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Then a man came over to the table, a cowboy probably somewhere around Alaina’s age. A rancher from a surrounding area or one of the ranch hands from somewhere else, she assumed. He approached her, a smile on his face. “Care to dance, miss?”
And she looked over at Gus, who looked instantly furious.
“Sorry,” Alaina said. “I’m here with my husband.”
He jumped back. “Sorry. I couldn’t tell...who was with who.”
Because of course Charity was on the other side of Gus with the same amount of distance between him and her that was between the two of them. He didn’t touch her casually the way that his brothers did with their wives. So how would this guy know?
“In that case,” the guy said, “doyouwant to?”
Charity’s expression went incredibly bland. And she could tell that the other woman was waffling between her desire to not sit there and be in this awkward situation, and her offense over being the man’s second choice.
“Why not,” she said, standing. Alaina couldn’t help but notice her white socks.
Alaina kept her eyes on them, watching as Charity struggled to get into a rhythm with the guy.
“Oh no,” Alaina said.
Then she looked over at Gus, who was still scowling.
“So what the hell is up with that?” he asked.
“What?”
“Men are all over you all the time. Even though you’re pregnant. And married to me.”
She narrowed her eyes, genuinely irritated with him. “I’m hot, Gus,” she bit out. “I don’t know what to tell you.”
“I’m not saying you aren’t pretty. Obviously, you’re pretty. It’s just...you seem to attract a lot of attention for someone sitting right next to her husband.”
“You aren’t dancing with me. And you aren’t even sitting closer to me than you were to Charity. Sure, we have rings on, but we don’t look like we’re together.”
He looked slightly stricken by that. “Really?”
“Yes. Really. Gus, this is a meat market. People come here to get meat. Whatever the hell that all means. But it’s a metaphor for sex. At home what we have is passionate. But you certainly don’t show it out here. Look at the way that Elsie and Hunter are. And Tag and Nelly. They act like a couple. It radiates off of them. We’re just...two people who happen to be married who also sleep together. It’s different. And it looks different.” She sighed. “We look more like Lachlan and Charity.”
She tried not to sound hurt by it. She tried not tobehurt about it. Because it wasn’t personal. She knew it.
It was just how Gus was. Soft, yes, but underneath a wall of granite. Showing it wasn’t easy for him.
She had been really excited that he wanted to take her out. But he was just still Gus. Even here. And they hadn’t...they hadn’t crossed whatever bridge that was. That changed things from bed partners who happened to live together to...to a couple.
It was being here and seeing this that made her realize how they were different from the others, and that she didn’t want to be.
She wanted more. She wanted to know more about the Gus that rescued kittens, and read to his brothers and rescued her. She wanted to get down to that man that clearly had a softness inside of him. That obviously felt things very deeply. But she didn’t know how, and he certainly wasn’t giving her a map.
“Fuck it,” he said. “Dance with me.”
Alaina was staring at him like he’d just sworn in a church. “What?”
“As declarations go, that is not the most romantic one.”
“I’m not trying to be romantic. I’m trying to give you what you want.”
“What doyouwant, Gus?”
“For men to stop thinking you’re available. So if it takes dancing and whatever else, then I’ll do it.”
