Page 10 of Cowboy Falling Hard

“Maybe I won’t.” He grinned a little to himself, not necessarily at the idea of outsmarting, so to speak, the Piece Makers.

More because his persistence had paid off. Now that he’d gotten what he wanted, he felt the heavy weight of wanting to impress her. Making her see that she was getting something good by being with him. He wanted to do everything perfectly.

“I had two houses I was going to make offers on, but they both got sold out from under me when I had my realtor check on them. I guess it’s not as imperative now, if I don’t need the Piece Makers, but I really did want to move to Sweet Water. Do you have any insider information on someone who might be selling?”

Bryce chuckled a little, but then he said, “No. But I haven’t been paying attention. I’ll check around, make a few calls, and see what I can find. And Peyton has a lot of good contacts at the bakeshop. I’ll ask her to keep an ear out too.”

“Thanks.” Dwight tapped the steering wheel. He had been planning on finding a home in Sweet Water, but he’d been staying with Bryce whenever he was in town. And hadn’t been in a rush, since Bryce’s house was more than big enough, and Bryce had told him he could stay as long as he wanted to.

Now that Bryce was getting married and would have two children and a wife with him, maybe it would be slightly more crowded, but Bryce hadn’t urged him to leave in any way.

Still, he felt a little like the odd man out when he was with them now. Not to mention, seeing them together just brought home the fact that he was alone.

By choice, he reminded himself. After all, there were plenty of women in Houston who would have been with him in a heartbeat. But he suspected that was mostly for his money. He wanted a woman who was going to care about him as a man, as a person, and not see dollar signs and prestige when she looked at him.

Guilt did a slow loop around his stomach since he knew his actions had been the very opposite of what he actually wanted. Why would he talk about all of his accomplishments in baseball when he was with Orchid, if he didn’t want her to see that but wanted her to see him?

That night, it was difficult for him to go to sleep, because he was trying to figure out where he should take her.

And trying to go over everything in his mind to make sure his date with Orchid would be perfect.

On Thursday, he was early as he pulled into her drive. Five minutes early.

But she was ready and came down the steps as he pulled in. His hands were sweating as he opened his door and got out. She wore jeans and some kind of white flowing top, along with cowgirl boots.

At the auction, her hair was always up in a ponytail, and he wasn’t sure if he’d ever seen it down, but tonight, blonde waves flowed around her shoulders. He liked it.

His mouth felt dry, and he tried to clear his throat so his voice came out in the right octave. He was almost successful.

“You look nice.” Nice wasn’t exactly the word he wanted to use, but he didn’t want to overwhelm her. “I have a fun evening planned,” he said. Honestly though, as she looked up at him, smiling a little, he couldn’t remember any of the things he had wanted to do.

Thankfully, he could at least remember he had wanted to open her door. So he walked around the car and did that. He had wanted to greet her with a hug, but that felt a little bit too much. Again, he didn’t want to scare her away.

In the car on the way to Rockerton, he told her stories about his baseball days, making sure she knew he was ready to move to North Dakota. He didn’t want her thinking that if she was with him, she’d have to move to Texas.

The bar he’d decided to take her to was packed, even for Thursday night. The online reviews he’d read must have been accurate. Good food, good dancing, good music.

He thought the night went well, even if Orchid was a little quiet. That was her personality after all. And he could talk for both of them. It gave him an opportunity to put his best foot forward and show her all the reasons she would be better off with him.

He’d been to his share of bars, and while it wasn’t his favorite place to spend an evening, it was where all of his friends had a good time, and it was where he figured he had the best odds of impressing Orchid.

He sang karaoke, and he wasn’t bad. In fact, in the competition they were having that evening, he came in second. The competitive part of his nature wanted first place, but considering there were twenty or more competitors, he wasn’t upset.

He was a decent dancer and knew his way around not just the dance floor but the food and the music and the people. It all felt familiar to him, if not exceptionally fun. But he’d do whatever he needed to do to impress Orchid.

And she seemed like she was having a good time.

They finally left the bar, and he felt satisfied he’d done a good job of getting her off the farm, away from the auction barn and all the work she was always doing, and showing her a good time.

He wasn’t sure what he talked about on the way home, just filled the silence with words. Wanting to keep the good vibes going.

He was pretty pleased with himself when he pulled into her drive and turned to look at her. If she asked him in, he would go. He wanted to meet her family; although he’d seen all of them at the auction barn at some point, he wanted to meet them. He felt like he could impress them as well.

She didn’t say anything as they pulled to a stop, reaching for her door handle.

“Hold on. I’ll get it.” He didn’t always get the door for his dates, but Orchid had seemed like she was surprised and pleased when he had opened it for her to get in.

So he took a chance.

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