Ride the Sky (Runaway Ranch, #4)

by Ava Hunter

I want to go where no one can find me. End of the earth. End of the sky.

The order raises my hackles. Curls my toes. I shouldn’t like a man telling me what to do, but it’s different with Wyatt Montgomery.

“You want to blow off steam, you come find me.” I take a step forward and grip her jaw. “And me only.”

“You’re trouble.” She grins back. “I am. But you’re used to it.”

She turns me on when she’s mean to me. Christ, I’ve never loved anything more than Fallon’s bite.

I can count on Davis and Ford to bail my ass out, but the one who’s gonna be sitting beside me in cuffs is Charlie.

My heart feels like it’s being torn from my chest. Her panic, her pain. I can feel them. This isn’t happening. It’s not real. It’s not my fucking girl in that ring.

“She is family,” I snarl and give the doctor a hard shove and a glare. “She’s my fucking wife.”

YESSSSSS

That I love her. That I’m a love-sick bastard for the vicious, terrible, amazing Fallon McGraw. That the last year has been hell on Earth without her. That every part of me belongs to Fallon, and she doesn’t know it. That the absolute worst feeling in the world is loving a woman who can’t fucking stand you.

“You stayed on that bull for seven seconds.” Wyatt’s soft, soothing drawl rolls through me better than any pain pill. “Nobody could believe it. They couldn’t breathe. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. You were the wind. You rode the fucking sky.” I lower my arm to look at him. “I did?” He smiles. “Yeah, Trouble. You did.”

“I’d take it if I could.” “B-Bullshit.” Her wheezing breaths don’t make me feel any better. I move faster. “You’re gonna be okay, Fallon.”

“I go first. I go fucking first, Trouble, and don’t you forget it.” Die for her. Always.

I say it to get under her skin. To shock some emotion back into those gorgeous hazel eyes. Maybe I say it because I like it, too. It’s like poking a bear.

“Don’t lose your job because of me.” His voice is gruff. Gravel. “I’d lose everything for you if it meant you got better.”

“Kid, I’m tellin’ you once. That woman’s my wife, and if you say one more word about her, I will fail you so fucking fast you’ll go back to your shitty hometown and work at your local burger dive.”

It is enough. You’re alive. You’re here, and you’re mine. And if you ever go anywhere again, I’ll lose my ever-loving mind.

“Don’t make me worry about you, Trouble. I can’t do it again.”

Ready to break all my rules for just one cowboy.

“I haven’t felt whole since you left.”

“You are the bravest, the best person I have ever known, Fallon. If anyone can get back on a horse, it’s you.”

The cowboy who sat with my father during his chemo sessions. Who roughhoused with his brothers but was gentle and kind to any little kid who rode at the ranch. Who can get a horse to do anything he asks. Who argued with me for hours in motel rooms about life and music and books. Who sat with me in the hospital after Aiden and never once let go of my hand.

She’s gonna do it. Prove everyone wrong and ride again. It makes me proud. It scares the shit out of me.

“I’ve felt you, Fallon. I’ve fucked you. I’ve held you in my arms as you bled out and begged you to fuckin’ stay. So you lie to me again and tell me there’s no us, I fuckin’ dare you.”

Even so, she’s still the same girl I’ve loved all these years, and getting her worked up is a goddamn honor.

Her eyes widen. “We don’t kiss.” “We do now,” I tell her right before slamming my lips to hers.

Finally

“Not a mistake.” He nips my throat, a sharp, branding claim. “No mistake about this. No mistake about our marriage.”

“Got it when you left. Needed something of you, needed you with me.”

Screaming

“You missed me?” I purr. “Baby, I fucking ached for you.”

A ragged sigh shakes out of him. “Christ, Fallon, don’t kick me out of your fucking bed.” He’s looking at me like I’ll kill him if I tell him to go.

That’s what life’s all about, ain’t it? Strong whiskey and lovin’ a good woman? Suddenly, it’s all I want in the world.

I need to remind this stubborn woman I’m hers. She comes to me when she needs something. When she’s in trouble. I’ll lose my mind if it’s anyone else.

“You come to me.” My words are harsh, demanding. “I take care of my wife. No one else.”

Yeah, I know about Fallon. I know the way she screams when I eat her out like my last fucking meal. How she takes her coffee—black as her heart. How her name looks on the sole of my boot—fucking perfect. And the way she secretly likes to cuddle after sex even though she’d rather die than admit it. I know she’s my fucking wife and I plan to keep it that way.

“Living without her killed me,” I admit hoarsely.

In the kitchen at midnight. Under the eaves of the front porch. Behind the barn. Lord, I cannot stop kissing Wyatt Montgomery.

My heart pounds as he kicks down the grass with his boots to make a path for me.

He is the king of acts of service

My body aches to claim Fallon with more than just words. To call her my wife and tell her to get fucking used to it. To kiss her in front of everyone. To claim her. For good.

“You deserve everything good and beautiful, Fallon. You deserve wild horses and sunsets. And you deserve me.” He grins. “Hell, we deserve each other. Too reckless, too stupid.”

A warmth spreads inside of me. Like broken pieces of myself being filled with gold.

“You and that cowboy of yours deserve all the happily-ever-afters, and I know someday soon you’ll get them.”

I examine my bare ring finger, remembering the gold bands I made Wyatt get rid of.

Yeah as if he did

“A kiss is never just a kiss,” Ruby breathes. “Not with a cowboy.”

His throat bobs. “I had it made for you.”

Omg

Wyatt takes a step forward, says coolly, “I’m from the south. When I say what did you say I’m not askin’ you to repeat, I’m askin’ if you’re good with Jesus, because you ’bout to meet him.”

“I can’t fucking stand it,” he says thickly, eyes shuttering as if he’s in pain. “The thought of someone else touchin’ you. The thought of you and another man.” His hand grips my jaw. Squeezes. “No fuckin’ way, Fallon.”

“You’re my wife, Fallon. I’m the only man who should be fucking you tonight and every night after.”

“Everyone will talk,” she murmurs. “Good.” I hope the entire fucking town is talking about the fact that Fallon McGraw’s my wife.

“You’re the furthest thing from a fuckup, Wyatt.” Fallon’s eyes are misty. “The way you train those kids. They way you are with the horses. You’re so damn good.” Her voice shakes. “Being gentle, being kind, that makes a man.” She touches her heart. “I’ve never met anyone like you, Wyatt. When everyone was against me, there was only you. You show me over and over again what it means to be safe.”

Suddenly, all I want to do is just exist on this flying rock in space. Exist with Wyatt Montgomery. I could live happy. I could die happy.

“Don’t protect your heart by pretending you don’t have one.”