Chapter 24
twenty-four
Gage
Watching Sloane leave again is devastating. I keep telling myself I need to stop putting myself through this kind of pain, but a part of me still believes I deserve it.
I'm certain it’s stupid, but when you’ve been stomped on most of your life, you start to believe that people leaving you aren’t the exception—it’s just par for the course.
Now, I know Sloane hasn’t fully left. She’s contractually obligated to come back to the ranch, but that doesn’t change the sour taste in my mouth knowing that in a few short weeks, that obligation disappears.
The next time she walks away, it’ll be for good—and I’ll have no one to blame but myself.
It wasn’t that her idea was a bad one. Hell, it was something I’d been circling myself for a while now. After she discovered the pipe—and after I finally started to truly listen to her—I began wondering if having her as a permanent owner would really be a bad thing at all.
She already runs the place far better than either Uncle Sam or I ever did. Time and time again, she’s proven that she knows exactly what she’s doing, and if not for her, I’d never have known about any of the shit Horizon was pulling—or Fred.
If anyone deserves this ranch, it’s her.
I just didn’t want to see it—didn’t expect to admit it out loud.
My trust is still unstable, but it has nothing to do with her. The truth is, I’m afraid of what happens if I let myself choose happiness. The moment I drop my guard feels like the moment everything could fall apart again.
But Sloane isn’t Marlene. Not even close.
Marlene never did anything remotely close to what Sloane has done for this place. She ran the books—badly—and skimmed from the top, but she never cared about what happened here.
She never got her hands dirty, never asked questions, never bothered getting to know the ranch hands while hiding away in the office.
But Sloane did. And she cares—deeply.
It made my decision a little easier when she left for Austin this morning. I knew there was a good chance she was meeting with Horizon at their headquarters to talk about the deal, but I wanted to beat her to it.
She had a longer drive than I did, so when I got into town, I raced straight to Monty’s office, bypassing his assistant and heading inside.
He looks up while on the phone, rolling his eyes. “I'm gonna have to call you back.” He hangs up and holds his hands up. “Hollis, you cannot just barge in like that. I could have had another client in here,” he explains, but I wave him off.
“But you didn’t.”
He looks past me at his assistant before waving her off and motioning me inside. I shut the door behind me and take a seat. “I want to sign a deal.”
He sighs deeply. “I already told you, Gage. Six months is the deal,” he says, and I shake my head.
“Not to buy her out,” I say. “To make her a permanent partner.”
Monty looks visibly stunned, which is expected. I’ve spent most of this time annoying him with phone calls, trying to find a loophole around the six-month clause, and now I’m telling him I don’t need six months—and I don’t need a loophole.
I just need Sloane.
“Come again?”
“You heard me. If keeping Sloane as part-owner helps get the land out of lien status and protects the ranch indefinitely, then I want her to be part of it. Besides, she already saved everything here. That’s gotta count for something,” I explain, shrugging as he narrows his eyes curiously—and rightfully so.
I’m sure he thinks I’ve gone insane, but he also doesn’t know all we’ve gone through together. All the ups and downs feel worth it if it means it ends with us.
He hums, leaning back in his chair instead of nodding right away. “That’ll do it,” he says finally, studying me like he’s weighing something heavier than paperwork. Then he rolls his chair to the side and sifts through his file cabinet.
“Honestly, your uncle was hoping for this outcome,” he adds, pulling a pre-drawn contract from the file like he’s been waiting years to use it.
“So you already had it written?”
He sighs. “Well, you know how Sam is. He prepares for the best outcome and expects the worst, but I think he’ll be proud to know that this is how things turned out,” he says as he places the revision in front of me, all the legal documentation laid out neatly—with Sloane’s name on it.
I sign it right away, not needing to wait any longer or read it over. I'm certain nothing horrible would be written in it if Uncle Sam and Monty created the thing together.
As I sit back, staring at my signature on the line, I’m in disbelief that I actually did that. I just signed a deal to make Sloane a permanent co-owner of Hollis Ranch.
The only thing left to do now is tell her.
“I’ll have it notarized now and get you a copy,” Monty says, getting up and walking out the door.
Left alone in his office, I start thinking about what I’ll say or do when I see her next. She’s going to come back, but will she even want to see me? Will she hear me out anymore?
I wouldn’t blame her if she didn’t—but it’s going to come down to making her listen.
I haven’t been great at communicating, but I want to try. I’ll probably always think that Sloane deserves more than me, but I also know those thoughts are what got me into this mess of doubt in the first place.
I can’t keep putting myself down just because I think I earned it. It won’t do either of us any good. Things have to change if I want Sloane to stick around.
Monty steps back inside and hands me two copies.
“One for your records and one for Miss Carter’s,” he clarifies. I smirk briefly before standing up and shaking his hand—partly to thank him for putting up with all my shit, and mostly for getting things done so quickly.
I won’t need my copy, though. I’m going to be doing whatever it takes to keep that woman at my side. We’ll only ever need one copy.
As I step out of the office and onto the curb, I hop across the street to the feed store and take in all the random memos, business cards, and flyers. I pull a tack off the board and pin my copy up there with the rest of them.
Now everyone in Bell River will know that Sloane Carter made it through this stone-cold heart—and that Hollis Ranch will be making some changes.
I take a deep breath and feel lighter as I stare at the revision document. It’s final, and everything can finally fall into place. Now all I need to do is head back and wait for her.
I drive back home and do a couple of small chores around the ranch to keep my mind busy while I wait. She’s been gone a long time, and of course she hasn’t called or texted—which I shouldn’t expect.
My guess is she needed to get away—on top of talking about the possible deal—not that she can openly sell it now without my consent.
But I don’t think she will.
My mind keeps returning to her words, to the way she said she isn’t vindictive. And everything she’s done has backed that up. She didn’t open talks with Horizon out of spite or greed—she did it to protect herself, to make sure she’d never be trapped without options.
I get that, especially since I left those acres in her hands if she ever needed them.
Even so, I still don’t believe she’d sell. Her heart is too big for that—especially knowing it would hand the ranch to the very people who tried to steal from us at every turn.
That much, I’m confident in.
As the sun begins to set and she’s still not back, I start to wonder if she’s coming back at all tonight. I exhale slowly and turn to the guys still working.
“All that can wait until tomorrow. Get some rest—or enjoy yourselves tonight,” I tell them, tossing my gloves into a bucket as I walk away.
I step inside the house and plop down on the couch, resting my hand along the back of it. I glance to the side, and memories of that first night come racing in. All the pent-up rage is something I’ve tried to forget, but the kiss—those kisses—I can’t get them out of my head.
I can’t lose her. I just can’t.
I close my eyes tightly, but all it does is replay the memories we’ve built—the good and the bad. My mind feels like a movie theater, playing reruns of the same film, and I’m stuck as the star of it.
I wish I could turn it off, but it doesn’t stop, and it probably won’t until I finally say what I need to say.
I open my eyes just as headlights pull up to the gate. I stand and watch as she pulls in. She gets out of the car in a rush, moves up the steps, and comes inside.
She looks toward the stairs, but when she sees me, she stops short and shuts the door behind her.
“Tell me to stay,” she demands, and my heart squeezes hard in my chest. She isn’t asking—she’s telling me. It’s everything I’ve wanted for a while now, and now that it’s standing right in front of me, I feel scared… but ready.
I walk up to her and stand as close as I possibly can without touching her. I’m afraid that if I do, I’ll take it somewhere it shouldn’t go before we’ve said what needs to be said.
“Stay,” I say. “Stay with me.” I blink trying to steady myself as tears start to brim in my eyes.
“What took you so long?” she asks in a whisper, a small smile lifting her lips. I work not to gather her in my arms—but damn it, I can’t hold back. I wrap my arms around her waist and pull her closer, her arms circling my neck.
“I needed to get my head out of my ass,” I tell her, and she chuckles softly.
“At least it’s a cute ass.”
I laugh, then turn serious. “I can’t promise I won’t be difficult. I have a lot of things I haven’t fully worked out yet, but I know I want to—with you,” I explain—and promise. “I love you.”
She closes her eyes, but it doesn’t stop the tears sliding down her cheeks—or the wide grin spreading across her face. “I love you, too,” she says breathlessly.
“I promise to be patient and help you however you need,” she adds as I brush my nose against hers, wanting to stay in her presence, in her space, for as long as I can.
“You already are,” I reply. “I just didn’t want to make the decision for you. I wanted you to choose to be here,” I admit—and even as I say it, it hits me how close I came to letting her go without choosing us.
“I wanted you to choose me.”
I nod. “I will stand up to anyone and anything for you,” I tell her, and she shudders in my embrace. I pull back just enough to look into her eyes, still in awe that she’s here—that she’s mine.
She smiles warmly at me.
“We need to figure out what to do with the land liens. They expire in a few days,” she says, and for once, I don’t want to talk about the ranch—but I still have my news to share with her.
“Yeah, about that.” She frowns. “I took care of those, partner,” I add, and her eyes widen in shock. I nod so she knows what’s going through her head is, in fact, exactly what happened.
“All of Bell River knows, too. It’s pinned on the feed store,” I reply, and she shakes her head in awe.
“I don’t know what to say,” she whispers, and I stroke her cheek gently with my thumb. She leans into it.
God, I love this woman. Her beauty is blinding, her gentleness welcoming—but then there’s that strong will, sexy and enticing, too. She’s perfect in all the ways I could ever imagine the woman I want to share this life with to be.
“This ranch is yours, Sloane,” I tell her, confirming it once more. “It always was, but after everything you’ve done to keep it thriving, it only confirmed that the land was always meant to be yours,” I add as she pulls my face closer, her lips ghosting over mine.
“Ours,” she whispers. “It’s ours.”
“I like the sound of that,” I reply just as softly. She smiles once more before pressing her lips to mine, and I sigh deeply into it, feeling complete after being without this feeling for far too long.
Kissing her has become like a drug, fueling me to wake up and keep going. It feels unreal—and without it, I feel incomplete and empty. I never want to lose this. I don’t think I could survive if I did.
Her hands gently caress my neck, and I tug her closer, pressing my fingertips into her sides. She moans softly, nipping my bottom lip. I groan into her mouth, the kiss growing more heated—but just as I’m about to slide my hand up her shirt, she pulls away.
“Oh, wait.” She’s breathless as she places her hands on my chest to stop me. “Sheriff Riggins called,” she says.
“Really? We’re bringing up the sheriff right now?”
“He tried to call you, but apparently you weren’t picking up. They caught the contractor,” she continues, and I smile wider.
“He said he confessed to the break-in, too. Horizon was behind the whole thing, so it looks like the sheriff is looking to press criminal charges against the developer."
“And once the county got involved, Horizon wouldn’t be able to bury this with money.”
I never thought I’d hear these words, but here they are. If someone had told me six months ago that my life would be shaping up this way—with my ranch intact and the woman I love at my side, running it with me—I’d have told them they were damn fools.
I stopped believing that love was possible, or that I was meant to have good things. For a while, I didn’t even think I’d end up with the ranch. But now, I have all I could ever want.
“This night just keeps getting better,” I tell her.
I knew Fred would get caught. It was only a matter of time. “I’ll bet that as soon as the sheriff showed up at his house with a badge and a warrant…” he knew he was in some deep shit.” It wasn’t hard to miss that he was part of the break-ins, too.
Money makes even good people desperate, and I think that’s what led to his downfall.
Now he’s going to pay for it—but at least he won’t be the only one going down. Will anything come out of going after Horizon? Who knows. Big companies are notorious for paying settlements, hoping it gives them a clean slate, but they’ve got a lot of cleaning up to do.
I hardly think a payout will make any town willing to work with them after this.
Sloane smirks at me, running her hands down my clothed chest to the belt at my waist. She tugs on it, pulling me closer as she bites her bottom lip.
“I know how to make it even better.” Her voice is low and tempting, filled with desire—and damn it, if it isn’t a turn-on. Her lustful green eyes search mine for any indication I want the same thing.
I definitely do.
With a quick movement, I lift her over my shoulder and she yelps, laughing loudly.
“You don’t gotta tell me twice,” I reply as I rush us upstairs.