Chapter Ten
Standing in front of the big red barn on Maple, Zoey smoothed down her red skirt and did her best to smooth out her heart rate too.
This was not a date.
The large white barn doors at the front stood open, hay bales holding them open, letting her see the crush of dancing bodies on the cement floor. Edison lights hung low from the arched roof. The crowd swing danced to a live band playing covers of popular country songs at the far end in the corner. The music wafted out on the cool night air, and the sound of cowboy boots tapping away punctuated every thought.
She was nervous, dadgummit. The moment Brandon had first said Hunter would take her, she’d felt a little pit in her stomach—but then Hunter had jumped in, said she wasn’t a pity date, and she’d warmed all over. Of course, Hunter had gone on with his whole “date” spiel.Is this a date? It’s not a date … is it?And he’d ruined it all. She’d marched off then.
This wasn’t a date. When she went on dates, it was because a guy asked her—not because her brother demanded he take her. But darn it all if she didn’t feel butterflies in her stomach.
She made her way inside, the scent of fresh donuts, butterbeer, and candied nuts fading behind her in favor of popcorn and roasted peanuts. Scanning the room for Hunter, she found the food stands and drink vendors to one side, but he wasn’t there. It was a little after eight now, and she had him pegged as the kind of person who’d show up fifteen minutes early.
Weaving through the few round tables, which were decorated with pumpkins, mums, and tall white candles over checkered tablecloths, she felt the thrill of the dance. It’d been a while since she’d been out on the floor. There was something about spinning around with a man who knew all the moves that made her feel light and happy inside.
She spotted Hunter with his hands on his hips, standing up by the bandstand with his sister, Tess. Her long blond locks ran down her back, and she had on bell-bottoms. If the girl didn’t have such a strong resemblance to Swayzie, Zoey wouldn’t have known her as a member of the family since she wasn’t ever around the ranch. They were in some sort of a heavy discussion, the kind that Zoey wasn’t inclined to jump into.
She took the opportunity to study Hunter. Hunter wasn’t as tall as either of her brothers, but he was still tall—and made an imposing figure. He stood out, is what he did. And he looked good doing it too. He wore a white button-up, jeans, and a black Stetson that took his otherwise wholesome cowboy look to a level of danger and seduction that made her stomach flip. But he wasn’t cocky about his appearance, which made him sexier in her mind.
The band slowed down, bringing the song to an easy, lingering ending. Zoey took that cue to make her way through the sway of bodies. She was almost to them before she realized the intense conversation had morphed into an argument. She pulled back as the band set up for their next song. One of the members handed a guitar down to Tess from the stage; she hurried to stow it in a case and took another one from the bass guitarist.
Zoey tried to stay out of the line of sight, not wanting them to think she was eavesdropping—though it was hard to tune them out.
“This is what you’ve been ignoring us for?” Hunter signaled to the band. “A bunch of adult kids using you as free labor?”
Tess clenched her fist around the neck of the guitar. “This is what I want to do. I want to play music.”
“But you’re not playing music. You’re carting their crap around.”
Tess glowered. “Everyone has to pay their dues, Hunter. And some of us aren’t happy with the idea of being stuck on the family farm forever.”
With that parting shot, Tess marched off. A song came over the speakers as the lead singer crooned into the microphone.
Hunter ran a hand over the back of his neck and took one step away from the bandstand. His eyes came up, and Zoey almost cringed back—she didn’t want him to think she’d been spying. But that thought fled her mind almost instantly the moment his gaze swept over her, ending on her face with a look of almost surprise.
“Wow,” he said, moving closer to her. “You look beautiful.”
She wasn’t sure what it was about Hunter that was so different from other guys she’d been around that made her feel this way, but she was a Carroll, and Carrolls didn’t balk. She swallowed the nervous lump in her throat and threw back her shoulders. “You don’t look so bad yourself.” She nodded to his hat. “Nice hat.”
Hunter stood a little taller. “Thank you.” He came up alongside her, dropping a hand to the small of her back to guide her through the crowd.
She shivered from the contact, then glanced over at him as he led her to the edge of the dance floor. He grinned. Had he felt her shiver? Her face warmed.
“You cold?” he asked, amusement in his tone. Oh yeah. He’d most definitely felt it. And he knew darn well she wasn’t cold. With all the warm bodies in here, not even the large barn doors in the front and back of the building being wide open had sufficiently cooled the room. It’d been an unseasonably warm day too.
“Just excited for some dancing,” she said.
“I guess you heard most of that?” Hunter asked, pointing over his shoulder toward the stage.
Zoey glanced back, catching sight of Tess handing a keyboard to one of the guys onstage. She struggled under the weight of it while the guy snapped his fingers for her to get it closer to his outstretched hand.
Zoey shook her head. “Something about paying her dues.”
“She wants to be a famous country singer.” He stopped near the back and faced her, the abrupt change making her nearly careen into his chest—as it was, they were practically toe-to-toe.
She craned her neck back to look at him. His gaze was across the room on his sister. The way the muscles in his jaw flexed, she’d have guessed him irritated or irate. But his eyes told a different story. He was worried.
From what she’d gathered from what little the Westbrooks had told her, Zoey came to the conclusion Tess was a little self-centered. Zoey wanted to comfort him, which wasn’t something she’d expected. “Well, in those bell-bottoms, I don’t think she could fail.”
