Page 108 of The Runaway and the Rugged

The woman was a walking adrenaline rush. Even I wasn’t built fearless like that, but Clarke, from everything I’ve been told and heard, was born for thrills.

Promptly, Emelia was stepping out of the bathroom, dressed in one of my favorite flowy dresses that she wore and her hair curled to perfection.

“Did my phone go off? I thought I heard it from the bathroom,” she asked.

“Yeah, it was Clarke.” I nodded, hopin’ the news wouldn’t scare her.

“What does she want?”

Instead of responding, I handed over her phone. Once her eyes connected with the screen, they damn near popped from their sockets.

“Oh my god, she broke her collarbone.” She shook her head and dropped down onto the bed beside me.

“I have a feelin’ in ain’t anything new havin’ shit like that happen to her.”

She nodded. “She holds the title between us for having the most broken bones,” she confessed, but her expression had soon shifted.

“She’ll be okay. Like I said, this isn’t the first time she’s broken a bone like this. And I can almost guarantee it’ll happen again.” I didn’t exactly sound the most reassuring, but I wasn’t a liar.

“I know she will, I just worry about her sometimes, you know?”

She was the most caring, genuine person I knew and I could already sense her need to go to her friend just to make sure she was okay.

“I know, baby, and that’s what I love most about you.”

“Enough to marry me one day?” she asked shyly with a hint of hope in her tone.

“Enough to marry you now,” I confessed, my voice low and steady, and I leaned in close. Our lips nearly touched, brushing slightly against one another’s until I slowly pulled away.

“I’ll be waiting, cowboy.”

I chuckled.

You won’t have to for long, Outlaw.

The End