You’d think with Tripp’s truck filled to the brim with bags and baby gear that we were going on a cross-country three-month vacation.
Nope, just an overnight trip to the rodeo.
With a ten-month-old.
It’s Willow’s first time at the Franklin Rodeo, and we’re meeting Noah and her family to watch Ellie compete. The Hollises go every year for the full duration of the event, but I’m not that brave to spend three nights in a camper with an infant.
Being here brings back so many memories. Not only have I gone every summer with Noah’s family, but it’s where she met Fisher. Well, technically, it’s where I found Fisher and pointed him out to her. I’m the only reason they actually met, and I will take credit for their love until the day I die.
Noah and Ellie have been training extra hard these past few months. Ellie’s at the top of her game and has crushed every event she’s had for the past year.
“Da!” Willow points toward Tripp as I carry her on my hip. “Da!”
“Yeah, he’s comin’, sweetie.”
Go fucking figure I’d carry her for nine months, and that’d be her first word.
But I can’t even be mad because Tripp’s an incredible father. For the first six months after she was born, he got up with me for every feeding and diaper change. Luckily, now she sleeps through the night, but he still continues to cook all of our meals. Hell, he does the laundry most weeks because I forget. He never complains even after working a ten-hour shift.
The day Willow was born and the day I married the man of my dreams were the two best ones of my life.
As soon as he’s within reach, she holds up her arms and squeals for him to pick her up.
“Hey, sweetheart.” He kisses her cheek.
I let him take her out of my arms, but I make a pouty face about it.
“Don’t worry, I’ll lift you up later tonight.” He winks.
I snort at his cheesy line but can’t help the smile that sneaks onto my face. Damn him.
Even after everything we’ve been through—being first-time parents, juggling a newborn and work schedules, finding secret moments to steal—he still makes me laugh.
We’re staying in one of the Hollises’ trailers, so we only have to bring the stroller and baby bag to the arena. By the time we arrive and find Noah, the barrel racing event has already started.
Noah and I stand in the front by the railing, ready to scream for Ellie as we always do. I turn around and laugh at the image of Tripp holding Willow and Fisher holding Poppy. It’s like a hot dad’s club.
“Did you ever imagine this would be our lives? Three years ago, I was pushing you to go talk to a man twice your age, and I was chasing after Tripp like a lovesick puppy.”
“I’m startin’ to wonder if Tripp’s a victim of stalker syndrome? Ya know, kinda like Stockholm syndrome? He couldn’t get away from you, so he had no choice but to fall in love with you,” Noah teases.
“Call it whatever you want, but it worked.” I shrug with a smirk.
Landen walks over and stands behind us. “Is her division next?”
“Yep, she’ll be the second runner,” Noah says. “Get ready to scream your guts out.”
“Your brother will be rearranging my guts later, so I can’t do that.”
“Gross.” Noah laughs.
“You’re tellin’ me. I live above them.” Landen groans, standing behind me like a bodyguard.
I pat his arm. “Oh, you poor baby.”
The emcee announces Ellie’s name with her horse Ranger and the crowd goes wild. When she flies into the arena, we cheer as loudly as we can.
“Yes, Ellie!” Noah stands on the railing, screaming louder. “Go, go, go!”
Ellie goes smoothly around the first barrel and quickly races to the next.
She gets around the second, but then I notice something off about her posture as she rushes toward the third.
Just as Ranger whips around the final barrel, Ellie falls off and smacks her head on it. There’s a loud, audible gasp in the crowd, and Landen clutches my shoulder. She tumbles to the ground, rolls a couple of times, and then ends up face-down in the dirt.
“Oh my God!” Noah sprints toward the exit to get down there, and Landen quickly follows.
“Holy shit.” I gasp, feeling helpless as people start to make their way over to her.
Tripp comes to my side with Willow and puts an arm around me. “Jesus. I hope she’s okay.”
“I’ve never seen that happen before.” I stand shell-shocked. “I thought something was off after that second barrel.”
“I wonder what happened,” he says as we watch a medical team arrive.
It takes a good ten minutes before they get her on a stretcher and move her out of the arena. Tripp puts Willow in the stroller, and we exit with Fisher and Poppy to go find Noah and Landen.
“Is she okay?” I ask when we see them outside near the ambulance.
Noah shakes her head, and I see the concern written across her face. “I dunno. She wasn’t responsive. They think it’s possible she had a seizure.”
“Does she have a medical condition?” I ask.
“Not that I’m aware of or it’d be too risky for her to be ridin’.”
“Poor thing.”
“Landen and I are gonna meet them at the hospital,” she tells Fisher, then looks at me. “I’ll text you when I hear anything.”
I give her a hug and an extra squeeze for luck. “Please do. I’m gonna worry about her.”
Noah gives Fisher and Poppy a kiss, and then she and Landen leave.
Instead of going back to the arena, we decide to let the kids play back at the trailers until they return.
Except they don’t until close to midnight.
The girls are long passed out, but I hear them walk in and immediately sit up.
“Hey,” I whisper. “Where’s Landen?”
“He’s still there. She woke up finally, but you’re not gonna believe this.”
I furrow my brows. “What?”
“Between the seizure and how hard she hit her head, she’s lost part of her memory.”
My hands cover the gasp that slips out of my mouth. “Oh my God!”
Noah chuckles, and I’m thrown off guard by how this could be funny. “She doesn’t remember Landen.”
Just when I think I couldn’t be any more shocked, I’m proven wrong. “Wait, what?”
Noah looks like she’s struggling to keep it together but laughs again. “I know it ain’t funny, but she doesn’t remember not liking him. After she woke up, she recognized me, but when she looked at Landen, she got all flustered like she had a major crush.”
“Shut the fuck up!” I whisper-shout. My mouth falls open in disbelief.
“Dead-ass serious. Landen was so shocked, he didn’t know what to do. Ellie asked if he’d stay, so he did.”
“This is wild, Noah! What if she remembers she hates him in like a week? Landen will be even more crushed after gettin’ his hopes up.”
“I asked the doctor what to do, and he said nothing. If we tell her too much, it’ll just confuse her, so it’s just best to wait it out and let her memory return naturally.”
I blink hard, trying to wrap my brain around all of this.
“I can’t believe Landen agreed to stay knowin’ she’d normally want nothin’ to do with him.”
“He didn’t wanna hurt her feelings or her to be left there alone,” Noah explains. “Her parents hadn’t arrived there by the time I left.”
“I just don’t want Landen to get hurt,” I say.
“Me neither, but it’s his decision.”
We chat for a few more minutes before she calls it a night and goes to her trailer. I slide back into bed next to Tripp, and he wraps his arm around me when I snuggle into him.
“If I lose my memory and forget that I’m in love with you, would you fight for me?”
His eyes are closed, but his lips curve up in amusement. “Sunny, I’d do everything in my power to make you fall back in love with me, even if it took the rest of my goddamn life. I’m not lettin’ you go in this lifetime or any other.”
I rest my head on his chest and smile. “And that’s why I married you.”
He leans down to press a kiss on my hair. “Thought you married me for my cookin’ skills.”
“Well, of course. And for your oral game.”
“I knew it,” he deadpans.
My hand slides down his bare torso and explores beneath his boxer shorts. He gets hard in less than five seconds, and I smile to myself at my ability to get him aroused so quickly.
“Say cowboy…”
“Hmm?”
“Whaddya think about tryin’ for baby number two?”
His eyes whip open. “Don’t play with me, Sunny.”
I bite down on my lower lip and stroke his shaft. “So you don’t wanna knock me up?”
He growls as he captures my wrist, rolls me underneath him, and then pins me to the bed. “Be very careful what you ask me, love. If you say those three words to me again, I will fill you with my cum and then hold your legs up in the air over and over until you’re pregnant. And that’s not the kink talkin’.”
Good God, I could get pregnant from his dirty talk alone.
But just in case that doesn’t work…
“Knock. Me. Up. Cowboy.” I drawl out each word as he presses into me, his cock hard and throbbing against my stomach.
His dark gaze is filled with hunger, and when he lowers his mouth an inch above mine, he whispers, “Beg for it, Sunny. Beg for my cum.”
I can’t help the smile that fills my face, knowing I’m getting exactly what I want and he’s all too eager to give it to me.
“Fill me up with your cum. Please.”
