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“Do you like kids?” I asked her, not really sure why I was going down this road, but I was curious. She looked like she would be a good mother.
“I do.” She nodded. “I love them. I hope to have a big family one day.”
“As big as mine?”
“Maybe not that big. I don’t know how your parents handled seven boys. It must have driven your mom absolutely crazy.”
“I think it must have. And my dad too.” I chuckled as I turned down a side road. We were getting closer to Rock Creek. Now I was excited to see what she would think of my favorite spot on the ranch. For some reason, I really wanted her to like it, to see the beauty in it. I knew that it looked different at night than it did during the day. My other brothers would have taken her during the daytime, I knew, to fully and truly appreciate the beauty—the mountains in the background, the sun, the birds flying. But I liked it at night. There was a stillness, a quiet. A peace that didn’t exist in the day.
It was otherworldly. Sometimes when I was there at night and I lay back and looked at the stars, I almost felt like I was in a different universe. I didn’t tell my brothers that, because obviously I wasn’t, and I didn’t want them to think that I wasn’t happy with my life or with them. I loved my family. But being the eldest brother of seven was a lot to live up to. I was the one they emulated. I was the one my parents expected to set an example. I had to be the perfect brother. I had to look after the family ranch. I had to make sure we were profitable—that everyone could eat. It all fell on me.
“Hey, Beau?” Olivia’s gentle voice interrupted my thoughts. I felt her hand on my shoulder. “You okay?”
“Yeah, sorry. Completely spaced out just then.”
“You were mumbling something.”
“Oh, what was I mumbling?”
“You were saying, you’re doing your best. What were you talking about?”
“Oh, I was just thinking about what it’s like to be the eldest brother in a large family.”
“I guess that’s a lot of responsibility, huh?”
“It is.” I looked over at her. She looked sympathetic and sexy. Her lips were beckoning to me; I wanted to taste them. It was a bad idea, but I knew before the night was done, I was going to kiss her. I didn’t care what anyone else had to say or think or how they’d react. And I could tell by the way her lips were trembling and how she was playing with her hair that she wanted me to kiss her too.
She licked her lips nervously, and it was all I could do not to pull over and stop the truck right then and there. But I wanted our first kiss to be magical. I wanted it to be under the moonlight right next to the Creek, where we could see our reflections in the water. I wanted her to remember tonight for the rest of her life. I didn’t know why or how or what that meant, and I didn’t care. For once in my life, I was just going with it. I wasn’t going to overthink it or overanalyze.
I was just going to let the chips fall where they may.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Olivia
“Have you ever heard that song, ‘Moon River’?” I asked Beau as we got out of the truck and walked toward the water. It was every bit as beautiful as he’d led me to believe. The full moon in the night sky reflected proudly off the shimmering water. The trees in the background were also illuminated, and I felt like I was in a magical land. One could believe in God in a place like this.
“Moon River? Hmm.” He appeared to be thinking as we stood side by side. “You mean the Audrey Hepburn song?”
“Yes.” I turned to him, happy that he knew it. “She sang it in—”
“Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” He grinned. “I know.”
“You’ve seen it?” I couldn’t keep the surprise out of my voice.
“Of course. It’s a classic.” He started humming; he had a nice, husky voice. “She sat in her window, strumming, wearing her jeans with a towel in her hair, and George Peppard was looking down at her.”
“You’ve really seen it.”
“I love classic movies.” He gave me a sideways smile. “What? You didn’t think a cowboy would enjoy watching movies?”
“I mean, Spiderman, Batman; hero movies, sure. But Audrey Hepburn?”
“I wanted to be a filmmaker,” he said softly. “And my mama, she loved to watch the classics. I guess her and her sister used to act in plays they wrote when they were kids. I think she wanted to be an actress when she was younger, but then she met my pops.”
“Oh, wow.”
“She could have made it as well. She was beautiful.”
