“That sounds like quite a responsibility. You’ll have to forgive my ignorance; this is, in fact, my first rodeo.” Charles was proud of that little joke he could tell, and it was adorable.
“Oh, wow. Good deal! Well, Ry here knows every inch of the show. He won’t steer you wrong.” Mackey chuckled softly. “You got yourself the good one, for sure. Roper is…wild and wooly.”
Oh God…
Charles looked amused. “Have I? Good to know.”
The elevator opened on their floor, saving him from whatever Mackey might have said next.
“See you tonight, Mackey.”
“Yessir. Y’all have fun.” Mackey waved, and they headed down to their suite.
“I got myself the good one?” Charles was grinning as he opened the suite door.
“Well…” Shit. “Roper is not really suited to this sort of thing…”
At all.
“Good twin, bad twin? I’ve heard of such things. I’m even more curious to meet him. Oh. The suite is quite nice.” Charles let the bellman bring the suitcases into the room, then slipped him a tip. “Thank you.”
“Thanks. He’ll run up and meet you in a bit, if that’s okay.” He was nervous for Charles to meet Roper, a little bit.
Roper was far more interesting than he was.
“He doesn’t need to go out of his way. I’m sure he’s busy.”
“He’s staying two floors down. I let him know to text when he was done signing posters.”
“All right then. We can get settled in the meantime.” Charles looked around. “Which room is mine?”
“The bigger one. It’s got a Jacuzzi tub, and it’s supposed to have the good view.” And Mister Charlie deserved those.
“Oh, very nice.” Charles dragged his suitcase into the bedroom. “Yes, very nice, indeed. Am I dressed appropriately? Should I change?”
Did Mister Charlie even own jeans?
“This is casual—jeans and a button-down, or a T-shirt. Be comfortable. I can iron for you, if you need it.”
Charles popped his head out of the bedroom. “Casual merits an iron?”
He shrugged. “I iron my jeans to crease them.”
His shirts were pre-starched at the cleaners.
“I had noticed that when we went to the party at Victor’s, but I thought that was considered dressy. Interesting.” Charles disappeared again. “I think mine are fine. No one would ever mistake me for a cowboy anyway.”
“Rodeo fans come from all over the world. Don’t worry on it. You’ll be perfect.”
“I know I’ll have fun, in any case. I feel like a VIP sitting in the family section with a retired rider, watching people you know. I’ve been eagerly anticipating this weekend since we talked about it.” Charles had been talking from behind a partially closed door. When he came back out, he was wearing jeans, black boots with a thick sole, and a black button-down shirt. “Does this work?”
Oh, wasn’t that a pretty sight. “Yes, sir. You’re right as rain. Let me go switch shirts right quick, so we can be ready for whatever.”
Every so often, Charles made him swallow hard.
His phone vibrated with a text from Roper as he was getting changed.
Roper