Page 25 of Blazing Hot Nights

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“Don’t Dawn me. When you say my name that way, I know you’re about to fill my socks full of crap about why you ‘can’t’ do something,” she said. “The truth is, it’s not that you can’t. It’s that you won’t. You won’t because if you change one thing in your life, it might change another and another and another, until you’re happy. God forbid that Heaven Lane finds a little bit of happiness in this world. The earth will stop spinning on its axis if that happens, and we will all evaporate into ash!” She threw her arms up into the air in frustration, and they fell in tandem with her chin as it hit her chest. “I’m sorry. I’m not trying to hurt your feelings. I don’t want to make you mad. I just know that Beau is ready to leave Bison Ridge and fly back to Texas. I’m dangerously close to having to find a new job somewhere else too. I don’t want to leave Heavenly Lane, but I don’t know how much longer I can hold on.”

Dawn spun on her boot heel and trudged through the door of the barn and out into the night. I heard the back door of the house slam shut and I leaned forward, rubbing my face with my hand.

“I guess she told me.” I stood up and kicked the lawn chair out of the way. The clatter it made against the stall wall was satisfying.

“Are you up for a ride, Grover?” I asked my favorite guy. He was standing in his stall, staring me down. He’d been around for twelve years, and he always knew when I was upset. I moved to him and stroked his nose until he nuzzled my cheek, so I rested my head on his neck. “You understand, don’t you, old boy?”

I opened the stall door, and he lowered himself to the ground, where he waited. I pulled his saddle over and tugged it across his broad back. We worked together like the team we’d always been until he was standing again, and I got the saddle buckled tightly. Usually, Tex saddled and unsaddled him for me, but after the accident, I had trained Grover to help me get the job done in case no one was around. I could have climbed on his back right there, but it was easier for me to lead him out of the barn if I wasn’t atop him.

I patted his neck as I directed him through the big barn door. “We make a good team, buddy.”

Grover stopped near the concrete stairs by the barn that I use to mount and dismount him. He stood as still as a statue and waited for me to climb up and settle onto the saddle. Once I was situated, we took off up the ridge with the wind in our hair.

The night was warm, the air was fresh, and the stars were brilliant pinpricks of light in the sky. Those were the things I wanted to concentrate on, but the words Dawn said were all that filled my mind. I wasn’t just losing the ranch. I was losing everyone that I loved too. The truth stuck in my throat and a sob escaped.

I needed help. I needed help to save this ranch and protect the people I love. While I rode the fence line, my eyes trained on the never-ending night sky, I was faced with the knowledge that the only person who could help was the one person who never would.

Eight

Rapunzel walked along the fence line, her long mane swinging with each step. It made me think of bows, and that made me think of Heaven. It made me think of a time when I laughed. It made me think of a time when I felt alive.

I wasn’t alive anymore. Sure, my heart beat every day, but that didn’t mean I lived. When I was with Heaven, I felt alive like I used to, back before life came crashing down on me. Heaven forced my heart to pump blood back into my soul for the first time in years. It had been so long since my soul felt alive that I worried reawakening it for more than a few moments would be impossible. I was acutely aware that Heaven was the only person on this planet who could do it, and that scared the hell out of me.

Rapunzel snorted and tossed her head, and my attention snapped back to my surroundings. Bear? Wolf? I reached for the gun on my pack while my eyes scanned the darkness for glowing eyes. It took me a moment to register what I was seeing. Both hands gripped the reins again, and I dug my heels into Rapunzel’s ribs.

“Come on, girl,” I urged, trotting up to the woman sitting on a horse by the fence. “Heaven!” I called, so I didn’t scare her or Grover. “What are you doing out here so late?”

Rapunzel slowed when she recognized her friend, and regardless of what I wanted, she nudged Heaven until she was rewarded with a pat on the head and hug around the neck. I swear I saw Grover roll his eyes, but I could be wrong.

“Hello, old girl,” Heaven whispered, her cheek rubbing the animal as if she was sacred to her. “I’ve missed you. I see your master has you out late again. Kind of hard on you, isn’t he?”

I steadied Rapunzel while I concentrated on the woman in front of me. It was late, and the way her shoulder drooped told me her day had been hard. When she hung her shoulder low like that, I knew the weight of the world was the reason she was out here so late at night. I wanted to hold her until the look disappeared, replaced by the desire that roared through her eyes last Friday night when I kissed her. “I could say the same. What are you doing out here? It’s almost midnight.”

Heaven released her grip on Rapunzel and rubbed Grover’s neck out of habit. “I couldn’t sleep, so I thought a ride in the night air might help.”

“Has it?” I asked, shifting in the saddle.

She tilted her head up to the sky and shook it. “Not really. Sleep won’t come easy now for a few nights.”

“Bad dreams again?” I asked, already knowing exactly who starred in them.

“More like wide-awake terrors.” Heaven pursed her lips and dropped her head to stare at Grover’s mane, letting it run through her fingers. “What are you doing out here so late?”

“I was doing one last patrol before I bed down for the night.”

“What are you patrolling for?”

“I always check the ridges for problems before bed, Heaven. You’re just never out here at this time of night to see it. If you aren’t tired, I have something to show you. Are you up for it? It’s in the other pasture.”

She eyed me up and down. “Depends on if you’re going to have all your clothes on when you do the showing.”

I chuckled but loved how she looked away with embarrassment as she replayed that day through her mind. “Angel, you’ve already seen it, and I know you want to see it again. That’s not what I’m talking about, though. Come on,” I said, flicking the reins on Rapunzel. “Go slow. Don’t be trying to race me in the dark.”

“What are you, my daddy?” she muttered.

I smirked, glad I was in front of her, and she couldn’t see me. “I wouldn’t want Grover to break a leg. He’s getting up there in years.”

“As is Rapunzel. I don’t push Grover hard these days.” She cleared her throat and was quiet for a moment. “I can’t ride hard anymore. As it is, I struggle to stay in the saddle sometimes.”