Second Chance Ranch: a Hope Springs novel (Entangled Bliss) (13 page)

Chapter Thirteen

Royce’s heart expanded as he took in Sadie’s sleeping form, so still in sleep. He traced the line of her back with his fingers, marveling at how soft her skin was.

His eyes burned from being open for so long, and the red numbers of his bedside clock blurred together as he tried to make out the time.

I really should get up and check on Chevy and her foal.
Leaving the comfort of the bed was the last thing he wanted to do, though, especially with the girl he was falling for all over again sleeping next to him.

He’d tried to stop himself from getting attached, but how could he, when everything felt right when he was with her? He kissed her bare shoulder, inhaling the soapy and chocolate scents on her skin. When he’d walked in on her getting the Nesquik, stretching far enough to make it clear she wasn’t wearing any underwear, he knew he was a goner. And now here he was watching her sleep.

This entire situation had a good chance of ending badly. She’d made it clear that all she could offer was fun—and while she’d certainly delivered on that, he found himself wishing for more. For years he’d told himself he was stupid to ever want to settle down at the age of nineteen. That he was glad it hadn’t happened and probably never would. But something about being with Sadie made him think about how he still wanted that.

With a girl who didn’t.

Shit.
He rolled onto his back and looked through the skylight at the stars dotting the dark sky. He had to figure out a way to keep this situation from getting out of control. Careful to not wake Sadie, he dragged himself out of bed and immediately missed her skin against his. He covered her with the blanket, despite his desire to stare at her naked body for a few more hours, then pulled on clothes and headed out to the barn.

The filly was up and sucking, and Chevy looked back to herself. “You did good, girl.” He got her some grain and then headed to the boys’ cabin to do a check on them—Mom was sleeping in the girls’ cabin again tonight, just to make sure there was no more sneaking out for at least one set of kids. Sadie would probably accuse him of being sexist, but the girls were the ones who could get pregnant, so that was both his and Mom’s reasoning. He could only be in so many places at once.

When Sadie leaves, we’ll be shorthanded again, and I’ll be back in the at-risk situation I was in before she stormed back into my life. Not to mention I’ll be bored out of my mind.

Unless she decides to stay…

He clenched his jaw and shook his head. He knew better than to waste time wishing for things he couldn’t have.

The guys were accounted for, so he went back inside and slid into bed next to Sadie, telling himself to just enjoy it while she was here, and, even if it went against every instinct he had, to not think about the future.

…

When Sadie rolled over, the bed was empty where Royce had been, and bright morning light poured in from the skylight. She loved that his bedroom was set up to lie back and look at the stars at night. Despite how tired Sadie was, the sunny blue sky was a nice sight, too.

Everything was more wonderful than it’d ever been, actually. She could feel the smile stretching her lips, and the memory of last night made her body tingle from head to toe. She and Royce were as good together as she remembered and then some.

Clutching the sheet to her chest, she swung her feet to the floor, searching for her clothes—or more accurately, Royce’s shirt. Except then she remembered she’d lost that in the kitchen. The rest of her clothes were probably still on the bathroom floor.

“Mornin’,” Royce said, stepping into the doorway of his room wearing only his jeans.

Sadie’s skin hummed as she stared at him. “Morning.”

He reached up and gripped the top of the door frame. “If you need to take today off, or if you wanna go home and come back later…or if you just want to stay here and rest, you can do that, too.”

The words seemed far away. She was too focused on the way the muscles in his arms and chest were standing out with him gripping the doorway like that to pay attention to what he was saying. Sunlight streamed through the room, clinging to him like it wanted him as much as she did. She’d never understood girls calling a guy beautiful before, but as rugged as Royce was, she couldn’t help thinking that right now,
beautiful
described him perfectly.

He raised an eyebrow. “Sadie?”

“Huh?”

A slow smile spread across his face. He closed the distance between them and leaned down to kiss her.

She dropped the sheet and pulled him closer.

He made a low noise in the back of his throat. “I can’t. Cory and my mom already covered for me this morning, and I’ve got a ton to do today.”

“Starting with me?” she asked in her most innocent voice, batting her eyes.

He wound his fingers through her hair, tilted her head back, and brushed his lips against hers. “Ending with you, if you’re good.”

Reluctantly, she let go of him, and he moved to his dresser, put on a shirt—which was just a shame—and then tossed her one.

She stood and stuck her arms through the sleeves. “How’re Chevy and the baby?”

“They both look great. Been trying to think of what to call the foal, but I think I’ve named too many horses over the years. Nothing’s coming.” He finished buttoning his shirt and then his dark eyes met hers. “You should think of one.”

“Are you serious?” Her voice came out several octaves higher than usual, excitement taking over. He wanted her to name a horse?

“If you want to, go for it. But nothing I’ll be embarrassed to call her.”

“Twinkle Toes it is.”

He shook his head and grabbed his cowboy hat off the dresser. “You’re going to make me regret this, aren’t you?” He gave her another kiss as he brushed past her, stuck his hat on his head, and then walked down the hall, his boots echoing against the hardwood floor.

Sadie leaned against the door frame, basking in the euphoric haze winding its way through her body.

It was funny how the life she was sure she didn’t want when she was a teenager was starting to look more and more like perfection.

…

Sadie found Grandpa in the kitchen, a jar of green olives in his hand. He extended them to her, and she grabbed a fork, dug a couple out, and popped them in her mouth.

“Chocolate milk?” he asked.

“Yes, please. But I can get it.” Sadie busied herself with making it, humming as she did. She’d come home for a quick rest and a shower and was getting ready to head back to the ranch. Royce wouldn’t tell her what he’d planned, only to dress warm.

“You seem happy,” Grandpa said, and she smiled at him.

“I am. Last night I got to see a baby horse come into the world.” It was one of the most incredible things she’d ever witnessed, giving her a rush similar to the one she got when she was onstage singing. She couldn’t stop thinking about the way she and Royce had sat after he’d pulled the foal, his arms around her as they watched the miracle of life unfold right before their eyes. “Royce said I get to name it. It’s black like Casanova, and I’m thinking Shadow. That’s a good name for a black horse, right?”

“I like it.” Grandpa dug into the jar for more olives. “So, if you’re naming horses…sounds like you and Royce are getting pretty close again? Not that it’s any of my business.”

It cracked her up how Grandpa asked questions and then immediately followed them up by saying it wasn’t his business, like he was curious but thought he shouldn’t be.

“We are. I’m sure there’s about to be a whole lot of gossip in town about us, and some of it might actually be true.” She leaned against the counter next to Grandpa and knocked back her chocolate milk. All day she’d walked around with a big goofy grin on her face. “He’s a good guy. I can’t help but like him.”

Admitting it out loud was nice. A little scary, too, because she worried she was getting in too deep. They’d agreed they’d just have fun, but it felt like it was morphing. Becoming more.

After everything they’d been through, she wondered if they truly had a chance at a real relationship.

Now I’m getting ahead of myself again. No reason to turn all serious when things are working the way they are.
But suddenly she found herself thinking it wouldn’t be so bad if it took her a while to figure out how to get back to Nashville. A longer reprieve might be better for her in the long run, especially if it meant more time with Royce.

“Well, he’s a good kid. And I’m sure having you help out has been nice for him. I worried he was running himself ragged. Not that it’s any of my business.”

“Don’t worry, I plan on making sure he doesn’t run himself ragged.” Sadie hugged Grandpa and kissed his cheek. “I’m off, and I might…” Even though she was an adult, admitting to a sleepover made her feel like a teenager all over again. “I might stay with Royce tonight.”

“Drive careful.”

Sadie set down her glass and was halfway through the living room when Grandpa called her name. He walked over and took her cell phone out of his pocket. “I nearly forgot. Your phone kept ringing over and over. I figured it must be an emergency, so I answered. Some guy named Nolan Martin wants you to call him.”

“Nolan?”
Why is my agent calling?

“Said you’d know who he was, and that he’d left a message already.”

She took the phone from Grandpa and stared at the display. One message and three texts telling her to call him. For the past few years, she’d always rushed to answer, hoping for good news. Usually it was bad, with the occasional good mixed in. Now she just stared, not sure she could handle whatever it was he had to say. “Thanks,” she choked out.

On the way to the truck, she checked the message. In true Nolan fashion, it was nice and vague: “Give me a call, Sadie. Got some exciting news.”

When it came to her agent, that could be anything from a nonpaying gig at a bar to auditioning for a label to he’d found a doctor who’d give her a discount on the boob job he still thought she should have.

Curiosity ate at her the entire drive to the ranch, but every time she picked up her phone to call back, she ended up not going through with it. She told herself that it was because it was now late in Nashville, but Nolan would probably still be awake. Really, it was more about making sure she had a perfect night with Royce before she dealt with whatever her agent threw at her.

She told herself she was just being overly paranoid, but she suddenly felt like the clock was about to strike midnight, and once it did, everything in her life was going to change.

Chapter Fourteen

Royce had just finished saddling Duke when Sadie drove up and got out of the truck. She glanced over at him with the horses and then dove across the bench of the truck, giving him a nice view of the rhinestones on the back pockets of her jeans. When she came back out, she was holding a pale straw cowboy hat. She stuck it on as she approached, and it was the cutest damn thing he’d ever seen.

She wrapped her arms around his waist and tipped onto her toes to kiss him. He pulled her tight against him, sliding his hands into the pockets he’d been admiring. All day he’d had a hard time focusing on his work, counting down the minutes until he could kiss her the way he wanted to.

When they came up for air, he handed her Duke’s reins. “Time to fulfill your destiny.” He climbed onto Thor and glanced over at Sadie, now atop Duke.

“I thought of a name for Chevy’s foal,” Sadie said, and Royce automatically braced himself. She nudged his leg with the toe of her boot. “Hey, have a little faith.”

“Seeing as how you did suggest Twinkle Toes earlier, you could understand why I’m a bit worried.”

Her lips curved into a grin, and he thought it might be a mistake letting her name a horse that’d stick around longer than she would. “I was thinking Shadow. You haven’t had one of those already, have you?”

“Nope, and I like it.” He tightened his grip on the reins. “Ready?”

Sadie nodded.

“Same place as usual? Unless you think that horse you picked out can’t keep up?”

“Oh, prepare to eat our dust, cowboy.”

He opened his mouth to do a little more trash-talking, but Sadie kicked Duke into motion.

Cheating as usual
, he thought, taking off at a gallop after her. It’d been a long time since he’d ridden with reckless abandon, all fun instead of rushing to fix something or being completely focused on training the horse on the quick start that roping required.

Sadie rode low to the horse, her excited yells trailing behind her—regardless of what she thought, she was a cowgirl at heart. There was no way she could ride like that otherwise. In a couple large strides, Thor caught up to Duke, and they raced across the land toward the setting sun that was turning the sky orange and pink, neck and neck the entire way.

Last minute, Sadie eased ahead, Duke’s long legs giving her the edge, especially combined with the fact that Thor was trained for fast bursts instead of distance.

She jumped off and whooped and hollered, throwing her hands in the air. Her cheeks were wind whipped and her hat had blown off, hanging on by the string around her neck. Her strawberry-blond hair swirled around her face in the light breeze, messy and sexy as hell.

Duke nudged her shoulder, and she turned around and ran her hand down his nose, praising him. “Don’t you wanna congratulate me?” she asked Royce as he neared, a smug expression on her face.

“For cheating? Sure, congrats on winning by cheating,” he teased.

Her mouth dropped open and then she smacked his arm. “Sore loser.”

“Sexy siren.”

She grinned at that and then blew him a kiss. They walked their horses into the heavily treed area they used to visit all the time in high school and secured them to lower branches so they could graze. They’d chosen this spot because it had perfect coverage from people if they happened by—which was rare, and so far, only during the day—with the leaves overhead still sparse enough to see the stars.

Royce got to work building a fire. Every time he glanced up, Sadie’s hungry eyes were on him, and it was all he could do to not say,
Screw eating; let’s skip to dessert.

He laid out a blanket close enough to get the warmth of the fire, but not so close it’d get burned, and pulled the foil dinners out of his saddlebag. They chatted and relaxed while the food roasted. By the time they finished eating, the fire was dying, so he got up and added another couple of logs.

When he sat down again, Sadie settled between his thighs, her back against his chest. He ran his hands down her arms and then intertwined their fingers. “You good?”

She twisted her head and kissed his jaw. “Really good.” She smiled, but then that faraway look she’d gotten off and on all night crossed her pretty features. It reminded him of the look she got whenever she talked about singing.

“Tell me about Nashville,” he said. Part of him knew he didn’t want to hear it, but he also needed to see how she talked about it, and he found himself wanting to know what she’d been through. Why things hadn’t worked out yet.

“Where to even start…?” She dragged the heel of her boot back and forth in the dirt, creating a groove in the soft powder. “It was hard at first. I had no idea what I was doing, and I missed home. I missed you. Like, I’d-cut-off-an-appendage missed you.”

He smiled at that, but his fingers also twitched around hers as that same feeling he’d gotten at the horse sale hit him—of needing to hold on before she floated away.

“But I was also fascinated with the city and the endless possibilities, and I made myself go all in, no looking back. No calling you like I wanted to.” She glanced up at him with such tenderness that he felt the residual ache of wanting to talk to her and no longer being able to. “I knew the music business was competitive, but I had no idea just how competitive or how soul crushing it could be. I just wanted to sing, you know? Even though every rejection stung, I learned from them, and then I started making progress…”

She mentioned booking singing venues, landing an agent, the group she was briefly in, and how it’d ended because the other two girls couldn’t get along. “It sucked, but I’d gotten to record in a studio, and it led to other opportunities. I opened for a few big-name artists, and when Tyler Blue was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame, I got to fly to Louisiana and sing one of Blue’s covers right before they took the stage—my agent’s their agent, so it was something he set up, but still, the energy of the hometown venue, and all those people…”

Her eyes lit up, and he was suddenly jealous of everyone who’d heard her. “One of the best moments of my life, hands down,” she said. “I told myself it wouldn’t be long before a crowd like that would show up for me.

“Then I got the call that I’d always dreamed about. An exec at Downhome Records heard one of my demos and wanted to sign me. I quit my job, bought these boots”—she lifted her foot, the fancy pattern on her shoe now covered in dust—“and called Quinn and my family to tell them it’d finally happened. That I was going to sign a contract.”

The firelight danced in her eyes as she stared into the flames. “My agent and I went to the Downhome offices, and I thought it was just to sign the contract, but then this guy in a suit comes in and says he’s sorry to have wasted our time, but they’d signed a few other female singers over the past week, and when it came down to it, I just didn’t have that unique spark that’d set me apart from the already crowded female market.

“My agent got all fired up, but my body went numb, my dream bubble popping as the words ‘no unique spark’ played over and over in my mind.”

Royce’s heart tugged, and he wrapped his arms around her. “That’s total horseshit.” He couldn’t believe it. Did they even pay attention when she sang? He listened to the radio plenty, and to say Sadie wasn’t unique—she was different and amazing, and all the record label people were idiots.

She blinked back tears and shook her head. “Whatever, you know? It happens. Then, to make everything a hundred times worse, I had a breakdown during my next performance. Even though I’d sung at that club all the time, my confidence was shot. I screwed up right at the beginning, and then I kept thinking,
This is why the contract fell through
. So I started crying and”—she winced—“ran off the stage. After that, I pretty much hit rock bottom. And I just knew it was time for me to come home.”

The way she called Hope Springs
home
gave Royce a glimmer of hope for her staying long-term. But then he registered the sorrow and regret in her voice. It dug at him, making him want things that were at complete odds with each other.

“I guess all of those ups and downs ended up making me who I am, right?” Sadie continued. “I experienced things people only ever dream of and realized I was stronger than I ever thought I could be. I tell myself that I got farther than most people do, so I shouldn’t feel like a failure, but it kills me that it still wasn’t enough.”

He kissed her temple, leaving his lips on her soft skin as he spoke. “I’m sorry, babe. But I know how driven you are, and you’ve got the most amazing voice I’ve ever heard. You’ll bounce back, stronger than ever.”

She shrugged. “At first I thought having to move home was the end of the world, and all I could think about was how I was going to get back to Nashville as soon as possible. But it’s nice to see my mom—even though she’s busy as ever, something I swore I was going to help fix—and I can chat with my grandpa about anything, and he just gets me. Then I get to sit across from my grandma as she tries to teach me to cook, and I start thinking it’s a good thing I came home for a while, and that maybe I shouldn’t rush. I’d regret not spending more time with her if her health takes a turn for the worse instead of better. You just never know when it might be your last chance.”

Sadie suddenly stiffened and twisted to face him. “Sorry. You lost your dad, and here I am talking about how great it is to have my family. I wasn’t thinking.”

“It’s okay for you to talk about spending time with the people you love, Sadie.”

She ran her hand down his chest, resting it over the hollow spot that opened up whenever he started missing Dad, as if she knew right where his soul needed soothing.

“I constantly think about how lucky I was to have spent so much time with my dad before he died,” he said. “Giving up rodeos sucked at first, but I knew he needed the help, and with him, work didn’t feel like work. If I’d been on the road all the time, I would’ve missed it.”

“I should’ve been there for you—I knew how close you were to him, and he was…” Her voice came out rough and her bottom lip quivered. He could see her fighting her emotions, and it made it hard to hold back his. “He was always so good to me, like I was part of the family already.” Unshed tears glistened in her eyes. “I wanted to come back when I heard, but I figured you wouldn’t want to see me.”

Just the fact that she cared that much about his dad and had even thought about it comforted him. Made him not feel so stupid for everything that’d happened in the past, or for thinking they had a shot at turning their current relationship into something more than just temporary fun.

“You shouldn’t have gone through that alone,” she whispered.

Royce swept her hair off her face. “I had my mom. It was a shock, and it was hard, but we got through it.” There were days where it felt like they were still getting through it, and plenty where the grief would push its way up when he least expected it. But he knew he needed to be strong for Mom, and it helped that he could reflect on all the hours working with Dad, and how much he’d taught him over the years. That he could look out at the land Dad had loved and see hints of him everywhere.

Sadie sniffed. “Sorry, I didn’t realize I’d get so emotional.” She grabbed his hand and sandwiched it between hers. “Anyway, I honestly don’t know how you manage to do it all, but he’d be proud of the way you’ve handled everything. You’re kind of an amazing guy, Royce Dixon.” She peered into his eyes, and her forehead wrinkled like she was trying to work out a math equation. “How did you manage to stay single?”

“It’s not too hard. Just work all the time. A lot of women can’t handle that. They want a show cowboy, not a real one.”

“Not me.”

“Oh, yeah?” He leaned closer until their breaths mingled.

“Yeah. I want a rodeo clown.”

He shook his head and then captured her lips with his, cutting her laugh short as he pulled her onto his lap.

She brushed her lips across his and then placed a light kiss on them. “You know, it is okay to take a break once in a while. Maybe put an extra week between camps so you’re not working yourself quite so hard?”

He shrugged. “Maybe.”

“And speaking of Second Chance Ranch…I really don’t want to start a fight, but just hear me out, okay?”

He sighed, sure he wasn’t going to like where this was going. “Okay.”

“So I get that Addison and Eli broke the rules, but they’ve been working like crazy for the past few days, and they don’t have very long left at the camp. I think what they need is a spark of hope. Like, say they had a…” She made a big of show of tapping her finger to her lip, acting like she was just now trying to come up with an idea, even though he knew where this was going. “I know! A rodeo! Something they’ve
never
been to before and thought was lame, but now they realize how cool it’d be, and if they had that goal to work toward, they’d still see that they made bad choices, but they’d keep making
good
ones so that they could go.”

He stared at her raised eyebrows, the hope shining from those green eyes that she was definitely batting. He’d sworn he wouldn’t be a pushover, but he supposed he had been a little harsh on two kids who were doing something he and Sadie had done several times when they were their age. Maybe he’d overcompensated by being harsh so he’d prove that she had no control over his decisions, which was laughable. Clearly she knew it, too. “I’ll consider it.”

She grinned and even clapped. Then she dove onto him and attack kissed him, starting with his lips, moving across his jaw and neck, and then back to his mouth. He lay back on the blanket, pulling her with him. Every few minutes, one of them would lose an article of clothing, until there was nothing and yet everything between them.

…

Sadie tried to hold back a shiver, but her body shuddered anyway. “It’s colder than I remember.”

Royce tugged the blanket up and held her closer. She rested her head on his chest and ran a hand down his stomach, trying to curl every inch of herself around him. Hopefully his warmth would soak into her, and soon. Apparently she’d gotten too used to Nashville temperatures.