Page 50 of The Maverick’s Legacy

Amy grinned at her. “Good. So…between Jesse and your plans to move forward with building your school, it sounds like you’re not going back on the rodeo anytime soon.”

“Nope, I already called Dex and told him to turn down the tour.”

“Yay!” Remi said, clapping her hands together. “I was low-key going to be so sad if you weren’t there for my wedding. Or worse, if you missed my bachelorette party.” She gave Carly a mock glare, her grin tugging at the corners of her mouth. “Do you know how tragic it would’ve been to drink cheap champagne without you there to make fun of me when I inevitably got sick?”

Carly snickered. “Glad to see you have your priorities in line. You wouldn’t have even noticed I wasn’t there after the second glass.”

Remi gasped in mock offense. “Of course I would have noticed. Who would hold my hair back when I got sick later that night? Amy? I think not.”

“Hey!” Amy said.

“Sorry,” Remi responded, not meaning it in the slightest. Her expression softened though as she looked at Carly. “But seriously, I’m glad you’re coming. It wouldn’t feel right without you there.”

Carly’s smile lingered, warm and a little wistful. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

The women got caught up a little more before her family finally headed out. After she finished caring for Nieve, she was in the process of returning her gear to the tack room when her phone rang.

She glanced down at the caller ID and sighed before answering it. “Hello, Dex.”

“Carly, I want you to hear me out,” Dex said in response. “There is more interest in Europe than I think either of us realized. The organizers are begging. They doubled their last offer and said you’d only have to commit for six months instead of a full year.”

Carly put the saddle on its rack, her body moving on autopilot. She’d be the highest-paid rodeo star in the world with the amount of money they were talking about. She could almost picture it—standing under the Eiffel Tower, lying on a beach in Portugal, the roar of the crowd, her name echoing through the arena. For years, that had symbolized freedom and security. But it also came with everyone wanting a piece of her and the endless pace of life on the road.

As she stood in the middle of her stable, she realized that she could breathe for the first time in forever, that she wasn’t bone-weary exhausted anymore. She didn’t want the noise and the paparazzi again. Tenacity, her family, and Jesse and Oscar were all that she wanted.

She looked through the room’s window at the paddock she’d worked hard at repairing. She could hear the soft, contented whinnying of Nieve coming from his stall in the other room. He seemed to be as happy with their break as she was.

She had two choices to make: Get back to doing what she did best. Or follow her dreams. She knew what she should do, but the idea of returning to the circuit made her feel like she was trapped in a tiny box that she’d never escape from.

“Dex, look. I know this is an amazing deal, and I’m truly honored they want me to be the headliner that bad—”

“I feel like you’re about to say no, and before you do, I also want to make sure you know that the CEO said you could use his private plane to go home whenever you want.”

Carly scoffed at that. “It’s Europe, Dex. How often do you think I can get home?”

She heard a noise behind her and swung around. Jesse stood a few feet away looking like someone had punched him in the stomach.

“I’ll call you back,” she told her agent, disconnecting the call even though he’d started speaking to her again. “Hi.”

Jesse’s eyes were shadowed, his jaw tight. For a moment, she thought he might actually turn and leave without saying a word. Her stomach dropped. All the things she’d wanted to tell him—how she wasn’t choosing the circuit, how she’d already chosen this life, chosen him—suddenly tangled on her tongue.

But he didn’t leave. “You’re going to be a headliner in Europe?”

Her phone rang again, and she turned it off.

“I was offered the opportunity,” she said carefully.

“I see.” Jesse looked pale. “I should go.”

“Wait! Don’t go! I mean…did you stop by for a reason?”

He was half-turned away, so she could only see his profile. “I wanted to revisit our earlier conversation at the café. It didn’t feel like we were finished. But I should have called.”

“You can come over here anytime.”

“Even when you’re in Europe?”

Carly walked carefully over to Jesse. “I didn’t say I accepted the offer.”