he sound a little condescending?He didn’t think so, but sometimes what a person thought didn’t sound so good when they said it out loud.
“It’s been a long time since someone complimented me.”
Knowing that she’d been married had more questions forming in his mind about it.Had her husband turned into an asshole?Or was he being unfair to the man?Perhaps she’d been divorced for years and the guys she’d dated hadn’t been big on giving compliments.
Ryder didn’t ask any of those questions, but he would.He wanted to get to know everything about her.“What would you like to drink?”he asked instead, smiling up at the server who walked over to the table.
“I’ll have a chardonnay, thanks,” Chrissy said.
“I’ll have a scotch on the rocks, top shelf please.”
The server nodded and walked away.The place was busy, but not as noisy as if they’d gone to Grey’s.
“Was your sister home?”he asked Chrissy.
“She was.But I was walking past one of the stores on Main Street and saw this dress.Walked in, tried it on, and here we are.Tilly did let me shower at her place, though,” she finished with an impish grin.
“What is the age difference between you all?”
“My parents had us close together.There’s nineteen months between me and Sunny and eighteen months between Sunny and Tilly.”
“Oh, the teenage years must have been fun in your household,” Ryder commented after the server placed their drinks on the table.
Chrissy laughed and held up her glass.Ryder touched the rim of hers with his glass.“There were times when three bedroom doors slammed simultaneously.But if someone did something to one of us, that person felt the wrath of the Bloom sisters.We had each other’s backs.There was no way I was going to let anyone hurt Sunny and Tilly.And they would do the same for me or each other.”
“I envy you having that.Knowing that no matter what was happening or where, when you needed it the most, you had someone you could always count on.”There was no way to keep the longing and sadness out of his voice, and Ryder didn’t try to hide it.
He startled when Chrissy’s hand landed on his.“You didn’t have any brothers or sisters?”
He’d wanted their evening to be light and fun, but it wasn’t going to be the case.In the back of his mind, he’d known that tonight would be heavier than their first date.He had questions for her about her past, which would lead to questions about his own.He’d managed to get through their horse ride without having to talk about his land in Texas, and how it had changed his life in a way that he hadn’t expected, and how it had led him to where he was now—in Marietta.“I grew up in foster care.”
Chrissy nodded, not giving him the hum of sympathy he’d heard many times when he mentioned it to the women he was dating.In the end, he never talked about his family with his dates and, if anyone asked, he smoothly changed the subject.
“I want to say, ‘I’m sorry,’ but I don’t think that’s what you need, or want, to hear.”
He quirked his lips.“You’d be right.Thank you for not saying it.”
