Chapter Fifteen
Brady
It was exactly six when I arrived at Sloan’s hotel to pick her up. I thought she’d be waiting outside, but when she wasn’t, I decided to find her in her room. I knocked on the door, and when she opened it, she seemed surprised.
“Brady, hi.”
I smiled at her. For the past week, I’d seen Sloan in her cowgirl clothes. She’d been relaxed and comfortable, and nothing like the woman I had first met. Now, she was wearing the same blue dress that I’d first seen her in. The only difference was that she wasn’t wearing heels. Instead, she had on sneakers. The contrast between the smart dress and the casual shoes took me by surprise. I liked it.
“Sorry for coming here, but you weren’t outside. And you were the one that told me to be here exactly at six and not to be late.”
She chuckled. “Sorry, old habits I guess. I’m ready, let me get my bag and my coat. You can come in so long.”
“You look beautiful, by the way. That’s the dress you wore the first time I saw you.”
She seemed taken aback by that. “Oh wow, you actually remember that?”
“I only remember because I thought it was the most ridiculous outfit to wear out at the ranch.”
Her face fell. “You think I look ridiculous.”
“Not now!” I said quickly. “You look incredible. And we’re going for dinner, we’re not going horse riding. So this time I don’t think you look ridiculous at all. Also, I like your shoes.”
She chuckled. “I’ve gotten used to not wearing heels. I figured I’d enjoy it a bit longer. When I get back to New York, I won’t be able to get away with dressing like this.”
“Why not? It looks amazing. It looks edgy.”
“It does? Thanks, Brady.”
I chuckled. “Also, I don’t think I’ve ever used the word edgy before. Did I even say it right?”
She laughed. “You did. You see, you’re becoming more of a New Yorker now that you’re hanging out with me. We’re balancing each other out.”
I looked around at the hotel room. I knew the area well, but I hadn’t been to many of the hotels before. So far, I just hadn’t felt a need to. I had expected her hotel room to be large, and I’d assumed she’d be one of those messy people that had no regard for her things. In my mind that was how I expected most rich people to act. But her room was modest, and very well kept. I barely saw anything out of place, and when she opened the closet for her coat, I saw that everything was neat and in its place. She caught me looking and frowned at me.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Nothing,” I said. “It’s a nice room.”
“It is, isn’t it? And I’m actually getting used to the bed,” she said and grinned.
“So, ready to go?”
“I’m ready. Where are we going by the way?”
“I thought I’d take you one of the oldest restaurants in Wyoming. It was closed for a few years, but it reopened about a year or two ago. The entire restaurant has been fashioned to look like a barn. It has these wooden walls and hay bales for seats, and there is no electrical light inside. Only candlelight. It’s really nice.”
“Sounds amazing,” she said as we walked back to the car.
When we arrived, she looked up at the name and chuckled. “Wyo. I love it.”
“Yeah, it works, doesn’t it? I thought it was super cheesy when I first heard it, but I don’t think so anymore.”
“I like it. It’s . . . edgy,” she said, and we both laughed.
We walked in and gave our name to the front desk, and then made my way to our table. I looked around and smiled. The place was great, and the candles gave it a very romantic feel. Also, the smell coming from the kitchen was making me incredibly hungry. I hadn’t been to a restaurant in such a long time. I’d forgotten what it was like. “Wow, it’s actually really nice here,” I said.
She looked at me in confusion. “You sound surprised. I thought you’d been here before. I mean, you described it to me exactly like this. Haven’t you been here?”
“Oh, yeah, well . . . okay, my brother goes here all the time. I have been, but it was years ago. I’ve just heard a lot about it from everyone.”
“Why do I get the feeling that you don’t go out much?” she asked.
I smiled. “Because I don’t.”
“Any reason in particular?”
I shrugged. “I don’t really see the point, to be honest. I enjoy being at home. And well, I just haven’t found anyone worth going out for.”
She beamed at me. “You know, you can be incredibly nice when you want to be.”
“Aren’t I always nice?”
“No.”
I burst out laughing. “Okay, well that’s an honest answer at least.”
“But when you are nice, you’re really nice. You actually confuse me quite a bit,” she said.
“I confuse you? Uh, I think you’ll find that it’s the other way around.” It was actually something that I’d been thinking a lot about lately. I remembered how much I had hated her the first time I’d met her. How she’d assumed I simply wanted her autograph and how she’d walked around in those silly high heels that dug into the dirt. But then, there was this other side to her. And that was so completely different from that girl, it was almost like I had dealt with two separate people.
“What do you mean? I’m not confusing,” she said. “What you see is what you get with me.”
“Oh yes, you are. You’re the most confusing person I’ve ever met. I can’t really figure you out. One minute, you come across like a complete diva—no offense—and the next minute, you’re the sweetest, most down-to-earth woman around. What I see is not always what I get.”
A strange looked crossed her face, then she nodded. “I guess I don’t really know who I am sometimes either. But I could say the same thing about you, you know. Open and talkative one minute, and closed up and closed mouthed the next.”
“We’re both quite the mess then, aren’t we?”
She chuckled. “Sounds like it. Oh well, we can be contradictory together,” she said, and I realized I quite liked the sound of that.
“Yeah, life is confusing. It’s not our fault. I blame the rest of the world. All those people who have it all figured out. All those people who are so completely put together. They’re the weirdoes.”
“Or,” she said. “They’re the liars. At least we’re open about our confusion.”
When our wine arrived, we both lifted up our glasses.
“To being weird.”
“To being confused.”
When the waiter returned to see what we wanted to order we were both still laughing. Neither one of us had even opened our menus. There was so much to choose from that I felt overwhelmed. I’d never been good at making decisions, and I didn’t go out to restaurants often enough to know what I should or shouldn’t eat.
“Do you recommend anything?” I asked the waiter.
“Well, we’re known for our pizzas. We have a special Wyo pizza that comes with locally sourced bacon and cheese. It’s also topped with a special sweet chili sauce that’s made by my wife. It’s really something.”
“Sounds amazing. I’ll take one of those,” I said. Then I looked at Sloan and waited for her to order a salad.
She surprised me by closing the menu, and smiling at the waitress. “I’ll take one, too. Sounds incredible. And honestly, I don’t feel like choosing. Everything sounds so nice.”
She took a sip of wine and then looked at me. “Why are you staring at me like that? Is there something on my face?” Her hand immediately flew to her face.
I laughed. “Yeah, something on your chin,” I said.
She felt her chin. “Is it gone?”
“It’s on your cheek now?”
“What? What is it?” she said and touched her cheek. Then she glared at me. “You’re making this up.”
I chuckled. “Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. No, there’s nothing on your face.”
“So, why were you looking at me like that?”
“Well, you can’t blame me for being surprised. You just ordered a pizza.”
“Yeah? What’s wrong with that? You heard the waiter. He said it was delicious. And that menu was way too big for me to choose from.”
“I agree with you. But I still didn’t expect you to choose the pizza. I thought you were going to go for the salad or something. Not so long ago I had to convince you eat a tiny piece of bread. What happened?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Wyoming happened, I guess.”
“Well, I’m glad to hear it. Anyway, you’re doing so much work out here, and so much riding, that you can afford to eat a pizza a day and probably not even notice it. Trust me; I am one of the biggest eaters you’ll ever meet. I’ll eat this large pizza and still wonder what’s for dessert. I just don’t worry because I work hard. Also, I don’t really care too much what other people think about me. If they’re going to judge me for what I eat, then I don’t really want to be friends with them in the first place.”
“I like the way you think,” she said. “I even had a croissant yesterday for breakfast. The waiter was just as surprised as you were. I normally eat an apple for breakfast. Sometimes, half an apple.”
I chuckled. “Living life on the edge, eh,” I teased.
“Hey, don’t mock me. I know it sounds crazy to someone like you, but it’s a whole different world out there. This really is life on the edge for someone like me. I know you can’t understand it. But when you’re an actress, you basically have the whole world watching your every move. It’s not always easy when you’re constantly being judged. And yeah, I know, it’s a life I chose, but still, it’s not as easy as you think it is. It’s hard, Brady.”
I was taken aback by her words and wondered what or who had made her so angry at the world. I wondered why she was an actress when the lifestyle didn’t seem to suit her at all.
“I’m sure it’s not easy,” I said. “And I’m not judging you, Sloan. Trust me; I’m not judging you at all. I was honestly just teasing you. I’m a man who lives by himself and who barely talks to anyone at all. I couldn’t imagine having people on my back all the time. I know it comes with the territory, like you say, but it can’t be easy. And I’m sure you just want some privacy at times.”
“Ah,” she said and shrugged it off. “I shouldn’t complain. In a lot of ways, it’s a very easy life.”
“Do you have any siblings?” I asked. I suddenly realized that I knew very little about her life.
But just like I sometimes did with her, she shrugged off the question. “Nah. I couldn’t imagine growing up with four brothers like you did. Do you see any of them other than the one that lives next door?”
“Actually, my brother Ryan called. He’s the MMA fighter.”
“Wait, let me guess . . . Knuckles!” she said.
I laughed. “Yeah! Hey, he’s coming to visit soon. If you’re still around, you have to call him that! He’ll be so surprised.”
She laughed. “I’ll try to remember. So he’s coming to visit? That’s cool. You get along well?”
“Yeah, he’s a nice guy. He’s my younger brother, so it’s fun to mess around with him. We have that sort of joking relationship with one another. We always have. He’s a very funny guy.”
“You mess around with an MMA fighter? That’s brave.”
I laughed. “No matter what, he’s still my younger brother. MMA fighter or not.”
“Well, it definitely sounds like you get along well with him. I’m looking forward to meeting him.”
“Yeah, we’re very close. I’ve gotten close to Grant over the years, he’s the one that lives next door, but it’s different with Ryan. There’s something between the two of us that I don’t have with the rest of my brothers. I think Ryan just always felt sorry for me, you know . . .” Then I trailed off. I had never spoken to anyone about my family before, and I had no idea why I had almost felt the need to share it with Sloan. I quickly shook my head. “Never mind; enough family talk. Here comes our pizza.”
Sloan, thankfully, didn’t ask me any more questions. Either she hadn’t realized that I was about to share something personal with her, or she did realize but saw that I didn’t want to talk about it. Either way, I was glad that our attention had turned back to the pizza.
“Okay, this is incredible. How am I going to go back to eating salads all day after food like this?”
“Well, you could take up horse riding there too? Or, you know, you could just eat pizza and not give a damn about anyone. That’s always an option.”
“If only,” she sighed.
“You should try it.”
“You know,” she said as she picked up another slice of pizza. “I might just do that.”
The rest of the date went by well. We steered clear of any conversation that was too serious and spent most of the time laughing and teasing one another. Sloan was very easy to talk to, and nothing like the person I thought she was going to be. Either she hid a lot of her personality away, or I had just misjudged her too quickly. Or maybe, just maybe, she was just an amazing actress who was simply practicing for her role at all times. I hoped it wasn’t the latter.
After the pizza and another glass of wine, we made our way back to the hotel. I wasn’t used to going out and the evening had turned out a lot better than I had expected. Grant was going to have a field day when he found out that I actually left the house for an evening out. I parked the car and insisted that I walked her back to the hotel room.
“You really don’t have to,” she said.
“Yeah, but I’m going to,” I said.
We walked up to the room, and as she opened the door, she turned around.
“Thank you for a wonderful evening,” she said. “I should win horse races more often.”
I smiled down at her. Without her heels on, she was at least a head shorter than me.
“Thank you, too. So, I’ll see you tomorrow then?”
“Or, you know, you can see me now,” she said.
I was just about to ask what she meant when she pulled me inside and closed the door behind her. She switched the light off and walked over the little bedside lamp and turned it on. Then, while I was watching her, she slowly started to strip off her clothes.
“What are you waiting for?” she said.
I gulped. Hot damn, she is sexy.