Roped Tight (Ryker Ranch #4) - Kim Loraine Page 0,61

I sure appreciate you comin’ out to support this show. It’s changed a lot for us, and as you might know, I retired from the bull riding world this year. I did this for a few reasons, the most important being that family is everything to me, and I lost sight of that for a while. I lost a lot of things.”

A pang of longing shot through me. This was…personal.

“Now my friends from the bull riding circuit agreed to come give y’all a show, because there’s nothing that would convince me to let the contestants get on the back of any of these devils.” Another chuckle flickered through the crowd. “But before that happens, I wanna bring my family out here to introduce them to you. Come on, guys. Don’t leave me out here alone.”

Buck squeezed my shoulder before leaving me there, watching from the sidelines. The whole Ryker clan eventually joined Sammy. All of them hugging and smiling together, just as they should have been.

“Y’all know Clint, Buck, and Tristan. They kept this ranch going when we lost our dad. But it was Mama and Sera who really held things together. I’m so proud of them all, proud of who they’ve become, who they’ve chosen to spend their lives with.” He gestured to the women his brothers had fallen in love with. “But I’m missing a big part of me right now, and I’m ready to fix that.”

My gut clenched when Sam handed the mic to Clint, who looked like the thing might bite him, and caught my gaze. He jogged toward me, lips turned up in a smile.

“What are you doing, Sammy?” I asked when he came through the gate and took my hand. His brow pulled together, two dark slashes of worry marring that perfect face.

“You told me once that when I was ready, you’d shout it from the top of the courthouse. How about the middle of the arena?”

My throat tightened as his words washed over me. “Are you serious?”

“Do I look like I’m kidding?”

“You look like everything I ever wanted.”

He gripped my face between his palms and kissed me hard enough I had to reach up to hold my hat in place. Sam Ryker kissed me right there in front of every person in town, the contestants, his friends, the cameras.

“I want everyone I love out there. You’re my family too, Tuck. I’m not me without you. I tried that for too long. Come on. Please?”

Taking my hand again, this time with shaking fingers, he stared into my eyes with an open heart, bare and vulnerable. I couldn’t speak through the emotion clogging my throat. So, I nodded and the two of us walked out into the arena, hand in hand, my pulse hammering in my ears.

“I love you,” he murmured in my ear once we took up a place with his family.

“I know.”

“You didn’t just Han Solo me in the middle of my grand gesture.”

“I sure as shit did.” Then, I took off my hat and claimed his lips with mine, just in case there was any doubt about where we stood.

Cheers erupted from the audience, but I didn’t care about their reaction. I didn’t need the approval of anyone else. I never had. All I wanted was right here in my arms, and I’d never give him up again.

Epilogue

Sam

“That’s the last of it,” I said, setting the final box down in the middle of the floor. “For someone with a small house, you sure had a lot of shit.”

Tucker tossed a dishtowel at me. “Makes up for you having nothing other than your clothes and Star Wars bedsheets from when you were twelve.”

Bending down, I picked up the towel and crossed the floor of the cozy two-bedroom cabin we had built on an acre of the ranch property. It butted up against a hillside and offered a view of the creek where I’d played as a kid. It was private, quiet, and all ours.

“There’s not a damn thing wrong with Star Wars sheets.”

“And there’s also not a damn thing wrong with me having furniture and kitchen stuff like a grown man should.”

“I didn’t say there was anything wrong with it. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’ve made it real clear how sexy I think it is when you go all Bake Off and start experimenting on me.”

“Speaking of baking. Did I tell you Mama asked me to do a Christmas special with her?”

That made me smile like an idiot. Of course I knew.