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“And your house…”

“Is gone. I know.”

“How are you not upset about this?”

“The arena can be rebuilt, and so can my house. Plus, you know I hated that house anyway. Our old family house was saved. We can live there while we rebuild the main house.”

“What about Wyatt?”

He wraps his arms around me again. “Well, I heard your house survived without any damage…”

I smile, thinking I know where this is going. “It did…”

“And since we will be getting married, that usually means that the couple lives together.”

“This is true.” I smile, wrapping my arms around his waist.

“So that would leave your house empty.”

“I guess we could accommodate him. Since we’ll be kicking him out of his house and all.”

Chance smiles and lowers his mouth down to mine. The smell of smoke and ash clings to him, mixed with Wyatt’s cologne, but the touch of his lips is all Chance.

He doesn’t hold back as his tongue grazes my lips, forcing me to yield to him. My hands roam to the front of his shirt, clinging to him as if he would fade away if I let go.

“You said something about a shower?”

“Hmm…yes, I believe I did.”

He backs me up into the bathroom and slams the door behind him before showing me just how much he means it when he says he’s become a forever kind of guy.

Epilogue

Chance

One Year Later

“Can you believe that? I didn’t think he was going to stay on for the full eight seconds the way that bull was bucking!” Dakota exclaims from the window of our owner’s suite.

She looks so fucking adorable in her denim skirt, tight black tank top and pink cowboy hat. We even had her fitted for her own shitkickers once she moved onto the ranch full time. I wanted them for practicality. She wanted them for some fashion statement.

Watching her now as her attention is fixated on the grounds below, I’ve never been more happier that I insisted on having this private suite added in the plans for the rebuilding of the arena. Wyatt hadn’t been joking when he said it had all been lost. Everything that made the arena unique from the old wooden signs to the original bleachers was gone. What was left standing wasn’t salvageable.

Instead of throwing in the towel—like I wanted to many times—I took the opportunely to rebrand and build bigger and better grounds that expanded more into my land to have a bigger fair.

Wyatt thought I had lost brain cells in the fire, but Dakota thought it was a great idea. I’ll never forget the smile on her face when I let her help design the market grounds, that also now boast the town’s farmer’s market as well.

“Chance, come over here and see this. The next one looks like it’s going to be a good one.” She looks over her shoulder and gives me her ‘come fuck me’ eyes, and I’m lost.

Closing the distance between us, I wrap my arms around her waist and pull her close to me, letting her feel exactly what she does to me. I don’t look at the action below, instead I lower my head and press kisses along the column of her neck, smiling as she places her hands on mine.

It’s been like this since we eloped last fall. I haven’t been able to keep my hands off her.

After we were let back into Whiskey Falls after the fire, and saw the complete devastation, I was completely lost. My whole world had literally gone up in flames. The rodeo arena, our main barn, and the main house were all lost. It was a miracle that the old house had been spared.

It was Dakota that held me together and showed me that we could rebuild. She stopped me from wanting to give up and hide away from the town. The same town that came together and saved me that night when I thought they would be more than happy to let me burn.

We should have probably had our wedding here in town where everyone could have come, but that wasn’t us. Instead, we ran off to Manning Park and had a small ceremony at Lightning Lake in Manning Park. Just us, the Justice of the Peace, Wyatt, and Addie. No one else even knew until we got back home.