Being more afraid of living life without her than trying to live one with her.
“I’ve got to go get her.”
“Good luck. And I hope you’re good at dodging bullets.”
“Why is that exactly?”
“Come on. You know her dad as well as I do.”
“True,” he said. “But it’s worth the risk.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CALLIE WAS DIRTY, sweaty and cold along with it. She was just coming in from riding, and running laps around the arena with Boone, who had just taken off to go grab a drink, when she saw a familiar truck coming up the long drive to Evergreen Ranch.
“What in tarnation... Jake Daniels?”
She stood there. Just stood. And waited for his truck to get to where she was.
“I’ll shoot you,” she muttered when he pulled up, killed the engine and got out.
They just stared at each other. Just stood there. She was rooted to the spot, and he was... As beautiful as he’d ever been. It enraged her. That she wanted him still, even with how he hurt her. That he was still... Jake.
“What exactly are you doing here?”
“I came to tell you that I love you. And it does make a difference.”
She could have been tipped over with a feather. “You did?”
“I kept thinking about something your dad said to me. He was talking about a stallion and a filly. I couldn’t tell if it was a metaphor or not.”
“Well, he knew about us. So I expect it was a metaphor.”
Jake chuckled. “Well, it was a damn good metaphor. I love you. But I needed to get the shrapnel out. I needed to heal that wound. And the thing is, when something is just... Unfair, it’s tough to do that. You can’t fix losing someone. It just is. So it’s a wound you have to decide to let heal. Because you can’t reconcile it, and you can’t make it fair. You can’t get a guarantee that you’ll never lose anyone or anything ever again. You just have to decide that love is worth a hell of a lot more than fear. And it is, Callie. It is. Loving you is worth it. It’s worth the cost. It’s worth the risk. I want you. I want you even knowing I can’t control everything. That I can’t see into the future. I want you. I want you even knowing I don’t deserve you.”
“I don’t know, Jake. You hurt me. I laid my heart and soul out there for you and you hurt me.”
“Do you need me to get down on my knees?”
She laughed. “That might be a start.”
“I’ll do it.”
And he did, just that. Dropped onto his knees in the dirt right in front of her. “Stay married to me. Marry me again, please. Love me, because I have loved you for a very long time. Do you want to know the real reason I left the rodeo?”
“Yes,” she said. “I do.”
“It was because of you. Because you fell off that horse and you broke your arm, and that was when I realized. That whatever I felt for you, it was too strong. That I was on dangerous ground, and I couldn’t pretend that... That I wasn’t falling for you. I have been in love with you for years. And I was just in denial this whole damn time, and when you hit the ground and I realized that I could lose everything if I lost you, that was when I knew I needed to leave. When I had to confront the fact that you were breakable. I had to admit that you made me vulnerable. So I left. And you came after me. And you asked me to marry you, and I couldn’t tell you no. Because... I didn’t want to. I didn’t want you to ask some other man. I just wanted you. With me. That’s what I want, Callie Carson. I want you with me. But I also want you to be you. I don’t want to stop you, so I want you to be you. Even if it scares me. Because what I feel for you scares me, and that’s a good thing. That’s how I know it’s big. That’s how I know it’s love. Because I didn’t care for anything for a long time. Not until you. Not until you.”
“Jake, I love you,” she said, flinging her arms around his neck and kissing him. “And of course I’ll stay married to you. And marry you all over again for the spectacle of it. Of course I will. We’ll have a big wedding, and I will wear a ridiculous dress. And my mom will be so happy. And we’ll be... Ridiculous. Forever. I would have your babies and screw you silly for the rest of your life.”
He laughed. “That is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard anyone say.”
“Well, I pledge to be ridiculous. Were not going to get married and turn into other people. We’re Jake and Callie.”
“We sure as hell are.”
He picked her up off the ground and kissed her. Deep and long and hard and with everything he had in him. And she kissed him back. Like she would die if she didn’t.
“Thank you,” she said. “For not only being all my missing pieces, but for showing me everything that I could be. For believing in me when no one else did. And for being the first real-life naked man I ever saw.”
“Him to be the last naked man you ever see.”
She smiled. “And I’ll be the last naked woman you ever see.”
“That’s the best news I’ve ever heard.”
“Well, that does it. You must be crazy.”
“Or just in love.”
Callie Carson had never been accused of being a shrinking violet, or shy and retiring, or anything of the sort. She’d always been up-front and honest. At least, she thought so. It turned out, she hadn’t even known herself all that well. But she did now. Thanks to her best friend. Who was also the man that she loved, more than anything in this world.
“Thank you for being mine.”
Because that’s what he was. Hers. In all the deepest, most profound ways imaginable.
“Thank you for being mine,” he agreed.
And when they kissed, she was excited. Because she couldn’t remember how many times they’d kissed. And she knew that there wouldn’t be a way to count. Because they would be kissing like this. Always and forever. Whether she went to saddle bronc events or didn’t, whether she ended up staying at the ranch or not.
It didn’t define her. And it never would.
It was love that defined her.
And she was glad about that.
EPILOGUE
THE REAL WEDDING was on Christmas, at Evergreen Ranch, the following year.
Well, Callie didn’t think it was any more real than their courthouse wedding, with weeds and jeans, but her family was here for this one. And so was Jake’s.
They lived in Gold Valley now, on Jake’s thriving horse ranch, near the other Danielses. A clan that was ever expanding with Colt’s recent marriage, Iris and Griffin’s upcoming baby and Rose and Logan’s new one.