Chapter 10
Corrine
Waking up in Travis’s arms was something of a dream, sure I hadn’t lusted after the man but still, I had this dream ever since I was a little girl.
A dream of being with someone that the moment his arms enveloped around my waist, I would feel safe and protected against all others, and most importantly, loved.
“Wake up beautiful, time to go for a ride?” I heard Travis mutter as his hand ran along the inside of my thigh.
I looked up at his alarm clock and saw that it was four-thirty. Screwing my nose up I stared at him.
He placed a kiss on the top of my nose as he asked, “Wanna watch the sunrise baby?”
Smiling, I climbed out of bed and dressed warmly. The weather in Wyoming right now was warm in the day, but it was chilly at night.
He waited in the door frame as he watched me dress in warm jeans, a sweater, and my thick socks with my boots. I plaited my long red hair as I grabbed a ball cap.
Hand in hand we walked down the stairs out to the stables. There I saw that Champion along with Stormy were already saddled and waiting for us. Smiling, I couldn’t help the skip that broke out.
After we climbed on, Parker tilted his hat to the both of us as we rode alongside each other. Champion was sidestepping showing off for Stormy and I couldn’t help but laugh. Heck Stormy wasn’t much better. She was prancing.
Yeah, my girl liked her new fella. That was for sure.
I wasn’t sure how long we rode but the moment we topped a rise in the north pasture we stopped, Travis climbed off of Champion and left his reins dangling, as he came over to me and grabbed me by the waist as he helped me get down off of Stormy.
Again, hand in hand he stopped by Champion as he grabbed two thermoses’ and a blanket from his saddlebags. He handed me the thermos’ as he placed the blanket down on the ground.
Smiling, he sat, then I did what I did best and sat between his legs. The thermos he had for himself was hot black coffee, and mine resembled white chocolate.
As I leaned back into his warm embrace, I wanted to wake up every morning to something like this. There was no other feeling quite like it.
“So tell me. Have you been saving up all of your romantic whiles for me?”
“What do you think?” He asked as he trailed kisses on my exposed neck.
“I’m thinking yes, and I’m thinking I’m one lucky woman.”
The moment the sun rose in the distance I knew there was nowhere else that I’d rather be, Sure the landscape and the scenery around us were wonderful, but it was the man at my back that made it perfect. Simply perfect.
Over the last week, we had been working on cardio and going on rides to make sure that Stormy and myself were ready.
Before I left his house to make sure that I got a good night’s rest I got a long slow sweet kiss.
I was nervous that morning as I pulled my car in front of the stables on the ranch. This was our first endurance ride. We didn’t need to win, we just wanted to do it for fun. And to also show that mustangs that are once wild are the perfect mounts.
I looked for Travis. Surely, he was almost ready to go? However it was at that moment that I saw him, and I smiled. I started to make my way over to him, but I froze.
I froze because trailing behind him was a woman. A blonde-haired woman in form-fitted slacks and a beautiful blazer. They were making their way to Travis’s helicopter.
“Who is that?” I tried to keep the worry out of my tone. My gaze was zeroed in on the hand that Travis had at the small of the woman’s back.
“Oh her. They’ve been doing random stuff here lately. Her name is Maggie.” I tried to keep the hurt off of my face.
Random stuff with her lately? Did that mean that he was doing the same things with her that he does with me?
My mind raced with scenarios. Travis has yet to introduce me to her.
“Will he be back in time for the endurance ride?” I asked Parker as the blades from the helicopter whipped at the air as it took off from the ground. I’ve never even ridden in the thing.
“Of course. Heard the boss say he wouldn’t miss it for anything.” Parker assured me.
With that in my mind, I smiled as we loaded Stormy up and our gear.
The three-hour drive was spent with nerves running through my body.
The moment we pulled up; I saw a lot of riders with their mounts who looked as if they had been bred for this.
After we had Stormy saddled with a lightweight Brazilian saddle, I looked in her eyes. They say a horse feeds off of their rider’s emotions, and it was true.
“Just do your best, don’t worry about anyone else.” Parker patted my leg after he helped me mount Stormy.
“Trust in your girl, let her lead you.” Junior nodded.
“You got this girly girl.” Tim patted my other leg.
Stormy started to prance in step as the energy from the crowd and the riders charged up the air.
As soon as the gun went off, we started off at a sedate pace.
We weren’t going to burn ourselves out on the first leg.
The second leg came up ahead, Parker checked Stormy’s rate and mine after we had a few sips of water, we started off again.
This leg was the longest and the highest up the mountain that we had to endure.
We passed six other riders that hadn’t slowed on the first leg and they were paying for it now.
The third leg was the last one before the finish line. On that third leg, we passed ten other riders on their mounts then when the finish line came into view, I let Stormy run her heart out. We passed fifteen other riders and their mounts.
However, when Stormy and I crossed the finish line in third place, I looked for him. I hadn’t seen his all too familiar black Stetson in the crowd. Nor had he been at any of the check-in stations. Parker had been there.
Parker was standing with Pete, and Junior at the end.
I couldn’t help the smile that I had been wearing at hearing we had been third, that it had turned into a frown. He had made me a promise. A promise that he had broken. I just hoped that he had a real good excuse for it. An excuse that I have yet to receive from Travis.