Free Cowboy Save Me: By Judith Lee (Tiller Brothers Book 1) by Judith Lee Page B

man? Marcus was the only man she had ever had sex with, she refused to call it love making. Was she still too innocent, still in the infancy stage of knowing what she really wanted from a man? God, she didn’t want to be that woman with Cody. 
    If she totally gave herself to him she really wanted it to be forever, without any regrets that there might be another man out there.  One that might be a better fit.
    No I am not that woman, she told herself. I’m falling for this wonderful man and heaven help me, but I think he is falling for me, too.
    Writing in her diary was supposed to be therapy…to make her see things more clearly.  It wasn’t supposed to make her have more doubts.
    She closed her journal.  What she really needed to do was go fabric shopping with her mom tomorrow and start another quilt.  The last quilt had taken her two years to make and was better therapy to her than anything she had done.  With each fabric she had cut, each seam she sewed, each applique she had cut out and appliqued down with tiny, almost invisible stitches, she had gotten stronger.  It taught her patience and control.  There was that word again, control.  Tammy needed to make her own decisions and live her life as she wanted. Quit worrying about the ‘what ifs’.  Life could be snuffed out in the blink of an eye, or she could get a serious illness like Cody’s dad, or any number of things could happen and her days on earth might be cut short.  It was time to charge back into her life and take chances.
    If Marcus found her, she was ready to defend herself.  If Cody wanted to make love to her, she should enjoy it with all the zest that life had to offer even if she wasn’t sure of their final destination. 
    Didn’t the last fortune cookie she had tell her to ‘Let go of your fears and step into the unknown’?  She still had it in her purse.
    Cody called her later that night.  When she heard his voice, with his normal salutation, “Hey darlin’, how are you?” her mind was already made up.  She was ready to go home.
    “Hi Cody, boy do I want to come home.  This has been a long week.  Mom wants me to stay another week but I want you so bad…I mean I want to see you.  Miss your kind of home cookin’ if you know what I mean.”
    “That’s the best news I’ve had today. And I’m right there with you.  Never have I heard what I have in mind for you called ‘home cookin’ though,” he laughed.
    “Maybe I should call you ‘comfort food’.  But let’s not tell my mom that.  She has stuffed me with homemade mac and cheese, meatloaf and mashed potatoes, fried chicken…Oh God if I stay here much longer; I’m going to be a size bigger. Will you still want me if I come back looking like the Pillsbury Dough woman?”
    “Absolutely…the more of you the better.”
    “Yea, you say that now but wait ‘til you see me before you make that statement.”
    “Speaking of seeing you.  I want to ask you something, and I have to do it over the phone and not in person like you want me to.”
    “I’ll give you some leeway here as it was my idea to run off.  Ask away Cody.”
    “I wondered if you would like to meet me in Cheyenne, and bring your parents, I would like to meet them for Frontier Days?  My sponsors want to give me a proper going out retirement party after my ride.  I’d like you to be my date.  Sit in the family and friends section with my brothers and sister.  Mom and dad can’t come but I’d really like you to be there for my final ride.”
    He could hear her crying, “Oh Cody, I would be honored.  I would regret never getting to see you ride, even if you just land on your ass and don’t make the 8 seconds.”
    “Don’t have any confidence in me, huh?”
    “Really I do, more than you know.  More than you know.  Could you give me a ride back to Gillette after the event so my parents don’t have to drive me home?”
    She heard him take a deep breath, “That’s just what I was hoping