“I’d rather watch you do anything,” I whisper, pressing a kiss to her temple.
We stand there together as the sun climbs over the mountains, the sky bleeding pink and gold across the horizon. My arms stay wrapped tight around her while she lifts the camera again and snaps a few more pictures.
“I know I’m only going back to New York for one night, but I already dread leaving here.”
I pull her a little closer. “That’s because this is your home now. No one likes leavin’ home, baby. But it’s only a few hours. You can see your family, have some fun, then come right back home to me.”
She twists in my arms until she’s facing me, her hands sliding up around my neck. “Next time, you’re coming with me so I don’t have to endure this alone.”
I grin down at her. “You bet. If I wouldn’t get my ass thrown in jail for leaving this town, I’d come. You know that. I’d do anything, even get in a suit and pretend to be appropriate for a few hours to impress your parents.”
What she doesn’t know is that Frankie already has men waiting for her the second she lands in New York. I made it very clear who she belongs with now.
No one touches what’s mine, and knowing she’ll be protected while she’s there lets me breathe a little easier.
She smiles softly up at me. “I don’t want you to pretend with anyone.”
She pauses for a moment, her expression turning more serious. “How is the investigation going?”
I sigh and rest my forehead against hers. “Slower than I’d like. I’ve got my new lawyer flying in this weekend to help speed the process up. He can hack anything.”
She cups my cheek gently. “What about that guy in the barn?”
I hold back a laugh. I’ve struck gold with Lola. Seeing her pretty face pressed against the glass, watching me torture a guy was quite the surprise. But her not giving a shit about it after was the real shock.
“He didn’t have much to say. We got his phone, though. That’s given us a few locations of some potential others to go after. But I’m waiting on some footage to come in. That’s gonna be what keeps me out of jail. I just need my team to find that one piece of evidence.”
She exhales slowly. “I have faith that it will all work out .”
“It has to,” I say honestly.
I brush my thumb over her lip, pulling it down slightly. “Now, how do you feel about coming to a rodeo later? Ace is on the line-up, and we always go to support him.”
Ace hasn’t competed as much this past year, but he’s been training hard, and he’s ready to get back out there again.
I want that for him. The man is one of the best bull riders in the damn country. Probably because he’s just unhinged enough to climb onto the back of a two-thousand-pound animal that wants to kill him.
“Ooo. I haven’t been to one yet. I’d love to. Can I bring Violet?”
I nod easily. “You can do anything you damn well please in this town now, Mrs. Sterling.”
She pouts her lips at me. “I can run around your ranch naked?”
I growl low in my chest. “No. Because I ain’t having my ranch hands jerking off over my wife.”
She giggles again, and the sound makes my chest swell. “Okay. Fair enough. I could take your truck and drive one hundred miles an hour?”
I bite back a grin. “You could. But you ain’t putting yourself in danger under my watch.”
“I could…”
I press my finger against her lips before she finishes that sentence. “Lola. You can go on a murder spree, and I’d cover it up for you. You can take my card and spend every last cent on it. You can go buy yourself twenty cars and a private jet. You can go line dancing. You can dance on bars. You can do whatever the hell you please, even if I do end up in jail again for murdering the guys who look at you the wrong way while you’re doing it.”
She draws in a quiet breath as I tuck a strand of hair behind her ear.
“I’ve got you, firefly. No matter what. I’ve got you.”
“Can I have a go at bull riding?” she asks.