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The night is long, and the party is wild as we celebrate Ransack’s reopening.

The bar is a mess of music and shots. Even Zander makes an appearance at one point, but he avoids my brothers and Shane’s club. The guys reluctantly saved Zander’s life that night Jackson shot him, but it didn’t make them friends. Zander is still doing Big Oil’s bidding, trying to buy up our land.

By the time it’s early morning and we’re only a couple hours away from closing, the crowd has thinned. I’ve ditched the cowgirl hat and tied my hair in a knot on my head. Even with our brand-new air conditioner and a summer dress, it’s sweltering in here.

Shane slides up behind me, wrapping an arm around my waist.

“I’m gross from working all night. You should probably wait to touch me until I shower,” I tell him as he kisses the side of my neck.

“You’re perfect always. Now take a break with me.”

I glance over my shoulder. “We’re busy.”

“Elsie already said she can cover for you, and your new bartenders are killing it. Give me thirty minutes. We’ll be back before closing.”

“Back?” My eyebrows scrunch. “Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.” Shane snags my hand, leading me out the back of the bar before I have time to argue.

I’m giggling as he shoves a helmet on my head, grumbling about how my dress is not proper riding attire. But he doesn’t make me change. He helps me onto the back of his bike and takes off down the road.

I wrap around him, wondering if this is why he hasn’t had a drink all night. Apart from tasting the moonshine while waiting for the bar to open, he’s stuck to water.

Shane turns right, heading north on the long, empty stretch of road that leads out of Lanceleaf. This road eventually reaches Ironside Ridge, but he pulls to the side a quarter of the way there and cuts the engine.

When he holds out his hand, I’m careful climbing off so I don’t burn myself on the exhaust. But the second I’m standing, Shane grabs my hips and picks me up so I’m straddling him on his bike.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I smile as he peels off our helmets and hangs them on the handlebars.

“Taking a minute to appreciate how beautiful you are tonight.” He grins, tucking my hair behind my ear. “Do you know where we are?”

I glance around. Nothing but empty desert stretches for miles. Downtown is a distant bundle of lights. Overhead, the moon is full.

“The middle of nowhere?” My eyebrows pinch.

“Yeah, the middle of nowhere. Where I met you.” Shane cups my jaw, pressing a soft kiss to my mouth.

“Here exactly?”

“Here exactly. You made this spot kind of hard to forget.”

My arms wrap his shoulders. “Well aren’t you a romantic tonight, Shane Donovan.”

His grin is absolutely beautiful in the moonlight. And even though he shaved this morning, there’s already stubble growing back, adding an edge to his perfect face.

“You’re a Texas tornado, Harloe Harrison. The second I saw you wandering down the road in that fluffy white dress, I knew my life was never going to be the same. You changed me.”

I pull my lower lip between my teeth. “You did the same.”

“I’m glad to hear that, cowgirl. But this is my speech.” He smiles when I laugh, reaching into his pocket to fish for something. “You’re so far out of my league, and I can’t figure out why you gave me a chance. You’re smart, beautiful, and you have the biggest heart. No one is the same once they’ve met you, and I sure as hell am nothing without you in my life. I messed up once by letting you run away from me, but I’m never doing that again. You want to run, fine, I’ll run with you. You want to stay, then I’ll be beside you. So long as I have you in my life, that’s all that matters.”

He lifts a ring between us. Moonlight glints against a sparkling band of sapphires.

“Shane—” My breath catches.

“Blue like your eyes because you don’t like diamonds. Harloe, I’ve been yours since the moment I first saw you and you tried to make me go away. Since you first hot-wired one of my trucks and stole it. Since I helped you clean a neon pink dick off the bar window.”

A laugh bursts out of me. It’s ridiculous hearing him say it all out loud, and it makes me wonder how we even got here.