by Kaci Rose
Abby smiles. “I love the idea. I can’t wait to see this place. You’ve talked about it so much.”
Abby bounces out of her seat the closer we get. I can tell how excited she is. This is a new start for her, one where she can decide her future and the path she takes. I’m so excited for her and so relieved to be out of Memphis. A place that felt like home for so long, no longer has that safe feel to it.
As we near Rock Springs, we see the neon lights of the bar and all the cars in the parking lot. It really is the place to be tonight. Abby asks questions about the town and the bar as we park and get out of the car.
I can’t take my eyes off Abby. I love seeing her experience a place like this for the first time. She’s just so bubbly and full of excitement.
I open the door, and the music from the live band gets louder. My eyes scan the room for Colt, but when I see him, my blood runs cold. What I see is Kelli sitting on his lap, laughing.
Abby must see him a second later. I hear, “Oh, Sugar,” in my ear.
Colt sees me, and he stands so fast, Kelli falls on her ass on the dirty bar floor. While it’s a little bit satisfying, that’s erased away when I see his face shows the telltale signs of guilt. It’s all my heart can take. I don’t see anyone else. I don’t hear anything but my heart pounding in my ears.
I grab Abby’s hand, turn around, and head right back out the door to my truck. We climb in, and I head toward the ranch. I must get Abby situated.
In the corner of my eye, I see Abby open her mouth to speak. “Just, I can’t right now,” I say to stop her, and she closes her mouth.
Trying to figure out my next steps, I turn on the radio. After a few songs, I pull out my phone and call Megan who I know is home.
“Megan, don’t ask questions. Just meet me outside. I’m going to be at the ranch in about fifteen minutes. I need you to take Abby and her bags to her room. Don’t ask any questions. I can’t do it right now. Abby can tell you all about it.”
“Okay, Sage. I’m sitting on the steps now waiting. I’ll be here.”
“Thank you.”
I hang up, and Abby looks at me.
“You aren’t staying?” she asks.
“The house is where Colt will look for me. I need some time to think. Megan will get you all settled, and I’ll be back for breakfast.”
“Okay, I’m here if you need me.”
I smile as much as I can, which isn’t much at all. As I pull into the driveaway, I can’t even enjoy how Abby’s eyes grow wide over the tree-lined driveway that gives way to the massive two-story house.
Like she promised, Megan is sitting on the porch steps by the kitchen door. I park the car and make sure Abby is handed off safely to Megan.
“I got her. I’m going to bribe the story out of her with some chocolate cake. Take care of you.”
I hug her. “I’ll be back for breakfast. Just need some space.”
I head to the barn and grab the keys for the four-wheeler and rev it up. I take it to the back of the property to the one place I can always think. The quiet night and the rev of the motor provide just enough white noise.
I replay the scene at the bar back in my head over and over. Was waiting an extra week for me too much? I never pegged Colt for that type of guy. And right in Jason’s bar! Where the hell was Jason? If he had seen Colt, I know he’d have punched him in the face and thrown him out on his ass so fast.
Has Colt kept Kelli on the side this whole time? Why put so much effort into winning me back and gaining my trust? Why come out to Memphis and put the effort in with the private investigator.
So many questions I won’t get the answers to tonight. I need time to decompress from all this. Tomorrow, I’ll have a conversation that doesn’t involve me punching Colt in the face.
The cabin that has always been my safe place comes into view, and my heart feels lighter already. I park the four-wheeler behind the cabin and head inside. I don’t even bother to flip on the lights. I take off my boots, crawl into bed, and let the tears fall.
✽✽✽
At some point, I drift off to sleep, but I awake to the sound of the old wooden door closing. The living room light is turned on, letting light flow into the bedroom. Being only one person knows this is the cabin I’d be at, I don’t even have to turn around to know who it is.
A quick glance at the clock tells me I’ve been here for about an hour. I just want to go back to sleep and deal with all this tomorrow.
“Go away,” I mumble, knowing he won’t listen anyway.
“It’s not what it looked like.” Colt’s deep timbre comes from the doorway and even though I’m mad and hurt, the sound of his voice still does something to my body. Still makes me crave him.
“It never is.”
“Come on. Jason was right there behind the bar. You think I’m that stupid, or that he’d let me out of the building alive?”
I don’t answer him, and he doesn’t need me too as he continues talking, “She walked in and sat down on my lap not thirty seconds before I saw you. She had just gotten there. I hadn’t seen her all night. I was told as I left, she had walked in and made a beeline to me.”
“How convenient,” I mutter again, still not bothering to look at him. It’s one thing to hear his voice, but a whole other thing to look into his sexy as sin eyes.
“I was telling her to get off, trying so hard not to put my hands on her to remove her. I was so pissed, Sage. You of all people know I will never touch a woman in anger, no matter how much they deserve it. I’m not my father.”
I know this about Colt. We’ve had many conversations about this. He was always worried about turning into his father, but he’s such a better person than that. Even this little bit tonight proves it. I know that in the back of my mind, even if my heart won’t believe it right now.
I still don’t say anything, but I hear him take a step toward the bed.
“What you didn’t see was her laughing and saying she knew you were coming, and she did me a favor. Saying we belonged together. You didn’t see me yelling at her so loud, every single person in the bar looked. You didn’t see her running off in tears because of how bad I humiliated her.”
I hear him take his boots off and feel the other side of the bed dip down. He doesn’t make a move to crawl in closer to me. He just stays on the other side of the bed.
“Call Jason and ask him. He was right there behind the bar and saw it all. Brice and his dad were at the table next to me. Call them. I had been talking with them on and off all night.”
I finally take a deep breath and roll over to look at him. His voice had betrayed him. Though his voice sounds steady and sure, the pain in his face is clear as day. He looks at me and when he sees my tears, his eyes water as well.
“I was so excited to surprise you. I didn’t see Kelli in the parking lot. I was talking to Abby. She had so many questions about the bar and the town. Walking in and seeing that, it was like a knife to the heart. Worse than when I came home for Megan’s graduation.”
Silent tears run down his face now as he watches me and listens. I reach up and carefully wipe away the tears running down his face. He holds my hand to his face and closes his eyes. He soaks up any comfort I give him.
I know in my heart he’s telling the truth, but my mind is now telling me to be more guarded. I lean in and lightly kiss him. He gives me control of the kiss, and I keep it light before pulling back.
“I’m still calling Brice to confirm your story,” I whisper.
He nods. “I know.”
I sigh and sit up on the edge of the bed.
“Kelli needs to watch her back. I will be getting revenge, and don’t you dare try to talk me out of it,” I say and look over my shoulder. He just nods. I head over to the cabin phone to call Brice.
His story is spot on to Colt’s, but he shares what Colt said to her and how people were talking after Colt left. I guess no one feels sorry for Kelli, and everyone is rooting for us.
After I
hang up with Brice, I call Jason. He relays the same story and then begs me not to hold Colt responsible for this. Kelli has had it out to try to break us up for years. I know this but hearing someone else say it is like a slap in the face reminder.
I return to the bed and lie on my side of the bed. Colt lies on his back, staring at the ceiling. He rolls his head to the side and watches me.
“Ever get the feeling the whole universe is working against us?” I ask.
“That thought has crossed my mind a time or two,” he whispers and turns to his side to face me. “But I’d walk through hell and fire and ten thousand spiders to get to you.”
I smile and lean in and kiss him gently. This time, he takes control of the kiss. He flips me onto my back and is over me in an instant, never breaking the kiss.
“For the record, the thought of another woman touching me makes me want to claw my own skin off. I’m yours. Only yours,” he says before sitting up and pulling off his shirt.
In the next instant, he has my shirt off. The hunger in his eyes must match mine. I watch his eyes run down my whole body before his control snaps.
“Clothes off now,” he growls as me, and we’re in a race to see who can shed their clothes the fastest.
Once naked, he grabs my ankles and pulls me, so my ass is on the edge of the bed. He hits his knees and pulls my thighs wide.
Before my mind can catch up, I feel his mouth on my clit. All sane thought leaves my head. Colt learned long ago how to play my body like a fine instrument, and it’s like riding a bike. He’s right back at being a master.
With just a few short licks and swirls of his tongue on my clit, I’m already on edge. I reach down and grab his hair, holding his head in place. If he stops, I think I might truly die.
All I can do is moan his name over and over again.
“I’ve got you, baby,” he says as he glides two fingers inside me and thrusts them in and out lazily, driving me insane and keeping me right on the edge.
I thrust my hips up, looking for just a little something more. Colt hums while licking my clit. He hooks his fingers, rubbing that magical spot inside me, and I shatter, screaming his name and locking my thighs around his head.
When I finally relax, I don’t think I can move to save my life. I watch Colt sit up and bring his fingers that were just inside me to his mouth and licks them clean.
He kisses my clit one more time, causing my hips to jerk since they are still so sensitive. He kisses his way up to my belly button and further up to my breasts. He takes one nipple into his mouth and circles his tongue around it, then he does the other.
He then kisses his way up to my neck and runs his teeth over my pulse point there and then sucks my earlobe into his mouth. By the time he makes it to my jaw, I’m already going crazy for him again.
He takes my mouth in a sweet, soft kiss and lies beside me and turns me on my side, so he’s spooning be from behind with my head resting on his bicep.
Without a word, he pulls my leg backward over his hips and angles his hips, so the head of his cock is at my entrance but doesn’t thrust in. I feel his warm breath on my ear.
“I love you, Sage. I am going to prove it to you tonight, so you never doubt me again.”
“I love you too, Colt,” I say on a moan as he slides into me to the hilt with a slow thrusting pace.
He keeps his pace, slow and steady while he whispers how much he loves me in my ear. He moves his hand from my hip down to my clit and makes lazy circles there. His other hand reaches around and tugs on my nipples, rubbing them between his fingers.
He picks up the pace only slightly when he leans down and runs my earlobe between his teeth, causing me to arch my back. His speed increases even more, and he presses on my clit even harder.
“Come for me now, Sage. I need to feel your pussy squeezing my cock. Dammit, come now!” He roars, and I do. My whole body locks up as the most intense climax of my life hits me.
I hear Colt moan my name somewhere in the distance as I struggle to take my next breath. When I come down from the most amazing high, I feel him still lazily thrusting in and out of me to prolong my orgasm.
“Wow.”
“Yeah, wow! We need a shower,” he says with a sexy smirk on his face.
CHAPTER 22
Colt
I wake to the sun filling the room in the cabin. Sage is wrapped around me like a spider monkey, her head on my shoulder, her arm across my chest, and her leg draped over my hips. This is how I want to wake up every day for the rest of my life.
I look at Sage still asleep, and I smile. I wore her out last night. After we made love in the shower, we stumbled into the kitchen for a snack and fed each other before I had her again on the kitchen table. By the time we made it back to bed, we were both tired. Somehow, I still ended up waking her up twice because I kept waking up needing her.
I lightly run my hand up and down her naked back, thinking about being inside her last night. Now, I’m hard as steel, but I know my girl needs a break. She stirs and before she even opens her eyes, a smile graces her face, and she kisses my neck.
I groan. “Baby, I know your sore. You need to stop.” I feel her smile against my neck as she keeps kissing me.
She sits up, straddling my hips. Before I can think better, she’s sliding down my cock. I grip her hips and groan. Nothing has ever felt so good. Nothing.
“God, baby, every time with you is better than the last. How is that possible?” I groan.
She groans and rides me faster. I grip her hips tighter and move her up and down my cock. Within moments, I feel her pussy clenching me, a sign she’s close.
I sit up, pulling her tight against me as she keeps thrusting while I take her mouth. It causes enough friction on her clit for her orgasm to crash into her. She throws her head back and screams out my name. I kiss her neck, her collarbone, her shoulder as I thrust a few more times into her before I come, hard.
I come so hard for so long, you would never know I just had my girl multiple times the night before. I come so hard I see stars.
When we both come down, she’s lying on top of me. My cock still buried in her is my new favorite place. We’re both breathing hard.
We stay like that for a while before we get up and shower again and get dressed. We head back to the main house and walk in hand in hand, and everyone gives a sigh of relief. There’s no one more relieved than me.
Sage lets go of my hand and walks over to Abby to hug her.
“Guys, this is Abby. She’s going to be staying here as she figures out the next step in her life,” Sage says.
Mom walks over to her. “I’m so sorry to hear about your parents. They took care of our Sage for us, and we’ll now return the favor. Anything you need, you let us know. And you can call me Helen.” She hugs her.
Everyone filters over and introduces themselves before we sit for breakfast.
“Okay, explain yourself. What happened?” Megan says once we sit.
I look over to Sage and take her hand. I nod at her, letting her know she can tell them as much or as little as she wants.
I watch her sigh. “Kelli is what happened. I saw, I didn’t get the full story, and I did what I do best. I ran.”
I squeeze her hand. “If I had walked in on that, I’d have turned around and left too. I don’t blame you one bit, but talking through it, last night? Just shows how far we’ve come.”
She looks at me and smiles. She then tells the whole story over breakfast. Jason fills everyone in on the details from after Sage and Abby left.
“Well, I hope that bitch doesn’t ever try to come into the beauty shop. I’ll shave her bald,” Megan says, and I watch jaws around the table fall open. “What?”
I smile. “Just never heard you talk that way.” I smile again when she rolls her eyes.
After breakfast, everyone heads out, and Sage and I head upstairs to get some new clothes. When we walk into our room, she stops dead in her tracks.
“What’s wrong?
” I ask.
“You moved your stuff in here?”
“Well, yeah. I wasn’t in my room anymore. Didn’t make sense to keep going back and forth.”
She looks around the room. I’ve added a few photos to the ones on her dresser. One of all of us the day I was adopted, another of my mom and me at the fair right before she died. She walks into the closet and sees my clothes across from hers. The closet is so big, it’s only half full.
Then she walks into the bathroom where my stuff is mixed with hers. I lean my shoulder on the doorjamb and watch her take it all in. She walks back up to me. Before I have time to react, she wraps her arms around me and hugs me.
“It’s perfect,” she says, and I smile. I kiss the top of her head and hold her. Because she’s right. It’s perfect.
CHAPTER 23
Sage
I wake up and can’t help but smile. This past week since Abby arrived has been amazing and exactly what I’ve always pictured my life with Colt to be. I love waking up with him every morning.
I roll over only to find Colt isn’t in bed, but an envelope sits on his pillow with my name on it. I can’t help but smile as I open it and look at his masculine but beautiful writing.
Sage,
I have loved you since the moment I saw you when we were six. I started to know what that felt like when we were thirteen, and I knew at sixteen, I’d never let you go.
I plan to make that promise come true. Take a walk down memory lane with me. Head to the location where I saw you for the first time.
Colt
I jump out of bed and dress quickly in a pair of cut-off shorts I know Colt loves and a white tank top. I slip on a peach, turquoise, and brown flannel shirt but leave it open and roll up the sleeves. I put on my boots, leave my hair down, add on a bit of mascara, and head out the door.
When I get to the kitchen, I see a blueberry muffin and a to-go cup of coffee on the counter. I know this is Colt’s way of making sure I eat. So, I take five minutes to eat the muffin then bring the coffee with me.