“What do you mean? Did he hurt you? Is that why he’s not around?”
“No.” I take a deep breath. This could go one of two ways. Either he’ll understand, or he’ll think what my parents thought. That I couldn’t find a man so I had to go the route I did.
“I chose to have River by myself. I chose the donor I wanted to use, I know things about him. But I’ve never met him and I don’t plan to.”
“Do you know his name?”
“Nope.”
“Well, that makes this part a little easier for me.” He smiles.
What the hell is he talking about?
“I want to be with you. You and River.”
I’m still confused.
“What do you mean? Youarearound River and me.”
Emerson chuckles and moves closer to me.
“I don’t think I’m explaining myself well. I want to be with you, in a relationship with you.”
“But you don’t even know?—”
“I don’t know how I know, I just know. And before you say anything about my crew, they’ll be happy for us. If you don’t believe me, I’ll show you tonight. But I want to know if this is what you want.”
I nod slowly. I’m afraid if I get too excited, he might change his mind. He leans forward and kisses me. And when I say the kiss changed me? It was a kiss that I doubt anyone could top.
“Are you sure?” I whisper as I pull back.
“I’ve never been more sure about anything before. We should go and join the others. I’m starving.”
I laugh as his stomach grumbles at us.
CHAPTER FOUR
Emerson
The relief I feel when Sawyer tells me that there’s no man in their lives is enormous. I’m not sure why she chose to have River alone, but I also don’t care. River is adorable, and I’m really glad I’ll get to take care of both of them.
At last night’s dinner, I let my whole crew know that I will be dating Sawyer. I asked if any of them had any issues with it. And every one of them said no and that they were happy for us. The relief on Sawyer’s face made me feel good. I knew my crew would never be mad about me dating her.
Today is our last test day before our season starts. We have a month off after this and my family is thinking of going back to Lake Renegade. I want to ask Sawyer if she and River would like to come with us. And I’m hoping that she’ll say yes.
I do my best to focus on riding. Part of me keeps thinking of Sawyer, but that can also get dangerous. Losing concentration can lead to crashes. Today was a good day, I topped the time charts. My bike feels great and I can’t wait to start our season.I thank my crew and then head to my trailer to change. As I’m changing, there’s a knock at the door. And my da comes in.
“That was a good testing day. How’s the bike?”
“The bike feels good. I think when we get to our first race, we might need a few adjustments. But for the first time in a while, the bike actually feels good the way it is.”
“Are you thinking of asking Sawyer to join us in Lake Renegade?”
“I want to. Do you think it’s too soon?”
“That’s completely up to you and Sawyer. None of us can tell you what’s too fast or slow.”
“I don’t want to scare her, but I want to skip all this dating stuff and just be together. But because she has River, I feel like I need to let her tell me how fast or slow she wants to take things.”
