COWBOY ROMANCE: Justin (Western Contemporary Alpha Male Bride Romance) (The Steele Brothers Book 1) (58 page)

              “He probably pictured you sitting in a bar with a biker,” he teased.

              “Exactly!” She laughed. “I think he was concerned that I would be corrupted by the fast-pace life, but I assured him it would take more than that for me to forget my morals.” She remembered back to the night she had told her parents her plan. Her father had told her that he didn’t think she was strong enough to handle the city. He didn’t think she would be able to make it, but she tried to convince herself that it was only because he was scared for her. She remembered how hard she had cried that night despite how much she’d tried to tell herself it was only because he cared about her.

              Although her family had always been close throughout her childhood, she and her parents didn’t often see eye to eye. They were very old-fashioned in their views, whereas she was very open-minded. They were often judgmental of modern-day norms that she saw no issue with. She could only imagine what her father would say if he found out she wasn’t a virgin.

              “I don’t know. You seem pretty strong-willed. I think you’ll be just fine.”

              “Strong-willed…stubborn…bull-headed.” She laughed. “I think those words have been used to describe me before.”

              “What a coincidence. I’ve been called those a few times too.”

              “You don’t say.” She shot him a flirtatious smile. It was as if time stood still around them as they sat and talked for hours. They paid no mind to the dozens of people who came and went, filling the air around them with noise. After a couple hours and several more glasses of wine, Chelsea let out a lazy yawn and checked her phone for the time.

              “Is it really midnight already?!” she exclaimed.

              “Geez. I didn’t realize it was so late.” Trying to jump from the barstool, Chelsea lost her balance and nearly fell to the ground. “Whoa!” Ben exclaimed as he quickly tried to steady her.

              “I’m okay.” She laughed. “I’m just really clumsy.”

              “And a little drunk maybe?” He couldn’t help but laugh at how adorable she was when in denial.

              Chelsea hastily looked all around her. “Shhhh,” she said while holding her finger to her mouth. “Let’s just keep that between us.” She raised her hand to the bartender, who made his way slowly over to her. “Sir? I need to settle my tab.”

              “Sir?” Ben laughed.

              “Yes. It’s polite,” she slurred. As the bartender returned with their tabs, Ben took both of them and handed him a card. “Oh, no. I can get mine.”

              He easily pushed her hand away as she tried to hand the bartender her own card. “I got it. It’s been nice talkin’ with ya.”

              “Are you sure? You really don’t have to do that
. I had a lot of drink
s.” Chelsea instantly regretted how immature she sounded. He probably had that many drinks every night, and here she was stumbling over her words, unable to handle her liquor.
How embarrassing
.

              “I want to. Plus, you’re the one without a job.” Ben began to laugh but straightened up when she gave him a playfully angry look. “Too soon?”

              “Way too soon.” Chelsea gathered her items and began heading to the door with Ben shortly behind her. Out on the sidewalk, Chelsea turned to face him with a coy smile. “This was really nice. Thank you for everything.”

              “Nah, thank you. It’s been really fun.” The tension between them was so thick that you could have cut it with a knife. “Here,” Ben said as he pulled out a pen and began writing on the back of a scrap receipt he had in his pocket. “Call me sometime. I’d be happy to show you around the city.”

              She could feel her heart beating harder than she thought was humanly possible in anticipation of this night ending. “Let me get you cab,” Ben said as he stepped up to the curb and hailed a yellow taxi. “I guess this is good night.” As the car pulled up beside them, they stood silently staring into each other’s eyes.

              Without thinking, Chelsea stepped forward and put her hands on either side of his face, pulling his lips hard against her own. Sparks went shooting through her, and she knew that this wasn’t a normal instant attraction. There was something else there, something more. “Good night,” she whispered as she pulled back from him.

              “Good night.” He wore a beautiful, bright white smile that almost convinced her not to go. She had never had an urge to go home with a man she’d just met until now, but she wasn’t that type of girl. She wouldn’t allow her clouded judgement to change who she was and what she stood for. As the cab pulled from the curb, she looked back to see him running his hands through his hair, so effortlessly handsome.

              Sitting on her couch sipping coffee, Chelsea replayed the night before in her head. She couldn’t believe the butterflies that fluttered through her stomach at just the thought of him. “Hey,” Taylor said as she walked into the room and plopped lazily beside her.

              “Good morning.”

              “What happened to you last night? You didn’t come in ’til really late…and I heard a lot of crashing noises.”

              Chelsea tried her hardest to stifle her laugh. “I might have tripped over the rug and knocked all the stuff off the coffee table.”

              Taylor dramatically rolled her eyes. “I should have guessed. So what kept you out? You’re never out late. I was starting to worry about you.”

              “Well…I met this guy…”

              “What?!” Taylor exclaimed, sitting up straighter and turning her whole body to face Chelsea. “Tell. Me. Everything.” Taylor was your stereotypical sorority girl: extremely excited for any type of juicy drama.

              “I spent the entire morning, and most of the afternoon, passing out resumes, but no one was interested. Every single place I went to either had a thousand resumes on file or weren’t hiring any time soon. By the time I got to—” Before Chelsea was able to finish her sentence, Taylor eagerly interrupted her.

              “Yeah, yeah. But what about the guy? Tell me about him!”

              “I’m getting to it,” Chelsea said and laughed. “By the time I got to the last place on my list, I was so upset that I needed a drink. So I found a bar and went in hoping to drink my problems away. This guy sat down next to me and, long story short, we had a great night.”

              “No! No long story short! Tell me everything. Was he hot? What did he look like?” Taylor said, bouncing up and down with excitement.

              “Oh, he was
soooo
cute!” Chelsea relished in her memories. “He had this adorable shaggy blond hair and the perfect amount of scruff. Oh! And he was a biker with a leather jacket and all.”

              “A biker? How dangerous!” she teased.

“I know. That’s the problem.”

              “Problem? I see no problem with that.”

              “Well…” Chelsea didn’t know how to best put into words the internal conflict she had been battling all night. “We are so different that I don’t think anything could ever come from it. He’s got a rough past and…well…you know my past.”

              “So what?! Opposites attract, you know?” Taylor exclaimed. Chelsea still wasn’t so convinced. Even if everything did work out for them, what would her parents think of him? Could her parents ever be accepting of someone with such a rough past? Although she was worried what her parents would think, there was also a part of her that was tired of planning her life around what they expected of her. “All that really matters is if you like him. Do you like him?”

“He was so great, Taylor,” Chelsea said, relishing in the thought. “After a couple shots of tequila—”

              “Whoa! He got you to drink tequila? Do you know how long I’ve been trying to get you to do that?”

              “Well, turn into a gorgeous man and I’ll consider doing things you want,” Chelsea mocked her. “Anyway, we sat and talked for hours. I feel like I’ve known him for all of my life. There is just something so comforting and familiar about him. Plus, he gave me his number after he kissed me good night.”

              “Eeeeekkkk,” Taylor squealed with excitement. “Have you called him?! Please tell me you’ve called!”

              “It hasn’t even been twenty-four hours.” Chelsea laughed as she batted the air between them.

              “So what! Call him!”

              “Taylor, stop it.” She waved the thought away.

              “If you guys had a connection, then he’s thinking about you right now too. Call him!”

              Chelsea hesitated for a moment, thinking it over. “You think so? Won’t he think it’s too soon?”

              “No! Life is too short to worry about playing games. If you like him,
call him.”
Taylor emphasized each word as she said them.

              “Okay, okay!” she said in surrender. “I’ll text him.” She could feel a knot in her stomach just thinking about it. All of her life Chelsea had had a horrible fear of rejection, and she still couldn’t shake it. What if she scared him off? What if he wasn’t actually interested in her? It made her sick just thinking about it. She looked up to see Taylor watching her closely with excitement in her eyes. Taking a deep breath, she began to type out the message on her phone, and after backspacing everything several times, she finally settled on something simple.

              Chelsea:
Hey! This is Chelsea.

              Chelsea set her phone down on the table and tried her hardest to act as if it weren’t eating her alive to not check it every five seconds. Not even a minute had passed before her phone let out a loud beep. She nearly jumped off the couch trying to get to it as fast as possible.

              Ben:
Chelsea who?

              She could have cried she was so embarrassed. Taylor scooted in closer to her to read over her shoulder. She inhaled a sharp breath and gave Chelsea a look of pity. Within seconds her phone beeped again.

              Ben:
I’m totally kidding. Sorry. That probably wasn’t funny. What’s up?

              Taylor let out a laugh. “Funny and cute! That’s the whole package.”

              “Not funny. He made me feel like a complete idiot.” Chelsea pretended as hard as she could to be mad, but she was so overwhelmingly relieved that she knew it wasn’t very convincing.

              Chelsea
: Not too much. What about you?

             
Ben:
Nothing. I had a great time with you last night. I was actually just thinking about you.

             
Taylor squealed so loudly that Chelsea had to cover her ears. “Can you relax?”

              “He said he was thinking about you! How are
you
relaxed?”

             
Chelsea:
I had fun too. Thanks for everything.

             
Taylor smacked her arm and gave her an exasperated look. “Ask him out, you goof!”

              “What? No. If he wants to go out he’ll ask me. That’s how it works.”

              “In the fifties! Don’t play any games. Just ask him out if you want to go out.” Chelsea sat in silence and thought over the possible outcomes of the situation. On one hand, if she waited to ask him, he may lose interest and think that she didn’t want to go out again. But on the other hand, he could think she was desperate and pathetic if she asked now.

              Ben:
Do you have plans tonight?

              Her heart skipped a beat. He wanted to go out with her again! She couldn’t believe that someone like him would be interested in someone like her. Chelsea began to type that she and Taylor had plans when she got slapped in the arm. “Don’t you dare turn him down! We can drink wine and sit around gossiping any night.” Biting her lip, Chelsea erased what she had previously written and tried again.

              Chelsea:
Not yet.

             
Ben:
I thought I might show you around the city. Would you be up for it?

             
Chelsea:
That sounds like fun.

             
Ben:
Great. I’ll pick you up at 7.

             
*

              “Taylor!” Chelsea yelled from the bathroom in exasperation.

              “What?” she yelled back.

              “Help me pick which earrings look best!” Within seconds Taylor came bouncing through the doorway, excited to be included. Chelsea held an earring up to each ear as Taylor looked them over thoroughly, taking her job very seriously.

              “The ones on the left,” she finally replied.

              “Are you sure? They’re not too flashy?”

              “Chelsea, it’s a first date. Flashy is what you want. Speaking of flashy, let me grab something.” As Taylor scurried off to her room, Chelsea hung the beautiful teardrop diamond earrings from her ears. After an entire day of scouring her closet, she had finally settled on a pair of jeans and a simple chiffon blouse that hung loosely from her. “Here!” Taylor exclaimed as she shoved a lipstick tube at Chelsea.

              “This is really dark,” Chelsea protested, looking at the color.

              “Come on. It’ll look great on you. Plus, you need to spice up your boring outfit.”

              “Hey now!” Chelsea laughed in fake offense. “I was trying to go more casual.”

              “I’m just kidding. You look great.” A loud knock came from the front door, causing Chelsea’s stomach to drop. “I’ll get the door. Hurry! Put that on.” Taylor rushed off to open the door while Chelsea quickly applied the lipstick. Taylor was right, it did look really good on her. She could hear her dad in the back of her mind reminding her that only women of the night wore lipstick like that. Chelsea quickly pushed the thought from her head. She would not allow his opinions to make her feel less about herself. “Just one minute!” she heard Taylor yell.

              Taylor came quickly back into the bathroom and dramatically mouthed, “Oh my god.”

              “Right? Isn’t he cute?”

              “Sexy is more like it! Hurry up. You don’t want to keep him waiting,” Taylor whispered. Looking herself over one more time in mirror, Chelsea made her way into the front room to see Ben sitting on her couch. He was even cuter than she had remembered.

              Quickly standing when she walked in the room, he said, “Wow. You look great.”

              “Thank you. You do too.”

              “You kids have fun now. Don’t keep her out too late!” Taylor said as they walked out the door of their apartment. “I have an app that tracks her phone! Keep that in mind!” she yelled down the hall behind them.

              Chelsea let out a bashful laugh. “She’s kidding, by the way…. Not about the app—we really do have that—but about her implying you were going to kill me and ditch my dead body…” The words fell from her mouth like vomit despite how hard she tried to hold them back. She silently cursed herself for being so awkward.

              “You’re cute when you’re nervous.” Ben laughed. “She would be right to imply it though…” He gave her a devilish grin. “Only kidding. I promise not to murder you…or at least not to ditch your body somewhere…”

              His light sense of humor made her relax and feel more at ease. She knew he was being sincere when he told her that he thought her nervousness was cute, but she still felt stupid. It was one thing she was always extremely self-conscious about: word vomiting when she got anxious.

              Once they got out onto the street, Ben walked straight to a motorcycle parked by the curb and handed her one of the helmets off the back of it. “Wait. We’re riding this?”

              “Yeah. It’s a lot easier to store a bike in the city than a car.” He could see the nervous look in Chelsea’s eyes as she looked over the machine in front of her. “Wait. You’ve never ridden one ’fore?” She shook her head no, looking ashamed. “It’s not as scary as it seems. Promise.”

              She still hadn’t moved from the sidewalk as she weighed it over in her mind. “You trust me?” Ben asked her. Without needing to think, she nodded yes. “Give me your hand.” Chelsea obliged by putting her hand in his and allowing him to pull her closer to the motorcycle. “Just swing your leg over the edge here.” It warmed her heart to see how gently he was guiding her through learning something new. “Ya got it! Now just put your arms around my waist. You can squeeze me as tight as you need to. You ready?”

              Hesitantly, Chelsea nodded, and when she realized he couldn’t see her behind him, she said, “I think so!”

              “All right then. Hold on.” With that they were off and whipping through traffic. She clung tightly to him and tucked her face into his shoulder to avoid the cold wind. They only drove for a few minutes before they pulled into an alley and he cut the engine. “We’re here.”

              “Where is here? Where you’re going to leave my body?” she asked jokingly as she looked up and down the dark, abandoned alley. 

              “I have a surprise for ya. You’ll live through it, don’t worry.” He helped her off the bike and opened the back door to a building that lined the alley with a key he pulled from his pocket.

              “What is this place?” she asked as he hit the light switch and things slowly became visible. It was a small, dark space with pub tables shoved against the walls.

              “It used to be an old bar.”

              “Why do you have a key to it?” she asked quizzically.

              Ben looked around the room and smiled. “Because I own it.”