“What’s wrong?” She quirks a brow. Her tone is already shifting into a protective one. After everything that happened, it brought my older sister closer to me.
I shrug to reassure her.
“Nothing. It’s nothing,” I say loosely.
The horn blares, signaling the last bull rider. It pulls our attention and distracts me from that familiar feeling I only got when I was in the cabin. The mad bull bursts through the gate, kicking, doing everything and anything to get the cowboy off his back. Its hooves blast off from the ground each time, bucking and moving. Just watching this happen to the man ridinghurts my back.
The seconds feel like minutes as I watch from a distance. Slow and agonizing. Everyone begins clapping, whistling, and cheering, encouraging the man below. If this is the way I feel, I can’t imagine how it feels for the one riding. Once it hits four seconds on the massive digital clock, the bull flings the rider into the air. I cover my mouth with my palm as the entire arenaechoes with “ooos”. His body hits the ground, but it doesn’t take him long to scurry off the dirt. He climbs the gate and is over it in seconds with a look of relief all over his sweaty, gleaming face. His mouth gapes open as he clutches his ribs.
The next rider is up. I sit down scrolling through e-mails when my heart seizes in my chest at the next words that come out of the speakers.
“Gavin Ariksen. From Sleepy Coldwater, Alaska.”
CHAPTER 40
CORALINE
There’s no way.
There’s no way it can bemyGavin Ariksen. The man who’s been haunting my dreams ever since I left. It has to be a weird coincidence.
But no, it isn’t at all.
With my palm on my chest, I can feel my heart beating against my bones. My blood heats when I spot him in a black button-up and that same brown cowboy hat he wore all the time. He’s behind the gate, ready to ride, looking so good. He has more silver in his beard, and he’s put on more muscle than the last time I saw him. It’s definitely him. I would recognize those dashing blue eyes anywhere. He still has that effect on me. He pulls me in like a raging storm in the oceans. Every time I look at him, I’m always caught in his current.
It feels like a spear to the chest—a gut punch of heartache the longer my eyes linger on him, because I have no right to shout out his name from the stands. I feel it on the tip of my tongue, wanting to pour out of my mouth and cheer him on, but then it leaves as soon as I remember I left.
I left him.
I let the fear of everything get to me.
Still…what is he doing here?
“Coraline,” my sister whispers into my ear and shakes my shoulders. “Is that who I think it is?” she implores, her lips pressed together.
I nod.
“Yes,” I murmur, sniffling. “I didn’t know—” I shake my head, trying to gather my thoughts as I try to talk over the crowd’s applause and cheers. “I didn’t know he would be here. He saved my life in so many ways, and I never got to thank him.” A tear streaks down my face when I blink. Everly rubs my arms with her palms, comforting me.
I’m so proud of him.
I feel purely and genuinely happy for him. He’s here, back in Texas—his mother’s hometown and favorite place to be stationed when he was on active duty. I thought he would never leave, but he did. He made it out of Alaska.
He left the cabin.
He’s doing what he loves.
“Cowboys from all over the world compete at this rodeo every year,” she informs me.
“I know.” A hopeful smile plays across my face.
He raises his arm, making my lungs squeeze until I feel like I can’t breathe. The horn blares, and he’s off.
My hands curl around my face. If he gets hurt, I won’t be able to stomach it. I close my eyes, but still keep my head facing in his direction. A small worried whimper slips out.
“Three. Four. Five. He’s still on!” My sister jumps in her seat excitedly.
I’m going to throw up.
