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“Because I’m a coward, Dakota. That’s why.”

“I listened to your voicemails.” I whisper, burrowing into his chest. “I’ve listened to them over and over since the night of your fire. You were saying goodbye to me.”

I hear him suck in a breath, but he doesn’t say anything.

I look up at him, wiping my eyes. “Why would you do that? Why wouldn’t you get out of there? Leave the cattle, take Duke and ride? I know that the animals and the land are everything to you, but you’re everything to me, Chance! I fucking love you!”

He strokes the hair away from my face, wiping at the tears on my cheeks with his thumbs. “I know.”

“And yet, you stayed.”

He looks at me for a moment longer. “Like I said, I’m a coward. I thought you would be better off. I thought that I was doing the right thing.”

“Well you were wrong!” I explode back, putting space between us. “You don’t get to make that decision; do you hear me? We are in this together. We are together. That means you can’t run around playing cowboy and throwing yourself into literal fires.”

“Not playing. I am a cowboy.” A smile hints at his lips, which makes him look both adorable and increases my urge to punch him for real.

“I mean it, Chance.”

He takes a step forward, placing his hands on my shoulders as he dips his head and looks into my eyes. “I’m sorry, Dakota. I know I was wrong now. I shouldn’t have stayed at the ranch, and I shouldn’t have done it alone. I can’t thank you enough for what you did to get me and the animals out of there. And I want you to know that I meant every word I said in those voicemails. I love you, Dakota. For real. I promise I won’t go anywhere again.”

He’s so sincere, and I can tell that he’s not lying to me, but at the same time, I can’t help remembering when he told me that he’s not a forever kind of guy. That he doesn’t do long term relationships.

I look down at the ring on my finger and question what this all really means.

“I’ve been thinking about that.” He tips his chin at my hand. “You should keep it.”

“Chance, it’s your mom’s. It should stay in the family.”

“It will, because I mean it when I say I’m in. I’m not going anywhere. We should do this for real. All of it.”

“You can’t mean…”

He takes my hands and kisses my knuckles. “That we get married. Yes, yes, I do.”

My mouth hangs open, staring at him. I don’t know what to say.

“Not right now, obviously.”

“But what about you not being a ‘forever kind of guy?’ You were very clear that marriage was never in your future.”

“Maybe I was wrong. Maybe I just needed to meet the right person for me to see forever with.”

“How would we?” My gaze drifts past him out of the window. The town that we called home is utterly damaged. We might not even be able to go back to the life we once had.

“We’ll figure it out.”

“Half the town is gone.” My mind catches up with what’s happening. “The town! I didn’t fill you in on everything. There’s so much destruction.”

Now that the fire has been controlled, police and fire have gone in and have started updating people as they find out what’s been saved and what is damaged. “The rodeo area is gone.”

“I know. Wyatt told me. When the police couldn’t get a hold of me, they called him.”

“I’m so sorry, Chance. Everything we worked for is gone.”

“No, it’s not. As much as the sponsors were wrong in what they demanded, it brought me you, and I can’t be upset about that.”

Excuse me while I swoon.