Chapter Thirteen
Something had changed between them after the night they made love under the stars. They had filmed the promo they needed and Gage had left for Lubbock. She’d headed home to Dallas but he texted her all the time and they’d had a few video calls.
She missed him and she could no longer deny that she loved him. At first it was easy to say it was simply a crush or something she would get over after they’d slept together, but she knew now that wasn’t the case.
He’d done well in Lubbock—still up at the top in points—and she knew he was traveling to Shreveport, which wasn’t too far from Dallas. Well, three hours. She’d waited for Gage to suggest that he stop by and see her on his way to Shreveport but he hadn’t.
She had never been one to wait so she sent an email to her assistant informing him she’d need a room in Shreveport for the weekend. And he popped into her office.
“I thought you were done with the AEBR Tour and weren’t going to any more stops,” he said.
“I changed my mind,” she said.
“You changed it or that tall, drink of water, Gage Powell, did?” he asked.
“Stop it,” she said. “I was going to see if the fans are responding to the new campaign. But I’ve changed my mind.”
Now that she’d said it out loud she felt foolish. She was chasing him again. He’d left her in Sacramento and she knew he was on tour and trying to put in his best rides each week. He had been texting and calling her but she wanted to see him. Didn’t he want to see her?
“Okay, if that’s what you want, but if you want to go you know I won’t judge,” he said.
“I know. I’ve made up my mind to go,” she said. “But I hate to feel like I’m running after him. You know?”
He came in and closed the door and then sat down in one of the guest chairs. “I’m going to tell you something I haven’t told anyone else. When Shaun and I were first dating he thought I was a big flirt.”
“You are a big flirt.”
“Do you want to hear this or not?”
“Yes.”
“So we had this one incredible night together and then he didn’t call. And I was like fine whatever at first, but I couldn’t stop thinking about him and so I went to his work and just watched him from the parking lot—like a creepy stalker! But it wasn’t creepy. I had missed him. Just seeing him made me realize that I needed to call him again.”
“And you did.”
“No, because I was afraid. It took me three months to call him and by that time I was afraid he’d have forgotten me, but he hadn’t. Fear robbed me of those three months, Sierra. Don’t let fear rob you of anything.”
She sat back in her chair and rocked it back and forth. “It’s so hard, caring about someone else. I mean there’s no guarantee that the other person even likes you back. He’s driving close enough to Dallas that we could meet up and he didn’t suggest it.”
“You’ll only regret it if you don’t go after him,” Marcos said. “Love is scary and exhilarating and the best damned thing you can experience. But you have to commit to it one hundred percent.”
She thought about what her assistant said. Had she been hedging her bets? Heck, of course she was. There wasn’t a single member of her immediate family who had any luck with romance and love. They were all serial daters who never found something solid. And Sierra had always craved that stability.
“Okay. Book it and give me a few extra days there.”
“Yes! You won’t regret it,” he said, coming around her desk to give her a hug before leaving the office.
She hoped she wouldn’t regret it but she knew she had to go and try. Maybe he’d been waiting for a signal from her that she wanted to see him. Maybe he was afraid to be the one to admit to feeling something for her.
Gage was in a tense situation, trying to stay at the top of the points so he could keep his dad proud of him. And though Lawton had been hard on Gage at dinner, she’d seen that he cared for him too. When they’d teased Lucy about her music. It was only when Lawton compared Gage to Marty that he got a little ornery.
She sent an email to her dad, telling him her plans to be in Shreveport and he sent back a thumbs-up emoji. Her father had taken to emojis in a big way. He said if it were possible to just communicate with emojis and emoticons he’d be a happy man.
She sent him back the kissy face and then started packing up to head home. Marcos sent her hotel reservation to her smart phone and the directions to the hotel in Shreveport to her maps app as well.
She left her office and he looked up. “Don’t worry. It’s going to work out.”
“How do you know?”
“I saw the way he looked at you when we all went to dinner,” Marcos said.
“How did he look at me?” she asked.
“Like he was fascinated by you,” he said. “And trust me that’s a good thing.”
She nodded and then hugged him before leaving the office. Fascinated by her. She hoped that Marcos was right. She’d never done anything this scary. She couldn’t remember the last time she was this nervous. There were so many things that could go wrong. She might disrupt his ride or mess with his juju and she didn’t want to do that.
But another part of her was just excited at the thought of seeing him again. Touching him again and being in the same city as him.
*
Gage hadn’t expected to see Sierra waiting when he came out of the locker room, but there she was. Wearing a denim skirt that hugged her hips and ended just above her knees paired with a cute little blouse and a pair of flat shoes. She was leaning against the wall and had been looking down at her cell phone until he walked into the hall.
“Hi there.”
“Hey. I didn’t know you were going to be here,” he said. She was a sight for sore eyes. He’d missed her more than he wanted to admit and he wasn’t having the best day. His mom had called earlier to tell him his dad had fallen off the Mule—a four-wheel drive vehicle they used on the ranch—and hit his head pretty hard. They were in the ER waiting to find out if he had a concussion.
“It was a last-minute thing,” she said. “Want to go grab dinner?”
She stood there all stiff and unsure and he wasn’t up to reading any subtle clues tonight. She was here. He needed someone who cared for him and she was here.
“I’d love to. Man, I missed you,” he said, drawing her into his arms and kissing her.
“Me too. That’s why I’m here,” she said. “So how’d you do in qualifying?”
“Not bad,” he said. “Dad had a fall at the ranch. I’m waiting to hear if he did any damage. Mom said he hit his head and then joked that we know how hard that is so he should be okay.”
“Well he does have a hard head, but I can tell you’re concerned. Is there anything I can do?” she asked.
“No. Let’s get dinner. I mean it’s not like Dad and I are close,” he said.
“But you are,” Sierra pointed out. “You both tease your mom.”
“That’s not really anything,” Gage said.
“I think it is,” she said. “I can see that when he measures you and Marty together he’s completely irrational but when he forgets it’s easy to tell that he sees you differently.”
It was nice that she thought so but Gage knew his dad had backed down because he could tell Sierra was going to keep defending him. They had never really gotten on when it was just the two of them.
It didn’t stop him from loving the old man but he knew that their relationship was broken and the knock to the head might mean that Gage was running out of time to fix it.
He drove to one of the casinos in Shreveport that had a pretty good steak restaurant. Sierra made light conversation the entire way, telling him how good the new ads were doing and how consumers were really responding to them. They got to the restaurant and gave their names to the waitress.
“I’m glad. Hope I don’t lose and screw things up,” he said.
“What? Don’t say anything like that. The consumers and the fans like you, Gage. It’s an added bonus that you’re winning but they are responding to you,” she said.
“Sorry. I’m in a pissy mood today, darlin’,” Gage said.
“Is it just your dad?” she asked.
He shrugged. “I have to make a decision about next year too. I started the AEBR Tour because I thought it would be for a year. Now I’m liking it and I’m doing good. But I’ve seen some of the guys who’ve been doing it since they were eighteen and this life takes a toll on a guy.”
“It does. I’ve seen it too through the rookies we sponsor each year. The ones who stay on and the ones who move on or choose another life,” Sierra said. “What do you want to do?”
“That’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it?” Gage asked. He signaled the waitress for more sweet tea. He didn’t have an answer for Sierra. Part of his decision was based on his parents. Would his dad even know if he rode again next year? Another part of him was concerned about his relationship with Sierra. He hadn’t been lying when he said he missed her. A part of him wanted to come home to her every night, but that wasn’t possible. He didn’t have any normal job skills. So he could either go back to the oil company or stay here and ride.
Neither solution was going to work for the two of them.
“Gage?”
“Yeah?” he asked.
She didn’t say anything so he looked up and saw she’d rested her elbows on the table and leaned forward to watch him. She had her hair twisted up, which made her features look even more delicate than they usually did. She was too soft for him. She needed a guy who knew what he wanted. So, what did he want?
Her.
“The only thing I know right now, Sierra, is I want to be with you. I don’t know how that will work out and I can’t think about it until after the finals in Fort Worth.”
“That’s all right by me,” she said.
“Really?” he asked. He’d expected her to want more details from him.
“Yes,” she said, smiling at him. “That’s what I want too. I came here because texts and calls weren’t enough. I needed to see you and touch you.”
She was saying exactly what he’d been thinking and feeling. And he realized as he listened to her talk that he loved her. He who’d never said those words to anyone but his mother was in love with Sierra Montez. Denim heiress and sophisticated lady.
Don’t screw it up.
He heard Marty’s voice in his mind. And mentally shoved that voice down deep inside of him. He might not know what was next for him with his career or if his father would ever look at him and see the man he’d become. But he did know he wanted Sierra in his life and she wanted him in hers.
*
Sierra hadn’t realized how much had changed since Sacramento but as she stood in the VIP section and saw Gage get in the chute and onto the bull she felt nauseous. She had watched him ride so many times but then had avoided it since they’d become lovers. She’d thought it was simply because she wanted to keep from feeling regret at first and then after their time in Oklahoma from missing him but she saw now that she couldn’t stomach watching him ride.
She knew he was good.
That a clean, hard ride was what he was known for and he’d stick, he always did, but she was so nervous her hands started shaking. She turned just as the gate opened and the crowded roared as the bull entered the arena: 1,700 pounds of bucking bull and Gage was on his back. Except Gage wasn’t doing what he normally did.
Horrified she watched as he lost his seat and was tossed off of the back of the bull. She saw him wrenching his hand trying to get free of the rope. The rodeo clown rushed into the arena and Sierra wanted to turn away but she couldn’t.
Finally, they got him free but he had taken a beating before they did.
The announcer was making some chatter to distract the crowd but there was a buzzing in Sierra’s ears as she fought her way out of the VIP stand down to sports medicine. He had been helped out of the arena and that was the last she saw.
She stopped at the bottom of the stairs, hugging her waist and bending over to clear the stars from her eyes.
She loved Gage.
And he’d almost been trampled to death doing his job. This was the life he’d been talking about last night.
He was in the points, in the money, and next year expectations were that he’d do even better. He’d made a name for himself and she didn’t want to stand in his way, but there was no way she could endure this.
She would stay away, she thought. She could do that. He’d have to ride next year especially if he was injured. She knew the way athletes’ minds worked. Gage would want to repeat his success to prove to himself that he was as good as this season had shown him to be. And she was going to have to watch.
“Are you okay?”
She looked up to see a stranger standing there watching her.
She nodded. “I’m good. Thanks.”
She was fine. It was Gage who might be seriously injured. She hurried away from the stands into the private corridor that led to the changing rooms and the sports medicine area. She flashed her VIP credentials and kept on walking. She needed to see him.
To make sure he was okay. She could only concentrate on this moment, on the now. She’d figure out what was going to happen next between them later. When she got to the door where the medical room was, she hesitated again when she heard some cursing from behind the door.
She knocked on it and then opened it up. Gage was white and there was dirt and blood all over his face and torso. His shirt was torn and he looked up as she entered and she’d never seen him look angry or less than approachable.
“Sorry. I just needed to see if you were okay,” she said.
“I’m fine,” he grunted.
The physician, Doc Freeman, glanced over at Gage and then back at her. “She can stay if you want or she can wait outside.”
“Outside,” Gage said.
Sierra nodded and backed out of the room. She felt small and embarrassed that he hadn’t wanted her there. And she thought back to what Marcos had said. That love was a gamble. Last night she felt like she’d been dealt a winner hand and was riding a winning streak. Now she was just standing in the hall like a buckle bunny who didn’t have the good sense to realize what she was.
She knew she was overreacting, that it was a residual reaction to seeing him injured and not being able go and hold him and reassure herself that he was okay.
But if he’d smiled at her… What the heck did she expect? He’d been bounced on the arena floor.
She was overreacting.
“Sierra?”
Her sister was coming down the hall toward her, her dark hair flying around her face, and she pulled Sierra into a bear hug as soon as she was close enough.
“This is the guy? Gage Powell? You’ve been so secretive,” Savanna said.
Sierra just hugged her big sister back. “Yes. I didn’t want to talk about it.”
“You don’t have to. I’m right here with you. He’ll be okay. That wasn’t the worst we’ve seen.”
“I know,” Sierra said. Her sister stood next to her until the door opened and Gage came out. He was cleaned up and through his torn shirt she could see his ribs had been wrapped and it looked like his shoulder too. He had a bandage on his forehead and he smelled of antiseptic and sweat.
Savanna squeezed her hand and then walked down the hall to give them some privacy.
Sierra hesitated. He took a ginger step toward her and she went to his side. “You scared me.”
“Sorry.”
She put her arm around him and led him down the hall toward the changing area where the showers were. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. Listen I’m going to be a while. I’ll meet you at the Montez Denim fan zone later, okay?”
She hesitated. Something wasn’t right. Something had changed.
“Gage—”
“Don’t. I don’t want to talk right now. I think I might say something I’ll regret. Just meet me later.”
She nodded and watched him limp away from her. Her heartbeat was so strong she could hear it in her ears and she wondered if this time when he walked away it was goodbye.
It felt like it.