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“Wyatt overheard some of the sponsors talking. We’re not doing a good job of convincing them.”

“No shit.” My tone is laced with my impatience. I’m waiting for him to spit out what he came here to ask for.

I can’t believe I was just contemplating spilling my heart to him. The man in front of me that looks sexy as sin and gives no regard for anyone other than himself. He’s not here because he hurt me and left me in the pub. No, he’s here because he still needs me to save his rodeo.

“The rodeo is this weekend. Hasn’t all the money from the sponsors been given?” I ask, keeping my arms crossed and holding my sides tighter. Maybe if I hold them tight enough, they’ll act like a shield for whatever is about to happen.

“Yes, but they’re saying that this will be the last year. That they won’t be doing it again if I’m still going to be running the ranch.”

“So, find new sponsors.”

“It’s not that simple, Dakota.” He pushes himself off my desk, throwing his arms to the side as he starts to pace. “Whiskey Falls is a small town nowhere near a city. We rely on each other here.”

“You asked me to get you through this year, Chance. I’m not sure what you want me to do about next year.”

Considering we won’t be together then, I add mentally.

“That’s why I’m here. Wyatt came up with a plan.”

“Oh yeah? What’s that?”

“He, uh…” Chance stops and starts to rub the back of his neck. He looks uncomfortable, like for the first time he’s had his iron-clad confidence shaken, which makes me all the more interested to find out what it is that Wyatt suggested to him.

“We need something big at the dinner tomorrow. Something that will really convince them that I’m not the man they think I am.”

“Even though you really are,” I mutter under my breath. “So, what did you come up with? A big kiss where you dip me backwards and make a show of how ‘in love we are?’” I use air quotes and roll my eyes, ignoring the stabbing feeling in my heart because no matter how much I don’t want it to, him being here is affecting me in a way that I have no right feeling. “A grand entrance? Do you want me to hang off your every word?”

He stops his pacing and drops his arm, looking at me. His ice blue eyes are intense and heated, making it as if all the air had been sucked out of the room. “I need to propose, and you need to accept.”

I can’t move. The pain in my chest increases ten-fold as I stare into his eyes, waiting for him to tell me this is some crazy joke. That he didn’t just suggest that we not only pretend to be fake-dating, but that we also get fake-engaged. In public. In front of all the rodeo sponsors, contestants, and media.

But he’s not laughing.

“Say something,” he demands, putting his hands down on my desk, leaning over it.

He’s not eye-level with me, and I can’t help but notice the way his shirt stretches across his broad shoulders, or how intense his bright blue eyes are against the black of his cowboy hat. His tanned skin almost shimmers in the light streaming from the window behind me.

If he weren’t such an asshole, he’d be beautiful.

“Well, Dakota?”

I lick my lips, and take pleasure in the way his eyes dart, following the movement of my tongue. When his gaze returns to mine, I know here’s a hidden passion there he doesn’t want me to know about, but it’s too late.

It’s also too bad that the more I spend time with him, the more I realize I need to train myself not to care.

“Sure, Chance. Whatever you say.” I tick up the corner of my mouth. “Over my dead body.”

Chapter Eighteen

Chance

“Over my dead body.”

Dakota’s words ring through my mind as I stare at her. Her sexy lips are tipped up in a smirk, daring me to challenge after her words.

“Dakota,” I warn, more out of her egging me on than her not agreeing to go along with Wyatt’s stupid plan. Because that’s what it is. If it weren’t for the fact that I am completely desperate to save this rodeo, I wouldn’t have even suggested it. Hell, if it wasn’t for Wyatt, I would have told the sponsors to fuck off a long time ago, but unfortunately, he’s right.

Which makes me hate it even more.