I shrugged. More for my sake than his, and added, “I like you. You’re easy to talk to.”
“I am?” More disbelief.
I huffed out a soft laugh. “Yes, you are.” An idea came to mind—one Whit might kill me for, but I’m sure she’d forgive me if I groveled enough. “Hey, what if I stayed here and you showed me around instead?”
Bars had always been more Whit’s scene. I never understood why someone would spend so much money on a drink you couldmake at home for a fraction of the cost. Whit always mentioned something about that’s why you got someone to buy your drinks for you, but that just made me feel…weird. Why would I let some random guy buy me a drink if I had no intention of getting to know him?
The idea of staying here with Hux, maybe walking the property, talking some more—I don’t know, that sounded a lot more up my alley.
“Well,” Hux replied, “You’re, uh, in a much better position to show yourself around than I am. I don’t know what the fuck this place looks like.”
I know it was probably bad of me, but I laughed at that. He was so unapologetically blunt and honest. “I could tell you,” I offered. “Take you around and explain what everything looks like, and you could tell me how it relates to you and your work.”
Some emotion I couldn’t quite place rippled over his features. His lips pulled up into a soft ghost of a smile aimed in my direction. “You’d do that for a stranger?”
I shrugged once more, quickly reminding myself after a silent beat that I needed to respond. “I’d do it for a friend.”
He took a few steps toward me, close enough that I could feel the heat of him on my skin and the smell of his cologne. Something fresh and woodsy, with a hint of sweet. Maybe like teakwood and vanilla? I don’t know, one of the manly smells. My heart fluttered in my chest at his closeness. He stirred something within me I’d never felt before. Not even with Devin. Hux’s unseeing stare bore into me, and a little gasp escaped me at the intensity of it. And he was wearing sunglasses still. I couldn’t imagine how much more intense it would be if he wasn’t.
His words were a low rumble as he asked, “So, we’re friends?”
Why did it feel like he was asking something much more serious? Was it how close he was? How attractive he was?
“I’d like to be,” I breathed.
A grunt of…approval, maybe, escaped him. “I’d like that.”
I bit my lip, completely overwhelmed by the closeness of him, the heat of him, the weight of his stare. He intimidated me as much as he enchanted me. He had a commanding presence, one that demanded all of my attention. I felt like a deer in the headlights. I didn’t know whether to freeze or run. I’d never been around someone like him. Never felt so exposed, so vulnerable just by him looking at me. But as a shiver traversed down the length of my spine, I realized it wasn’t at all the bad kind, but one that whispered of excitement. Adventure. Desire. “Good,” I managed to squeak out.
The smile on his lips grew, pulling up at the corners. “I’ve changed my mind, let’s go out tonight.”
My brow furrowed. “ But, I thought—”
“I wanna take you out. ButI amgoin’ to take you up on that offer of showin’ me around at some point.” His words rang with finality. There’d be no convincing him otherwise, I could tell from the stubborn set of his jaw.
Another shiver went through me as I thought of going out with him. Honestly, just being around him in general. With a grin, I replied, “I probably should go get ready then.”
Chapter seven
This Ain’t No Love Song
Hux
Alittle over threeyears ago, you’d be as likely to find me at a bar on a Saturday night as a rodeo. Funny how quickly things changed. I didn’t go out much anymore. First, it was hard enough navigating the places that I spent most of my time in, unfamiliar places were a whole new level of hell. But secondly, I hated when people realized who I was. It wasn’t everywhere, it wasn’t all the time, but it was frequent enough to be a pain in the ass. I did everything I couldnotto think about my life before the accident. About rodeos and bull riding and championship buckles.
It sucked. All that time, all that money, all the blood, sweat, and tears I’d poured into making a name for myself, to have it gone in a night. In eight damn seconds, to be exact.
Quinn’s friend, Whit, had gotten us all an Uber to one of the local bars in town. Worry pumped through my veins, making my heart stammer a bit in my chest as I got out. This had been a mistake. I didn’t do this. Didn’t go out with the guys.
I had half a mind to turn around and get back in the Uber and pay them to take me home.
“Hey, you okay?” Quinn’s voice was gentle and warm, somehow cutting through the chaos of Main Street surrounding us. I felt the closeness of people as they milled about, the rumble of engines as they purred behind me while driving by. Music thumped dully from ahead of me in the bar—The Hitching Post, if Travis had anything to do with it. Then there was the sound of the group talking.
It was sensory overload. I hated when it got too loud. It fucked with my mind a bit. I made mistakes. Bumped into shit.
“It’s loud,” I found myself saying.
“I’m sorry. We don’t have t—”
