imagines✨

“Welcome home, baby,” he steps forward, closer to you to give you a sweet kiss. You hadn’t even noticed he wasn’t around for the last half of the day, and it didn’t even occur to you that he could be home, doing…whatever he has planned.

He guides you over to the dining room, where he has a big pot of alfredo tortellini prepared, complete with peas, broccoli, and a side of garlic bread. Two plates sit empty, waiting to be filled with the delicious smelling, and delicious tasting, pasta that he has prepared for the two of you.

The lights are kept dim, though there’s still enough sunshine to keep the room glowing enough, the dimming sunlight filtering in through the glass doors and windows, and to add to the romantic setting, flameless candles are set around the table and the small space. 

“I uh, I know you’ve been struggling a lot lately with fitting in on the ranch and adjusting to life out here, so I wanted to show my appreciation for all the work that you have done so far. I know it ain’t easy, but I can see the effort you’re makin’, and trust me, it doesn’t go unnoticed by others.” His accent grows stronger with the more emotions he has, which makes your heart ache.

The man in front of you pulls your chair out for you and sits in his spot to the left of where he placed you at the head of the table. Even though he lives alone and neither of you want a family of your own, he kept the large, family heirloom dining room table for whenever he hosts parties or family dinners with his brothers and sister, and their children.

It’s the perfect size to fit almost everyone, and seeing as no one else wanted it, he took it to save it from being destroyed. But, it does make for awkward nights when it’s just the two of you, the large space unfilled, a reminder that you have no one out here.

“You know, let’s go eat on the couch,” Dallas suddenly says, reaching for your plate and the cloth trivet underneath it to prevent heat damage to the wood it sits on.

“Why?” Although you don’t protest, you are just curious. Dallas shrugs, but you can tell he had sensed your unease and discomfort; he’s gotten very well at reading your emotions, it’s something you admire about him.

“Dunno. Think it’ll be a bit more relaxing.”

So, you two enjoy the rest of your dinner on the couch, your plates set on the coffee table in front of you, chatting away about the excitement you had. You tell him all about what happened with Harlow and the number three horse stall, Dallas laughing along as you describe how she slipped and fell in fresh horse poop and had to wash off before doing anything else.

Although it’s only been twenty minutes since you’ve walked in the door, you have forgotten about what has been on your mind for the past few days, all thanks to the rugged cowboy sitting in front of you. It’s not been easy, but he definitely makes it bearable and allows you to forget things like that.

“Well, now that dinner has finished, I have a few more surprises for you,” Dallas announces, taking both of your empty plates and heading for the kitchen. He returns seconds later and reaches for your hand again. “Follow me, my love.”

With a short giggle, you follow him upstairs to where his main bathroom is, the one with the incredible jet tub, perfect for moments like this, your muscles tight and sore after a hard six hours of scooping soiled hay and sweating like a pig in the hot sun.

To your surprise, the bathroom is set up the same way the living room and dining room was. Flameless candles spread about, along with two real candles on the edge of the tub, releasing a mouth-watering aroma of eucalyptus, lavender, and vanilla.

“I’m gonna run you a nice bubble bath and you’re gonna soak until I get your next surprise ready,” he tells you while he turns the water on. Immediately, the tub starts to fill with steaming water, and you don’t have to say a word because he knows your ideal perfect temperature.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes to check on you, alright?” He says with a sweet kiss to your temple. You nod and continue to watch the water fill up, and when it’s close to where the top jets stop, he shuts the water off, adds a few squirts of a bubble bath mix, and stirs the steaming tub with his hand to activate the bubbles. “Let me know if you need anything.”

Too overcome with emotion, you just give him a short nod in response, waiting until he exits the room to strip down out of your grimy clothes and into the piping hot water. The second your entire body is underneath, you let out a long sigh, eyes fluttering shut and allowing your knotted muscles to loosen and undo themselves. 

Just as promised, Dallas returns about ten minutes later, though you’re not keeping much time, seeing as you are so relaxed, you could fall asleep right here right now.

“How you feelin’, baby?” He kneels beside the tub, his right hand coming up to brush some hair from your eyes and tuck it behind your ear. All you can manage is a content hum and soft grin, leaning into his touch.

“Why are you doing all this?” The question slips your lips before you are even able to think about it. Dallas’ eyebrows furrow together in confusion, but he knows exactly what you mean.

“What’s “all this” refer to?”

“Cooking my favorite meal, running me a bath, having soft lighting all over the house. Either you did something fucked up I don’t know about or you’re just feeling super lovey dovey tonight.” Dallas chuckles lightly and continues to stroke your heated cheek.

“I know you’ve been dealing a lot with feeling unworthy and unwanted here. Like you can’t do anythin’ because you’re a city girl. You won’t admit it, but I know you well enough now. I can see that it’s killin’ you but you don’t want to leave. So I wanted to care for you tonight, remind you that you’re here for a reason. If my dad and grandpa didn’t think you were good enough to stay, they’d have kicked you out months ago.”

His joking yet serious tone elicits a chuckle from your throat, but deep down, you know it’s true. They had a new ranch hand join just a couple months after you arrived, and he was gone within two weeks for a bunch of mistakes he made. And while not locking the gate and allowing the cattle to get out, and missing a tiny spot of hay in a horse’s stall are not exactly comparable, he is right.

If you were doing a shitty job and had no potential to be an actual asset to the operations of the ranch, his family would have gotten rid of you long ago.

“You’re not bribing them to keep me here, are you?” You tease. Dallas playfully rolls his eyes and leans forward to kiss your nose.

“I don’t have’tuh. They see how happy you make me, and getting rid of you would put me in a terrible mood, they wouldn’t know what to do.”

“Cheesy fucker.” With a shared laugh and a sweet kiss to the lips this time, Dallas stands and walks to grab the shampoo and conditioner you keep in his shower.

For the next ten minutes, Dallas washes your hair, twice with shampoo and once with conditioner, just like you do every night, before carefully scrubbing at your aching and warm body, washing away the labor you worked through and leaving you smell like fresh cherries. He helps rinse you off after the tub drains, and before you know it, he’s got you wrapped in a fuzzy bathrobe and guiding you back down the stairs once your legs are dried.

“What do you have planned now, Mr. Loverboy?” Dallas lays you down on the couch, placing the hair towel beneath your head on the pillow he’s provided for you.

“A little spa night while we watch a movie or show of your choice. Well, it’s mainly just brushing your face with some makeup brushes because I know you have sensitive skin. I didn’t want to get anything that would make you break out, so I just brought these really nice brushes because I know you like soft things on your face.”

Your heart swells as Dallas hands you the TV remote, allowing you some time to choose a movie, wich you land on the classic Sleepless in Seattle, your boyfriend shaking his head with a short laugh as he realizes what you’ve chosen.

“Still a city girl at heart,” he presses a gentle kiss to your forehead before he lifts the pillow up and slides underneath you.

You lay there, your head in Dallas’ lap, eyes closed as you listen to the movie and relish in the light, delicate strokes of the bruses against your skin. He switches between brushes every five minutes, using different ones for different spots. With the large fan brush, he circled it all around your face. But with the smaller brush typically used for eyeshadow, he traces your brows, your nose, and the outline of your jaw.

The smallest brush, he uses to trace simple shapes and words against your tingling skin. You make out the words ‘perfect’, ‘beautiful’, and ‘mine’. Your heart flutters beneath your chest as he does all of this, though you don’t bring attention to it, enjoying the quietness that has settled over you two.

“Turn around, baby,” he instructs in a whisper about halfway through the movie. You do as he says, Dallas tossing the towel to the floor now that your hair is drier than it was, settling back down against him.

Your arms come to circle his waist after he carefully lowers the robe to expose your bare back, continuing with the same process as before. He starts with the larger brushes, spanning up and down on your back, side to side across your tense shoulder blades that he promised he would massage after this, and especially tracing the indent of your spine, something he does with his fingers all the time.

By the time he gets to the smallest brush, he smiles down at you and clears his throat.

“I’m gonna write somethin’, try and guess what it is,” he tells you. Through the sleepiness clouding your whole body, you nod against his thighs and do your best to follow along the thin line of the brush. You focus hard on the letters he’s slowly spelling out, just so you don’t miss one, and by the time he’s done, it clicks in your mind only seconds later.

I love you.

“Dallas?” You sit up to meet his eyes, not even caring that your bare chest is exposed. “You do?”

“Mhm,” he nods, a small grin tugging at the corners of his lips. “I love you so much, sweetheart. You drive me crazy, but in a good way. Like I can’t get enough of ye, and I’m glad I get to come home to you every day.”

“I love you too,” you lean forward to capture his lips in a sweet, passionate kiss, pouring all of the emotions you’ve felt tonight into it.

Your relationship hasn’t exactly been ordinary, you moved out here only a month into dating after needing to move out of your parents’ house, and found yourself working a job on the ranch to keep some income flowing in and prove you’re worthy of a space here. And Dallas had been so kind to open his home up for you, even when you were still getting to know one another in relationship terms.

But as time has gone on, it’s now been two and a half months since you’ve been here, you feel so at home here. With him, especially. He has proven time and time again just how much you mean to him, and while he may not be good with his words, he shows you in other ways just how special you are.

And tonight proves it. You have never loved anyone the way you love Dallas, and he makes a silent promise to himself to say it out loud more often, having seen your expression and the way your eyes light up. “I think you were meant to be out in the country,” he teasingly says, giving you kiss after kiss. “It looks good on you, baby.”

“Mmm, that’s because I have a sweet cowboy doting on me after hard days. You will never be able to keep me from museums and tourist traps.”