Yellowstone Preferences and Imagines

How You Meet

A/N: Welcome to the first *real* chapter of this book! Ah, I'm so nervous but so excited to be publishing this! Anyways I hope you guys like this, please let me know what you think!

Word Count: 2,429

Rip Wheeler

I sat at the table aimlessly stirring my drink with my straw. Watching the ice melt in my glass was more interesting than this bar was. There was a time in my life when I would have considered this to be the most fun a gal could have, but things had changed...I had changed. This was also not how I wanted to be spending my first night back at home. I wanted to be unpacking and settling in, not sitting in a crowded bar waiting for my sister to decide to wrap it up. I had no idea what had possessed me to move back home in the first place but I was already starting to second-guess myself...and it hadn't even been twenty-four hours yet.

Maybe I was being too pessimistic about this. I had wanted something different, but nothing was going to change if my mindset stayed the same. I took a quick glance around the room to see if any of the drunk, sweaty guys in here were worth a second look. After realizing that none of them were, I went back to stabbing at the ice in my drink in defeat. But I could feel someone's eyes on me, and when I turned around it didn't take me long to spot him. He was tall, dark, and handsome and everything about him drew me in.

I met him halfway; we were like two magnets finding their way to one another. "Is there any chance you like dancin'?" He asked, his voice was deep and sweet like honey. "With the right partner," I replied, shocked at what had come over me. "Can I have this dance?" He asked as he extended his hand to me. Feeling bold, I took it and let him lead me to the dance floor. I ignored the suggestive looks and wiggling eyebrows from my sister as he wrapped an arm around my waist and guided me along to the tune of the music. I had never danced this way with anyone before, never felt the way I did right now. He was a complete stranger to me. I didn't even know his name. And yet, I never wanted to leave his arms.

One dance turned into two, two turned into three and before I knew it the lights had come on in the bar and we were being thrown out. Realizing I had lost track of time and had no idea where Beth was, I quickly thanked him for the wonderful evening and gave him a fleeting kiss on the cheek before running off to find my sister. Unsurprisingly, I found her outside smoking a cigarette. " Not a word out of you. Get in the car." I grumbled as I fumbled for my keys. When we got home, Beth said nothing but gave me another suggestive glance before we parted ways and went off to bed.

I woke up to someone smacking me with a pillow. I mumbled an impressive string of curses under my breath and flipped over. "You wanted to move back here, that means you're having coffee with me on the porch this mornin'. Get up." Beth instructed as she slammed the door behind her. I took a brief moment to freshen up before pulling on a hoodie and slipping downstairs to join her. I took a sip of it and spit it out. "Jesus Beth, there's whiskey in this!" I blurted but she just motioned for me to keep drinking. I looked up and saw our father walking up the steps. "Here Daddy, take this. Maybe it'll be more useful to you than it is to me." I said, handing the cup off to him. "Your sister put whiskey in it?" I just rolled my eyes and nodded as he took the cup from me. He looked up from his coffee and gestured to a man standing behind him that I hadn't noticed yet. "(Y/n) honey, I want you to meet my right-hand man, Rip Wheeler. Rip this is my youngest daughter, (Y/N)." He said introducing us. My mouth went dry when I realized that I was looking at the handsome stranger from last night at the bar. "It's a pleasure to meet you (Y/n)" Rip said, tipping his hat toward me with a knowing smirk before following my father into the house. The look on Beth's face told me everything I needed to know: she had known who Rip was and decided not to say anything. "Damn you straight to hell Beth" I grumbled at her. She just smiled sweetly and sipped her coffee, a knowing twinkle in her eye.