Chapter 34 - Chase Me, Cowboy

I’m feeling exposed, but I don’t run from it like I usually do. Instead, I sit with it, her body in my arms. My phone has been off all morning. My emails are piling up; my texts will take me days to catch up on. I don’t care. Right here, in this room, I’m at peace.

“Will you go away with me?”

The words come out before I can bite them back. Her body tenses. I think she’s going to sit up and glare. Instead, she sits up, looking thoughtful.

“What do you mean?”

“Just go away with me for a few days,” I say. “I want to feel like we’re a couple.”

Her brows crease.

“But we aren’t,” she says, eyes guarded.

“Indulge me,” I beg. “A few days in Nashville, or maybe Lexington. We could do normal couple things. Not worry about the future.”

Her lips purse. “Alright.”

“Where do you want to go?”

She shrugs. I reach in my pants pocket and take out a quarter. “Heads Lexington, tails Nashville.”

I flip it, catching it and slapping it lightly on her thigh. “Heads.”

A little smile appears on her lips. “Lexington, here we come.”

An incredible lightness sweeps through me, centering beneath my sternum. Damn all the texts and emails. I get a few more days of not suffering, a few days where we pretend we’re something instead of a big, tangled-up mess. I lean in and kiss her deeply, hands wrapped around her waist. She tastes like coffee, like Serena. Like the lightness in my chest.

The conversation is over, and we’re both feeling better. Our kiss turns into making out with her in my lap. Then, with her beneath me in bed. Her legs fall open, and somehow I end up inside her, fucking her with my hands tangled in her hair.

We’re not even together, but I know what this is—the honeymoon phase. My head is empty, and my heart overflows with warmth. Everything flows like I’m in a movie montage. All my problems seem so small—what was I even worried about? Everything is fine when she’s around.

True to what I’ve heard, I never want it to end.

We shower again, eat some of the cold breakfast from earlier. I can’t keep my eyes off her as she gets dressed. She has a way of moving through the world that’s magical, like nothing else exists when she’s in the room, even in her eyes. It’s confidence she’s not aware of; it’s a fantastic asset for a performer. I pull on my button-up, rolling the sleeves. She slips into a pair of sweats and snaps a bra over her breasts, adjusting them and waking my dick up. Over it, she pulls a hoodie, letting it fall off her shoulder.

“Looking good,” I say, threading my belt.

“I could say the same thing.”

“You’re welcome to.”

“Nah,” she says, gathering her hair into a ponytail. “Your ego’s in danger of being as big as your dick.”

“If you keep talking to me like that, it will be.”

She sashays past me, ponytail flicking. I lean in and smack her round ass, watching it jiggle.

“You want to fly down?” I ask.

She gives me a look before taking a little black bag of makeup from her luggage. “Sure, but I want first class.”

“I can arrange that.”

She disappears into the bathroom, humming. When she’s not stressed or angry, she’s actually pretty damn sweet and upbeat. It makes me wonder why she was so sad when we first met. I don’t think she stopped frowning for my entire visit, except for when she was naked in bed with me. And even then, she gave me a few snarky looks.

“Alright,” she says, reappearing. “If you get me a coffee once we’re through security, I’m ready.”

“Another thing I can arrange.”

She gives me a look, but it’s not disapproval this time; it’s soft, like she’s trying to hide a smile. It makes me want to follow her around forever and take care of everything just so I can see her like that again. Smiling to myself, I call a car and gather our rolling bags, holding the door with my foot.

“Autumn in New York is really beautiful,” she says, as we move down the hall.

“Yeah, when I have to be at the apartment for work, I time it so I get the best of the season.”

“The apartment?”

I didn’t realize that sounded…out of touch. “I have an apartment. For when I’m here on business.”

“Where?”

“East side.”

“Oh, so ritzy.”

I shrug, stepping into the elevator. The polished wood doors slide shut. “It’s not the most expensive, but yeah, it’s nice. I end up subleasing it a lot, though, so it doesn’t sit empty.”

“I’d love to see it someday,” she says, then seems to choke on the last word.

Someday…

Someday when we give up on this and become acquaintances? Someday when we’re lovers, and everything has sorted itself out? I’ll never know because the doors roll open and we enter the lobby, heading to the shiny front exit way Through the glass is the shadow of the waiting car. I open the door and let her go through, following her out onto the cool drive.

The air smells like change. I don’t know what that smells like, maybe the season, but it’s unmistakable.

“You hop in the back,” I say. “I’ll get the luggage put away.”

She doesn’t protest; I know she likes the princess treatment. I pop the trunk and pile our things inside, hands wavering before snapping it shut. Things are moving fast, but slow at the same time. It feels like I met her a hundred years ago. Or maybe I met her last week, and now we’re running off together. I don’t know, but the wind picks up. A lingering feeling of having been here before floats on it.

I slam the trunk shut and get in. She’s on her phone, legs folded.

“So, how are you keeping all this from your sister?” I ask, as we pull onto the street.

“Huh?” She doesn’t look up.

“How are you keeping this from Coen and your sister?”

She glances sideways sharply, eyes narrowed. “What are you talking about?”

“Serena, I’ve seen your social media,” I say.

Silence. She sniffs, shrugging.

“I blocked everyone. It’s easy,” she says finally. “I can block you, too, if you’re not good.”

I could push back, make her talk about it. But I’m well aware of how embarrassing it is to be perceived publicly, especially online. Coen struggled with it. He used to walk out on stage and keep his head down, eyes on the floor. I had to coach him through the proper media response to someone being a fan or telling him they love his work. He used to just nod nervously and move on.

“You don’t have to block me,” I say. “You probably couldn’t find my burner anyway.”

“I’ll bet I could.”

“I’ll bet you couldn’t. I’ve been in this game for a long time.”

She sets her phone aside, shifting to lay her legs across my lap. That’s a good sign. Here I thought she was pissed. I run my hand over her ankle, stroking the soft skin.

“Coen doesn’t have social media. I guess he deleted it,” she says, eyes on the ceiling.

“He hasn’t had it in a while. I had someone take it over years ago. Does Sabrina?”

She shrugs. “She did in high school, but not as much anymore. Just a private account she posts the dogs on sometimes. Being with Coen kinda means she can’t post pictures of them without worrying about his privacy. She stopped using it much when they got together.”

“Once you’re a public figure, it kinda fucks up the whole experience.”

She sighs, arms crossing. “I can see that.”

We’re both quiet for a while. The Uber pulls up to the airport, and I gather all our luggage from the trunk. She reaches for her bag but I wheel it out of her reach.

“I got this,” I say.

She hesitates. “I’m not used to being taken care of, not by…you.”

“Well, let me show you how it’s done.”

Our eyes meet, electricity sizzling.

“I can do things for myself,” she insists.

“I know that,” I say, striding toward security. “But you don’t have to, not right now.”

She doesn’t protest as we go through security and stroll down the walkway to our terminal. It’s pretty empty, and I find her a prime spot along the back wall. She sinks down, watching silently as I line up our luggage.

“Alright,” I say. “Gonna get you a coffee. Be right back.”

“I didn’t ask for a coffee,” she says.

“Uh, yes, you did.”

“Well, maybe I don’t want one anymore.”

I shoot her a stern look. She’s being a bit of a brat, but I don’t mind it.

“Serena, you can sit down. You’re already acting up, and I can’t put you in your place until tonight, baby,” I say firmly. “I will be right back.”

Her jaw drops. I shrug, turning on my heel to make my way to the coffee shop a few gates down. If she didn’t like it when I treated her like this, I wouldn’t do it. But she loves it, it’s written all over the little pout on her lips paired with the glitter in her eyes.

I stand in line for the café. I’ve stood in a thousand lines for coffee in airport cafés before, but today is different.

Today, I have her, and that changes everything.