Page 76 of Under the Ink

But that would probably be nothing more than mansplaining—and definitely not what she needed.

So he told her what was in his heart. Touching the bottom of her chin with his index finger, he said, “You have the most beautiful soul I’ve ever seen, Naomi Baxter—andI’ma better soul for loving you.”

He didn’t give a shit that he’d just confessed to her…especially because she wasn’t running away. And when she let him kiss her again, all her tears floating away, he tried to figure out how to help her see herself through his eyes…because then she would never doubt it again.

NEAR CHIPETA SPRINGS, COLORADO

JULY 18

Later that day after a good long sleep, Naomi was trying to figure out what was going on inside her chest. It was a sensation that she’d almost experienced once, long ago—but that was before Jacob had revealed himself to be a disgusting human being.

Sage had surprised her. This guy who’d been a self-proclaimed ladies’ man—rock star for all the groupies to get a taste of—had far more depth, far more humanity than she would have ever given him credit for.

And he’d even talked her into spending a couple of days with his family. With Ginny, the one person Naomi would have wanted to see in Winchester, being gone, she’d convinced herself to just hang out at the Broadmoor for a couple of days, grabbing an Uber to leave once in a while, but Sage insisted she spend time with a family.

Arealfamily.

In a lot of ways, pushing past feeling uncomfortable, traumatized, and unworthy of love so that she could bare her soul to Sage had been freeing—but she didn’t know that it would be the answer. And even after having driven through Winchester with him, feeling almost numb about the town, she knew that she would never feel truly liberated until she got the hell away from Winchester—out of Colorado.

As Sage was taking the rental car over a beautiful mountain pass, Naomi tried to appreciate all the beauty out there, but it was difficult, knowing she was going to be surrounded by new strangers.

It didn’t matter that the strangers belonged to Sage.

“Tonight, we’ll just play games and shit—but tomorrow I say we head up to my folks’ cabin outside of town…get on the quads and head up to the lake.” Glancing over at her from the passenger seat, he said, “Maybe even do a little skinny dipping.”

Naomi laughed. “I don’t think so.”

“Yeah, it’ll be fun. And if the water’s too cold, I’ll build a fire and warm you up.”

One thing was certain—Sage was sillier now than he’d been before…and she didn’t know if she thought it was cute or annoying. “What’s a quad anyway?”

“What? Are you serious? You lived in Winchester your whole life and don’t know what a quad is?”

“So?”

“It’s an off-road vehicle. An all terrain four-wheeler. You use it to climb mountains and go where no road has gone before.”

“No thank you.”

“Aw, come on. If it freaks you out, there are gentler trails to take. You don’t have to be crazy.”

With a soft sigh, she looked out the passenger window, trying not to be scared that there was a valley far below and no guardrail to protect them from going over the edge.

Time for more truth.

“I don’t have a driver’s license.”

Sage glanced at her, then looked at the road and gave a half shrug. “That’s okay. We aren’t going to be driving anywhere you’ll get a ticket.”

“That’s not the problem. I, uh, I can’t drive.” That wasn’t entirely true. Her parents had tried to teach her—but she’d had far too much on her mind. And then later, when Ginny had attempted to be an instructor, Naomi was gripped by fear—paralyzing panic that she’d destroy everything in her path should she be allowed to grip a steering wheel again.

It hadn’t helped that the last time she’d driven with her mother in the passenger seat, the woman had been harping about how she’d been told by the youth minister that Naomi hadn’t been fully participating in youth Bible study.

Yeah…well, consideringJacobwas the youth leader, that wasn’t gonna happen. And the only damn reason she even showed up by that point was because her family attended church faithfully every Sunday morning and evening and Wednesday night. The only times she ever got out of it was when she was running a fever or vomiting—something she’d successfully managed to fake once or twice.

But there was no getting out of it every single week…and even when she’d asked her parents if she could switch to the adult classes or even a different church, they’d told her no. She had lessons to learn in the teenage group. And, as for another assembly, their church was the only one that was infallible.

Whatever.

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