UNDER MY SKIN

twenty-four. not possible

one year later

It had been weeks since Sam had seen Tyler, six weeks to be exact. And she hated the distance, she hated it so much it was making her sick to her stomach.

Literally.

Like she had said, she had gone back to the rodeo, she worked her way up the standings, and the fans were more than happy to see her back in the arena. And she was damn good too, she'd place second in broncs and third in barrels at the last two rodeos.

And she was even up for All Around Cowgirl.

She loved it, she really did. She loved riding broncs, she loved running the clover pattern. She loved her new shiny buckles that would soon join her collection at her mama’s house. She even loved the fact that she had to start carrying her pink band-aids again.

She loved the people and the parties and the atmosphere. It almost felt like home but something – the most important thing – was missing.

Tyler Owens.

They talked on the phone every night, they texted throughout the day, and they FaceTimed on weekends or when they both had a free moment. But it wasn't enough and the longer she went without seeing her fiancé the worse her stomach would knot up.

And it had only gotten worse, the last couple of weeks she'd had a hard time keeping food down. She had gotten sick, a stomach bug that wouldn't go away – which meant she hadn't been competing for the last several weeks.

Which was almost as awful as not having Tyler around.

That stupid little stomach bug had gotten so bad, and had been going on for so long that Aspen – one of Sam's old rodeo friends – made a joke.

Though it didn't seem like much of a joke as Sam stood in the dingy bathroom of her motel room with tears in her eyes and a test that read pregnant in her hands.

She swallowed hard, taking a breath as she grabbed her phone from the small counter. She wiped her face and FaceTimed Tyler – whose contact was still My Cowboy, only not three red heart followed after it.

“Hey, baby!” He grinned, his face taking up the screen and she could tell he was in the truck.

“Sam!” Boone leaned over, his smile wide as he waved.

She managed a smile, “hey, y'all.” She sniffed a little when her nose ran, and that had Tyler's smile falling.

“Baby, you okay?” He grabbed the phone off the stand as he pulled the truck over.

She swallowed, nodding her head a little, she really didn't want to tell him the news over the phone.

“Where’re y'all at?”

“Just outside of Nashville.” Boone answered, because Tyler was too busy studying Sam's face. Her eyes were red, her cheek wet, and her smile seemed forced.

“Sam, what's wrong?” He asks firmly, and Boone's brows pinched, Tyler only got that serious when he was really worried.

“Um, I'm in Knoxville, you think y'all could make a detour?”

“What's going on?”

She shifted on her feet, pushing her hand through her messy hair as tears filled her eyes again, “hey, Boone, could you give us a minute?”

“Yeah, sure.” He didn't even question it, he just jumped out of the truck and went to let the others know that Tyler was on the phone with Sam.

“Baby, you're scarin’ me.”

“I really don't wanna do this over the phone,” she mumbled, and despite the fact that he knew Sam loved him, he was scared.

Sacred she was gonna tell him the distance was too hard. That she wanted to stay on the circuit, that she had met someone else.

Scared she was going to end it.

He took a breath, steeling his nerves, “baby, please, tell me.” His voice was soft and she closed her eyes for a moment.

She sat on the closed toilet lid, wiping her face before she grabbed the test off the counter, “I've been sick the last couple of weeks. Um, thought it was a stomach bug or somethin’ I ate.”

He was relieved, but now his worry for her had skyrocketed, “are you okay?”

“I ain't sick.” She managed a smile then she held the test up towards the camera so he could see the small digital screen that read pregnant.

“Preg- We – We're pregnant?” He asked, his eyes wide as he read and reread the word six times, like he was worried he had misread it.

She nodded as she put the test on the counter, “it was a joke Aspen made ‘cause I've been sick for so long. And I figured I could at least rule it out, asked Greg to get the test for me – my truck's still outta commission. Now I'm in the bathroom alone, and it's positive.”

Her shoulders shook as she cried, and he hated that he wasn't there. He hated that he wasn't holding her when they found out they were having a baby. He hated that he hadn't been the one to buy the test. He hated that she was alone.

He hated the distance. Despised it. But he knew how much she had wanted to get back on the circuit. He knew how much she loved it, he could tell because of the smile on her face when she called him after she rode and she was sporting a new belt buckle.

And he never wanted to be the reason she stopped doing what she loved, so he bit his tongue. No matter how much it tore him up inside to not have her next to him in bed or in the shotgun seat of his truck.

Boone also missed her, but that was mostly because when they were driving for a while Tyler would reach over and grab his hand, like he had forgotten that it was Boone and not Sam next to him. He usually laughed it off and made a joke about telling Sam before pretending to kiss the back of his hand.

“I can be there in three hours,” he told her. “Less if I got traffic on my side. So just… hold on, baby. I'm on my way.”

She nodded, managing a smile.

“I love you. And I'm so happy about our baby.”

“I love you, too.” She wiped her nose, a real smile tugging at her lips. “And I'm happy, too.”

She was, she'd always wanted a baby. But finding out in a random motel bathroom when her fiancé wasn't even in the same town was horrible.

“Stay on the phone?” She asked, her voice quiet as she made her way out of the bathroom.

“Always,” he nodded, smiling at her.

She laid down on the bed as he grabbed the radio to let the others know what was going on – though he left out the baby part – and once Boone was back in the truck, Tyler drove faster than he ever had before.

Breaking several traffic laws, and leaving those in the vehicles behind him in the dust.

>>>>> • <<<<<

Sam was dozing off, her arms tucked into her chest, her knees pulled up and a blanket pulled over her, when there was a knock on the door.

She startled awake, a gasp leaving her, then Tyler's chuckle carried through the door only to echo from her phone.

“It's me, baby.”

She jumped up and ran towards the door, and once it was unlocked and she threw it open there he stood.

“Ty,” she jumped towards him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and he wrapped his arms around her waist, his nose tucked into her neck as he carried her into the room. Then he kicked the door closed behind him.

“I’m here.” He mumbled, kissing the side of her head then her cheek, then the corner of her lips. “I'm here.” He brushed his lips against hers as she hiked her legs up, wrapping them around him.

“I missed you,” she mumbled into the kiss, not yet ready to pull away from him. He smiled into the kiss, and just as he pressed his mouth firmly against hers, she pulled back, her brows pinched. “Oh, no-” she put her legs down and pulled away from him before running towards the bathroom.

She threw herself down, pushing the toilet lid up before she emptied her stomach of its contents.

“Oh, baby,” he mumbled, squatted down behind her as he gathered up her hair in one hand and rubbed her back with the other.

She groaned and propped her arm against the toilet before resting her head in her hand, “this is not in any way a response to you kissing me, I promise.”

He chuckled, still rubbing her back, “I know.” Then he raised a sympathetic eyebrow, “that every-”

She lurched forward, more vomit leaving her then she coughed and reached up to flush the toilet. She leaned back into his chest as he grabbed a clean rag and wet it with warm water. Then he moved to sit on the floor, his back against the wall.

He situated her between his legs, her head on his chest as she sat sideways, then he gently wiped her face with the rag.

She hummed at the action, a sleepy smile pulling at her lips as she tilted her head back to look up at him.

He tossed the rag into the sink before meeting her eyes again as he brushed her bangs off her forehead, “we're havin’ a baby.”

She hummed, “yeah.”

“Never really talked about kids,” he started almost cautiously, rubbing her back. “Whether we wanted ‘em or not.”

She nodded against his chest, her fingers toying with the buttons of his shirt, “always thought we'd have a couple. But it always seemed so far away.”

He smiled, kissing her forehead.

Then she quickly looked up at him, an almost panicked look in her eyes, “you want kids, right?”

He chuckled, “with you? Always.” He kissed her forehead again. “Our kids would be… fearless.”

She giggled, nodding her head, “and adorable.”

“Now we're just gonna get that a little sooner.”  He wrapped his arms around her, holding her close as he rested his palm against her stomach. It was still flat, but just the thought of his baby being in there has his emotions.running high.

Even still, his guilt outweighed all of that, “I'm sorry you had to find out like this, alone. I should'a been here.”

“You’re here now.”

“I know, but I-” she covered his lips with her finger.

“Don't do that. I didn't know, there's no way you could've known.” He just nodded, her finger still over his lips as her eyes searched his.

It was surreal, almost, to have him there. To have his arms around her. To be looking into his beautiful green eyes – her favorite color. To be this close to him.

She had even pinched herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming, which had him laughing.

“I really wanna kiss you but I should really brush my teeth.” She mumbled, her bottom lip poked out a little.

He chuckled, pressing a kiss to her finger and she smiled before she pushed herself up and he stood up behind her. He wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on her shoulder as she brushed her teeth – not quite ready to let her go yet. Or ever.

Not even when she told him she wanted to take a shower, which she didn't really mind as he stepped in behind her. She even relished how he had taken his time washing her hair for her and bathing her.

He had even squatted down and pressed a kiss to her stomach, before standing to his full height before her.

Her entire body screamed to jump his bones, but she was still feeling a bit nauseous, so she kept her hands to herself – mostly.

She couldn't stop herself as she used her finger to lightly trace from his shoulder, down his chest and to his toned abdomen. But she didn't go any lower, and despite wanting her to, he didn't push when she stopped and met his eyes again.

“I missed you.”

“I missed you, too, baby.” He stepped closer to her, the warm water still running over them. He pushed her wet hair back behind her shoulder and cupped the side of her neck as his thumb brushed over her cheek. “So much it nearly killed me.”

She giggled a little, her hands on his chest and moving up to his shoulders, she stretched up onto her toes and pressed her lips against his as his fingers dug into the wet skin of her hips.

It was slow, both savoring it. Making up for lost time, because they had seen each other a total of five weeks out of the last year.

With her training before the rodeo season started, and him and the crew getting used to working with StormPAR – who had ditched Riggs and Scott – they didn't have much time to spare. Even less time when the rodeo season started up, and when StormPAR had gone nationwide – Javi had found new investors, but only after making sure they had the same values as he did. Though he really used Kate as his bar when he started looking for like-minded investors for the company.

Tyler groaned, a sound somewhere between appreciative and a man starved. And she couldn't help the moan that left her in response, but she pulled back, panting as she pressed her palms against his firm chest.

She met his eyes, which were considerably darker then before, and she swallowed hard as she shook her head, “not tonight, baby.”

He chuckled, nodding his head, his hand on her cheek again, “sorry, you carrying’ my baby is so fuckin’ hot. Got carried away.”

Her head tilted just a little, her eyebrow jumping in confusion, “me looking like a troll and throwing up anythin’ that I eat, that turns you on?”

“Maybe not that part, but knowin’ that my baby is in here-” he pressed his hand to her stomach. “That does. And you don't look like a troll.”

She chuckled, shaking her head a little as she reached over to turn the water off, “you, Tyler Owens, are insane.”

He grinned as he pushed the shower curtain to the side and grabbed a towel, “that's why you love me.” He wrapped her up and kissed her nose. “You go get dressed, I'll be right out.”

“Cold shower?” She raised an eyebrow, a teasing smirk tugging at her lips as she stepped out of the tud and onto the towel she had thrown down as a mat.

“Oh, yeah.”

She laughed, throwing her head back as she left the bathroom, hearing the water turn on behind her. Then an idea crossed her mind, so, with a smirk she let the towel go with one hand, swaying her hips.

“Baby,” he groaned and she smirked as she looked over her shoulder at him. And, damn it, if she didn't feel the need for a cold shower because of the mouthwatering sight that was her fiancé with his hand wrapped- “you're killin’ me here.”

His voice shook her from her filthy thoughts and she met his eyes, “don't take too long.” With that she pushed the door closed, muffling the sound of his groans.

She shook her head and quickly dried off before pulling on a pair of his boxers that she had taken the last time they had seen each other. Then she pulled on a large sweatshirt before she climbed into bed and pulled the covers up over her.

And as she laid there, flipping through the channels on the tv, it all settled in…

She was pregnant.

They were having a baby.

And as an afterthought, she wouldn't be able to compete anymore.

Surprisingly, it wasn't as upsetting as she thought it would be. She was okay with quitting, the thought had crossed her mind a few times over the last year. Yes, she still loved it. But she had changed, and her being on the circuit also meant that she wasn't with Tyler.

A smile crossed her lips, paying no mind to the infomercial on the tv.

“What's got you smilin’?” Tyler asked and she looked over at him to see a towel wrapped around his waist, his hair and torso still dripping wet.

“Nothing. Just thinkin’.”

“Okay,” he hummed as he grabbed his bag from the floor by the door – she hadn't even realized that he'd had a bag when he had gotten there.

Once he was dressed in his boxers and plaid pajamas bottoms, he crawled into bed, pulling her into his arms.

“We should call Boone, let him know you ain't dyin’. He was real worried.”

She laughed, but she reached for her phone to call him, because he did worry quite a bit. Also, Tyler hadn't told him or the others anything other than Sam needed him and it couldn't wait.

“So, how many kids do you want?” Tyler asked, after she had hung up with Boone, who had been taken hostage by Aspen – his words.

Sam chuckled, “right now, I'm just trying to wrap my head around this one.” She told him, tracing nonsense lines across his chest. “How many do you want?”

He grinned, “ten.”

Her eyes went wide, “ten!? Why ten?!”

He shrugged, “always wanted a big family. But, I ain't the one pushin’ these kids out, so how ever many you're willing to carry.”

“Let’s just focus on this one, yeah?” She patted his chest, chuckling little.

“Yeah,” he leaned down and pressed his lips against her. “I love you, baby.”

“I love you more.”

“Not possible.”

NOVA SPEAKS

just one more chapter left and there is a bit of a time jump !!

drop your predictions for their future, i'd love to see what y'all think !!