Nova (49 page)

“Woo-
hoo
!” I heard Sam yell, and I think that’s when I opened my eyes. I finished out the straight stretch, but let him know I wanted to go slower. Thankfully he did slow down, and by the time we concluded the trip, he was loping the last twenty feet. Sam met us on Ridley just as I stopped at the barrel and said, “There you go. You got him to go a little faster.”

“A
little
faster?” I exclaimed.

“Yeah, he may have finished in the middle of the pack with that time.”

“In the middle? Okay, I felt like I was on a rocket.”

She laughed. “Yeah, you went pretty fast for what you’re used to, but it wasn’t quite as fast as he did with me.”

I couldn’t respond. If he was capable of going faster than that what we just did, I had no idea how I would manage. I wasn’t even able to open my eyes.

“You need to do it again,” Sam said. “So he knows that wasn’t just a fluke.”

“It
was
a fluke!” I laughed. “I did not tell him to go that fast.”

“You confused him by telling him to slow down, but that’s okay. We’ll work on that. He does listen really well though. You’ve got yourself a great horse. But he
will
do what you ask him to do, Nova. Don’t be afraid to push him.”

“Oh he can handle it just fine. I’m not so sure about myself.”

“What? Really? You looked great. A little worried, but your technique on the turn was perfec
t. You’ve got it down;
just get rid of the fear. He’ll perform for you, no doubt.”

I d
id believe her, but it was
all
ne
w
to me. I never saw myself as the equestrian competitor like Sam was.

When I made it to the guesthouse that evening Ben was lying on the couch facedown. I’m not sure if he was sleeping or even heard me when I came in so I said, “Are you alive?”

He made some sort of sound as he barely picked up his head and looked at me. “I think so, but I’m not sure.” He laid the side of his face on the couch
so he was
facing me.

I came into
the room and stood next to him to get a better look
. “Are you sick?” I reached down to feel his forehead. “Ben, you are burning up. What’s going on?”

He slowly pulled himself up into a sitting position and said, “Just haven’t felt good today.”

“Do you have a cold and flu? Does your body ache? Headache?”

“Yes, and yes.” He
rested his elbows on his knees
and asked, “How was riding?”

I smiled and shook my head. “It was fine, but Ben… What can I do for you? Did you take something? Can I get you something?”

He didn’t say anything at first but he forced himself to stand up. “I think I’m going to head upstairs. I came in a couple hours ago and just didn’t make it very far.”

“Do you need any help?”

He shook his head and replied, “Nah, I can make it. I’m just gonna go to bed.”

“Yes, please do. I’ll be up in a minute with some cold medicine.”

He slowly made it up the first few steps and said, “Thanks
,
mommy.”

I smiled and headed for the medicine cabinet. I knew there was cold medicine in there so I grabbed that, and a large glass of water. Ben was already
lying diagonally across his bed
so I said, “Come on,
sit
up. Take this and drink all of the water.”

He gradually came to a sitting position and did what I said as I closed his curtains for him. When the glass was empty I took it to the bathroom and filled it up again. When I set it on the nightstand he said, “Thanks
,
Nova. I appreciate it.”

“No problem. Is there anything else you need? Will you be able to get some sleep?”

He shrugged and fixed a pillow as he laid his head onto it. “I hope so. I’m sure the guys will be coming home in a bit though…”

I understood what he meant. The house wasn’t exactly quiet around dinnertime and most assuredly Ben would be woken up. I left his room and grabbed the fan that was in my room. I had to sleep with white noise sometimes so I hoped it would help Ben too.
I think he was already asleep by the time I returned to his room and plugged in the fan, so I left quietly and shut the door behind me.

As I descended the stairs my phone rang, and I smiled because I knew it was Austin.

“Hey you,” I answered.

“Hey, what’s new
,
beautiful?”

“Oh, nothing much, really. Apparently my horse is faster than Sami’s and she thinks I want to compete with him.”

He chuckled and asked, “And you don’t?”

“Nope, not at all.”

“She thinks you can do it.”

“But it’s not something I’m interested in. Honestly. Could you kindly make her aware of that if you have a chance? Get it out of her stubborn head.”

“Runs in the family.”

“I know it. What the hell did I get myself into?”

He laughed again as I started pulling a few things out of the refrigerator. Heath and Clara were gone for the day, so I had volunteered to make dinner that night.

“So are you ready to finally return to California next week?
” I asked. I know I was excited
and I was practically counting down the hours until I could see him again.

“Yeah, definitely.
Fontana is waiting for my return.”

“So am I. Four and a half more days.”

“It’ll be good to see California again. I’m looking forward to it. But I’m looking forward to seeing you more, though.”

What was even better was that there were only three more races left in the season, and then he could return home for the winter. I was excited for that, having him home again, and I was anticipating a wonderful off-season with him.

We had a huge family dinner the day he arrived in Bakersfield. It was nice, and everyone was excited to have him back for a few days. When the party eventually broke up for the night, Austin led me to his room and locked the door behind him. I loved the way he looked at me before he took me into his arms and kissed me. It was so easy to love being loved by him, and I think I fell in love with him even more that night if that was even possible. I felt like we were back to our carefree days, where everything seemed right and we just went along with it without any worries.

That week was amazing, and I saw it as a preview for the off-season. I was so happy that Austin and I had our relationship back on track, and that he was al
so doing well again on the race
track. He
finished
second at Fontana
and I actually had a good time watching the race.

I rode home with him that evening, except we didn’t exactly make it home. Austin’s spontaneous personality took u
s to Santa Monica for the night
and we stayed in a hotel right on the beach. In fact, we spent a second night there because it was so enjoyable, and when we returned to Harmony Acres, I felt like a new person.
I enjoyed having
him
for
two more days at the ranch before he took a flight to
Kentucky where his team’s next race was.

I already missed him the night he left, and I’ll admit that I really didn’t like being alone in bed. A lot of thoughts went through my head that night, particularly ones that left me feeling lonely. I had a great job and I was truly happy, but all I really wanted was
to be with
Austin. I decided I needed more things to keep me occupied until racing season was over
.

I wasn’t sure why, but I started running almost every day.
I used to run a few miles three times a week
,
but
this time I
had to start out slow.
I
began
with just a mile or s
o for the first week, and then
upped it to two miles.
I hated it, I truly did. Running was not my thing. I mainly did it to kill some time in the evenings but also to clear my head. It felt good to come home exhausted, shower and change, eat a light dinner, and then
be in
bed by nine o’clock. Austin always called at nine
and
that was always the completion to my day.

There
was
one last
race
that
he
was going to compete in that season
when I traveled to be with him in
Phoenix
.
Everything was going great that weekend until
Austin almost got into a fight with Jeremy Marshall
two hours
before start time—a
ll because that
jerk
decided to have flowers delivered to me in the lounge. Austin was pissed enough just with that, but when he saw a hotel key and room number with the card, he almost hit the ceiling.

Drake calmed him down before he could leav
e the room to find Jeremy, thankfully
. I was able to talk to him further, getting him to see that causing drama over it would only look bad for
him and the team. He knew that and I was glad that he channeled his emotions towards the race he was determined to do well in.

However, I was freaked out because of all the tension.
I even talked to Drake about
it,
worried that something was going to happen on the track. He tried to assure me that Jeremy Marshall was just an immature little punk that was trying to get into Austin’s hea
d,
but
that
he wasn’t stupid enough to let it ruin his career.

I wasn’t so sure.

Besides
a few
laps, Austin was hardly around Jeremy’s car during the race. Jeremy shot out of the pack early on to take up a spot in the top five, but Austin remained in the middle for the
first half
of the competition. He made it into the top five for the final laps and ended up
putting
Jeremy into
an
eighth place
finish
.

Austin finished fourth that day, and even though I was proud of him, I was even more relieved that the regular season was over
for him
.
There were a few more races left in the Nationwide Series, but after one final week of tying up some ends, Austin was allowed to head home to California.
  

I was so thankful to have him home in one piece.

Chapter Twenty-Six

“And after Iowa…” Austin smiled as he watched my face
intently
. His fingers walked down my stomach. “Kentucky.”

I bit my lip, trying not to laugh, and he lifted an eyebrow.

“Hmm, Kentucky seems a little sensitive. I’m dying to know how Atlanta feels bec
ause Kentucky leads further
south
, and then over to Texas—
”

I couldn’t help it and I laughed.

“Ah ha! You couldn’t do it!”

“No, I couldn’t,” I said,
still giggling.

He was perched on an elbow lying beside me and he leaned down to kiss me. “Mm, I’d retrace that racing schedule any day.”

“And I’ll let you, but I guess I can’t bet that I won’t laugh next time.”

“Nah, you should keep betting me.”

“Because you get special favors out of it when I lose.”

“Hey, whether it’s you giving me a massage or the other way around, it’s still win-win, baby.”

He pulled me c
lose to him and kissed me deeply
. It was evenings like this that made my life complete, and after long hours working in the barn and a great dinner with his family, a movie alone with Austin was the perfect ending to a fabulous day.
Now we were just lounging on hi
s bed, getting ready to settle
in for the night.

“I was thinking that tomorrow we should go for a hike to the north quarter of the ranch. If you want we can even ride it.”

I raised an eyebrow and pushed him onto the pillow, laying my body over half of his. “You’d go riding with me?” I inquired. “What’s in it for you?”

“Co-ed naked picnic?”

I laughed and then set my chin on his chest. “Too funny.”

“Is that a no?”

“That’s a maybe since there are plenty of trees over there.”

“Oh you think that will give us privacy?” he teased.

“Maybe not,” I agreed. “There are low lying Ponderosas
and shrubs
over there, though.”

“Oh, listen to you,” he chuckled. “You’re considering this, aren’t you?”