That means yes. And I can’t believe I’m gonna tell her this, but Taryn and I don’t keep secrets from each other. Not anymore. And she was right: it is so much better this way. “The day you broke up with me.”
Taryn flinches in her saddle, her voice going flat with surprise. “What?”
I can’t help but chuckle, letting the sway of my horse beneath me comfort any pain that comes along with the memory. “When I started getting upset and he got between us and he was talking to me.”
“Oh,” Taryn says, but she’s still got that crinkle above her eyebrows like she doesn’t understand.
“He said”—I can still hear his voice in my head, the calm way he whispered it with absolute conviction—“‘When y’all get through this, and you’re gonna get through this, I want you to come talk to me before you ask her to marry you. And I’m gonna tell you yes.’”
But for now, you gotta go.
It still hurts a little to remember but not as much when I look over to find Taryn watching me. Her horse is walking slowly next to mine, everything else the same as before, but Taryn’s got the same look in her eyes that she gets when we watch romantic movies and the couple gets back together in the end. She always cries at that part.
I sidle Gidget closer to Aston, enough to lean over and lift a kiss from Taryn’s lips, lingering longer than I should, but I can’t help it. I don’t know if she’ll ever understand how much I love her, how thankful I am that she gave me a chance in the first place, and that she let us start over after we crashed and burned.
But I think, maybe, in her own way, she gets it. Because she sniffles when I lean back but in a really, really good way.
“Your mama was harder to convince,” I add, getting back to steering Gidget and trying not to notice when Taryn discreetly wipes at her eyes. But she laughs quietly, too.
“Yeah, I bet she was.” She adjusts her seat in her saddle, then her eyes dart my way, clear and blue and my entire world inside them. “Would’ve loved to have been a fly on the wall for that conversation.”
“Well, she videotaped it, so I’m sure you can watch it if you want to.”
Taryn bursts out laughing. “No, she did not.”
“Oh yes, she did,” I tell her. “Said she wanted me swearing on video that I’d never hurt you. That way, she could use it in court if it came down to it.”
Taryn’s jaw hits the dirt.
“Yep,” I tell her. “Pretty sure she taped over your ballet recital to do it, too.”
“Seriously?” Taryn says.
Aston turns her head and huffs at me like I’m the one who’s done something wrong. I’ll give her some extra peppermints tonight, though, and she’ll forget all about it.
“The one where I was a butterfly? Or the balloon ballet?”
“Butterfly.”
“That bitch!”
It’s my turn to crack up laughing. “I know, honey. I tried to tell her…”
“No, I’m sure you did, but…” Taryn looks back at me, the fire in her eyes already calming down and the rest of her kinda melting. “I can’t believe you did that. Swore on video you’d never hurt me.”
Me either. Her father thought it was hilarious. I couldn’t decide whether to call my lawyer. “Whatever it takes, honey.”
“Well, it shouldn’t take that.”
No kidding.
I peek over at Taryn, tall and lean and swaying lazily in her saddle, and she’s so damn pretty that I need to hear it again. “You’re gonna say yes, right?”
She instantly downshifts into her nervous laugh. “You really think I’m gonna say no?”
Gidget snorts and shakes his mane beneath me, like he agrees with Taryn that my question was ridiculous. “Hey, I have been wrong about this kind of stuff before,” I tease her. “I’m not taking anything for granted here.”
Taryn just smiles and smiles at me, her hands light on her reins and the setting sun sneaking past her hat and lighting up her face. “No jumbotrons.”
There’s my yes. “No jumbotrons.”
Taryn softly laughs to herself, shaking her head and glancing away, and maybe she’s right. Maybe proposing at home would be best: one night when everything is normal and she’s not expecting it, sitting at our kitchen table eating whatever damn-good dinner she made us. Or when we’re snuggled up on our overstuffed couch afterward, watching a movie we’ve seen a dozen times already. And in that simple moment, everything around us slow and steady, Taryn undeniably safe, and the ground solid beneath my feet, I’ll ask her. For that perfect night to be our every night, for the rest of our lives.
Taryn glances over at me, and with the way she smiles when I wink at her, I know for sure she’s right about me waiting to propose. There’s no way I’ll be able to resist getting married to her, either.
Once we go, we go.
“Race you back to the house?” she says far too innocently. “Last one there does the dishes.”
I laugh, shifting in my saddle and shaking my head. “Fine.” I always do them anyway, since she does the cooking, but I bet that’s part of her plan. “How about the last one there does the laun—hey! Come back here!”
But Taryn’s already got Aston Magic bolting across the pasture, her hat slinging down to her back as her hair flashes out behind her and the clear sound of her laugh echoing back to me on the wind. “You said fine!”
“Damn it,” I mutter. She’s totally gonna beat me home now. I whistle at Gidget to launch after Aston, the mare kicking up all sorts of mud on her race to beat us back. I duck a little lower over my stallion, unable to resist a grin as pure power pushes through Gidget’s legs and trees blur past in the distance. “Cheaters forfeit,” I call up toward Taryn.
She peeks over her shoulder at me with a smile that never fails to get me going. “Guess I’m gonna get it now!” Then she looks forward and gets her horse into a higher gear, letting me chase her back to the house until she lets me catch her, and damn, it is good to be home.
Order Katie Golding’s next book
in the Moto Grand Prix series
Wreckless
On sale December 2020!
Acknowledgments
There’s no way I could have turned my dreams into a reality without the support of a lot of incredible people, and I have to start by giving a million thanks to my rock star agent, Kelly Peterson. Signing with you continues to be one of my favorite birthday presents ever.
To Mary Altman, who took a chance on this series and saw a side to it that I didn’t even know existed until we created it together—I’m so glad it was you. The entire team at Sourcebooks has brought this story to life in a way I never could’ve imagined, and I’m eternally grateful.
Michelle Hazen…you’re my pillar. The Bob Ross to my doubts, the voice in my head and the one making llama jokes in my comment boxes—there would be no books without you. And I don’t want to write them alongside anyone else. P.S. Your tea is in the microwave.
All the awards (and tacos) should be given to Maxym Martineau, Lindsay Hess, Shanna Alderstein, and Tara Gilbert, who also provided their invaluable feedback on the first draft of this book. I am so sorry. And don’t worry, I cut that thing ;)
Everyone else who had a hand in this through years of querying and writing contests and teaching me pretty much everything I know (though they may not know it): Shira Hoffman, Shannon Powers, Kat Kerr, Lisa Rodgers, Michelle Hauck, Amy Trueblood, Sun vs Snow, Query Kombat, Brenda Drake, Pitch Wars and PitMad, Sandra Lombardo, Hoku Clements, and The Fellowship. Y’all really know your stuff. (And I probably forgot a lot of people. My bad.)
I am incredibly lucky to have the support of an adoring father and doting stepmother, who made sure I had every opportunity available growing up and did their best to be patient when I squandered most of it. Y’all are the definition of kick-ass parents, I hope you know.
To my mother in heaven: I think you’ll like Billy, Mom. I wrote him with you in mind.
Morgan Lancaster, my sister and twin flame, who sat and organized notebooks of handwritten poetry with me as a child and knew I was destined for words when all I saw was everything but… How are you not sick of me yet?
My wonderful son: you continue to inspire me daily through your kindness, selflessness, and generosity of spirit, and I have no idea where you get it from. Probably your dad.
And finally, to my darling husband: I still need five more minutes. Though I doubt forever will be enough time with you.
About the Author
Katie Golding is a racing fan with a writing problem. The recovering cheerleader lives in a small town outside of Austin, Texas, mom to a future philanthropist, and wife to a superman. Her writing playlists range from ’80s love songs to ’90s grunge to ’00s punk to new age underground in less time than it takes her to burn dinner, and she is currently at work on her next romance novel, unless she’s tweeting about it. Represented by Kelly Peterson of Rees Literary Agency. Visit her website at katiegoldingbooks.com.
Relentless in Texas
Bestselling author Kari Lynn Dell puts you right in the middle of the action with her thrilling Texas Rodeo series!
Gil Sanchez was once rodeo’s biggest and baddest hotshot. Now he’s thirteen years sober and finally free of the pain that ended his skyrocketing career. Given one last shot to claw his way back to rodeo glory, he can’t let fantasies of happily-ever-after dull his razor edge...but Carmelita White Fox is every dream he’s never let himself have.
Carma may come from a Blackfeet family noted for its healing abilities, but even she knows better than to try to fix this scarred, cynical cowboy. Yet she’s the only one who can reach past Gil’s jaded armor. Gil needs Carma just as much as she needs him, but as the pressure builds and the spotlight intensifies, they’ll have to fight like hell to save the one thing neither can live without.
“Look out, world! There’s a new cowboy in town.”
—Carolyn Brown, New York Times bestselling author, for Tangled in Texas
For more info about Sourcebooks’s books and authors, visit:
sourcebooks.com
Wreckless
Can this hometown girl beat her biggest competitor when she finally sees him as something more than her best/worst rival?
When Lorelai Hargrove traded in her cowgirl hat for a racing helmet, she vowed to sacrifice anything to earn her place in the male-dominated sport of professional motorcycle racing—her love life included. But winning a MotoGP World Championship is easier said than done when her Italian rival keeps cutting her off on the turns and sending her mixed signals off the track.
When Massimo Vitolo follows Lorelai all the way to her Memphis ranch after a confidence-shattering accident, the former foes start to see each other as more than competition. But when Lorelai’s sponsors threaten to drop her if she doesn’t bring home a MotoGP World Championship, they’ll have to decide whether a win will cost them the relationship they’d risk everything to keep.
“Vivid and fearless.”
—Kari Lynn Dell, bestselling author, for Fearless
For more info about Sourcebooks’s books and authors, visit:
sourcebooks.com
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