“It’s not what I wanted but it’s what you needed. I did it knowing I was helping you get one step closer to walking away from me.”

Tears pooled in Tanna’s eyes.

“So in the past day and a half since our fight on the phone, I had to ask myself what you saw in me and why you’d stay with me. I work crazy hours. I’ve broken more plans than I’ve made. I’ve put the care of animals above most human relationships. Oh, and I’m not getting rich doin’ it, so there’s that extra incentive for you. When I listed all the reasons why you shouldn’t be with me, heck, I didn’t even wanna get with myself.”

She released a sniffling laugh. “I always wanna get with you. As for what I see in you?” Her eyes softened. “Fletch. You’re gentle and kind, but you’re rough and raunchy too. You make me laugh, you make me think, but mostly, you make me happy. In my mind that makes you damn close to perfect.” When he opened his mouth to protest, she put her fingers across his lips. “Shut up and listen to me. August Fletcher. I love you. The crazy I-wanted-to-beat-the-fuck-outta-that-blonde at the Cattleman’s Club with you Saturday night kind of forever love.”

He eased back to look at her. “You were there?”

“For a business meeting with Chuck and Berlin Gradsky. It was a little hard to concentrate.”

“Why didn’t you come over and say something? I would’ve loved to introduce you to Tasha since we’d spent half the night talking about you.” His eyes narrowed. “Did you think something was goin’ on between us?”

“I was teary-eyed and all how could he? At first. Then I got pissy. But then I got to thinking about my friendship with Sutton and how on the outside it might appear to be more. You believed me when I said it wasn’t. I decided if I couldn’t trust you, then I had no business bein’ with you. And make no mistake; I want to be with you for the long haul. Even when I know that we’ll be spending a lot of time apart.”

“I’ve always avoided long-distance relationships because I knew they’d eventually end. This is different.” He brushed his mouth over hers. “Because you and me? Sugar twang, we’re never gonna end.”

“So what do we do to make this work?”

“Whatever it takes. You’ll train in Colorado. You’ll either come back here when you’ve got a break, or I’ll go there when I’ve got a break.”

“Sounds . . . doable. Lonely while we’re apart, but doable.” Tanna poked him in the chest. “You will get over your issue with texting. I’ll expect to get texts from you at least a couple times a day.”

He kissed her nose. “Anything you want. I’ll be lonely for you, cowgirl, especially these first few months when you’re training hard and I’m setting up the veterinary practice with my new partners.”

That got her attention. Tanna frowned at him. “What did you say?”

“Here’s my good news. In the next few months I’m combining practices with three other vets. It’ll reduce all our on-call hours during the week. And we’d only be on call one weekend a month, maybe two.”

Her grin lit up his world. “That is so awesome for you.”

“For us,” he corrected. “I foresee road trips to Colorado in my future on the weekends I’m not working. Or I can fly to where you’re competing.” He grinned. “It’d be a bonus for you to have a vet to help you look after your fancy new horse, don’tcha think?”

She laughed. “Yes. But this veterinary partnership thing came about pretty suddenly.”

Fletch pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “You came into my life suddenly and changed it completely. After being with you . . . I saw the life I wanted. The way to get it is to make some changes and this will be a good change for me.”

“For us,” she teased. “But along those same lines, bein’ here, bein’ with you helped me see that I don’t have to be the woman who defines herself only as a barrel racer. I can guarantee I won’t be on the road any more than I have to be if I have you to come home to.”

“You do.” Fletch placed a kiss in front of her ear. “I love thinking about you bein’ in our home and our bed.”

“You’re gonna make me cry.”

“No time for tears, sweetheart. We have stuff to do. When are you leaving for Colorado?”

“The day after tomorrow.”

He grinned. “So if we get you packed up fast, we can play hooky the rest of the day?”

“Mmm-hmm. And tomorrow I’ll go on calls with you, because I know you’ll have a lot of catch-up to do after playing hooky with me.” Tanna draped her arms over his shoulders. “Maybe I could be a naughty vet assistant and you could come up with creative ways to punish me at the end of the day.”

“I’m in.” He paused a little too long and a look of concern crossed her face.

“What?”

“Before we get too far into our plans for the day, I have to ask you something really important.”

Shock crossed her face. “Fletch. I don’t know if I’m ready for that.”

Fletch frowned. Then he realized he’d made the question sound a little ominous and he laughed. “I definitely want to marry you someday—sooner rather than later—but that wasn’t what I was gonna ask you.” Fletch swept her hair from his face. “I wanted to ask if we could stop by my dad’s sometime today so you can meet him.”