Chapter 20
Sex with Sadie is something else entirely. Mind-blowing. Fucking incredible, and better than any experience I’ve ever had.
After the third round—and probably my favorite as she rode my dick to completion—I finished cooking dinner. By the time we ate, I was still rock solid. Which Sadie took as a challenge. After that, I passed out cold.
Perfectly acceptable considering the last two years of just me and my hand.
Morning light drifts in through the sliding glass doors as faint music floats in the air. My arms reach over for Sadie, but she’s not there. Neither is Bandit or Foxie.
I slip on a pair of sweatpants and follow the music to my record player in the living room. Finding her sitting on the fur rug in front of the fireplace, wearing one of my flannels with dozens of records sprawled out around her. Bandit approaches me, eager for his morning pats.
I lean against the wall, watching her with curious eyes. “Already causing trouble, I see, Tequila.”
She flinches, caught red-handed.
She quickly shakes it off, grabbing an album. “This is my favorite band, Cowboy.”
The Chicks, and I’m not one bit surprised. It was one of my mom’s favorites as well. Most of those records fanned out around her were hers. Old, vintage things were always my mom’s style. She would have loved Sadie.
“And you have like…” her eyes dart around, “All of their albums,” she rummages through, like a kid on Christmas.
Her excitement brings a smile to my face.
She grabs an album with a familiar blonde woman on the cover, holding it up in the air like an Oscar. “Averie’s first album! And it’s signed! Oh my God, how did you get this?”
Averie’s first album came out when she was eighteen. A rare album she recorded at the local TV studio. “It’s my favorite one. Had her sign it last year.”
Her eyes narrow with a hint of misplaced jealousy. “You don’t have some kind of crush on Averie, do you?”
I snort. “Not my type. Just supporting her dream.” My type is a vintage-loving woman with caramel hair.
“Good,” she smiles, going back to her records. “Damn. You have so many good country albums. Which is really surprising since you don’t listen to ordinary sad country boy music.”
I did like sad country boy music, but admitting it to her would only add more fuel to the fire. “I told you. I’m not a cowboy.” And firmly, never going to be one, traditional or otherwise. Besides, country music wasn’t just for cowboys.
“Stop living in denial, Cowboy,” she smirks.
For such a small person, she sure can annoy me more than anyone else on this earth. “I’m not.”
“You may think you’re not. But your soul says cowboy,” she points at my heart. “The sooner you accept that, the better it’s going to be for everyone.”
I huff, shaking my head.
“Wait a minute,” she puts a hand up, mind going elsewhere. A bright smile breaks across her face. “Oh my God, of course,” she gasps, reaching for another album.
She places a new record on the player, grinning from ear to ear as she stands in front of me. Before I can ask what she’s up to, the song starts playing. A song I recognize by the guitar intro.
A groan rumbles in my chest. “Sadie,” I scold, but she ignores me.
“I said I want to touch the earth. I want to break it in my hands,” she sings along, putting her hands on me, and fuck, it’s cute.
Annoying, but cute.
My eyes narrow. “Sadie—”
She grabs my hands, continuing as she sways her hips. “I want to grow something wild and unruly…” she continues, singing the next few verses, wrapping my arms around her when the song calls for it, pulling me into a slow dance. “On a pillow of blue bonnets—”
“In a blanket made of stars.” I gruffly sing along, caving. Like the goddamn sap I’m becoming with her. And sadly, I know this song by heart.
Her eyes go wide with delight. She sings the next few verses, belting it out at the chorus. “I said, Cowboy, take me away.” Her arms wrap around me, and we sway side to side.
As silly as this is to me, she’s happy, and I don’t want to take it away from her.
My mind roars with everything that happened last night, but she’s lost in this, and I’m lost in her smile. Kissing her in between verses while keeping my hands low. We’re going to have a talk about why she doesn’t like her back touched, and soon. It’s driving me crazy that it bothers her so much.
Besides, I’m a fixer, and I want to fix whatever fear she has or at least have an opportunity to understand it.
My phone vibrates in the pocket of my sweatpants.
“It’s Blake,” I say to her, and she immediately turns down the music. “Hey, what’s up?” I say through the phone.
“We got a situation here,” he starts. “The fuel truck was supposed to come yesterday, but apparently, they went to the wrong place.”
“What?” That doesn’t make any sense. I signed off on those papers myself. Days ago.
“He ended up halfway across Montana in the other direction,” he continues. “Now he’s asking for double, but I told him to kiss my ass. Respectfully,” he clears his throat.
What a fucking mess.
“Call him back and apologize. I’ll be there soon.” I hang up.
“Everything okay?” Sadie asks.
I sigh, reaching my hand to her face. It would’ve been perfect to spend all day in bed with her, seeing as she has today off too. But of course, I’m needed elsewhere. “I’m sorry. This might take a while. There’s plenty of food in the fridge and—”
“I have a house, Kit. I’ll be fine.”
Right, I still haven’t told her.
“Your furnace is still broken. I’m waiting for the parts to come in. Might take a few days.”
She glances around, unsure. “So, you want me to stay. Here… with you?” Her brown eyes fill with worry.
“Only if you want to.” Something in her relaxes at that. “I’m so sorry, I need to run.”
After throwing on a shirt, flannel, jeans, and a ballcap, I pull her in for a kiss, lingering on her mouth. She smiles and laughs as I run out the door, grabbing my coat.
The main barn is a clusterfuck. Workers run around four men who stand around arguing—Blake, Wes, Ryker, and young Tanner.
They straighten up as I approach them.
“Thank fuck,” Wes exhales, stepping back to make space for me.
“Catch me up,” I say to the group.
Ryker nods to me. I give him my best gruff nod, faking how I really feel inside.
If he catches the smile that feels permanent on my face, nothing will stop him from opening his big mouth.
He eyes me carefully, like he can see right through the bullshit.
A small smile hides in the corner of his mouth.
“Fuel truck didn’t come,” Blake steps in, explaining the situation.
“We’ve got seven trucks stuck in the fields.
Stranded. I called the driver to apologize, but he’s pissed,” he smooths down his thick, dark beard.
“Regardless of what the papers said, that prick has been delivering to us for years. He knows where to go.”
“How soon until he can reroute?” I ask.
“Maybe tomorrow, but he doesn’t want to talk to me.”
I guess the driver wasn’t a fan of kissing ass.
Tanner steps up next, hands tucked into his hoodie.
He’s recently turned twenty-one, with blonde hair pulled into a low ponytail under his backwards ballcap.
Tanner is the youngest man working on this ranch, but his mechanical skills are beyond compare.
“Sorry to interrupt, Kit, but I ordered the parts for Sadie’s furnace.
However, it’s a shit old system. It could end up breaking again. I don’t think it’ll last the winter.”
“What do you suggest?” I ask him.
He scratches his neck, thinking on it. “I could update it, but it would be costly and—”
“Do that. I’ll cover it.”
“I’ll make a new order,” Tanner nods and runs off.
“Wes,” I turn to him. “Make a run into town. Fill up some of the empty gas cans from the barn, enough to make it through. Send me the receipts.”
“Got it,” Wes tips his cowboy hat and strides off.
“Blake, give me the driver’s number so I can smooth this over.” I pull out my phone, waiting for him to shout out the numbers, but he’s quiet. Too quiet.
My gaze snaps to his, and he grins. Did I miss something?
“What?”
“I’ll cover it,” Ryker croons, mocking me with a feminine lilt in his voice.
Blake puts a hand to his beard and laughs.
“Just give me the damn number, please,” I glare at them. “I don’t have time for this right now.”
Ryker smiles. “Places to be?” He steps closer, sniffing the air around me like a feral dog.
“What are you, an animal?” I shove him back.
“You smell like sex,” Ryker grins.
There wasn’t time to shower before I left, but there’s no way his sense of smell is that good. “Keep your voice down.” The last thing I need is for rumors on the ranch to harm this fragile thing between Sadie and me.
“He seems different, doesn’t he?” Ryker says to Blake.
“Different,” Blake agrees, assessing me. “Calmer. And he actually said, please.”
Ryker nods. “Yeah, and he never says, please.”
“The goddamn number. Now,” I bark.
Blake pulls out his phone and texts it to me. “Just sent,” he smiles. Wandering off with a chuckle under his breath.
Ryker slaps me on the shoulder. “Finally, Kit. Fuck, I was beginning to worry you were gay or something. I mean, two years?” He shakes his head, tsking as he goes.
“You’re fired, Ryker.”
He laughs and continues walking. “I love you too, brother!” He shouts without looking back.
After spending the last hour on the phone with the pissed-off driver, apologizing profusely for my error and getting back in his good graces, I still have no idea how there was such a mix-up.
The destination on the log was somehow changed to Crowe Ridge Ranch.
Our biggest competitor. But the only people with access to that data are Cole, Annie, and now me.
It doesn’t make any sense.
Cole waltzes into his office with a steaming cup of coffee.
I’m currently sprawled out in his chair, papers spread all around me.
He greets me, sitting in a leather seat in front of his desk.
Despite my crazy morning, he looks unbothered.
Calm. Which is the complete opposite of the man I knew from my childhood.
“Are you tracking all this?” I point to the papers.
He smiles. “Not trying to give our competitors a leg up, are we? Did they give you a better offer than I did?” His dark brows playfully rise.
I huff a laugh, leaning back in the chair. “No, but…” I run my calloused hands along my face. “I don’t know how this happened.”
“When is the fuel truck coming?” he asks.
“Tomorrow.”
“Well, it looks like you’ve got it all handled,” he sips from his mug, glancing at his watch. “And it’s only nine in the morning.”
“I guess so—” My phone lights up with messages from Ryker and Sadie. Naturally, I check Sadie’s text first. “Excuse me,” I murmur to Cole.
There’s a picture of a suitcase sitting on my bedroom floor, asking me if I’m still okay with her staying with me. Which, of course, I am. But only if she’s comfortable.
Kit:
There is a bedroom upstairs. I don’t use it.
Sadie:
No, thanks. But I do call the top bunk.
Kit:
I don’t have bunk beds.
Sadie:
Stop pretending you don’t get what I’m saying, Cowboy.
I laugh, louder than I mean to. Totally forgetting that Cole is sitting right in front of me, trying to have a conversation. “Sorry, what were we talking about?”
An amused smile is plastered on his face. “I’d like you to invite Sadie over after the bonfire tomorrow.”
“What?” I clear my throat.
He continues to smile, gesturing to my phone. “That is who you're texting, is it not?”
Fuck me. “I—” But then my phone starts buzzing non-stop, before I can think of a reply.
He chuckles, a low rasping sound. “I love it when I’m right.” He coughs, covering his mouth as he stands.
“Cole—”
“I’m fine,” he interrupts, waving a hand. “But maybe don’t act so stupid this time.” And then he’s gone. The faint sound of his cough echoes down the hall.
“What?” I bark at Ryker through the phone.
His voice is frantic as he explains that a fenceline has been cut. A herd of cattle is on the loose.
Well, there goes my whole day.
Six hours later, I finally walk through my front door, greeted by Bandit and Foxie. Ready to turn my goddamn phone off before one more thing can go wrong today.
My neck and shoulders are tense. My back groans from the pressure, but as soon as Sadie smiles with blush in her cheeks, my heart skips a beat. Brightening up my entire day with just her presence and those big brown eyes that always catch me off guard.
“Kit,” she says breathlessly. “How was your day?”
Pretty fucking awful. But the last thing I want is to stress her out about it. “It was fine,” I say gently. My eyes fall to the five shopping bags sitting next to her.
“Averie and I went shopping this afternoon. I purchased as many albums of hers that I could find… but I’m stealing her first album from you,” she adds with a playful smirk. “It’s damn hard to find.”
“It’s yours,” I smile. It means more to her anyway.
Her brow rises mischievously. “You don’t want to make me work for it, Cowboy?”
I chuckle. “I don’t operate that way, Tequila.” Though many favors come to mind, if she wants something, all she has to do is ask.
“Hmm…” She steps towards me, biting her bottom lip. “That’s very honorable of you, considering I would’ve done anything for that album.”
My hand brushes her jawline. “You want something. Ask for it.” I’m simple like that.
She blushes, inhaling a sharp breath. “Noted. Also, I bought Blake a birthday present for tomorrow, and…” She reaches for a small bag, holding it behind her back. “I got you something, too.”
She did? She pushes the small bag in front of me, with a light blue ribbon tied around the handles. “Sadie, you really didn’t have to—”
“Open it,” she smiles with excitement.
After carefully untying the ribbon, I pull out a ballcap with This is My Cowboy Hat written in small white letters across it.
A rough sigh escapes me. “You shouldn’t have.”
She pulls off my usual cap, ignoring my displeasure, and replaces it with the new one. “Looks good on you, Cowboy,” she winks.
I do not believe her. “Uh-huh.”
She wraps her arms around my neck, pulling me close. “I’ve missed this grumpy side of you,” she says before her lips brush mine.
And I no longer care about the hat.
I’ll keep wearing it so long as she keeps kissing me.
She grabs my hand, pulling me towards my bedroom. “I think you’ll like my second gift much better.”