“My friends are all in LA, and so is my work. I do miss home, but I’ve created a new one here now.”
“And you like LA?” Lacey queries.
“Yeah, I do, I haven’t explored much of America yet. I’ve been to New York and Miami, but nothing else really till now.”
“And what do you think of Midnight Falls? It’s a world away from LA,” Jesse states.
“From what I’ve seen so far, I kind of love it. It looks like a cowboy movie set to me, it doesn’t seem real. I love how quaint and small it is.”
“When everyone knows your business, a small town ain’t so quaint,” Faith grumbles. I can appreciate that.
“Hope y’all are being nice to Derrick,” Charlie says, bringing back buckets of beers for everyone. Everly gets up and moves to another seat, letting Charlie sit beside me. His friends all grumble and moan to him about how nice they are, but when Charlie turns and looks at me, asking me if I am fine blocking out his friends, it makes my entire body tingle. No man has ever anticipated my needs as well as Charlie, no man has ever put me first, nor been truly honest with me. Didn’t think I could fall any harder for this man, but I do. When he sees my relaxed smile, he leans over and kisses me gently, and I melt.
“Hey, no making out at the table, you’re making all of us singles jealous,” Austin chastises him. Charlie flips him off and proceeds to grab my face and kiss the hell out of me, which sets the table off with hoots and hollers and makes my cheeks burn bright red, and I hardly ever get embarrassed. Charlie smirks triumphantly at me as he slides an arm around, pulling me closer to him. Then the night continues as if I’m one of the gang, and I have the best time.
“Relax, everything is going to be okay,” Charlie tries to reassure me as he saddles up Maverick for me. He’s taking me horse riding, something I’ve never been into ever since I was bucked off a horse at the school fete when I was five. “Goose is a good boy, aren’t you?” he coos at the horse, who gives him a huff, letting him know he is, in fact, a good boy, but I’m not so sure. “Okay, D, place one foot in the stirrup and then kick your leg over,” he explains. I suck in a deep breath and try to loosen up my nerves and do as Charlie asks me.
“I did it.” I squeal, sitting in position, the horse stays, doesn’t move at all, and I rub Goose’s neck. “Good boy,” I tell him fornot bucking me off him. Then I watch Charlie mount his steed, Maverick, because one of his favorite movies is Top Gun, and boy, did he look hot doing it. His jeans tighten around his ass, and his muscles bulge underneath his shirt as he effortlessly gets onto his horse. He looks so hot, maybe we should skip the horse ride and just head back to bed.
“Ready?” Charlie asks me.
“Not really.” I grab Goose’s reins.
“Derrick, you’ve got this. Also, just let Goose follow Maverick and all will be okay,” Charlie explains to me. Well, it’s not like I know what I am doing, so sure, I’ll let Goose do whatever he wants. I’m not in charge he is. I’m at his mercy today.
We head off out of the stables, and Goose, the good boy he is, follows Charlie and Maverick, and we make our way along the dirt path, which leads into the forest. “Do, um, bears attack horses?” I tentatively ask Charlie.
“It’s still a little cold for them at the moment, so we should be fine,” Charlie reassures me. There’s still snow all about, but it’s been unseasonally warm, Charlie’s advised, so the snow is melting quickly if it does fall. Honestly, this place is gorgeous, peaceful, quiet. I thought I would be bored, but I guess Charlie’s dick has been keeping me busy, although it’s not just his dick that I’ve been enjoying. I’ve liked the quiet pace of things, maybe it’s the slowdown I’ve needed as things have been so busy. Not sure right now in my career if I could uproot my life and move somewhere like this, but I know Sienna and Evan want to spend more time in Byron Bay than LA, which would suck because I am severely co-dependent on my girl and boys.
“When I need to clear my head, I take Maverick out and just ride,” Charlie explains.
“I can see why, it’s beautiful here.”
“Are you liking it?” he turns and asks me.
“Of course, it’s breathtaking. Your sisters are wonderful, and your friends are fun. I could even get used to shopping at Dragonfly’s,” I tease.
This makes him laugh. “But I sense a but …”
Guess we’re having this conversation right now. “My life is in LA, right now. I’ve finally gotten traction regarding my styling business. I’m busier than ever, have a great group of friends, but …” I let out a heavy sigh, “you’re not there.”
Charlie nervously bites his bottom lip. “Jackson contacted me again about moving to LA after Hawaii.”
Oh. I didn’t realize Jackson was still pursuing him and now I’m the nervous one. “And?”
“I’m considering it.”
This is news to me. I had no idea. “Really?”
He stops Maverick, turns his horse around so he’s facing me. “I am.”
“Not because of me, I hope.” Charlie’s face drops. “I didn’t mean it like that. Shit. I meant I don’t want to be your sole reason for moving out to LA, because I know you aren’t the biggest fan of it, and I don’t want you resenting me for taking you away from all this.”
Charlie gives me a smile. “You are a contributing factor regarding LA, but last night I overheard my sister talking to the girls, and they were grilling her about what she was doing with her life now that they think I’ve got mine together. Which I kind of do, but I think I’ll always be a work in progress, but …” he rambles, “… as you know, she wants to be an accountability coach.” It’s very Hollywood. I know so many clients who could use one of them. “Everly has been so fricken awesome with me, kicking my butt and motivating me to be better. I think she would be great, and the job title sounds very LA.”
“It does. I think there would be many people who would be seeking out her services.”
“That’s what I think too,” he says excitedly. “And I guess I was going to broach the subject after you left.” Oh. “I haven’t really thought much about it, but I wanted to get your opinion.”
