Wes’s hand engulfs mine. They are rough, but not in the way that he doesn’t care about his hands, but rather just a man that works hard and it shows in his hands. We make it to the dance floor just as, “Whiskey Glasses,” begins to play and Wes pulls me into him and puts his other hand on my waist and we start to dance.

“You can dance, huh?” I expected maybe a little swaying, but he was even doing steps back, forward, and to the side.

“Oh, Mama would never let me leave the house without knowing how to show a lady a good time on the dance floor.” He smiles at the end of his statement.

“Mama sounds like she’s pretty great.”

“She is.” He winks at me and then does a little twirl with me and pulls me back in and we pick up where we left off. “Tell me about you, Holly.”

“What do you want to know?”

“Anything you’re willing to tell me.”

“Okay, I’ve been in Harlington for about a year and a half now. I moved here from Bismarck.”

He tilts his head to the side, “A year and a half?”

“Yeah, about.” He scrunches his face up. “What’s wrong?”

“Just trying to figure out how you’ve been around these parts for that long and I haven’t seen you before.” He ends it with a flirty smirk that makes me smile as well

“I’m not too sure why we haven’t seen each other before this week either. What about you, Wes, what’s your story?”

He shrugs his shoulder while we’re dancing, “My story? Born and raised in Valley View. I’m a rancher.”

I squeeze his shoulders and move one hand down to his biceps, “Is that where these big strong muscles come from?” He flexes his biceps as I feel them.

“Pretty much.”

“You know what they say, right?”

“What’s that, darling?”

“There’s no body like a country boy’s body.” I barely get the statement out without a bit of a giggle.

Wes shakes his head as well, “I don’t think anybody says that.”

“That is a shame, they should.” The song we’re dancing to ends and the next song, “The Git Up,” starts and more people join the dance floor for the upbeat dance song.

“You know how to two-step, darling?” I shake my head towards him. He moves so he’s standing next to me rather than in front of me. “I guess I’m going to have to show you, aren’t I?”

“Won’t get any arguments from me.”

We follow the words in the song to dance and even though we mess up a few times, we’re having a lot of fun. I don’t remember the last time I laughed so hard while dancing. I made sure I was putting a few extra hip rolls and booty shakes in and based on the look I caught on Wes’s face a few times it was worth it. The song ends and I grab Wes’s hand and lead him off the dance floor.

“What’s wrong?” He says as he catches up to me.

“Nothing is wrong. Just tired. I think I’m going to go grab a beer.” We make it to the bar and he grabs me by my hips and hoists me up onto the barstool. “You sit. I’ll go grab us a round. Don’t go anywhere.” He presses his finger against my nose.

“Promise.”

Wes returns a couple of minutes later with two bottles of beer and some pretzels. He sits next to me and I angle my legs so that I’m gently touching his legs with mine. We spend the next little while talking about our favorite music, tv shows, things about ourselves growing up. At some point during our conversation, his hand ended up resting on my upper thigh.

“So you’re friends with Stacy?” He reminds me that I actually came here with somebody, but she seems to have disappeared.

“Yeah, she owns the coffee shop and we’ve gotten to know each other well over the time that I’ve been here.”

Wes nods his head and moves his hand a little further up my thigh, “That’s cool. We went to school together.”

“Everybody here really knows everybody else, huh?”

“Yeah, it feels that way a lot. Always exciting when I get to meet new people though.” He says in a low, sultry voice.

“I agree.” I look up at him and bat my eyelashes. He puts his hand on my chin and tilts my head up to his and places a sweet kiss on my lips. It doesn’t last near long enough, but it leaves me with a swarm of butterflies in my stomach and an ache between my legs.

He pulls back and has a huge grin on his face, “I hope you don’t mind. I kind of wanted to do that before you got all that beer poured on you.”

My smile widens, “I didn’t mind at all. In fact, I wouldn’t mind if you did it again.”

“I swear I never do this, but do you want to get together sometime this week? Maybe dinner?”

I nod my head, “I’d like that. How about I give you my number and maybe you can call me?”

“Oh, it won’t be a maybe. I’ll totally give you a call. Shit, I’ll probably text you tonight and send you some stupid memes or something.” He unlocks his phone and hands it to me and I put in my contact information and then give him my phone so he can do the same. Another hour and another round of beers and I see Stacy approaching our barstools.

“Hey, guys!” Stacy wraps her one arm around my shoulder.

“Hi, Stacy.”

“Hey, Stacy, how’s it going?” Wes casually moves his hand from my thigh and I miss it already.

“Good! So, I think I’m going to steal my friend here so we can head over to Candy’s for the night.”

“What time is it?”

“Almost midnight,” Candy says, holding out her phone.

“Oh shit,” Wes double-checks on his phone, “I didn’t realize it was that late. Damn, time flies when you’re having fun, huh?” He glances back at me.

“It must.”

“Mind if I walk you, ladies, over there? I mean, I know you’re strong, independent, and don’t need me, but….”

“Of course, you can, Wes,” Stacy happily takes him up on his offer. “Well if it is okay with Holly over here.”

I bite my bottom lip as I turn back to face Wes, “I’d really like that, actually.”

“Awesome! Let me go pay the tab and we can head out.”

“What do I owe you?” I say reaching for my purse.

“Nothing, darling. Tonight’s on me.” He squeezes my shoulder and walks away as Stacy takes his spot.

“So Wes, huh?” She wastes no time getting to the bottom of it.

“He’s good looking. Nice. Built like a Greek god.”

“Check, Check, Check!” Stacy says while making checks in the air with her finger.

“You don’t mind, do you?”

“What? Oh god no. I knew him through his awkward stage, he’s all yours.”

“What awkward stage?” We both jump, startled, as Wes shows up behind us. He’s got a huge grin on his face, obviously heard us.

“Nothing!” We both reply in unison.

Stacy hops off the chair and starts heading outside to where we parked her truck. I grab mine from behind the bar where they let me stash it after the little beer incident that started the night. She’s ahead of us a little bit while Wes and I walk behind her, our hands brushing each other every once in a while. Part of me wants to take the plunge and grab his hand, but I’m sure a guy like him doesn’t want a clingy girl grabbing his hand the very first second she gets. When I look ahead and see the diner fast approaching, I get kind of sad thinking that our night together is almost over.

“Hey, can you wait here a second?” I stop in front of him, putting my hands against his chest.

“Yeah, everything okay?”

“Yep, just, don’t move!” I take a few strides up to where Stacy is and hand her my bag. “Hey, um give me like ten minutes okay?”

She gets a devilish grin on her face. “Depends. What do you plan on doing with those ten minutes?”

“Shit, I don’t know, but I know nothing is going to happen with you standing out here.”

“Fine, fine. Ten minutes and then I’m screaming dirty things out the window.”

“Okay, deal.” Stacy goes upstairs and I turn back to Wes who is leaning up against the front wall of the diner.

“What’s up?” He motions his eyes over to Stacy heading up the stairs to Candy’s apartment.

“Come with me.”

I take his hand and pull him around the corner between the diner and the building next door. I lean against the wall and pull him into me. Wes puts his hands on either side of my shoulders trapping me. I see his tongue dart out to lick his lips and then he smiles at me. My hands travel up his chest and shoulders, eventually making their way behind his neck. I gently pull him down, giving him permission to kiss me. He moves his hands onto my waist and leans into me. His lips touch mine and sparks fly like New Years’ and Fourth of July combined.

Our kiss deepens and I do all I can do to pull his body even closer to mine. He takes his lips off mine and places hurried kisses down my jaw and neck. I let out a deep moan as one of his hands moves from my waist to behind my body, resting on my ass. I can feel his growing erection pressing against my stomach.

“Holly…” He groans my name between his kisses.

“Yes, Wes?” I say back to him breathlessly.

“I need to stop.” He cups my face in his hands and gives me one final kiss before standing straight up again. He reaches down to adjust himself, although I can still see the impressive outline pressing against his jeans.

“Did I do something wrong?”

“Oh darling, no, not at all. It’s me.”

“What’s you?” I ask confused.

“If I don’t stop myself now I don’t think I’ll be able to and you’re too good to fuck dirty in this alleyway, okay?” I giggle at his dirty talk, but I nod my head. I know exactly what he means. I haven’t wanted a man like this in a really long time, but I don’t want to do it here.

Wes takes my hand and pulls me away from the wall and back to the door to the stairs that go to Candy’s apartment. He pulls me into a hug and kisses the top of my head. “I’ll text you, okay? We’ll do that dinner. I promise.”

“I’m already looking forward to it.”

He places one more kiss on my lips before he lets go of my hand and lets me walk upstairs. As I go upstairs I touch my lips, already missing him on mine. When I open the door Candy and Stacy are both standing in the kitchen staring at me.

“Oh hey, you two!” I try to say casually.

They both laugh, totally knowing what I was probably doing with Wes. Thankfully they don’t give me too much of a hard time. I take a shower and Stacy and I crash on the couch, I fall asleep thinking about Wes, something I haven’t done for years.