Sadie
I dropped off the last of the bags into the house and hurried back to my car as quickly as possible. The girls and I had had an amazing weekend, and I felt rejuvenated. However, I wasn’t ready to have an actual conversation with any handsome Hamilton men. In fact, I didn’t want to see anyone, and I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I’d had an eye-opening experience camping with the girls, and I just wanted to go home and focus on the positive steps forward that I’d figured out during the weekend.
I was opening my car door when I felt a hand on my shoulder.
“Hey, you were just going to leave without saying hello?” said a deep, familiar voice.
I turned around, forcing a smile onto my face. “Oh, hey Wyatt, how’s it going?”
“Good. I thought we were going to chat.” He crossed his arms and frowned and I thought about how much he looked like his dad when he gave me that look. I almost wanted to laugh, but I didn’t think he would find it funny.
“I didn’t know you wanted to chat right now. We’ve just come back from camping and frankly, I want to go home and have a shower and, um …” I tripped over my words as I tried to think of an excuse not to stay and talk. It felt weird because normally I never left Horseshoe Ranch.
The look on Wyatt’s face told me he wasn’t buying anything I was saying. I tried to ignore the way his steel-blue eyes pierced into mine. “Sadie.”
“Yes, Wyatt?” I licked my lips nervously. How could my best friend make me feel like this?
He moved a little closer towards me. “Is this about the kiss?”
My heart pounded in my chest, and I wondered if he was about to kiss me again. As much as I wanted him to, I didn’t need that complication right now. I didn’t need to start daydreaming about Wyatt being my Mr. Right.
“No. I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said.
“You’ve been awkward with me ever since the kiss.”
“I haven’t been awkward with you. I’ve just been busy—”
“Sadie, if this is about the kiss, then …”
“Then what?”
“Then I think we need another kiss to get it out of the way.” He pressed his lips softly against mine.
I kissed him back, my heart fluttering as his hands inching around my waist, pulling me closer. Unable to stop myself, I ran my fingers through his hair.
He pulled away and grinned at me. “So now that we’ve had our second kiss, that first kiss shouldn’t affect you so much, right?”
“Excuse me, Wyatt Hamilton. That first kiss wasn’t affecting me so much. I have just been busy. In fact, I couldn’t care less about the first kiss or the second kiss. I couldn’t care less about any of your kisses. I need to go and shower, and then I have to go out because I have a date.”
“You have a date?” His brows slammed together and his smile disappeared.
“Yeah, I have a date,” I lied. I wasn’t going to let him think that he was the only man on my mind.
“With who?”
“With whom, you mean.”
“Sadie, this isn’t fricking English class. Who’s your date with?”
I thought quickly. “Shane.”
“Even though I told you not to go out with Shane?”
“You’re not the boss of me, Wyatt.”
“Sadie, this is getting absolutely ridiculous. You know that, right?”
“It’s not ridiculous, and anyway, I have to go.” I pressed my lips against his one more time because I couldn’t help myself and then pushed him away. “This has nothing to do with kissing you. It’s about me trying to do more with my life than just think about kisses, and romance, and stupid stuff. Believe it or not, I have dreams and goals that have nothing to do with your kisses.”
His expression softened but he still didn’t smile. “So, you’re going to tell me about these dreams someday or what?”
A part of me wanted to share everything with him then and there, but I was almost scared to hear what his reaction would be. Would he think I was being dumb? “I will,” I told him.
“When?”
“I don’t know. Tonight? Tomorrow? We’ll think of a time, okay?” I faked a yawn.
“I’m going to hold you to that.”
“Fine,” I said, flustered. “I’ll talk to you later.” I jumped into my car, fumbling with the keys as I tried to start the ignition. “Come on,” I mumbled under my breath. Finally, the engine sputtered to life. I sped off quickly, not daring to look in my rearview mirror until I got to the end of the driveway.
Behind me was Wyatt, a solitary figure in the distance, still standing there, still staring after me. I wondered what he was thinking. He probably knew that he was driving me crazy, but I didn’t want him to know just how much.
As I drove out of Horseshoe Ranch, I touched my lips lightly. They were still tingling from his kiss. As much as I didn’t want to admit it to Wyatt, I couldn’t get him or his kisses out of my mind. Of course, the way everything had changed between us was making me think twice about our relationship. But I didn’t know what he wanted from me. I didn’t know if the kisses meant anything to him at all. They were special to me. They were toe-tingling, heart-stoppingly powerful, and they had me all confused.
As I pulled into my own driveway, I saw my mom puttering around in the front yard with a watering hose.
“Hey, Mama,” I called out the window as I parked the car.
She smiled at me as she stood up, holding some recently cut sunflowers. There was a streak of dirt on her right cheek and her hair was piled on top of her head in a messy bun.
“Hey, Sadie, how was the camping trip?”
“It was really fun. I had a really good time with the girls, and we talked about life, and what we want to achieve. And you know, I’m really focused now on trying to have a career.”
“I’m proud of you, Sadie.” Mom beamed at me. “You know, when I was young, no one expected me to do anything more than to get married and to be a good mother. Maybe to be a teacher or a nurse, but that was it. I was just expected to find a husband and settle down and be a good wife and mother. But you’ve got something different to look forward to. Your father and I, of course, we want you to get married and have kids. We support you because that’s noble. But if you want to get married and have kids and have a career as well, I support you. And if you just want to go for your dreams and travel and live for yourself, I support you in that as well. You can have as many boyfriends as you want. Have some real romance in your life.” She smiled wistfully.
“Really, Mama?” I’d never heard her saying anything like that before.
“Of course, Sadie. You are a strong, beautiful woman, and you can do anything you want to do. You can be anyone you want to be, and I’m not just saying that.” Her gaze grew more intent. “Don’t let your father … or myself …tell you what to do with your life.”
“Thank you, Mama, that means a lot.”
“You’re welcome.” She looked past me and smiled. “Looks like I’m not the only one who’s happy that you’re home.”
I turned to see a car coming down the driveway. My first thought was that it was Wyatt, but I didn’t recognize the truck.
It pulled up and stopped, then Dominic Olivio got out of the truck with a bouquet of roses in his hands. He grinned and gave me a little wave as he walked towards me.
What was he doing here?
“Things are different for you now,” my mama said softly in my ear. “You can have a husband, you can have kids, and you can have a career. You can have it all, Sadie. And I support you. Go for your dreams, my love, and go for the man of your heart. You might be surprised at who that man will turn out to be. If you’ll just be open to anything and everything, you might find excitement like you’ve never known before.”
She turned to walk back inside. I watched her go, surprised by her mysterious words, then turned towards Dominic.
“Hi, I’m surprised to see you here.” Surprised was an understatement. Shocked was what I felt. Why was he here with flowers?
He handed me the bouquet of roses. “I just wanted to let you know that I was very impressed with you when we met the other day.”
“Oh?” I said, raising an eyebrow. “Is this about business or is this about romance?”
“I didn’t make it a secret that I’m very attracted to you,” he said, his gaze roving over my body, “so the roses are to show you that I’m interested in wooing you.”
“Wooing me?”
“Yes.” He nodded. “You’re hot. And smart. And sexy. And frankly, I haven’t met a cowgirl I’d like to fuck more. Excuse my language.”
I studied the man in front of me. He was handsome, but he was no Wyatt Hamilton. Not by a long shot.
“But this contract?” He held out a sheaf of papers in his other hand. My heart skipped a beat for a second. Was he going to propose some sort of sordid sexual contract? Did he think he was some sort of Cowboy Christian Grey? Was he planning to spank me in the stables?
“This contract is for purely business purposes.” He handed it to me, and I tried not to laugh. I really did have an overactive imagination. “Read it over, then give me a call tomorrow night to let me know what you think. We can discuss the contract, and you can let me know if you’re interested in going into business with us, and then maybe we can have some phone sex. It’s been a while since I’ve had a pretty voice talking to me when I played with the baloney pony.”
“Uhm …” I just stared at him. Was this man for real?
“And then we can talk about going on a date or something?” He grinned. “But I’ll let you read that and give you some time to think about it all. I know you must be overwhelmed and excited. I bet your panties are getting wet as we talk, huh?”
I rolled my eyes. “Not at all. Goodbye.” I turned around and walked into the house. I couldn’t believe how crude and rude he’d been.
“You’re not wearing any, are you?” he called after me as I walked away.
I didn’t even bother answering him.