JESUS, DALLAS was big.
Stetson stared up at the skyline that he’d seen in a hundred episodes of TV and just gawked like he’d never been out of Taos.
There was the building with the lit up X, the tower hotel with the big ball, and a dozen other things to stare at. Curtis drove like he’d been here a hundred times, and Stetson reckoned he had. He was grateful, because he wanted to stare.
“Oh, look at that!” Their hotel was tall and amazing when Curtis turned in, pulling the truck up to valet parking.
“What do I need to do, cowboy?” How did this work?
“I’ll handle the valet if you can run up to the desk right there and get us a bellman with a cart.”
“Sure. Sure.” He followed instructions—bellman, cart, go.
“May I help you, sir?”
“We’re checking in. We need a cart up to the room.”
“You got it. Y’all got here at a good time. Couple hours past the rush.” The kid grabbed a cart and followed him back out to the truck.
“Yeah. It was a good drive. Not bad on traffic.”
“Nice. It will get hairy over the weekend.” Once they got to the truck, the kid began pulling out bags and shirts and hat boxes like this was no big deal. “How long are y’all here?”
“’Til Tuesday morning, I think.” They might just go on to Fort Worth Monday morning.
“Oh, that’ll be nice for you. Sunday afternoon it will get quiet, and you can just hit up the restaurants and bars without competition.”
“Yeah? Good to know. I’ve never been here before.”
“No? You should ask at the concierge. Jack knows everywhere to go.”
“Thanks.” He sent Curtis a wild look, and Curtis smiled, walking over to take his elbow.
“We’ll need to check in. Can you wait, or do we need to get a ticket so you can bring it all up later?”
“I’ll give you this. You’ll call the bell desk when you get to your room, and we’ll bring it up. Have a great time, y’all.”
Stetson watched them take the truck, take their things, all but Curtis’s bag of electronics. Okay, that was unnerving.
“You should have seen my face the first time I stayed at a big host hotel,” Curtis said, steering him toward the big revolving door. “The kid with the cart took my rigging, and I about popped him on the chin.”
“I remember that. You called me from the room, just about in hysterics.”
“Right? Now I know not to leave my laptop, but no one wants my riding gear.” Curtis stepped up to the front desk. “Hey, there. Curtis Traynor, checking in. I’m a rewards member.”
Lord, look at all the folks. There was somebody here for a wedding—colors black and green, he thought, although maybe the whole family just had matching bags. There were a ton of folks in Western wear, a couple of little toddlers in cowboy boots, and a load of dudes in suits.
They’d have to come back down and have a beer in the bar just off the lobby, watch all the people.
“Thanks.” Curtis turned and caught him gaping. “We’re in 904.”
“Yeah? Cool. Just people-watching. No big.”
“I knew that would get you.” Curtis winked. “Wanna go get our bags delivered and clean up some? Then we can figure supper.”
“Sure. You don’t have to check in with the event organizers or nothing, right?”
“Nah. I’ll text Miles and let him know I’m here. Maybe Barb. But no one will expect anything.”
“Good deal.” They headed up into a fancy-assed hotel room that was all beige and classy and shit. There was even a sofa. “They do know that you’re cowboys, right?”
“Athletes, baby. We’re athletes.”
“Right. You gonna get a sports psychologist to help you win more?”
Curtis gave him that look. “Absolutely not.”
He couldn’t have fought the grin if he’d tried, and he had to admit, he didn’t try so hard.
“Butthead.” Curtis picked up the phone to call for their bags. “It’s nice, though, huh?”
“It’s amazing. Stuffy. You mind if I turn the AC on?”
“God, no. The humidity here is killer.”
“It’s crazy. The air is so heavy. Look at how green everything is, though.” It wasn’t even spring yet, and things were green, and there was water standing everywhere.
“I know. I swear, I wonder what they do with it all.”
Yeah, Stetson knew Curtis loved the high desert too. Maybe the places Curtis tended to light weren’t as high as him, but Curtis’s favorite part of Colorado was all adobe cliffs and scrub brush.
Spare water was strange and wonderful, and he didn’t quite get it. He turned the thermostat down, then sat on the end of the bed.
“Oh, that’s nice.”
“Good. Nothing worse than a squishy bed after a day of riding.” Curtis grabbed the hotel book off the desk.
Stetson eased off his boots and leaned back, eyes closed, his body suddenly heavy. Just over ten hours hadn’t seemed like long in the truck, but now he was wearing down.
“Nap time before we go down for supper, huh? It’ll be a half hour before they show with the bags.”
“Sounds good.” It did too.
Curtis sat next to him, and he heard boots hit the floor.
“When you traveled lately, I mean before my call, did you travel alone?”
“Mostly, yeah. Miles would room with me once in a while, but he still liked to go out drinking after the show, and I can’t do that anymore. I get all swollen.”
He dragged one hand over Curtis’s belly, fascinated by the ridges of the six-pack, even under the cloth of his button-down.
“Mmm. That’s not napping, baby.”
“No?” His eyes were closed, it was quiet, and Curtis was right there.
“That’s petting, but I can deal.” Curtis scooted up next to him and stretched out.
“Thank you,” he whispered.
“What for?” Curtis whispered right back at him.
“Answering the phone when I called.”
Curtis took his hand, fingers curling around his. “I’m glad I did.”
“Me too. For a thousand reasons.”
“It scared me. It wasn’t your old number, and I thought something had happened to you.”
“Something had.” He’d discovered that he had to let go of the old shit somehow when Momma’d been trapped in the past.
“I know, baby. I’m so sorry.” Curtis had said it a hundred times, but Stetson knew he meant it.
“Me too, but it is what it is. Or was. Something.”
“Right.” Curtis toyed with his fingers. “I have to thank you too.”
“What fer?” In his head he heard his momma’s voice saying, cat fur, to make kitten britches.
“For saying yes. For coming with me. I always wanted you to.”
“I should have. I was scared.”
“Oh, baby, neither of us was ready. I know there was a lot of time lost, but maybe we had to learn what we had to.” Curtis snorted. “You notice how I’m a regular philosopher these days?”
“I know. They teach you that in rodeo school?”
“Nope. It’s all that late night talk radio I listened to on the road. Lonely hearts club.”
“Ah.” His lips quirked. “Lord, what are you gonna do now? Since you aren’t lonely or on the road?”
“Ponder all the things we can do in hotel rooms?” Curtis teased.
“Yeah? You think you can make a list?”
“I can totally do that. After we nap, maybe.”
This was decadent already. Nothing to do but lie here and hold hands and doze.
“Sounds like heaven.”
Pure-D heaven.