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“Cassidy, I can’t…” She gasped. Each inhale she took was shaky and the heart rate monitor ticked up. “I can’t move my legs. I can’t…I can’t move my legs.”

And all that peace that had momentarily filled me jetted away in an instant.

My fault.

The doctors had warned me that this was a possibility, but I guess I was too selfish and too in denial to truly accept it. Yet here we were.

Anguish tore me to pieces. My own, selfish thought that I could have both her and the horse landed her in this position. I did not deserve her.

“Let me go get the doctor,” I said, doing everything to hide the hollowness I was consumed by. She needed me to be strong, and I released her hand.

“Cassidy!” she cried out as I turned away, ready to leave.

“You need to see the doctor,” I answered, keeping my heart numb to the shattering glass falling by my own hand.

“Cassidy Duke, don’t leave me!” she hoarsely shouted.

That froze me in my tracks, nailing me to the white tile that squeaked beneath my leather soles. Slowly, I turned back around and forced a reassuring smile on my lips. “I’m only going to get the doctor, okay?”

Her head violently shook back and forth. “I need you,” she cried out.

I needed her, too, more than anything else that existed in this world.

Closing my eyes, my chin slumped against my chest. “I should’ve noticed you were hurt sooner,” I finally admitted.

“No, you were protecting me from the very man who caused all of this.”

“Briar, I—”

“You’re going to get your butt back over to the side of this bed, kiss me, then you can go get the doctor, and we will go from there, okay?” She quickly cut me off.

A smile tugged at the edges of my lips. Her plan reminded me of what I said to her at the rodeo. “I’m sorry we missed the honky tonk,” I gently replied.

“Well, if you don’t hurry back on over here, it’ll take longer for the doctor to show up and, therefore, longer before we find out when you get to eventually take me to one,” she teased. Slowly, I spun on my heels and looked at the very woman who held my heart in her hands.

“I don’t deserve you, you know that, right?” I said, walking back toward her.

“Yeah, I know that, but I also don’t like you. You know that, right?” she added with a twinkle in her eyes.

I chuckled, bending forward and placing a hand on either side of her head against the mattress. “I promise I’m not going anywhere, Goldie,” I whispered.

Nodding, she reached up and cupped my cheeks. “Good.”

“Stay,” I quietly blurted out as everything swelled warm within me. We could weather every storm, figure out what was going to happen next. All I needed was her in my life. I needed her. I leaned down toward her; her brows twitched.

“Stay where?” she asked.

“With me. You can keep your property or sell it, but I don’t want you to go. So, stay with me at the ranch.”

“For how long?”

“How long would you like?” My lips brushed against hers as she crinkled her nose in delight.

“Okay,” she agreed and then kissed me. Gently and passionately, her lips worked for only a brief moment against mine as reality settled in.

Pulling away, she sighed as I kept my eyes locked onto her gaze. “Cassidy, what if…”

“What if you can’t walk ever again?” I finished for her, knowing exactly what had cut our bliss short, and she nodded.