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Winnie lets out a small groan and drops her head backagainst the metal with a dull thud. “A hot tub sounds nice and warm…”
“The silo also had police, fire trucks, and bullhorns.” I reach for my girlfriend’s hand, squeezing it and scooting closer to her side. “This is better.”
“If you guys start making out, I’m climbing down.”
Winnie rolls her eyes in the moonlight. “Settle yourself, Pax. I drove.”
“My car,” I add.
She lifts a shoulder, her breath puffing out into the crisp air between us. “What can I say? It’s grown on me.”
“Not to interrupt, but how long do we have to freeze our tits off?” comes Maria’s muffled voice from the other side of Pax.
I let out an impatient sigh. “All right, fine. I thought we could all sit up here, enjoying the view—”
“View of what? It’s practically pitch-black!” Pax complains.
“While celebrating the New Year—” I cut in, louder.
“We can celebrate in the hot tub,” Maria whines. “I didn’t know hot-tubbing was an option.”
Winnie giggles next to me, cuddling even closer. “It was a nice idea.”
“Yeah, yeah. Okay. How about this? A quick toast to Winnie Sutton, Wrangler NFR barrel-racing champion rookie and the best fucking cowboy I know…”
“Hear, hear!” Maria says, raising her bottle. “Until next year, that is!”
“Yehaw, girl!” Pax agrees.
Winnie’s smiling is blinding even in the dark. “Thanks, guys.”
“And to Maria Santos, who in her rookie professional season has collected not one, not two, but three gold buckles already and is considered a raging success…”
“Cheers to that!” Maria says, and we all clink bottles.
“And to Pax Richardson for completing his first semester at the University of Texas with a long-distance girlfriend…”
Pax shakes his head, laughing. “Thank God for sexting.”
I clink my bottle to his and then raise it one last time. “And to Walker Gibson. I still miss you, brother.”
Winnie wraps her arm around mine and holds up her bottle, clearing her throat. “One more, and then let’s get our asses down and into that hot tub. To Case Michaels, who scored a straight four-point-oh his first semester of nursing school, can ride broncsalmostas well as I can, and who, in his final time in the arena, won the gold buckle at the NFR bull-riding championship. Walker would be proud as hell of you, and so are we.”
“Cheers!” Maria and Pax echo before carefully climbing to their feet.
Winnie doesn’t move to get up. Instead, she whispers, “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
“You know you’re just as much a cowboy as I am. More, even.”
I wave her off. “Only on scholarship.”
She shakes her head. “Barrel racing doesn’t make me a cowboy any more than being a nursing student doesn’t make you one. If I’m a cowboy, it’s because I’ve got grit and I’ve pulled myself up and out of the bullshit. By that definition, you’re as much a cowboy as I am. Like it or not, Michaels,” she drawls, rocking her shoulder into mine and kicking her feet out over the edge of the platform, “we’re just a couple of kissing cowboys, you and I.”
A low chuckle escapes from the back of my throat before I press myself forward and take her chin in between my finger and thumb. “Well, we ain’t kissin’ yet.”
And then we are.
