“What are you doing here?” he asked, swaying them gently.
“I figured out something important while I was trying to make my old life work. While I was trying to love it like I used to before I met you. It didn’t work. You know why?”
He shook his head. “Why?”
“Because you are my home, Dead. And our herd is my home. I just needed some time to accept that. We happened fast, and I wanted to make sure this was real for both of us before I left everything behind. So…I left everything to find everything. Do you understand?”
He shook his head in disbelief. “Are you staying with me?”
“Hashtag camperlife. Hashtag moocrew.”
Dead laughed for the first time in what felt like forever. He set her down until her boots were flat on the ground. “You’re staying on the tour with me? I just want to hear you say the words.”
She cupped his cheeks and searched his eyes. Hers were black right now. Beautiful, badass woman. “Dead of Winter, I’m coming on tour for the rest of the year. And in the offseason, we are going to figure out a home base and a life together. Then next year, we will go on tour again. And again. And again until you don’t want to do this anymore. And I’ll buck, too. I got paid five thousand dollars when I bucked, and do you know what I did with that money?”
He shook his head.
“I put it in a savings account for a ranch for us someday. For a home. Me and you are gonna build one, okay?”
“Build a life?”
“Yeah,” she whispered.
He gripped her hair in the back and tried to be gentle with his next kiss but, goddang, he loved her. Loved every single thing about her. Loved the way she made him feel.
“Are you bucking this event?” he asked. “I’ll do your flank rope.”
She shook her head. “Not this one. This one is all about you. And I’ll be sitting out there when you’re done to tell you it’s okay, no matter what happens. Always.”
Dead let off a shuddering breath. It released a hundred pounds of tension he hadn’t even realized had settled over him in the past few weeks.
It’s okay. Everything was okay.
“Are you ready?” she asked, gripping his shirt.
“To buck?”
She shook her head, and she looked so damn pretty in the light of his changing room, looking up at him like he was important. Like he was everything. “Ready for a life with me?”
He grinned. That was the easiest question in the world, but he wasn’t going to answer it with a simple “yes.” He wasn’t going to answer like she expected. He was going to answer like she deserved.
Dead grinned down at her, gripped her waist, and then inhaled a deep, steadying breath because he’d never done this before. “I sure love you, Raven.”
He would never forget her answering smile as long as he lived. This moment settled something tight in his chest. It freed him. When she whispered it back, he swore to all the stars he would never get tired of those words falling from her lips. He kissed her just to taste them.
She’d come into that rodeo arena a month ago and shook up his whole life. Shook up the herd, carved out her place with his friends, and took ownership of his heart and soul. And now she was lighting a fire in him to go and be the best because he could get her that ranch she wanted. She’d just kickstarted his motivation. He could help her save and build them a life that was good and fulfilling.
“You’re ready to give up your old life and trust me to build another one?”
“I adored my old life,” she murmured, “but I feel whole with you.”
“Aawwww!” Two Shots called from the other side of the door.
Dead frowned at it. When he yanked the handle inward, the dumbass fell right to the floor by his feet.
Appalled, Dead glared at Cheyenne and Quickdraw, who were standing right outside, looking around at anything but Dead. “Were you guys spying on us?”
“Not spying. Cheering you on,” Two Shots said, pushing up from the floor.
“Aren’t you supposed to be bucking soon?” he demanded to Quickdraw.
“Oh, shit.” The giant ran off and then reappeared in the doorway, skidding in the hallway dirt. “I hate Dead less when you’re around,” he told Raven.
Raven beamed, but Dead was at least fourteen percent offended. But before he could tell that asshole the statistics, Quickdraw had disappeared again.
“You said the L-word,” Cheyenne crooned.
“Yeah, for Raven’s ears only, and you guys ruined my moment.”
“Want me to take a picture? For the next photobook?” Cheyenne held out her camera.
“No,” Dead said at the same time Raven and Two Shots said, “Yes!” in unison.
They crowded him on either side, and Cheyenne snapped a picture. Dead was pretty sure his smile looked more like a grimace.
Why was Two Shots even in this picture?
“That one’s going on your social media!” Cheyenne sang as she walked away.
Dead looked down at his nethers. “I don’t have any pants on.”
“I’ll put a smiley face over your dangly bits.”
“Dude, you told her you loved her for the first time while you were butt-naked,” Two Shots said, clapping him on the back. “That’s some confidence.”
Raven had the mushiest smile on her face. “I think it was perfect.”
“I didn’t know she was coming here,” he called out the door to Cheyenne and Two Shots’ receding backs. “I would’ve got her flowers or pastie thingies! You know, those nipple stickers, but sparkly because heifers love sparkles. Or maybe cereal or something. I can be romantic!”
“I like that better than flowers,” Raven said, pointing to his dick.
With a growl, he
