Impulsion (Station 32 #1)(75)
“Oh yeah?”
“Yep. I keep getting hell for not bringing you out, so tonight we’re going to the pub, hang out with a few friends.”
“Who’s giving you hell?”
“Ava, for starters. Truman is right behind her. All the guys at the hall—Memphis, especially. The town of Willowhaven in general wants to know who stole the oldest Doran boy’s heart.”
When he saw the worried gaze in her eyes, he amended his words. “I could cancel? Tell them we have grocery shopping to do.”
She laughed aloud. “I’m fine, Wyatt. I just don’t ever remember going out for the hell of it. This is another first for me.”
“Are you serious?”
She nodded.
“I haven’t been treating you right.”
“Are you kidding? You take me to all my favorite places.”
“Haylofts and muddy creek banks?” he said with a lifted brow.
“If it’s here, it’s perfect. If you’re there, it’s paradise.”
He pulled out his phone. “What are you doing?”
“Cancelling. I got a perfect spot to take you to on this farm.”
She took the phone away. “Then take me there tomorrow, or the next day,” she said as she moved her hands up his chest, “or the next…”
He caught her lips once more. They barely held themselves back in that embrace; it was Camille calling Harley’s phone, wondering where she was that stopped it.
That day, Harley walked on cloud nine. She felt invincible as she taught her lessons, and later as she sat in Camille’s office and went over what she had set up in a day’s time with the sponsors.
Even though Wyatt had taken all of her things to his house, she went back to the main house to get ready to go out that night. All she really had with her beyond that one summer dress she’d worn to the creek that night were riding clothes, that and outfits she hated that never seemed to fit her personality in the first place. Ava was more than eager to loan her some clothes.
“I hate you just because you have awesome legs and are making my skirt look better on you,” Ava said as Harley pulled on a pair of her short boots.
At first, Harley was sure this outfit would make her feel even more out of place than the ones of her own that she had opted not to wear. She had never once worn fishnet stockings. She loved the way they felt against her skin, though. Her skirt was tight, but her top was sleeveless and flowed out in a loose vintage style.
Staring at herself, the wave in her long, strawberry blonde hair, the freckles on her cheeks the sun had brought out, the glint in her eyes, she figured out that for the first time, maybe ever, she was becoming herself. Figuring out what she liked and what she didn’t, what mattered and what didn’t.
She took a picture of herself and sent it to Collin, just to show him how happy she was. His response was instantaneous. “I’m an engaged man—what are you doing sending me pictures of a hot woman? Breathtaking.”
Harley knew she was right when she read that, that she was glowing from within. Collin had seen her in some of the most elegant dresses that could be imagined. He had always complimented her, but they were the normal things you said to the one you were escorting to an event; that comment was not.
Harley felt like a queen when she walked outside, saw Wyatt and Truman talking to their dad as they leaned up against Wyatt’s truck. When they saw her, they all stopped what they were saying, let their stares linger. Without a doubt, she was ready to have the time of her life that night.
Chapter Sixteen
Truman and Ava rode with Harley and Wyatt into town.
“This is like old times. I feel like begging Wyatt to drop me off at the movies or something,” Ava said from the back seat.
Harley offered Wyatt a sideways glance to see a sinful smile dangling on his lips. At that moment, they were both swimming in that memory of their first time.
“Why am I driving you around still?”
“Because you love me,” she said, reaching over the back seat to hug his broad shoulders.
When Ava had taken Harley to town, she had taken her to all the new centers that had come up on the edge of Willowhaven. Wyatt took her through downtown Willowhaven, which had changed, too; all the buildings had been restored in some way. It almost looked like one of those hidden getaways all those people Harley knew at home would say they stopped at on some adventure they had gone on to buy the perfect piece for their homes, or something of that nature.
“There’s the house,” Wyatt said as he slowed down in front of his fire hall. The guys outside all hollered his name.
“Station 32 is the reason single women all over this side of the county start fires for the hell of it,” Ava taunted from the back seat.
“Oh yeah?” Truman said, lifting his chin in his kid sister’s direction. “And who are you looking at in our house?”
“Even if I was looking at someone, the fact that I have two brothers there tells me that no one is going to be asking for my number.”
Harley glanced back to Ava just to see how serious she was. Ava mouthed the word ‘later’ to her, meaning she was only halfway joking.
“Are we picking up someone else?” Harley asked as they parked in front of a gorgeous blue frame house with white trim just down from the main street.