Epilogue
LEIGHTON
“Eight Second Ride” by Jake Owen
Four Months Later
“We’re out of apple, birthday cake, and cookie dough!” Jana yells through the kitchen doorway.
I huff and look up at the clock. Only two in the afternoon, and I already feel like I’ve been run ragged. Fridays are normally a little busier than Monday through Thursday, but it seems like today especially has been nonstop since we opened the door.
I was in a sour mood anyway because Maverick’s been out of town for the past two days. He has a friend in Wyoming who breeds bucking stock and went out there to talk about his needs for the school he’s building. Well, I call it a school, but I think it’s more like a training camp. An elite training camp, that is.
As much as I’m supportive and excited that he’s making great progress in his plans, I hate when he’s gone. We’ve been able to grab a few calls here and there, but for the most part, I haven’t heard from him a lot since he left. When we talked last night he said he wouldn’t be home until Sunday. This normally wouldn’t be such a big deal.
I’m an independent woman.
Or so I thought.
It took one night without him for me to realize I had lost all ability to sleep without his arms around me. I’ve gotten so used to his presence that I don’t like not feeling his dominant energy taking over our home. Even Earl’s been pouting. He sat on the other side of my shower door this morning and wouldn’t move so I could open it. I had to push it, and him, to get out. I’m completely thrown off my axis and I hate it.
It’s been a few months since our dinner with Clay and Quinn. For the first two weeks after, my demands at the PieHole kept me away during the day and past dinner. Maverick made it a point to start his day after I had woken up, even if that meant he got a late start with his own work for the day. I never asked, but I have a feeling that was something he needed after everything that had come out that night. Whether it was reassuring himself that he really was in our home or that I was there with him, I’m not sure, but I gave him that without question.
Clay comes over often now to talk. He and Mav talk outside, rocking in the porch chairs long after the sun has set, and I’m none the wiser to what they discuss, but I’m hoping that it’s just Clay leaning on his brother, taking the help and support that Mav promised to give him. If they ever need me to be part of that, I’ll be ready and willing. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for the both of them.
Quinn, on the other hand, has been more of a challenge. I know she’s having a hard time knowing the enormity of her parents’ transgressions. With Buford gone, she can’t get answers from him. Not that he would have given them. They might have put a lot behind them after he got sick, but she never forgot. My girl, she’s loyal to the death, and in that case, she remained loyal to her brothers. She’ll never get those answers, not now and maybe not ever, and I think that’s something weighing hard on her. Not only that, but she is struggling with wanting to run to the mother she has very few memories of and despite the fact that the new knowledge she has of her brings forth hate and anger.
She’s confused. She’s hurt. She’s afraid.
And even though she has her brothers and me, she’s alone.
She’s had a fear of commitment since the day she was old enough to stop thinking boys had cooties. It’s hard not to, when you’re raised like the Davises were. Aside from the one kind of serious relationship she had one fleeting summer, she settles for one-night stands and no strings. Now though, she’s seeing her actions in a new light. One cast out from her mother’s transgressions. I worry that she is comparing her legitimate fear-driven choices to the ones her mother made.
“And blueberry!” Jana yells again, interrupting my thoughts.
Pushing my concerns with my best friend from my mind, I rush around the kitchen. I bring the birthday cake pies out first, not even looking up in my haste. Jana makes a noise to get my attention, but I just hold my hand up and speed-walk back into the kitchen. It takes me three more trips to bring the other nine pies out. When I place the second cookie dough pie on the chilling rack, I finally look up, blowing a piece of hair out of my eyes.
My heart speeds up and my stomach is suddenly filled with butterflies.
“What are you doing here?” I ask breathily.
“Well, if you would have looked up I could have saved you the trouble of those cookie dough pies,” Jana mutters, edging past me and leaving me with the sight of Maverick, glorious Maverick, grinnin’ at me as he shovels a huge bite of cookie dough pie.
“I missed you too, darlin’,” he says with a laugh, standing from the table after placing his fork down. He licks his lips before bending to give me a deep kiss.
“I thought you weren’t coming home until Sunday?” I ask against his mouth before pulling away and looking around at the crowded room, smiling at the familiar faces looking on.
“Change of plans.”
“Change of plans?” I repeat, studying his face. He’s carefree as can be, but there’s something mischievous working behind those green eyes that make my knees weak.
With a wink, he looks over my shoulder. “You good here, Jana?” he calls back toward the counter.
“Hey,” I protest.
“Girl, don’t you argue with your man,” Jana scolds from behind me. “If he wants to steal you away, you let him steal you away. Just don’t let him swallow the key. Nothing good ever comes if the key is swallowed.”
My head snaps over to Jana with a gasp. “Boundaries!” I yell over the laughter that’s now rolling from everyone around us. They’re not even pretending not to watch with rapt attention.
“No handcuffs this time, Jana,” he jokes.
“Do not encourage her,” I hiss.
He holds up his hands, chuckling deeply. “She started it.”
“Maybe you’ll be the one in handcuffs if you keep this up,” I smart.
His eyes darken and he leans closer to me. “Darlin’, you want me in handcuffs and you say the word I’ll be chained to the bed before you can blink.”
“Go grab your stuff,” Maverick breathes against my ear, pulling me back with his hands on my hips so I can feel his thickness against the small of my back. I make a mental note to look into buying some handcuffs before walking to my office and grabbing my purse. I check the ovens on my way back out, trying not to cringe at the mess on my workstation.
“Go on, sweetheart,” Jana says, breaking into my thoughts and pulling me from the kitchen before I can reach for the cleaner. The woman knows me too damn well. “Don’t you dare even think about it. I’m perfectly capable of handling things here.”
“I hate leaving you alone to close.”
“I’m not alone! You’re the one that hired that sweet little Avonlee just last week so we would have another body for nights just like this. Go on and spend some time with that handsome man of yours.” She snaps her towel at me like I’m a pesky fly. “Now go on, shoo.”
I roll my eyes but know she’s right. Avonlee hasn’t been completely trained, but there’s no better time than the present. She’s in good hands with Jana. I purposely hired Avonlee so I would be able to stop working past five. This way I would be able to spend more time with Maverick and hopefully set things up here at the PieHole for a more part-time role for me in the future.
The future that hopefully gives us a houseful of children.
“See you in the morning,” I tell her, pulling my purse strap over my shoulder. She doesn’t respond, but before I can call her on the weird look in her eye, Maverick is back at my side and pulling me out the doorway.
“Would you slow down, you big giant,” I say with a laugh, rushing to keep up with his long strides.
He turns, and without a word, picks me up bride style and continues to march to his truck, my laughter echoing around us. Maverick effortlessly opens the truck door, has me in the seat, and is walking around to his door. The whole time his smile never dims.
“Well, cowboy, you’ve got me. Now what are you gonna do with me?”
He reaches out and grabs my hand. “Hold on.”
He cranks the truck, the vibrations making goose bumps pepper my skin. When he takes off with a jump out of the PieHole’s side parking area, I settle back with a smile plastered on my face and enjoy the ride. He revs the engine when we pass Quinn standing outside the shop’s bays. Her hands on her hips and a huge streak of black grease across her forehead. She smiles brightly and waves back. Mav turns up the radio, and with some old Lynyrd Skynyrd cranked up, he drops his foot and rumbles through town.
Content not knowing where we’re going, but knowing I love the man who’s taking me there, I look out the window with a smile on my face. If following him blindly keeps him looking as carefree and happy as he does right now, I would follow him to the moon.
MAVERICK
I pull off into the road, right after the turn-in to our house, and throw the truck into park. It was one of the first things I did before starting construction—adding an additional drive that would take people directly to the main barn. I can still get to everything from our personal property, but this way we can keep our lives separate from the training camp.
Leighton looks over at me in confusion before glancing out the window. I wait, knowing she’ll see it without me having to point it out. We had never discussed this, and I know it was a risk without her input, but I have no doubts my girl will understand what brought this about.
All it took was a call to an old friend up in Montana, a former rider like myself that took his passion for welding and made it a thriving business after he left the circuit, and part one of my plans for today was in the works. It was harder than I thought to be home a night early, hiding out back in my old bedroom at the Davis ranch, but seeing Cliff install his work this morning made it all worth it.
I hear her gasp and I look proudly from where she’s sitting to the huge wrought-iron arch ten feet from the road, over the gated entrance.
MAVERICK JAMES RODEO SCHOOL.
The large bold letters, with two huge posts connecting them to the black fence below, were created as spotlighting to what is being built behind those closed gates.
“You . . .” She gasps, her head shooting from the gate to look at me in shock before whipping her head back to gaze out the window.
“It’s important to me, Leigh, that this is just as much a part of you as it is me. The Davis name, that isn’t me . . . not anymore.”
“But honey,” she starts, her breath hitching, “people are coming for you. Maverick ‘The Unstoppable’ Davis.”
“They’ll still get that, darlin’. Doesn’t matter that Davis isn’t up there, not to them, but it does to me. They wouldn’t be gettin’ that if it hadn’t been for the woman who saved me.” She opens her mouth, but I shake my head to silence her. “If you want to argue with me later, you can, but not yet.”
She frowns, but after searching my face, she just gives me a curt nod before settling back against the seat to wait.
I put the truck back in drive and move to the keypad in front of the gate, punch the code in, and wait for our path to clear. I drive down the lane, looking ahead and seeing how much progress we’ve made in the months that have passed since signing the deed to the property. The old barn was finished a few months back, the bright red-and-white paint standing out against the green fields around it. The small bunkhouses that scatter around it were finished shortly after. The medical and equipment buildings were close to the main barn. Each of the training arenas were close to being finished. There were only a few more things left to complete, but for the most part, we’re almost ready to start going through the thousands of applicants that had started applying and pick our inaugural class of students.
Once I made news of the school I was starting public, there wasn’t a fledgling rider around that didn’t know about my training program and want to join. On top of four other instructors that I handpicked, Trey would be leaving the circuit to join me here after the season ended. He had come out to meet Leighton and see the land a month after I turned down his offer, and didn’t even give me a chance to get the question out before he was making plans to move to Pine Oak.
By this time next year, we’ll have a full staff and riders living here, spending their days learning from the best. There isn’t a training school in the United States that can offer the kind of knowledge that Maverick James Rodeo School will.
A familiar rush fills my body when I think about the future. The only thing that gives me more happiness than that is the woman sitting right next to me. I still can’t even really believe how much has changed since I rolled back into town angry about what I thought I had lost, only a mere half year ago.
“Where are we going?” Leighton asks, holding on to the door handle when we leave the road and start bumping through the field.
Instead of answering her, I look over and give her a wink. She just laughs and rolls her eyes. When we reach the fence that separates our property and the schools, I jump out to open the metal gate. We haven’t gotten to laying down the gravel for the road, so after I climb back in and pull the truck through, I make a mental note to have them come out sooner than later. If I keep driving my truck through this shit, Quinn will kill me. She’s already had to replace my shocks once.
It doesn’t take long to get us where I want to be. The same field that has always been so special to the both of us, that holds so many memories. I steal a glance at Leigh, seeing her eyes spark and the happiness she’s feeling making them burn bright.
She doesn’t wait for me to open her door; instead she jumps down and meets me at the front of my truck, looking around at the picnic that I had set up before coming to get her.
“Are you being romantic, cowboy?” she smarts.
“Depends. Will I get lucky if I am?” I quip.
“Since when don’t you get lucky?”
I throw my head back and laugh. “Come on, darlin’.”
I would have done this a long damn time ago, but I wanted to wait for the bluebonnets to bloom before bringing her out here again. She doesn’t mention it often, but I know seeing them makes her feel like she’s closer to her parents. I wanted her to have that comfort when I brought her back out.
“Thank you,” she says as she drops to the plaid blanket that I’ve spread out in the one spot where there aren’t any flowers, the brilliant blue that surrounds her painting one hell of a stunning picture. I swallow the thick lump of emotion and bend down to open the basket. I grab the bottle of the champagne I bought in Austin a few weeks back. I couldn’t tell you if it’s good shit or not, but seeing as it cost me a few hundred bucks, I’m guessing it is. Leigh leans back, bracing her weight on her hands, and gives me a wide smile. “Daddy would love seeing the James name up there.”
I make a noise in my throat and continue to pour our glasses before handing her one.
“I know you think it should be Davis up there, Leighton, but it’s important to me that I start this new chapter of our lives without it. I used to think that being a Davis is what defined me, but I know now that isn’t the case. A name only holds the power you let it. I’m the man I am today because I fought not to become him and it was because of you that I finally had the tools to win that fight. To me, that is everything. It’s you and me, Leigh, for the rest of our days.”
“Honey, all I did was love you.”
“And that love saved me,” I tell her honestly.
I let the silence linger as I wait for her to take a sip. I’m half tempted to down my whole glass, but I just swallow a small bit before sitting the glass on the top of the basket.
“Come with me?” I ask, taking her glass and sitting it in the other cup holder on the lip of the basket before standing and holding out my hand.
Her lips curve into a small smile, and she takes my proffered hand to help her stand. I pull her from the blanket and walk toward the end of the field. The small raise in the land gives us the perfect view of the school beyond. You can’t see everything, but a good portion of the school’s land is visible from the field’s higher elevation.
“You know, when I made my way back home, I dreaded every second it took to get me here. I was so fuckin’ angry, baby. I couldn’t even see past that for one second. Because of that, I didn’t see a future for myself anywhere. I was lost, so fuckin’ lost, Leighton.” I take a deep pull of air, looking beyond us while searching for the right words. She moves closer and wraps her arms around me. “I ran from you and I knew deep down inside me it was wrong before I even left this place. I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you were willing to forgive me for that. I will never be able to express how much that forgiveness saved me.”
“Honey,” she whispers, looking up and tightening her arms around me.
“You saved me, Leigh. You brought me back and showed me that I wasn’t as lost as I feared I was. All that darkness and pain around me, you are the reason I beat them back. Trust me when I say this, your love gave me a reason to live again, and I will spend the rest of my life making sure you know how grateful I am to have that gift.”
“Maverick, honey, you say that like I was the only one doing the saving. I was just as lost. The loneliness was killing me slowly. All that time we were apart—even with all that distance—it made that bond we’ve always had so much stronger.” She gives her head a small shake and her curls dance around her face. “You think I saved you, but sweetheart, I think we saved each other.”
Bending slightly, I pick her up with my hands gripped to her thighs. She doesn’t wrap her legs around my hips, but her hands come up to cup my jaw and tip my head back to look up at her. She smiles and brings her lips down for a kiss so full of fucking emotion I have to tighten my grip for fear of dropping her. I feel my hat fall next to my feet, but I continue to kiss her passionately. Our mouths move hungrily as our tongues slide and swirl against each other. The promise of what’s to come makes me groan deeply into her mouth, turning my head in to deepen our kiss.
“I love you,” she says against my lips after one last wet swipe of her tongue against mine.
I don’t respond. Instead I slowly drop her to her feet before falling to my knees. She gasps. I look up at her, the enormity of the love I feel for her making my throat burn. My forehead hits her belly and she stumbles slightly when I cross my arms around her back, pulling her closer with my hands at her sides. I dig my fingers into the soft flesh and squeeze my eyes shut. Praying I get this out before sobbing like a baby.
“I love you so fuckin’ much, Leighton. I know if I was ever forced to live without you again, I would never find my way back from that. You’re everything to me, darlin’. Everything I never let myself believe I would have, but I thank God every day that I finally have it.” I look up, not even ashamed of the tears rolling down my face. “One of these days, our kids will run through these same fields that we grew up on. They’ll do that with happy hearts because their parents love them just as much as they love each other. My past will never touch them, and by giving our land both of our names, I’ll ensure it. Marry me, Leighton James. Marry me, give me babies, and let our love become something that people dream of findin’.”
By the time I finish speaking she’s sobbing so hard that if I hadn’t been holding her tight, I reckon she would have fallen.
“God, yes!” she cries, her tears falling even faster now. “Nothing would make me happier.”
I stand and pull her close. She rolls to her tippy toes and I bend to meet her the rest of the way. Our kiss is slow. The heavy breathing falling from both our fused mouths turns our connection desperate, the need to be as close as possible building between us as our tears of happiness dance together.
That need builds as our frenzied movements tear at our clothes, the silent demand our bodies make fuel us until we’re both as naked as the day we were born under the bright Texas sun. I lift her and she wraps herself around me, our mouths never breaking as I take her back to the blanket. Her wetness has me pulling her closer to my aching cock, and before her back has even hit the ground, I’m inside her. We move slowly, her body taking every inch of me. I lift my mouth from hers, keeping my forehead connected as my hips start to move faster. Her cries pick up tempo with each deep drive I take into her tight body, our eyes still wet with emotion.
“I’m gonna take your name, baby,” I vow, slamming my hips down.
“Oh, God.” She gulps, her whole body trembling as her pussy quivers around my cock.
“I’m gonna take your name and when we have our babies, they’re gonna to have it too.”
“Oh, God!” she screams, her core squeezing me tight.
“Nothing I want more than to let the world know that you saved me. Gonna show them all that when you marry me, baby.”
She jolts, my cock hitting the deepest part of her, and I groan as my balls tighten up.
“You gonna give me that?” I pant in question, feeling my release start to rush through my body.
“I’ll give you everything!” she screams, her body once again squeezing me, tighter than before as she starts to come.
I give three more powerful and deep thrusts before I feel my release pour into her welcoming heat.
“You already have,” I whisper, taking her mouth again while I lazily plunge myself into and out of our combined wetness. With any luck, those James babies I want so desperately will come sooner than later.
We settle after a few more minutes, and Leighton lets out a happy little sigh as I nuzzle against her. We’re in no rush to leave our field. No one will bother us here. Not in our place. With the flowers of our past blooming just as stunningly as our love, I hold my future in my arms.
I was lost once. A rider without the ability to do what he loved. I came home even though it was the last place I thought I wanted to be, and in the process not only did I find myself again, but I also found that my reason for livin’ didn’t have shit to do with ridin’.
No . . . ridin’ doesn’t define me anymore. Not when I’ve got the love of the woman made for me. She gave me me back, and in the process, I gained everything.
Leigh rustles against me. “Should we get going, baby?” she murmurs, half asleep.
I just tuck her tighter into me and kiss that sweet forehead for all I’m worth. “Baby, we aren’t going anywhere. We’ve got all the time in the world.”