Epiphany

When I get back to Frankie’s, I head straight upstairs. My day with Tobias has been amazing, but I fear he has friend-zoned me.

At least he doesn’t hate me anymore, which is an improvement.

I have a number of messages from my friends back in England—my stories on Insta blew up when I tagged Tobias and Tanner. Most of them want to know if they can come over and meet the fit cowboys.

I laugh at the messages as I read them, but it makes me feel sad that they don’t even ask how I am.

I finally call Carla, who I have been meaning to call for days.

“Sorry, it’s so hard to find time to get these calls in with the time difference.”

“Don’t sweat it, as long as you’re okay. I saw your video last night. Is that the guy?”

Carla is the only one who has been checking in on me since coming here. The others have only reached out because they want to know about the sexy cowboys. All of a sudden, they all want to book flights to come out here.

I wonder if this is the change my dad claimed would happen?

The people I am surrounded by now aren’t as slow and backward as I had first thought.

They are caring and kind—the type of people who give you their hotel room while they take the truck to sleep in, the type who get into huge debts and sacrifice their own dreams to save the family business.

These are people who don’t want to leave the house when they lose their soul mate.

Even Tanner sacrifices most of the money he makes so his son is well cared for.

They are good people, and when I think about the people I have grown up with, I feel ashamed.

I am a princess!

In the words of Madonna in “Material Girl,” I’m~ living in a material world and I am a material girl~.

I will never again listen to that song without it reminding me of my old self. Let that be the song that pulls me back if I ever fall into the material world of insignificance again.

I feel like I have had an epiphany. Maybe going to church did something to me.

The first person I want to tell is Tobias. I don’t think before I dial his number to tell him all about this revelation that has just hit me like a wrecking ball. I want to change—I want to be a better person.

“Hello,” he says as he answers. He sounds like I caught him in the middle of something.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

“Just kinda tied up at the minute. I’m up a tree on the ranch.”

“But I left you like half an hour ago. Anyway, I need to speak to you.”

“Oh, okay. I’m stuck, so I might be a while. I’m by my house.”

“Okay, stay there,” I say as I jump off my bed and pull on some clean shorts.

I hurry up toward his house and there he is. He is literally stuck in a tree.

“What are you doing up there?” I shout as I stand under him.

He has a rope around a branch and looks to be tangled in it.

“Just enjoying the view,” he shouts back sarcastically.

“Do you need me to get someone?”

“No, I’ll figure it out. What did you want to talk to me about?”

“I think I’ve had an epiphany,” I yell.

“A what?”

“An epiphany—you know, a moment of great revelation.”

“I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about,” he cries as he starts to move along the branch. It bows with his weight.

“Oh, be careful, that branch isn’t going to hold your—”

Next, I hear a loud thud and a wail. I run over to him as he rolls around on the ground.

“—your weight,” I continue.

“Ouchhhhhh,” he cries as he holds his side.

“Well, you rolling around is a good sign. You’re not paralyzed, anyway.”

“I think I broke my back. Holy fuckin’ shit, that hurts.”

“Just lie still a minute,” I demand as I kneel down next to him.

He lies still and holds his head in his hands as I run mine around the back of his head and neck to check there are no injuries or blood.

“I saw this on ~Casualty~,” I state. He doesn’t have a clue what that is. “It’s a hospital drama in England—a terrible one, but you learn some cool tricks of the trade.”

He starts to breathe heavily to calm himself down, and I assume the pain is increasing.

“That was a big old fall. What were you doing up there?”

“Getting my niece’s Frisbee. She’s been bothering me for weeks to get it for her.”

“See, there you go again with your good deeds. They don’t do you any favors.”

“I’m learning that the hard way,” he adds as he perches on his elbows to see if he can sit.

I place my hand for support behind his back.

“See, it’s a good thing I had my epiphany, or you might have died out here alone.”

I help him up and he puts his weight on me as he hobbles to the steps of his dad’s house.

“I think I’m good,” he says, but the pain etched in his face tells me differently.

“Are you sure you don’t want to get checked out? At least let me check you for bruising,” I say as I start to pull off his T-shirt.

He protests, but I do it anyway. My fingers trace his back, and he scowls as I get to his shoulder blade.

“That hurts, hey?”

It feels improper as I start to get turned on from running my hands over his injuries—his body is just so alluring. I sure would make a very inappropriate nurse.

“Does your dad have any ice we can use?” I ask.

“Let’s go to my place, I need a drink!”

I help him hobble over to his house, and he sits down on the leather corner sofa while I pour him a stiff drink and pull the ice from his freezer.

“Brace yourself, cowboy. I’m going in.”

He shouts as I place the ice on his bare skin.

“FUCK,” he bellows.

He takes a large gulp of his drink as I move the ice around his back.

“Holy fucking shit,” he shouts.

I have to grin at his obscenities. When he says he can’t take any more, I remove the ice and he settles back onto his sofa.

“Better?” I ask.

“I don’t know. I can’t feel anything,” he replies.

I take a look and there is some bruising starting around his shoulder.

“I can see bruising coming here and here,” I say as I prod the area that’s starting to turn a red-blue color.

His skin forms goose bumps as my hand brushes it, and I wonder if it’s the ice or the same feeling I get when he touches me.

As I move my hand around his shoulders, he catches it and pulls me toward him. My eyes move to his blue ones for clarification. I find his body can do one thing while he says another, but his eyes never seem to lie.

He holds my gaze and smiles as he pulls me onto his lap. Only then do I allow myself to drown in his blues.

His hands masterfully go around my face as he pulls me in for a kiss. I want to resist because I don’t think he knows what he wants, but I cannot pull back from his lips—his tender, possessive lips that consume and enchant me.

We stay like this for a while, only pulling away when I start to get cramp in my jaw. I look at his gorgeous face and stroke it lightly as he smiles up at me.

“What now, cowboy?” I ask.

“What do you want, princess?”

“What do I want?” I echo. “Well, you might discover how un-princess I actually am if I tell you that.”

“I’m intrigued,” he says as his smile widens, lighting his face up further.

“Well, I want to unzip these Levi’s,” I say as I move my hand toward the crotch of his jeans.

He nods and bites his bottom lip, urging me to continue.

“I want to lay you back and kiss every inch of your amazing body before moving down to your…”

I can feel his erection building in his jeans as I slowly rock my body on his lap. As I lean down and bite at his bottom lip seductively, I move my hands to his waist.

He clasps my body tightly, and I feel his fist clench as he grips my shorts in his grip.

“I’m stone-cold sober now, cowboy. No excuses,” I whisper.

He breathes in loudly as he gives in and pulls my face closer to his. His passion explodes like a button being pushed and his tongue darts around my mouth before moving down my neck.

He maneuvers me so I am straddling him, and I lift my top off over my head as his lips move down to my breasts, kissing and nipping at my skin.

“Knock, knock,” I hear Travis say as he enters the house.

I jump off Tobias’s lap and pull my top over my breasts to contain what dignity I have left. My face is as red as poor Travis’s.

Travis turns around to reduce the awkwardness and stumbles back out the door.

“It wasn’t important, it can wait,” he mumbles as he flees down the steps.

“Holy shit!” I exclaim. “Do you think someone somewhere is trying to tell us something?”

Tobias nods and starts to hobble off the sofa. “I keep nearly losing myself with you, but I don’t want to do it like this. I want to take you out, treat you like the princess you are, and do it the good old-fashioned way. I think there is someone up there saying I should stick to my plan.”

I grunt and roll my eyes. “Not this God shit again.”

“Princess, I can’t have you criticizing the main man in my house. If you don’t believe, that’s fine, but keep those opinions to yourself.”

“I’m sorry,” I say as I move closer to him and pout. “But you can’t blame a girl when He keeps cock-blocking her.”

He laughs out loud. “You really aren’t the princess you pretend to be, are you?”

He nips at my bottom lip as I go to kiss him, and we laugh like lovesick teenagers.