After rapping on the door three times, Chase leaned back and put on the smile he used to charm women. For a brief moment, he thought of that night … the one when he’d waited at the door for Fate. They’d gone to the fair and laughed. He’d blown twenty bucks winning her that stupid orange bear he was pretty sure she didn’t even want, but he wasn’t about to be shown up by the carnie guy throwing those basketballs.
Something inside him ached at the memory. The sadness. How much he still missed her. He blinked and kept his smile in place.
John Haven opened the door, and Daniel and Grant ran to the door behind their dad.
“Hey, Chase,” Daniel said, looking past him. “Can I go check out your truck?” Chase recognized the hero worship in the boy’s eyes.
“Me too,” Grant insisted. They were already moving past their dad and out down the front path toward his truck.
“Sure.” Chase laughed. “Just don’t take it anywhere.” It was still running, and he wouldn’t put it past Fate’s brothers to “accidentally” drive it around the ranch a few times. After all, every ranch kid started driving early.
“Boys!” John yelled past Chase. “Bring me the keys!”
Faith appeared and waved him in. “Come on in here, Chase. She’s not quite ready yet.”
He walked into the Haven home, memory after memory hitting him. He even recognized the smell of the place. Right now, it smelled of pine needles and some kind of roast that was cooking in a crockpot on the counter. His stomach growled, even though he’d already eaten. He’d texted Destiny earlier and asked if he could take her to dinner before the dance, but she’d told him she’d rather just go to the dance.
It hadn’t bothered him. That was fine. He didn’t have a lot of extra cash, anyway. He worked on a ranch in Billings during the week between classes, taking care of horses and doing general upkeep. When his brother had asked him why he would want to do that, he’d shrugged and told him, “Because I like it.” He did. The ranch was definitely the life for him.
Following Faith, he moved past the kitchen into the wide living room, looking around at the large windows and the circular staircase that he’d always found fascinating.
“I think she’s almost ready.” Faith looked up, and motioned for him to sit.
He hadn’t been expecting to have so many moments of déjà vu. Like this one. Waiting for a girl. His head seemed to pound harder, but he smiled at Faith.
Faith smiled back. “How’s the head?”
He shrugged and grinned. “My mother has always said that the only thing thicker than my ego is my head.”
Faith let out a light chuckle. “That’s funny.” Her smile lessened, and she cleared her throat. “I don’t think I’ve had the chance to congratulate you for your bronc-riding competition.”
Warmth filled him. Yes, he liked people knowing, but the Havens were like family, so he found it special that he’d made her proud. “Thanks.”
She placed her hands in her lap; Chase noticed she was picking at her nails. “Yeah, that’s good.”
He knew she was thinking of Fate. Nervousness filled him. He shouldn’t have come here. He shouldn’t have asked Destiny out. Closing his eyes for a second, he felt sweat beading on his forehead. He opened his eyes and reached for the handkerchief in his back pocket that Adam always made fun of him for carrying, patting his forehead dry.
“Are you okay, Chase?”
He glanced at Faith and thought about asking her the same thing, but he couldn’t. It was too much. “I’m good.” But his hand was shaking.
“I could get you some water,” she said.
“That’d be great.” He didn’t know what else to say.
As she disappeared into the kitchen. Chase continued to wipe away his sweat. His heart pounded. What had he been thinking, asking out Destiny? Looking around the room, he saw a large senior picture over the fireplace next to the school pictures of the other boys. It hit him that that would be the last picture that would most likely ever hang there. He stood, thinking about bolting.
Faith returned and handed him some water. “Are you sure you’re okay, Chase?”
He took it, gulped it down, and then nodded. The water did help. He sucked in a breath. “I don’t know.” He still had time to leave.
Before he could bolt, he looked up. Seeing her at the top of the stairs made everything else fade away. She wore red boots and tight jeans and a white, fitted top. His heart almost stopped. Her hair was long and curly down her back. Beautiful.
Suddenly, his heart slowed. Well, not really slowed, but as he stood there watching her walk down the stairs, he knew she was worth pretending like he wasn’t freaking out.
Chapter 19
Chase’s F250 roared up to the barn dance. The barn was fitted with white lights, surrounded by a million cars … well, at least twenty or thirty. Everyone parked haphazardly in the field next to the barn.
Destiny’s thoughts raced with excitement. She loved to dance; she and a couple of her sorority sisters went dancing every Thursday at a local country-music place near the college. But tonight, she was also nervous. She would be hanging out with Chase, basically Fate’s old boyfriend … and then there were all of Fate’s old friends …
Putting the truck into park, Chase turned to her. His blue eyes sparkled. “Don’t worry. I may not look it, but I’m an excellent dancer.”
“And so humble, too.”
Chase grinned and flung open his door. “Wait there. I’m going to open your door for you.”
Even though Destiny wouldn’t consider herself a real let-the-guy-open-the-door-for-you kind of girl, she did like manners in a man. Her father had always been old-fashioned about opening doors for her and her mother. Some of the guys Destiny had dated hadn’t done it. It wasn’t like she dinged them for that omission, but she did give points to the guys who did. She watched Chase walk around the front of the truck, and the bottom of her stomach filled with butterflies.
Then her mind flashed to Adam. This was weird. She’d been out with Adam all day, and now she was with his brother?
While she’d gotten ready for the date, she’d talked herself in and out of it. It wouldn’t work for her to come between two brothers. After Adam’s whole dibs conversation, she got that there was more to this than two guys liking her. No, this had a lot of ego involved, too. That was the part that didn’t sit well with her.
In the end, she’d decided that, even though her feet were sore, she wanted to go dancing. Aunt Faith had helped her put cream on them and bandaged them well, so they didn’t feel that bad. Plus, she needed to dance. It didn’t hurt that Chase proclaimed he was a good dancer.
When he opened the door and reached out, she took his hand as he helped her down. After shutting the door, he kept her hand in his. Not wanting to make an issue of it, she let him.
The music wailed out from the barn, and she could hear the stomping of what sounded like a herd of elephants. The top doors of the barn were open, and she saw people swinging and heard laughing.
Yes. This was why she came.
“You must really like to dance.” Chase grinned at her.
She grinned back, and to her dismay, her heart fluttered when she stared into his eyes. They weren’t like Adam’s, all broody and deep and thoughtful. No, Chase’s were pure fun. Delight. Happiness.
Without warning, he reached up and lightly touched the side of his head.
“Are you okay?”
“Fine.” He pulled his hand back and plastered a smile back on.
“Chase, if your head is hurting, let’s go back. We don’t have to come tonight.”
“No.” He tugged her forward. “What? You worried I’ll show you up on the dance floor?” He winked at her. There it was. That guy, the one who, she was beginning to see, competed in everything, not just bronc riding.
Feeling rather brave, she pushed ahead of him. “You should be nervous, Moon, ’cause I haven’t ever met a dance partner that could keep up with me.”
Chase moved to the table and then dropped Destiny’s hand, pulling out his wallet and tugging out a ten-dollar bill. “Ladies.” He flashed a grin.
Upon further inspection, Destiny realized that the one with the brown hair and cowboy hat had been on his football team the day before at the potluck. She hadn’t been introduced to her, and couldn’t recall hearing a name.
The girl’s eyes flicked up at him and narrowed them. She put on a fake smile; Destiny instantly recognized it as such because she’d worn it so much herself lately. “Nice to see that your head is feeling better even though you couldn’t answer my texts.” Her last word was clipped. She took his money and stuffed it in the cash box. “You all have a good time, ya hear?” She waved them off with another fake smile, even bigger than before.
“Fancy, don’t be like that.” Chase let out a breath, and Destiny could see the first signs of irritation that she’d ever seen from Chase.
Fancy raised her hand, staving off any further words. “Whatever.”
After an awkward moment, Chase turned and nodded toward the stairs that led to the loft. “Let’s go.”
They climbed the stairs in silence.
“Sorry about that,” Chase whispered as they got to the top.
Destiny shrugged, but her discomfort evaporated as the music suddenly swelled and one of her favorite country-western songs came on.
Chase propped his hand on his hip and nodded to his elbow. “You ready to show off your moves?” His previous mischievousness was back.
Grabbing his arm, she moved both of them to the center of the dance floor.
Before they were even all the way out, Chase launched into the dance, pushing her out and then reeling her back. Destiny twirled into a couple of quick turns and then took his hand, and they fell into the country swing. Chase was ready for her, twisting quickly into a move she recognized as the pretzel, followed by the turntable.
She laughed, and they fell into quick, precise steps. “Okay, I’m impressed.” Her voice was breathy as he swung her back and forth in the traditional swing move.
“Not yet, you aren’t.” Without warning, Chase picked her up by her waist and turned her.
Another round of laughter bubbled out of her, and she complemented the move by doing air splits.
Rolling laughter came out of him.
The song ended, and a slower song came on. Easily taking her right hand in the air and putting his left on her hip, he moved into a two-step. She let herself relax.
“So did I pass?”
“Pass what?” She blinked, and her cheeks felt flushed.
“Adam said you had some kind of dancing test?” Yeah, he’d made it seem like Chase would never pass her high standard.
Stunned, she laughed. “Really, Adam told you that?”
“Yeah, he said I should make sure I can pass the test.” Chase frowned. “Honestly, my brother knows I hate tests. I think he was trying to psych me out or something.”
Meeting his eyes, she smiled. “You passed.”
His smile deepened, and she noticed a faint scar right above his left eyebrow.
The song that played next was from one of the greats, Garth Brooks, and Chase started softly singing the words. He held out his hand for another dance.
They easily fell into a two-step. Without warning, Chase’s thoughts flitted to Fate and the last time he’d held her and danced with her at the fairgrounds.
“What?”
Jolted out of his thoughts, he blinked, trying to dismiss the memory.
“Are you thinking about Fate?” Her eyes moistened, but she was stubborn.
He couldn’t lie to her. “Yes.”
A tear fell down her cheek. He wanted so badly to reach out and wipe it away, but he held back. She nodded. “Me, too.”
Swallowing back emotion, he pulled her closer. “Ya know, we were never together or anything, but we’d gone to the fair a couple of days before …” He couldn’t finish that sentence. Not around Destiny.
She nodded and then smiled. “I know. She told me.”
“She did?” If Fate had told Destiny, their date must have meant something to her too.
Blinking, she wiped her face and grinned. “Chase, c’mon. You know she liked you. Yes, she thought you were a bother for most of your lives, but … before everything, she said she couldn’t wait to get down to MSU and have a chance without Fancy around.”
“Really?” So it was obvious to everyone that Fancy had claimed him years ago. He shook his head, wishing he’d had a say in this claiming. Wishing he’d been able to tell Fate that he didn’t care for Fancy that way.
Destiny sighed and looked out the barn loft window into the lighted sky. “Fate and I would have done so much together. We had so many plans.”
“Did she want to do a European exchange?” Chase asked innocently.
Hesitating, she looked down. “We planned that I would go to the Parisian art school for a semester, and she would come along and keep me company.” She grinned. “She’d say that she would play enough for both of us, so I could focus on my art.” She shrugged. “Guess that doesn’t matter anymore.”
“Why wouldn’t that matter?”
Quickly, she shook herself. “’Cause I’m not focusing on my art.”
“Why not?”
Hesitating for a second, she slowly reached up, touching the spot where he knew he had a scar. “What is that from?”
Closing his eyes, trying to squelch all the desire to pull her in, Chase let out a soft moan. “Has anybody ever told you that when you touch a man’s face, the only thing he can think about … is kissing you?”
All she’d have to do was lean her face up. Chase waited. He didn’t know why he waited—he knew he could cross the distance and take the kiss right now. But somehow, it didn’t feel right yet.
Just at that moment, Chase felt a hard tap on his shoulder.
“Can I have a turn with the lady?”
Chapter 20
Adam didn’t care that in less than one minute he’d watched his brother go from happy-go-lucky to I’m-so-going-to-rip-your-head-off mode. Really, Adam wasn’t good at caring what others thought in general; he hardly noticed people most of the time. As for pleasing them … well, his mother had always said Chase was the people pleaser. Adam was not.
Even though this time it was his brother he was upsetting, Adam couldn’t stop himself. After he’d watched Chase pull out of the driveway, he hadn’t been able to get a single bit of studying done. That bothered him. Ever since Destiny Morningstar had interrupted his life, he hadn’t been able to form a single clear thought. This made him do something that he never did.
Go to a dance.
Taking a quick five-minute shower, he’d searched through his room, trying to find something that didn’t need to be washed. Going into Chase’s room, he dug through the closet until he found a recently purchased Under Armour shirt. It was the same kind that Adam had been wearing earlier, but this one was red.
As he left Chase’s room, he’d thrown on some of his aftershave. He didn’t have time to go the whole nine yards and shave, but women liked men with a few days of growth, right? He thought he’d seen that on a television documentary Chase had watched one night.
Then he’d paused and taken some of Chase’s gel, running it through his hair and shaping it to the back. He’d glanced in the mirror and thought to himself, “There. Dishes are done, people.” Why a famous line from an eighties movie had popped into his head, he had no clue, nor did he care.
Now, here he stood, pulling Destiny into a two-step. His mother had insisted that Adam learn some dancing. She thought it was important so
he could dance with a girl someday. She’d be happy if she could see this moment.
Lifting her eyebrows, Destiny smiled. The sides of her lips tugged up into a clearly stunned grin. “Adam Moon comes to a dance.”
He gave her an awkward half grin, trying to relax. “Mark it on the calendar, right?”
Destiny looked over his shoulder. “Oh my.”
Adam turned around and saw Chase being manhandled by Fancy. She had him back against a wall. Her friends had circled up around them.
Placing his hands on Destiny’s lower back, Adam pulled her closer. “Ah, don’t worry about Chase and Fancy. They have this on-again, off-again thing.”
“Oh.” Destiny looked uncertain.
Adam moved them away from the sidelines, getting Fancy and her antics out of their line of sight.
Her face had turned red, and he frowned. “What’s wrong?”
She blinked and looked over Adam’s other shoulder.
“What?” he insisted, knowing something was wrong.
She shook her head. “I guess … I was confused. Nothing.”
Then Adam understood. “No, don’t misunderstand me. Chase and Fancy aren’t together. It’s nothing like that.”
“That’s how you made it sound.”
Letting out a puff of air, he shrugged. “Fancy’s always had a thing for him, but Chase has just been friends with her.” As soon as he’d said it, he knew the smart thing to do would have been to let her believe otherwise.
“Oh.” She didn’t say anything else.
Adam thought about how to distract her. A dance move. He tugged her out for a twirl. Responding like a pro, she let him lead, took the turn, and then moved back into him. He wasn’t prepared for the way she took them into another move, but he tried to acquiesce.
She laughed and then went back to their normal two-step. “Wow, Adam Moon really is trying to dance.”
He laughed. “It’s different from hang gliding, but I talked myself into it on the way over.”
“Why?” Her tone was sincere.
“Because I couldn’t get the fact that you might be in my brother’s arms all night out of my head.”
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