Epilogue
LEVI
Buddy doesn’t flinch when I open the stall. He watches me with his ears forward and gaze steady.
“Don’t let it go to your head,” I mutter, stepping inside.
Behind me, I hear her laugh. Dakota leans against the doorframe, arms crossed, sunlight catching in her auburn locks.
“You love him,” she says.
“I tolerate him.”
“Sure you do.”
I reach out, running a hand down the horse’s neck—solid and calm.
Different now, too.
She steps in beside me, close without hesitation now. She belongs here. She belongs with me.
“You’ve got a group coming in this afternoon,” she says. “Try not to scare them off.”
“No promises.”
She smiles, then glances toward the open barn doors where the ranch stretches out wide and bright.
“And why not?” She arches a brow, lips parting.
“Because I’ve been thinking about you all day. Thinking about our last romp in the barn, too.” I step closer, voice dropping to dark velvet. “And maybe… just maybe, I’d like to eat more hay with you.”
“That what we’re calling it now?” she asks with a giggle.
“Call it whatever you like,” I say, grabbing her hips and pressing her hard against me. “Just don’t call it one night.”
She studies me for a long moment, warmth pooling in her eyes. “Not one night? What else do you have in mind, then, cowboy?”
“You and me riding off into the sunset together.”
“Like an old Western?”
“Like something that doesn’t get measured in goodbyes. Something that lasts.”
“Like trust,” she says softer now, eyes swirling with love. “The kind of trust that turns slaughter horses into loyal companions—”
“And broken men into ones who don’t leave.”
Her hand comes up, palming my cheek. “I trust you with every part of me. Even my heart.”
That’s all I need, throat going so tight I can’t speak. My vision blurs, and I press a kiss to the top of her head.
She can feel the words inside me. Even the ones I can’t quite say…
Yet.
And for once—maybe the first time in my life—I know I’ve finally found something worth holding onto.
He fixed the horse. She fixed his heart.
Now, under the glow of small-town lights, Levi Winchester is about to learn something new—how to take Dakota Sage on a date in Saddlehorn and how to love her out loud.