Chapter 5

Ryan

My blood was racing, and I hadn’t found myself this upset in a really long time. I could feel the anger boiling up inside of me, and I didn’t even know how I had gotten to that point, standing in that parking lot, staring at this idiot with his hands on a woman like that. After I’d checked in at the payment desk, they told me to go find Alison, the emcee and owner of the organization. I had tracked her down with a check in hand, finding her backstage finishing up a few things.

“Thank you so much,” she said, shaking my hand. “I’m Alison.”

“Ryan.” I smiled. “Just figured I would touch base with my date. Do you know where I could find her?”

“Hmm, that’s a good question,” she said. “Seriously, though, your bid will do so much for our horses. Just your bid on Sara alone will pay for a lot of the medication needed to keep these horses alive and comfortable. It’s been a long time since anyone has put that kind of money into our organization, and that’s on top of the bed and breakfast they said you won the bid on. It’s very generous. I’m just glad you were able to win the bid with Sara.”

I smiled, watching the relief on Alison’s face. Between the look on her face and the relief that I had seen on Sara’s before she disappeared off stage, I couldn’t help wondering what was going on. There was obviously something up with the guy who’d been bidding, something that made everyone silent and made the two girls nervous as hell.

“So, I’m curious,” I said with a charming smile. “Who was that guy bidding against me? The one with the leather and the badge. I’m assuming he’s some kind of officer in town, maybe the sheriff. I just couldn’t help but notice how everyone reacted to him.”

The smile moved off Alison’s face, and her eyes clouded over. She looked past me at the curtain, obviously thinking but not saying a word. She shook her head and smiled again, pulling herself out of it.

“Why don’t we go look for Sara?” she said, taking me by the arm and walking me out on the stage.

We looked throughout the entire room, but there was no sign of her anywhere. She was hard to miss in that dress with that beautiful smile, but it looked like she was already gone. Alison turned to me and shook her head.

“She must have had to leave,” she said. “Let me take down your number.”

“Alison,” one of the girls called from backstage. “I need you for a second.”

“Give me one minute.” She smiled.

Instead of waiting, I figured I would take a chance and run out to the parking lot. Maybe I could catch Sara before she left for the night. I went out the front door and walked around the building to the back parking lot. The street lights were few and far between, but as I turned the corner, I’d seen her standing there with the sheriff, his hand clutching her arm, and her purse on the ground. Immediately, I was irritated, and I started walking toward them. Generally, I was a calm, collected person, relatively cold in my business dealings. I had never been the guy who let much get to me, but as I walked forward, looking at the situation, I could feel the anger start to build up inside of me rapidly.

“Let me go,” Sara demanded to the guy.

I stood there looking at them, waiting to see what he was going to do. From the twitch under the sheriff’s eye and the look on his face, it didn’t seem he was the kind of man who took orders from anyone, much less a woman. I could see him grasping her arm tighter, and that was the moment I decided to step in.

“Didn’t you hear her, pal?” I said, standing in the shadow of the light. “Let her go.”

“Move on,” the sheriff growled. “This is none of your damn business.”

He gripped onto Sara tighter, staring over in my direction. Slowly, I walked forward into the light, looking at Sara and then back up at him. It was obvious this guy wasn’t going to let go, not anytime soon. He wasn’t happy I was interfering, but I didn’t back down from anyone.

“Let her go,” I said sternly. “You lost fair and square, and that isn’t her fault. If you want to take it up with someone, why don’t you take it up with me? Or do you like an unfair fight with a girl in a dark parking lot?”

I was seconds away from saying “fuck it” and paying for the inevitable lawsuit that would follow after beating the shit out of the guy, but he finally stepped down, tossing Sara at me and walking away. I grabbed her by the shoulders and steadied her, watching as he whistled out to his sidekick. Sara reached up and rubbed her arm, watching until the sheriff was nowhere in sight.

“Thanks,” she mumbled, looking like she was seconds away from tears. “He can really be an asshole sometimes. Thank you, really. I’m not really sure what he would have done if you hadn’t walked up. He was angrier than I’ve seen him in a long time.”

“Who is he?”

“The sheriff.” She sighed. “His name is Janson.”

“Did he hurt you?” I asked her.

I could feel my rage climbing another notch at the thought of her being manhandled by the sheriff or anyone else for that matter. I didn’t know where the anger was coming from, but I still felt like I could beat the shit out of the guy. He sure seemed to deserve a good ass kicking.

“No,” she said quietly, shaking her head and looking at the ground. “Nothing that won’t go away in a couple of days.”

Just the thought of a bruise on her arm made me feel terrible for not doing more. I had never been one to think any violence toward a woman was ever warranted, but with her, it was like this crazy want to take away the pain and fear I knew she was feeling. I had never felt that protective of anyone before in my life, and I wondered why it was surfacing there in that moment. Maybe it was because I saw it happening, or maybe it was her, the girl from the stage, the one I had paid five thousand dollars to go on a date with. She pulled her other arm over her chest and rubbed both shoulders, shivering in the cold night air. I pulled my jacket off and slowly moved toward her, draping it over her shoulders. She pulled it around her, and I backed away, trying not to make her feel uncomfortable at all. I knew I was a stranger, and I knew I had walked up on a private moment that she might be feeling all kinds of emotions about.

“Thank you,” she said, looking up at me.

Her eyes looked almost golden in the moonlight, and I was completely struck by how absolutely beautiful she was. Sure, I had been frozen in place when I’d seen her on stage, but up close, she was even more stunning than I had originally thought. I could barely take my eyes off her. I felt drawn to her in that moment like we were the only two people in the entire world. Her eyes were mesmerizing, and before I even knew what I was doing, I pulled my hands up and cupped her face, stroking her cheeks with my thumbs. We stood there like that for several moments, unable to pull away, not wanting to pull away from each other. It was like a trance I had never experienced before in my life. Without thinking, I opened my mouth and began to talk.

“A woman as beautiful as you should be treasured,” I said, shaking my head. “Not insulted. I don’t care what happened between the two of you, that man had no right to touch you like that. You deserve so much more.”

I could feel a rush of electricity move from my hands, down my arms, and into my chest. My heart began to beat faster and faster, and my breath was caught in my throat. All of it was from the feeling of her skin touching mine. Her eyes widened, and she whimpered slightly at my words. From her reaction, I was pretty sure she was feeling the same thing I was. I swallowed hard and pulled my hands down, putting them in my pockets. I chuckled and looked around at her truck. She leaned down and picked up her purse, grabbing the different pieces off the ground and shoving them in. I leaned down and picked up her keys, looking forward into her eyes. We both paused again as I handed her the keys and stood up.

“Why don’t you let me drive you home?” I said, noticing how shaken she looked.

“That’s okay.” She smiled. “I don’t live very far and wouldn’t have even driven if it weren’t for the outfit and the all the stuff I had to bring over. I’m sure I’ll be fine. I can make it back on my own.”

“I’m more than sure you can make it home,” I said. “You look like you’re a very tough girl, but tonight, you don’t have to. Think about it as me wooing you into a date.”

“You mean the date you already paid for?” She laughed.

“Yes, that one.” I smiled. “Just because I bought it, doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to be taken care of beforehand.”

I reached my hand out for her keys and smiled at her, feeling the butterflies in my chest going wild. She stood there for a moment, staring at me with my jacket still over her shoulders. I knew she was trying to decide whether or not to let me drive her, but from the look in her eyes, I could tell that she wanted to.

“Come on, I promise to be a gentleman.” I chuckled.

“All right.” She smirked. “Only because you asked nicely.”

I walked around to the passenger side of the truck and helped her inside, smiling as I shut the door. I climbed into the passenger seat and started to pull out of the parking lot. She was quiet as we drove, except for giving directions of where to turn.

“At the next stop sign, take a right,” she said sweetly.

I glanced over at her sitting in the chair next to me. I still couldn’t get over how gorgeous she was. Her tight blue dress hugged every wonderful curve in her body, and her breasts were firm and round. She was probably one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen, and oddly enough, she was tucked away in some small town in Oregon.

“Second house on your right,” she said. “The one with the red door.”

“Perfect,” I replied.

I pulled up in the driveway and stopped at the top, putting the car in drive and turning off the ignition. I handed her the keys and smiled. She blushed, taking them from me and putting them into her purse. She paused and looked over at me.

“If you drove me here, how are you going to get back to your house or hotel?”

“Is it that obvious I’m not from here?” I laughed.

“This town has five hundred people in it.” She smirked. “It’s kind of obvious. There aren’t any taxis in Bonanza.”

“Not a problem,” I said, pulling out my phone.

I looked at the number on her house and texted my driver, sending the message and waiting a moment. I could feel her looking at me, but I stared down at my phone until a reply came through. I smiled, and put my phone back in my pocket.

“All is solved,” I said. “My driver will be here in ten minutes. You don’t mind hanging out with me for ten minutes, do you?”

All she did was smile.