It’s all I give her before heading into the crowd of tables, badly needing a distraction from my thoughts and that conversation. I have time to take an order from one of my tables before Wyatt takes the stage, and the place erupts in a thunderous chorus of screaming. It’s been loud in here all night when the guys take the stage, but they’ve hit a new level of frenzy with Wyatt.
The power of social media.
It’s then that I realize there’s no chance I’ll be able to take orders from any of my tables. They’re all zeroed in on the man on stage, and rightfully so. Wyatt is a catch.
I lean against one of the pillars towards the back of the room so I can watch without obstructing anyone’s view, and then I give myself over to the man dancing.
“I’m the party lovin’, horseback ridin’, whiskey drinkin’ son of a gun—”
Wyatt downs a shot that Jordan hands him, and then he’s shaking his butt all over the stage. Seconds later, I burst into laughter when the guys all come out riding hobbyhorses, the speakers blaring the country song overhead.
“Take my horse to the honkytonk—”
Everyone here is either laughing, gasping, or screaming as four firefighters dance around in their jeans and sleeveless plaid button up shirts. I’ve never seen them all in cowboy hats, but I’ll admit they look good. Even Nate.
Wyatt looks the most natural in his, though. Heck, the most natural on stage. He’s eating up the crowd’s attention, letting the emotion and energy from the room fuel him as he dances to “Ride” by Clayton Jenkins. We listened to it the night we rode around in his truck, both of us singing along. The fun-loving cowboy in thesong sees a girl he can’t get out of his head, but the girl denies him and won’t take what he’s trying to give.
Oh.
Oh god. I stand up a bit straighter against the pillar, my eyes widening. Did he pick this song because of me? Because of us? Was this some kind of secret message that he was trying to send to me? Did he hope—
The thought cuts off when Wyatt jumps down from the stage. At the same time, the girls jump on their men’s backs to ride them around. Wyatt should be going to find Quinn. I know this part because the girls were all talking about it at lunch. Wyatt jumps from the stage, finds Quinn in the crowd during the bridge, and she rides him back when the girl in the song finally accepts the cowboy.
Except when I look around like a deer in headlights, Quinn is on the opposite side of the bar from Wyatt, and he’s making his way through the tables straight towards…
Me.
He’s coming towards me.
My stomach swoops, and I slide my hands down the front of my black vest shirt that’s reminiscent of the white one I wore to our first date. A very conscious decision on my part, if I’m being honest.
While his eyes don’t linger anywhere specific, they do slide down my body, his grin threatening to split his face wide open, both dimples proudly on display as he gets closer. Women all around reach out and touch him like this is a different kind of show, but Wyatt takes it in stride. I, on the other hand, have an overwhelming urge to jump in and rip their arms straight from their sockets and swat them over the head like some kind of cavewoman.
I’m so screwed.
“I was smooth talkin’, Prince Charmin’, but she wasn’t havin’ it,” the song belts out, Wyatt finally reaching me. He reaches a hand to me, touching my chin to tilt it up to him, mischief dancing in the green depths of his eyes.
Prince Charming. Ironic that the song would call him that when the night we met, I felt like I’d be Cinderella the next day, and then ran away like I was.
My breath catches in my throat when Wyatt drops down in front of me for the next line, “Got on my knees, beggin’ her please—” His hands lift, begging me just like the song says, and my mouth parts into a surprised “O” as my feet take an involuntary step towards him.
The beat of my heart is ferocious, threatening to burst from my chest. At my sides, my hands shake, though I don’t know if it’s because of Wyatt or because I know all eyes in this room are on us. On the man at my feet, begging me to be his.
Even if it’s just a performance, we both know the truth.
“That’s where she wanted me, ‘cause she said, ‘I’m gonna get me some, ride cowboy ride.”
Wyatt pops up to his feet, and before I can blink, he’s dropping his cowboy hat onto my head. Then he’s running back towards the stage, jumping onto it with ease, leaving me there with his scent swimming all around me. The mixture of his sweat, citrus, and pine on a cold winter night.
The cowboy hat isn’t lost on me. I explained to Jordan what it would mean if I stole his hat, but not what it meant if he put it on me.
The man just claimed me. In front of everyone. Right before bidding.
Chapter 36
Bryn
“Whatdoyouthinkthat means?”
