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Chapter Twenty-Three

Dallas

It’s harder to complete all my championship rituals when my mind is firmly fixed on what will happen afterward. Win or lose, I have a plan.

And something burning a hole in my pocket.

I don’t intend to lose tonight. My family is in the stands, my dad, my mom, Lucy and Cara.

Sarah .

My whole world is out there. I just have to complete this one ride. One ride, and I win a million dollars, and I know exactly what I’m going to do with that money. The land I’m getting, for me, for her.

One ride, and I can finally claim world champion status.

It’ll be my last ride. I’ve already decided. Win or lose.

I’m no gladiator in an arena. I’m not romanticizing risking my life, not anymore.

My heart is pounding hard, and I climb into the chute and onto the back of the bull. He jerks beneath me, and I slip my hand beneath the leather strap, adjusting, adjusting, trying to make sure that everything is right.

I imagine my family. And then, just like I always do, I think of Sarah. Only this time, she’s not some distant fantasy. This time, she is not something I lost a long time ago.

This time, she’s mine.

The chute opens, and the bull runs out. Spinning, tossing, turning.

This is my last ride, and I’m the last of the night.

The score I have to get to win is huge. If it’s not me, it’s going to be Maverick Quinn.

I don’t have the stomach for that. But if I lose, he goes home the champion, but he’s still him.

And I get to go home.

I picture her face as I hang on, as the bull tries his level best to end me.

Then the timer passes eight seconds, and I leap off the animal.

I know the score is going to come up. But I don’t even look.

Instead, I look up in the stands, I look to see where Sarah is, right on the railing, looking down at me, cheering.

And I run straight to her. Run straight up the wall, climb the railing, and make my way to her.

Then I reach into my pocket, and I take out the ring box.

Something I picked out with Sammy’s help. Because she knows exactly what Sarah likes.

We had a lot of talks about what she needs to do in life, how she wants to finish school, how she wants to work for a few years in social work before she has kids, and I’m on the same page. But this, this we both decided we didn’t have to wait on.

I open the box, and get down on one knee.

“Dallas,” she says, shaking my shoulder. “You… You’re the winner. ”

But all I can see is her. “Yeah. I am. But only if you marry me.”

“Yes,” she says. “Yes.” The crowd is cheering, and we’re up on the screen, so I’m not even really sure if they’re cheering me being the champion, or us getting engaged.

And I don’t care which. I know what I’m cheering.

I know what matters to me. The money matters, because I know that I’m going to be able to take care of her. Give her whatever she wants.

Be whatever she wants.

But I’ve been at peace with myself ever since I found her. I don’t need a win, a ride, an award to make me whole.

It’s just her.

I put the ring on her finger, and then I pick her up in my arms and kiss her as I take my hat off my head and put it on hers. Her arms wrap around me as I twirl her in a circle, my chest so full I feel like my heart might just burst.

She’s mine. My girl. My Sarah.

Always. Forever.

This is just the beginning.

I don’t have a death wish. I have a beautiful life to live.

Check out the rest of The Bull Riders series! And read on for the bonus novella, Imagine Me and You!