Page 134 of The Wildest Ride

Lil’s blush was immediate, but she hadn’t risked her life to save him just to turn coward now. Stern and serious and red hued, she said, making less of a production about it than he had but no less public for any of it, “I love you, AJ Garza.”

Across the room, without any of the competitive edge she typically aimed Lil’s way, Sierra let out a big “Awwwww.”

Diablo’s head snapped up as if the rodeo queen’s voice were a sound aimed at him and began making his way in her direction.

Lil glared and AJ grinned, and the world felt right.

AJ went to where Diablo now stood engaged in murmured conversation with the rodeo queen, who, for the first time Lil had ever seen, looked irritated—the real and revealed emotion a disdainful sneer on her face. Shaking her head, Lil hoped Diablo knew what he was walking into with that one but turned to make her way to her own family—only to smash into a solid wall of man.

The wall was her father, and, judging from the storms raging in the gray eyes that had given it all away, he was pissed.

“Are you some kind of damn fool?” he lashed. “I’ve never seen such a stupid stunt in all my years of rodeo!”

Lil’s own temper rose to the surface, two storm fronts crashing into each other. She didn’t know him from Adam and he had no right to comment on her behavior.

“Interesting,” she replied. “I don’t seem to recall asking you. In fact, I don’t recall ever needing your help ever over all these years you’ve been playing at rodeo with other people’s kids.”

The room went quiet, the hush right before an explosion. AJ and Diablo and Sierra looked up. AJ’s eyes darting between his woman and his mentor, Diablo’s firmly set to glaring at Lil.

She didn’t mind. She felt bad for AJ, didn’t want him caught in the middle, but she could take Diablo’s glares, as well as the glares of the man who thought he could just waltz into her life and start telling her what to do.

Behind him, though, Gran was another matter.

Making a sound of outrage in the back of her throat, Gran’s voice pitched across the room, modulated to perfectly replicate the experience of pinching Lil’s ear to drag her to account. “Lilian Sorrow Island. I don’t care if you are the greatest bull rider in the world, I raised you better than that kind of rudeness.”

The swirling energy of tension in the room burst.

Suddenly sweaty and embarrassed, Lil looked away from her father, scuffing the toe of her boot on the floor absently as she glared at the cabinetry. “Sorry,” she mumbled, unwilling to go any further than that, even with her gran watching.

The Old Man cracked a smile as he took a step back. “I’m sorry, too. That wasn’t my place.” When he spoke, his voice wrapped around her like a hug she’d been waiting for her whole life. She tried not to resent it.

Coming to stand at Lil’s side, Gran crossed her arms over her chest and stared at Lil’s father.

“And just who might you be?” she demanded, glaring up at the man as if she were staring down at him.

The old man shifted his weight, belatedly taking off his hat. Lil took the opportunity to take him in, his rich dark skin tone, the lines beginning to crease his face, the eyes that were like looking into a mirror. His head was clean-shaven, bald beneath the hat. “I’m Lil’s father—” he began.

“Oh, I know who you are.” Gran cut him off. “What I’m more interested in is what your name is, where you’ve been all these years, and why you thought you could get my daughter pregnant and abandon her.”

The Old Man sputtered. AJ and Diablo let out choking noises as the entire room once again zeroed in on the unfolding family drama.

Feeling bad for him, Lil opened her mouth. “Maybe this isn’t the place, Gran...”

But her gran wasn’t having that, either. “Oh, I’ll get to you, missy. Nearly getting yourself killed then coming in and acting up with your father. What were you thinking? You might have died. There’s not a prize or a piece of land on earth worth your life!”

But instead of shaming her, Gran’s words took root and blossomed.

Therewasa prize worth risking her life for, and he was crossing the room to her, Diablo at his side.

“She’s right, you know,” AJ said, joining them, smiling insufferably in Gran’s direction.

Gran snorted. “I see your tricks.”

Looping his arm around Lil’s shoulders, he said breezily, “From the woman who raised the love of my life, I would expect no less.”

Obvious as it was, AJ’s move worked. Gran’s feathers settled, and Lil and The Old Man each took long breaths, letting them out slow, mirroring each other in ways that were as natural as they’d been unexplained until now.

Gesturing to the older man, AJ said to Gran, “Gran. This is Henry Bowman, founder of CityBoyz riding program and the man who made me all that I am today.”

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