I turn my eyes back to the screen, and read.
“While Wilson initially denied any involvement with Booth, she later independently confirmed that she has feelings for him. “Nathan Booth is the love of my life,” were her exact words. It has yet to be confirmed whether Booth returns the sentiment.”
“You’re damn right I return the sentiment,” I say fiercely.
“You still do?” Candice catches my gaze and I see all of her emotions written on her face plainly. Her love, her hope, her fear.
“I love you with everything I am.” It’s not enough—no words can capture the feeling I have when I look at her. I add, “I love you the same way I love being with horses. You are the root of my soul—of my entire being.”
Candice nods at me, and blinks back her tears. “I know exactly what you mean. I love you too.”
I swoop her up into my arms and spin her around, as she kicks her feet up and hugs me back. The crowd turns from jeering at us to whooping, and their excitement intensifies as I kiss her. Our lips fit together perfectly, her taste and smell filling my senses, consuming me.
“Nathan Booth, you will be issued an official warning if you do not exit the ring right now,” the announcer says, sounding irate.
“Yeah, yeah, leaving right now,” I call out. “Get on,” I tell Candice, motioning towards Bally. “And put this on.” I hold my hat out to her.
“You’re letting me ride your horse? And wear your hat?”
“Bally basically loves you more than me at this point,” I say. “And I want the whole damn world to know you’re mine.”
Candice nods.
“If I’m yours, then you’re mine, too.” She takes my hat out of my hands and puts it on. Then she settles her grandpa’s hat on me. “There.”
“Perfect,” I say, grinning down at her.
Candice hops on Ballantine’s back, and together, we start walking towards the exit. Seeing my girl riding my horse makes my chest swell with pride, and the crowd starts cheering for us again.
“One sec,” Candice says. “I need to take care of something.”
She stops Ballantine, turns in the saddle, and looks directly at the section where she was seated. With a wicked grin on her face, she holds up her middle finger and then blows them a kiss.
“You’ll have to explain that to me later,” I say.
We exit the ring, and Candice dismounts.
“Should we stay to see who wins?”
“Nah,” Candice says. “I already know it will be Kelly Peters. Her score was better than Brad’s.”
“Hell yeah. Kelly is the shit,” I say. “I’ll have to congratulate her later.”
We walk Ballantine over to the stables, where I make quick work of untacking him and cooling him down a bit. Once he’s tucked into his stall and munching away, I turn to Candice.
“I’m going to stop competing,” I say.
At the same time, she says, “I want to attend more of your events.”
“Wait, what?”
“I’m going to attend more of your events,” she repeats. “If we’re doing this thing for real, then I need to be there for you.”
“What about what you said before? What about stability?”
She shakes her head. “I’ll get over it. I already talked to Beau about it. The rescue can survive for a few weeks at a time without me.”
“No, no, that’s not how this will work,” I say. “I’m going to stop competing and come live with you in Star Mountain. That way you won’t have to say goodbye to me all the time. You won’t have to worry about me leaving because I’ll always be by your side.”
