AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Great. One kiss and immediately she was thinking about the future. Wasn’t that one of the reasons she’d gotten in trouble with Kenneth in the first place? She’d wanted to impress him, and one thing led to another.
Once again, she berated herself. She needed to stop dwelling on the past. Dax might just be someone who could be part of her future—if only she could get past her insecurities.
Sarah worried her lower lip, allowing Dax to take both of her hands within his own. “I hate to be the person who brings this up—but where do we go from here? I’m going to be leaving in—”
He shook his head, successfully cutting her off. “Let’s approach that when the time comes. Maybe you decide that you want to stay when all is said and done.”
Right now, that idea made her heart soar. But wishful thinking didn’t make something possible. She couldn’t stay here past summertime or her parents would have a cow. Their plans for her future didn’t give her the opportunity to turn into some cowgirl—or date a cowboy for that matter.
This was not the time to bring that up. In fact, there might never be a good time for that sort of conversation. How would Dax react when he found out she was just some spoiled rich girl?
He had morals.
He’d grown up with barely anything to his name.
They couldn’t be more different if they had been born on opposite sides of the world. They literally were raised on opposite sides of the track—a regular Romeo and Juliet. The only difference was that they didn’t currently have their families fighting to keep them apart.
Sheshouldbe grateful. But as she gazed into his eyes, all she wanted was for the slate of her past to be wiped clean. Dax hadn’t specified any of the things he’d done criminally. In her eyes he’d been through a lot. He was an orphan and in the system.
What excuse did she have?
Nothing.
“Hey,” Dax’s soft voice stopped her from spiraling further.
She jumped and met his eyes once more.
“What do you want this to be?”
Sarah let out a strangled laugh. “You can’t ask me that.”
“Why not?” The corners of his mouth lifted into a grin that had her heart racing once more. “Whatever this is or will be has to be a partnership.”
If she wasn’t already warm and fuzzy, his words only added to what she currently experienced. “I want…” She took a deep breath and let it out. “I think I do want to stay.”
“So stay.”
She shook her head. “It isn’t that easy. I can’t just leave my family and—”
“The family that doesn’t treat you with respect? The family you have yet to tell me more about? It doesn’t seem like you want to be with your family at all.”
With each sentence he spoke, she continued to feel more and more backed into a corner. She couldn’t exactly tell him now, after being with him for a month and a half, that she came from money—especially now that she knew the extent of his upbringing. Not to mention his strong feelings on the matter.
But the more she squirmed under his scrutiny, she knew that this wasn’t something she could keep hidden. Eventually, she’d have to decide to stay or go back home.
Sarah swallowed hard, but the lump in her throat remained stubbornly lodged right where it was. She guessed it was now or never. “I have to go home because ofwhomy family is, not how they treat me.”
“You’re not making any sense.”
“My parents own one of the biggest finance firms in the state. They are probably the most wealthy power couple within a hundred-mile radius.”
“Okay, I’m still not following.” Dax shook his head. “So your family is rich. Were you worried that your family’s wealth would bother me?”
“A little,” she admitted. “Okay, a lot. But it’s more than that.” Like the fact that her parents were unaware of the reasons she was at the ranch or that they didn’t even know she’d gone to the ranch in the first place. As far as they were concerned, she was still on campus. If they found out about her indiscretions, they’d take away what freedom they’d given her. “My parents have certain—expectations. I’m supposed to follow in their footsteps. After my brother died, I think it triggered something in them. They expect me to be… I don’t know… just likethem. If I told my folks that I wanted to stay here and train horses, they’d disown me.”
There, she’d said it out loud, making it even more real. That was the biggest problem with keeping this whole thing a secret. Yes, she didn’t want the town—or Dax—to know that she was the reason for the sheriff getting shot. But she also couldn’t risk her parents finding out what she’d been up to.
If they cut her off, she wouldn’t know what to do with herself. She had never worried about money or where her next meal would come from. She’d been pampered; she could admit it.
