Page 65 of Fight

They had argued about it extensively before Lena had compromised that she would leave at zero dark thirty if she got to make the road trip playlist, which Jake had grudgingly agreed to. Lena had decided to choose the least bluegrass and jam band music on her phone. Maybe a little Radiohead and M83? If she were going to get up while it was still dark, her ears might as well be enjoying themselves.

“Hey, if it were just me, I’d be leaving before the sun comes up so you’re lucky we’re holding off for dawn,” Jake said laughing when Lena’s face pulled into a shocked look of alarm.

“Le sigh,” she said with a moan as she fell down on the bed next to him again. “You’re such a tyrant, Jake, and I’m never going to get all this packing done with you lounging around on my bed like a sexy, clean giant of a man.”

He smiled over at her as she burrowed into his warm chest and spread light kisses on his neck. Growling, he hoisted himself on top of her, bracing himself on his hands as he leaned down to kiss her much more thoroughly.

“So what are you going to tell your parents about your face?” Lena asked as she broke away from his kisses and looked up into his face, grazing the bruises with her finger tips.

“Perhaps I’ll tell them I got caught in the cross hairs while saving a damsel in distress,” Jake responded as he fell to her side and pulled her into a spooning position, lightly nuzzling his face into her hair.

“I think those bruises were more about defending some kind of caveman, misogynistic sense of honor rather thansavingme, but okay,” Lena said, her voice thick with teasing sarcasm.

“Potato, Po-tah-do,” he responded flippantly, his face going back into her hair. Lena could hear the deep rumbles of his laugh vibrating against her back. “I’ll just tell them someone was messing with my girlfriend.”

“Your girlfriend, huh?” Rolling on her side to face him, Lena immensely enjoyed the dawning discomfort on his face as he looked to the ceiling, before finally settling his gaze back on her.

“Well, I think when we get to Colorado…” He said the words slowly and seriously. “I’d like tointroduce you as my girlfriend. Are you okay with that?”

“Of course, I’m okay with that, Jake,” Lena said matter-of-factly like it was the most ridiculous question she’d ever heard. “This doesn’t have to be a huge thing—you’re not making me a proposal of marriage.”

“I’ve never had a girlfriend before,” Jake admitted, the words coming out of his mouth quickly, red spreading across his unbruised cheekbone.

Lena felt her eyes involuntarily widen. “Hmm, that’s a bit alarming, but I’ll let it slide,” she said teasingly.

“All my…relationships were quick and based on sex and physical stuff. There’s never been anyone I wanted to call a girlfriend…before you.”

Lena softened as she reached over to lay her hand on his bruised and beautiful face. “Well, if you makes it feel better, I don’t have all the sex we’ve been having or meet a guy’s freaking parent’sunlesshe’s my boyfriend.”

Jake looked down at her with warmth and a swirl of colors in his eyes as he drew her into him, holding her tightly. Lena felt safety, happiness, and warmth flow through her as she breathed in his familiar scent and listened to the comforting sound of his heartbeat.

She wasn’t ready to put her voice to this being love just yet. True, they’d known each other a year, but it had really only been four weeks that they’dreallyknown one another.

She would definitely let him know every day that she felt lucky to be with him despite initially underestimating him. Wasting all that time with him when they could have been doingthiswas just about the craziest thing she’d ever done.

“Now that we got that out of the way—get up,” he pulled back, smacking her on the ass and interrupting her reverie. “We’ve got a long day tomorrow and you have a pile of way too many clothes to “consider” for a week at a ranch.”

Rolling her eyes, Lena broke away from him with a smile. “How many suitcases can I bring?”

Jake groaned dramatically as he pulled her back down on the bed with him showering her face with frustrated kisses. Maybe she could pack in the morning?

Epilogue

Wearinghis“ranchoutfit,”as Lena had referred to it every day that they’d been at the ranch, Jake handed the small similarly-dressed boy in the cowboy hat the lasso he’d worked up into a proper hold.

“Alright,” he told him as he squatted down to the boy’s eye level and pointed to the steer head attached to a bale of hay a few feet away. “Swing this above you a few times like I showed you.”

Jake took a step back, standing straight, as the boy swung the heavy rope clumsily one time before dropping it. He shot Jake a worried look and Jake pointed down at the rope indicating he should try again. The boy worriedly picked up the rope again and lifted it above his head, he managed to swing it once, and then twice.

“Great, now throw it,” Jake directed encouragingly, anxious for him to throw the rope before he dropped it again. The boy tossed the rope forward and—miraculously—it fell perfectly around the steer’s horns.

Whew, that was the tenth time they’d tried that and Jake didn’t know how much longer he could go over lasso throwing with this rug rat.

“Whoo!” Jake hooted loudly, stepping toward the boy. “Now tighten your rope so he doesn’t get away.” The boy pulled on his rope so tightly he almost fell down on his rear end, but Jake caught him by the shoulders with a smile.

The boy looked up at Jake flashing him a toothless smile. “I dith it!” he said with a slight lisp. Jake smiled down at him.Okay, maybe it was worth it.

“Yee-haw, cowboy, you sure did,” Jake confirmed with a laugh. “High five!” Quickly giving Jake his high five, the boy ran to the side where his awaiting parents wrapped him in a congratulatory hug.

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