Chapter 33
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
JOURNEY, “FAITHFULLY”
I mapped out my trip to Springfield and laid the highlighted map on the passenger’s seat next to me with my guitar and two bags of clothes shoved onto the floor.
After I arrived in Springfield, I grabbed lunch at KFC and drove to the fairgrounds, where workers were setting up for the rodeo. I was four hours early, and Isaac’s truck wasn’t anywhere in sight, so I parked in a shady spot, ate my lunch, and spent the afternoon playing my guitar, scribbling lyrics into my notebook, and catching a nap.
Eventually, the parking lot filled in around me, and people funneled toward the gates. I put on the cowboy hat and boots Isaac bought me and got in line. The stands and crowd were five times the size of Devil’s Head’s rodeo.
Bright lights.
Music .
And not a familiar soul in sight.
I found a place to sit at the far end, way up in the stands, surrounded by loud fans drinking beer and having a good time. For the next hour, I nervously watched the events. What if I was wrong? What if Isaac accidentally left that list in his guitar case, and it wasn’t for me? It wasn’t a map of his planned travels? Maybe he wasn’t going to every rodeo on the list. Maybe he wasn’t going to any of them.
With a fake smile and a hand on my nervous stomach, I watched the first roper come out of the gate. Then the next … and the next.
Until, he was there.
My heart exploded into tiny pieces of confetti, and I wanted to run into the arena and hug him. It was the first time I watched the whole thing, even when he tied the calf and headed back to his horse with a smile for the crowd while he adjusted his black cowboy hat.
“Excuse me. Pardon me. Oops. Sorry.” I made my way out of the stands and ran toward the trucks and trailers. There were so many, and they all started to look the same.
“Nice job!”
I turned as a woman down one of the rows jogged toward a guy—toward Isaac—while he loaded his horse into the trailer. I inhaled, and it made my grin swell as I headed toward his truck. But then I stopped because the brunette threw her arms around his neck and he hugged her back, lifting her off the ground. That’s when his gaze met mine, so I turned on my heel and walked away as fast as possible, hoping he didn’t notice it was me. After all, I wore a hat, and the sun had begun to set, leaving that part of the fairgrounds rather dark.
“Sarah? ”
He saw me, so I took off running, losing my hat. When I turned to grab it, he was gaining on me, so I abandoned the hat and trucked my way toward the nearest exit.
I was not his girl. I was just a girl like Danielle and probably a long list of others. My parents would be waiting to say, “I told you so,” but I wasn’t going home. I didn’t know where I would go, but not home.
“Sarah, stop.”
Oof! Ouch!
I tripped. Stupid boots!
Gravel pierced my hands and bruised my knees, dirtying my jeans.
“Are you okay? What are you doing?” Isaac asked, reaching for me with one hand while he held my hat in his other hand.
“Don’t touch me!” I rolled onto my butt and kicked at the dirt to get away from him so I could stand and keep running. But my hands stung, and they were bleeding in a few places as I hugged them to my chest and fought the tears.
“She’s my cousin. Well, second cousin. She lives here in Springfield,” Isaac said, eyes wide and unblinking as if I were a spooked animal.
I swallowed past the sob in my throat because my hand hurt, and so did my pride.
He squatted in front of me, holding my hat between his spread knees. “Are you hurt?”
With a quivering lower lip, I nodded.
“Let me see.”
I held out my hands, wincing from the pain.
“Baby,” he squinted, “you have a piece of broken glass wedged into your palm.”
I couldn’t hold it back any longer. I released a sob. “It hurts. And I left everything and everyone to be with you, and then I thought you were …”
“I’m not cheating on you,” he said, setting my hat on my head and lifting me into his arms. “Let’s get you fixed up.” Isaac carried me to his truck, where his cousin was waiting.
“Nicole, this is Sarah. She tripped. Can you grab the first aid kit under my seat?”
“Sure.” Nicole retrieved the kit before moving so he could lift me into the passenger’s seat.
I felt stupid for assuming he was cheating on me. Stupid for running. Stupid for tripping. And stupid because his cousin was meeting me for the first time when I was having a breakdown.
“This is going to hurt,” Isaac said, pouring hydrogen peroxide onto my hands.
“Ouch!” I seethed.
“Sorry.” He looked up at me for a second before removing the glass and gravel.
“Can I get you anything else?” Nicole asked.
“We’re good. Thanks.” Isaac looked back at her with a kind smile.
“Okay. Well, I’m meeting a few friends. Are you staying at the house again? You’re both welcome.”
“Not tonight,” he murmured, returning his focus to my hands.
“Well, I’ll see you in the morning when you pick up your horse,” she said, resting her hand on his shoulder. “Nice to meet you, Sarah. Sorry about your hands.”
I sniffled and murmured a tight “thanks” because every time Isaac removed something from my hand, it hurt. After he got the rocks and glass out of it, he applied an ointment and wrapped gauze around them. I looked like a boxer .
Then he looked up at me again. “Sunday Morning,” he whispered, taking my face in his hands and wiping my tears before kissing me.
I was such a fool in love.
A young woman with so many painful lessons to learn.
But all that mattered was Isaac’s lips were on mine.
He pulled back an inch and smiled. “Hi.”
I laughed despite an extra round of unshed tears waiting to be released. “Hi.”
“Let’s drop Anakin off at my uncle’s for the night, then get a motel room. Where are you parked? We’ll get your bag and come back tomorrow for your car.”
I eased out of the truck. “I don’t have a car. Your dad loaned me the old gray truck.”
“What happened to your car?” He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and walked with me toward the parking lot.
“My dad kicked me out of the house. And he took my car, his car.” I fought to keep it together. I didn’t need to tell him I walked for hours in the heat to his house.
“Why? Because of me?”
“Because I lost my cool and said everything I’d been feeling. And I said it all at once without sugarcoating anything. So I’ve been staying at a motel because I thought …”
He stopped to face me. “You thought what?”
“It’s so stupid. The list of rodeos must have fallen out, and I didn’t see it. So I thought you just left. Then Gabby found it and showed it to me.” I dropped my gaze, ashamed of how hurt I was over something he didn’t do.
“You thought I left you with nothing but a guitar and some cash?”
Keeping my chin tucked, I nodded .
“Look at me.”
I slowly lifted my gaze.
“You belong with me. Got it?”
“Say it again,” I whispered with a grin.
“You belong,” he ducked his head, lips brushing mine, “with me.” He kissed me.
Isaac showered while I gingerly used my fingers to undress and slip into an oversized T-shirt that I used as a swimsuit cover-up and pajamas.
“I’m still not okay with you tying up baby cows,” I said when he emerged from the bathroom with a white towel around his waist and a few rivulets of water on his chest.
“But?” he said, digging through his bag for a pair of briefs.
“But what?”
He looked over his shoulder. “It sounded like there was a ‘but’ coming next. Like, but you love watching me rope. But the rodeo is growing on you. Or I’m growing on you.”
“No buts.” I bit back my grin as my legs dangled from the side of the bed.
He turned, adjusting his towel. I stared at his abs and the trail of hair that dipped beneath the towel .
“Why are you chewing on your lip?” he asked.
“Just thinking.”
“About?”
I shrugged. “Just wondering if you have any condoms?” I risked a glance up at him as my cheeks filled with heat.
His dark eyes left me breathless every time he looked at me without saying anything .
I blinked first.
Isaac grinned and nodded. “Will I need one soon?”
Damn!
He was so sexy. I was way out of my league, but just like standing on that stage in Nashville, I faked every ounce of confidence.
Digging my teeth into my lower lip again, I nodded.
“Your move, baby.” He stepped closer, his legs straddling my right knee.
My heart pounded; there was no way he didn’t hear it.
“Wrap me around your little finger,” he said, ghosting his knuckles along my cheek.
My eyes drifted shut for a breath before I tugged on his towel, and it fell to the floor. His erection bobbed right in front of me. With my bandaged hands at my sides, I leaned forward, eyes locked on his as I licked it.
He grinned, and so did I.
Isaac’s patience with my inexperience was commendable.
“You know the rule,” he said. “If you lick it, then it’s yours.”
I softly chuckled before taking the head into my mouth.
He closed his eyes, lips parted. After a few seconds of letting me toy with him like a cat with a ball of yarn for the first time, he brushed my hair away from my eyes. “Lift your arms.”
I lifted them.
Isaac removed my shirt and tossed it aside; then he slowly removed my underwear. When he brought them to his nose, my whole body blushed, which made him grin. He set them on the bed with his bag and pulled out a condom .
As he tore it open and rolled it on, I cleared my throat. “I’m still not okay with you tying up baby cows.”
He looked up from his erection as he finished rolling on the condom and gave me a lifted eyebrow.
I grinned. “ But when you’re on your horse, looking hotter than any guy I have ever seen, all I can think about is this.”
Isaac’s mouth twitched. “When I’m roping, it makes you want to have sex with me?”
“Very much so,” I whispered, staring at his erection.
“Well, fuck, baby,” he sat on the bed and grabbed my butt, pulling me between his legs. “I’m going to do nothing but rope and bury myself inside of you for the rest of my life.” He sucked my nipple into his mouth.
I teased the tips of my fingers through his hair. It didn’t take him long to get me so turned on that I pushed at his shoulders, making him lie back so I could straddle him, slowly letting him fill me.
“Sarahhh …” He sang, before biting his lower lip to hide his grin while he gripped my hips and rocked into me.
“I love you,” I whispered, ghosting my fingertips along the tattoos on his arms for a few seconds before closing my eyes.
I still told myself I hated sex, except with Isaac. Loving a man who made everything beautiful felt like the right path in the direction of happiness.