This was inspired by two songs - "All I Ever Wanted" by Chuck Wicks & "Find Me A Preacher" by Trace Adkins.
A Special THANK YOU to Laura for beating me with a metaphorical whip until I sat my butt down and finished this. LOVE YOU.
Disclaimer: If you think I own them, I'll throw the golden gate in free.
"C'mon Cowboy." Lindsay Monroe stepped out on the porch of the farm house she had grown up in. She looked more alive than Danny had ever seen her; curls damp from a shower, clad in the holiest pair of jeans Danny had ever laid eyes on and his Giant's jersey.
"Where we goin', Montana?" He asked; eyes half-closed and voice rough with sleep, he'd been catching a cat nap on the porch swing.
"For a drive." Lindsay smiled at him, "I know you're tired, but I think it's time I show you some wheat fields."
"Alright, M'tana." He sighed and rose to his aching feet, "After this I better get to curl up next to you on your childhood bed."
"Ya wanna see my Daddy's head spin 'round?" Lindsay grabbed his hand and pulled him across the gravel driveway to the big green Ford pick-up parked next to the barn.
Danny wiped the sleep from his eyes, "You're the one in my jersey, Lindsay."
"Looks better on me anyways, Cowboy." Her fingers interlaced with his and she yanked him towards the truck.
"So demanding." Danny sighed and climbed into the passenger seat of the old beater when he noticed what Lindsay's attire was missing, "Montana?"
"Yeah, Danny?" She asked, turning the key over in the ignition.
Danny's eyebrow quirked, "Where are your shoes? In case ya didn't' know, it's February."
"I know." Lindsay laughed, putting the truck in gear and pulling out of the mud, "It's also a freaking heatwave. I can't go barefoot everywhere in New York. Gotta take advantage of it."
"Redneck." Danny mumbled as her fist connected with his arm, "Ow. Mean M'tana."
Lindsay sighed, glancing down at the speedometer before looking at him, "When was the last time you slept?"
"Dunno. Couldn't sleep without you 'round." He mumbled, leaning his head against the cool window pane.
"Danny." Lindsay breathed, reaching over to run her hand through his sun kissed golden locks.
"Lindsay." He mumbled through his exhausted state; his hand reaching up to clasp her wrist, sliding her hand down his jaw and across the stubble before kissing her palm, "Don't leave ever 'gain."
"Okay." She whispered.
Danny held her hand to him, mumbling against her palm, "Promise me."
"I promise, Cowboy." She smiled, "I won't leave again. Not without you by my side."
"K." Danny whispered, "Good."
"Take a nap, Cowboy. I'll wake you when we get there." Lindsay promised.
"Thought we were in Montana. Throw a rock. Hit a wheat field." Danny mumbled and Lindsay smiled.
"Five hundred acre ranch, Cowboy." She ran her thumb over his jaw, "Sleep. I'm here."
"M'kay, M'tana." Danny mumbled and curled up the best he could on the bench seat. Lindsay shook her head as she drove towards the sunset – almost expecting his thumb to sneak into his mouth and for him to clasp her like a well-worn teddy bear.
Reaching over, she blindly flicked on the radio and slid her hand into Danny's, fingers intertwining. In the outskirts of Bozeman, Montana, tucked into the mountains, the only radio station that came in clear was the local country station. The Garth Brooks song that had been used as her senior class song filled the cab of the truck, eliciting soft singing from Lindsay. Danny could hardly hear her through his sleeping daze but her faint voice sounded like that of an angel, calming Danny and lulling him into a deeper slumber.
"Danny." Lindsay whispered, shaking his shoulder, "Cowboy. I got you your wheat fields. Wake up."
"Sleepy." Danny mumbled and Lindsay's heart swelled.
"C'mon." Lindsay sighed before a mischievous grin overtook her face. Kneeling on the bench seat she propped one hand on the window and the other on the back of the seat, her breath warm against Danny's face, "Alright, Sleeping Beauty. You gotta wake up this way." Her lips brushed against his.
It was the kiss that had been the elephant in the room since they had been so rudely interrupted several hours prior. She kissed him slowly; her lips resting against his until he woke up and reacted. Catching her lower lip between both of his, he kissed her with everything he had in him as his hands found home on the small of her back. Her hands slipped from where they had been and bunched the neckline of his shirt. He sat up straighter and her leg swung over his lap as her left hand trailed over the stubble on his jaw.
"That's a dangerous move, Miss Monroe." Danny breathed against her lips as his hands slid down to cup her thighs.
Lindsay grinned, "I like to live on the edge."
"Really, Montana? This is edge? Making out in your truck on your daddy's farm like we're a couple of seventeen year olds." Danny teased, kissing her again.
"Shut up, Cowboy." Lindsay giggled against his mouth and her nails trailed down his chest.
"Never." He pulled away, gasping for breath as his forehead rested against hers. Blue eyes searching brown as her golden brown locks curtained his face and Danny's heart pounded so loud he was sure she could hear it.
"Ready to see your wheat fields, Cowboy?" Lindsay asked and moved off his lap.
Danny's arms wrapped around her waist, "C'mere for a second. The wheat fields ain't goin' nowhere."
Lindsay settled back into his arms, her head resting in the crook of his neck, "Thank you for coming. I don't know if I could have done it without you."
"I'm glad I was here." Danny whispered against her ear as her feet crossed over on the dash and his hand ran through her curls, "I've missed you, Lindsay."
"I'm sorry for running." She whispered back, her hand playing with the fingers that rested on her stomach.
"Don't apologize." He twirled a curl around his finger and let it go, "You had to do this."
Lindsay tilted her head back so she could see his eyes, "I'm ready now, Danny. No more running anywhere that isn't to you."
"Good." Danny's smile grew and he pressed a kiss to her temple in order to compose himself, "Cause I don't want to be anywhere else."
"Alright." She chewed on the inside of her lip, "Ready to see your wheat field?"
"Yeah." Danny nodded and opened up the door. Lindsay turned in his arms and slid off his lap to the cold spring mud. The ground squished beneath her toes and she wiggled her toes into the mud as Danny's arms encircled her waist, "Country girl."
"That's me." Lindsay smiled and leaned back against his chest.
"So that's a wheat field?" He raised his brow, "It's alright I guess. I still prefer my skylines."
"Yeah?" Lindsay turned and took his hand, "It's prettier in the summer. The gold wheat swaying in the breeze that comes down from the mountains. When I was little I used to take my horse and runaway up here. Away from my brothers, my family, Bozeman and every bad memory it held."
"You're an amazing woman, Lindsay Monroe." Danny smiled.
"I know." She winked at him and hopped up on the hood of the truck, "I feel like I can finally breathe, Danny."
"You seem happier." Danny nodded his agreement, standing between her dangling legs.
Lindsay's pointer fingers hooked through his belt loops, "Thank you for that. If you hadn't showed up.. I'd be a mess right now."
Danny looked into her eyes and he saw the seriousness they held. This was real; she needed him and he all-too-obviously needed her. He knew it, he could feel it deep with in his heart that was racing too fast that this was real. It was time for playboy Messer to grow the hell up and be a one woman kind of man. Lindsay Monroe deserved the world and he'd go to hell and back to give it to her. It was time to grow up because this was love and it was completely and utterly real. Lindsay Monroe was everything a cowboy like him had ever wanted.
"C'mere." Danny's hand on the back of her neck guided her lips to his. He kissed her to convey the words he couldn't say yet and the feelings he couldn't put words to.
"Dance with me." Lindsay breathed as his thumb traced circles on her knee that peaked through the holes in her jeans.
"We don't have music." Danny explained, not that he cared.
Lindsay slid off the hood of the truck and sauntered over to the cab, opening the doors and flipping off the interior lights. Turning the key over just enough for the radio to turn on, she walked back over to him in the fading sun, "That work for ya, Cowboy?"
Without saying a word, Danny reached out and pulled her to him. Her barefooted in the Montana mud as the sun faded around them and the static of the radio station filling the spring air was almost too much to take. Lindsay's golden locks rested against his chest, ear pressed against his shirt so she could hear his heart beating. The fingers on his right hand intertwined with hers and he prayed that his boot clad feet wouldn't step on her bare toes.
Not in a million years would Danny Messer ever peg himself as a country fan but this song had found residence on his iPod and got played quite frequently. As he spun Lindsay around and took in the sight of her barefoot in tore up jeans and his Giants jersey, the words came tumbling from his lips, "Drive all night with me, sing my favorite song and sleep, under the stars on the hood of our car, it's all I ever wanted.."
Lindsay chuckled as her head dipped and her curls covered her face. Danny could see her brown eyes shining in the pale moonlight as her grin peaked out at him. He laughed with her as he spun her out and pulled her back to him. She leaned up and kissed him as the song drew to a close; her body flush against his and lips fused together, she mumbled, "All I ever wanted."
"You cold?" Danny asked as his hands laced together with hers.
Lindsay shook her head, still grinning, "No, but we should head back. It's getting late and my Daddy's gonna start to worry."
"Lead the way, Miss Monroe." Danny kissed her forehead.
"C'mon, Cowboy," Her words full of double meaning, "Let's go home."
Lindsay sat in the driver's seat humming along with the radio, free hand playing with the fingers on his left hand. Danny Messer's head rested against the window, smile never leaving his face. In the side mirror he watched the wheat field disappear into the Montana night and thought about what Lindsay said about wheat fields in the summer. Maybe they'd have to make a trip back to Montana come summer and he'd put a ring on her finger in her wheat fields. He came to realize that one could love both skylines and wheat fields; together the polar opposites had come together to give him everything he had ever wanted.