He chuckled. “Well, hurry it up.”
“Okay, okay!” I giggled as I plucked the ring up and admired it for a moment. It was vintage in nature, and the large center diamond was cut into an oval, with diamonds and swirling filigree on the rose-gold band. “Wait…are you sure you don’t want to put it on me? I won’t let you drop it, I promise.”
“O–okay.” The word trembled as much as his hand did as he held it out for me.
I placed the ring in his palm and helped him grasp it so that I could slide my ring finger through the band. My heart danced in my chest as I watched the emotions playing out on his handsome face. The love and need and want burning in his whiskey brown eyes.
“I love you, Quinn Lane,” he murmured as he settled the ring on my finger.
I smiled through happy tears. “I love you too… And I love the sound of that.”
He pulled me to him, kissing me deeply, fiercely, enough to steal my breath away. “I do too, darlin’. I do too.”
Resting my head against his, I knotted my fingers in his shoulder length hair and whispered against his lips, “Go ride that bull. Face your fears, Huxson Lane. Then come back to me. We got a wedding to plan.”
He squeezed me tighter to him, and I swear, I’d never felt so happy in my life.
The arena thrummed withmusic and cheers as I made my way to the private box we’d been given for the night for Hux’s performance. The whole crew had come to support him. Hux’s parents, Walker, all of the ranch hands—Dylan, Wyatt, Brooks, and Ollie. Whit was there, along with Cash and the Mooneys, as well as the rest of the Mercenary Ranch gang, which they liked to call themselves: Ryder, Maverick and their fiancés, Charlie and Cheyenne. Their adorable babies even tagged along for the event.
Oh, and how could I forget Cash’s uncle, Goodie?
Crazy how in just a couple months, these strangers had practically become like a new family to me.
The only one missing was Reid, and that was only because he was also riding tonight.
“How’s our boy doin’?” Mr. Mooney asked, noticing me first. I swear, nothing got past him.
“He’s ready,” I said with a soft, but no less confident grin.
He and Mr. Lane—Paul, I needed to stop calling him that. He’d told me time and time again Paul was fine—exchanged looks and nodded.
I greeted everyone, taking a few moments to fawn over Charlie and Cheyenne’s babies, before making my way to the front of the box where Whit, Ollie, and Walker stood. The last two had quickly become my closest friends back here in Texas. They hadn't replaced, nor would they ever replace Whit, but I was so glad to have them here these past two months when Whit had been busy back in California.
All the while, tension rose and rose through the box. I mean, I guess it was understandable, with Hux’s ride coming up as one of the first events to kick off the evening, but still. It left me wanting to tell them all the amazing good news just to make things feel more normal. But as much as I wanted to tell someone,anyoneat this point about my engagement, I didn’t want to make this night all about me when it was supposed to be about Hux.
Even Cash was unusually quiet, which was practically unheard of.
And what was worse, was that everyone wouldn’t stop looking at me. I could feel their stares like the heat of a thousand suns—just staring, staring, staring. It was maddening.
What were they expecting? Did they think I was going to break down or something? Why was everyone being so damn weird?
When I couldn’t take it anymore. When the weight of their stares turned suffocating, I whirled to face them all and asked, “What’s going on?”
Dotty swooped in like a vulture, settling before me in an instant. “Well, let us see it!”
“See what?” I asked.
“The ring, sweetheart! Let's see the ring.”
The entire box erupted into a fit of chaos then as everyone converged on me to see the sparkly diamond on my ring finger—well, mostly the women, though Cash was there, because, of course he was.
They’d known? How had they known? I took them all in, unable to say anything, just silently shaking my head. “What? How?” I managed to finally get out.
Dotty wrapped me in a warm hug, squeezing me tight. “Oh, honey. We all knew. How do you think he managed to pull it off?”
Walker giggled and drew me into a hug the minute her mom let go of me. “Why do you think I kept badgerin’ you all week about us gettin’ our nails done?”
“Or why I made sure you looked cute as hell,” Whit replied with a wink, squeezing me tightly after Walker.
