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I just need to figure out what work I’d be doing exactly.

“What?” Wyatt asks when he catches me looking.

I shake my head. “I just like looking at you.”

“Most people do.”

Rolling my eyes, I smile as I reach across the console to swat his shoulder. “I regret the ego boost. You clearly don’t need it.”

“I might not need it, but I sure as hell don’t mind it.” He turns his head to look at me, dropping his empty bottle into the cupholder between us. “You all right?”

God, I hate how he picks right up on my moods. How he pays attention and how he cares.

I love it.I love everything about this man, and not having a solid plan for our future together is making me sick with anxiety.

“We’re gonna be okay, right?”

Wyatt’s chest barrels out on an inhale. He switches hands on the wheel and puts his right one on my leg. The motion is familiar now; he’s done it plenty lately. Still makes my heart skip a beat the way it did the first time he touched me this way.

“We’re gonna be okay, Sal.”

We smell the smoke before we even turn onto the Wallace Ranch. Wyatt frowns as he guides the truck up to the horse barn. The lights are off; several windows are broken.

There are dozens of people, all of them milling around with flashlights and phones in their hands.

Wyatt and I hop out of the truck. He immediately finds Beck, who explains what happened. Apparently, the fire was started by some bad electrical wire in one of the stalls. The staff was able to put out the fire, but the barn sustained significant damage.

Side note: I love how Wyatt and Beck’s little pissing contest has been put to bed. In true cowboy fashion, they’ve silently agreed that there’s no time for grudges or awkwardness. This is ranch business—cowboy business—and that always comes first.

Dad is already here. He’s standing with Ava and Vance in the gravel outside the barn’s entrance.

“Structure is fine.” Dad nods at the barn. “But the damage to the interior is extensive.”

Ava nods. “Luckily, we got all the animals out. All but the two horses are okay. If y’all don’t mind, I’d like to get a move on. We’re keeping the injured animals in the arena up the hill.”

Wyatt nods. “We’re following you.”

We climb back in the truck, and together with Dad and Ava, we form a little caravan that moves quickly through the silent dark.

The arena is massive—and massively impressive. I can smell the new lumber and fresh paint as I hop out of the truck. I’ve been to rodeos plenty, and I’m always impressed by the barrel racers I’ve seen. The Wallaces must really be serious about their program if they rolled this much money into a training facility.

Wyatt wordlessly moves to help Dad and me unload the equipment we need from the back of Dad’s pickup.

Pays to date a cowboy, I think to myself as I put on my headlamp and walk into the dimly lit, soaring space of the arena. Especially a cowboy as knowledgeable and smart as Wyatt. I don’t need to tell him to grab the portable X-ray. I definitely don’t need to tell him to keep his footfalls quiet as we approach the animals in the makeshift stalls on one side of the arena.

Ava nods at the stall to the left. “This poor baby won’t put weight on his front leg. And I think that one”—she motions to the next stall—“has issues with the back left leg.”

I loop my stethoscope around my neck. “Did anyone see what happened?”

“No, but I can guess. The horses panicked, and these two ended up getting trampled.”

“Any burns?”

“None that I saw, no.”

My stomach clenches. I meet eyes with Wyatt.

He approaches the first horse before me. He’s not being rude; he’s just making sure I’m not also going to get trampled by a skittish, injured colt who weighs as much as a car.