“The trail ride’s been going for fifty years, and the only person who’s ever been hurt accidentally stepped in the fire.
Mom pointed her fingers at her eyes and then all of us. “No fires for you.”
Cori saluted her. “Aye aye, cap’n.” Then she nudged my arm and whispered, “She didn’t say anything about hot as fire cowboys.”
I batted her arm. “Hands off mine,” I teased and stepped closer to Ray who put his arm around me.
“Let’s head to the barn,” he said, pointing toward the big red building north of the house. “The horses are already saddled and ready to go.”
The girls ran ahead toward the horses, and Cori chased after them with Mom and Dad, trying to make sure they didn’t scare the big animals.
Ray squeezed me tighter to his side and kissed the top of my head. “How’s my girl?”
“Amazed,” I said. “How did you get my mom to agree to this?”
He grinned at my family ahead of us. “My mom might have helped a little. Said she needed to ‘let loose.”
The smirk on his face made my cheeks heat, but I was still nervous. “They’re not going to die, right? I mean, that horse so much as looks at her wrong, and she’s out of here.”
“Nah.” He chuckled. “We got the oldest horses we could from the neighbors. Wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
“Good,” I said.
Up ahead, I saw Ray’s family greeting my own, and it amazed me that Ray had been able to bring all of us together. He had a special kind of magic all his own.
I waited along the fence as Colton helped Cara onto the horse with him and Laura sat Tarra on her horse and climbed up. Jonah waited on the fence while Ray’s mom showed my parents and Cori how to get on a horse and begin leading it.
Ray put his other arm around me and hugged me tight. “It’s perfect, isn’t it?”
I smiled up at him, taking in his square jaw and the light in his eyes. “You are.”
He grinned down at me and kissed the tip of my nose.
The fact that my parents had come around to Ray and me dating was nothing short of a miracle. I didn’t know what had happened when they came to his ranch to talk about the Sadlers supplying beef to the store, but things were better than ever.
I’d signed up for a dorm at UCLA, their beef was one of the bestselling items at the store, and Ray and I had spent almost every weekend together since Spring Fling. Next weekend, in two weeks, we were supposed to work cattle together for the first time.
I heard a squeal and saw my mom on top of a horse, clinging to the saddle horn for dear life. I couldn’t help but laugh.
“You shush,” she called at me, slowly easing into the horse’s gate.
Dad slowly clapped his hands. “Doing great, muffin.”
Mrs. Sadler grinned at them both. “You’re next, Paul!”
I watched with my hand covering my mouth as my giant of a dad climbed onto his horse, his feet hanging well past the stirrups. Mrs. Sadler adjusted them for him and he awkwardly walked in a circle around the corrals behind my mom.
“Never thought we’d be doing this, huh?” he called to her.
Mom chuckled nervously. “Is it too late to rescind our blessing?”
“No way,” Ray yelled. “You’re a natural up there.”
Shaking my head, I leaned into his side. Ray had done exactly what he’d set out to do with the ranch. He’d given us all a seat at his family table, even the biggest of doubters, and there was nowhere else I’d rather be than sitting right next to him.
Epilogue
One Month Later
Zara
Movie night at my house had quickly expanded past what we had room for. With each of the girls having boyfriends—aside from Callie and Carson, who were just a love story waiting to happen—we now had ten people getting together on Saturday nights.
Ryde steered us into the Rushes’ driveway and parked. He got out and stretched, lifting his T-shirt to reveal a strip of tanned skin and muscles. He was hot, available, and if this worked out, set to marry me after graduation.
Any girl’s dream—except mine.
He didn’t open my door like I saw Ray do for Ginger at the next car over, so I got out on my own. Not that I needed a man to do it for me, but was it selfish to say I wanted a love like my friends had found?
I knew my