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I’m trying to rein in my frustration, but it’s hard. “Fine. Can I ask you something else?”

She hesitates and then shrugs.

“What are you doing here, Annie? Why are you still in Whiskey Run? Working as a waitress and living in an apartment? I knew you’d leave me one day, but I thought when you did, you’d go as far from this place as you could get.”

She points at the apartment above Glaze Bakery. “This is me.”

I look up at the one light in the window upstairs. “Why, Annie? I knew I wasn’t good enough for you, but this doesn’t make sense at all.”

She makes a big to-do of rolling her eyes. “At one time I would have thought you were the smartest man I know, Dustin Clay. Now, I’m not so sure.”

“What does that even mean, Annie?”

She holds her hands together in front of her and tilts her head. “You were always wanting more. More money, a bigger ranch, a better truck… just more. And I was perfectly content, living on your ranch?—”

I interrupt her. “Our ranch.”

She crosses her arms again. “I was happy living on our ranch.”

I blurt out a laugh. “Really? I guess that’s why you served me with papers.”

“I am divorcing you because I am always alone.”

Stumped, I shake my head. “You are the one that quit coming to the rodeo.” I jam a finger in my chest. “You didn’t want to be with me. Just say it.”

She takes a few steps toward the door and puts her hand on the knob. I’m about to lose her. She’s going to walk in, and I’m not going to have any more answers. She lowers her head, not looking at me. Her voice is like a whisper, and I have to lean in just to hear her. “Dustin, even when we were together, you had a wall between us. I felt that wall from the very beginning, but I thought it would change. I thought eventually you would…” She chokes over the words. “I thought you would love me.” She finally looks at me. “You were always enough, Dustin. You were all I wanted. But I was never enough for you.”

She opens the door and walks in so quickly that I can’t stop her. As I’m left standing here, I’ve never felt more alone in my life. My wife is leaving me, and somehow in the last year, she didn’t realize how much I love her. She doesn’t know that I wanted more for her… all I needed was her. I fucked up.

I call her name through the door, but she walks up the stairs without looking back.

I lean my head against the glass. I would give anything to have her in my arms, on our ranch again… and I won’t stop until she’s mine.

CHAPTER 4

ANNIE

I stomp up the stairs, unlock my apartment door, and then lock it behind me. As I lean against the hard wood, I tell myself not to cry. I’ve cried enough this past week, and I know I need to stop.

After taking a few deep breaths, I push off the door, dump my purse on the coffee table, and sit down on the small couch.

I have plenty to do. Like figure out my next move and what I’m going to do from here.

Without thinking about it, I pull my laptop onto my legs and open it. I had searched out the rodeo site earlier today, and I open the window, find the bulldogging event, and hit play. I’m glued to the screen as I watch Dustin astride his horse. The first time I saw him riding Bolt, I was in awe. I couldn’t look away from him. The same is true now. The event is over in seconds, and he is announced the winner. Dustin is smiling for the crowd, but he doesn’t look like a man that is too happy about winning. I lean my head back on the couch and think about the first time I met Dustin Clay.

He’s amazing on a horse, and he’s one of the best bulldoggers around. I knew that the first time I watched him. I knew there was something special about him, and I’ve never approached a man in my life, but I did that day.

He had just won his event, and he was standing on the sidelines. He was surrounded by other riders, but somehow I mustered up the nerve to approach him. I was nervous, and I remember hearing the shakiness in my voice as I introduced myself. “Hi. I’m Annie. Uh, Annie Johnson.”

He pulled his hat off and held it to his chest, right over his heart. “Hi, Annie Johnson. It’s nice to meet you. I’m Dustin Clay.”

I nodded my head. “Yeah, I know who you are. I just saw you ride.”

I remember how the other cowboys were all watching us, and I should have been embarrassed that I was being so obvious, but I wasn’t. Dustin took a step toward me. “Wanna go somewhere? Grab a bite to eat or a drink or something?”

It was like nothing I’d ever done before. I was nodding my head, putting my hand in his before I even thought about it. I knew that anything he asked me I would say yes to. I couldn’t explain the instant attraction or how much I trusted him, but I did. I put my hand in his, and my breath stuttered on contact. He held me possessively as we walked through the crowd.

He stopped at a picnic table and showed me where to sit down. “What do you want to eat?”