Katie
I wake up to a violent buzzing on my wrist. I see my watch flashing my alarm for 5:30 a.m.

When I try to sit up an arm pulls me against a firm chest and a nose snuggles into the back of my neck.

I slept amazing last night considering I slept on a truck bed.

And it had nothing to do with a certain boy.
Who am I kidding, Wyatt is the only reason I slept well.

"Wyatt."

"Wyatt, wake up," I whisper yell.

He doesn't move.

"Wyatt," I say louder.

He rolls over onto his back and pulls me so my head lays on his chest. His arm is wrapped around my side resting on my stomach.

Lord, I could get used to this.

"Five more minutes." Wyatt mumbles.

I giggle quietly. How can one man be super sexy and then utterly adorable?

I use my nails to pinch the skin on his hand.

He takes a sharp breath. "Let me sleep."

I grin. "Wyatt, if my father comes out of that trailer and sees us he will have a coronary embolism."

Wyatt's eyes open completely, I guess that woke him up.

He jumps up and off the truck bed. I sit up while laughing. "You should have seen your face it was priceless."

Wyatt scowls and runs his hand through his hair. His curls were sticking up everywhere and somehow it made him look even cuter.

I redo the top knot in my hair and help Wyatt fold up our blankets.

"Kate, why did you wake me up so early?" Wyatt asks in a deep sleepy voice.

"We have to feed the horses."

"Okay, but the thing doesn't start till nine. Don't you think it's a little early?" Wyatt says like a frustrated five-year-old.

"There are only two places to get water for the horses. I don't want to have to wait in line to get my horses water." I say.

Wyatt sighs. "But it's so early."

"I'm sorry I woke you from your beauty sleep, sweetie," I say in a sickeningly sweet voice.

Wyatt helps me feed and water the horses. Next, I hand him a pitchfork and we get to work on mucking out the stalls.

Once we're finished the barn is full of people.

Wyatt hands me his rake and mumbles, "Great, now everyone will see me in my pajama pants since someone couldn't wait two minutes for me to change."

I give Wyatt a grin. "I am deeply sorry for causing you this pain."

Wyatt smiles. "At least I look super sexy."

I roll my eyes and then I hear a familiar snarky voice.

"Nice outfit Flemings, I say you'll win first place in the lazy bum competition," Mackenzie yells.

At least she has better jabs than Stacy.

Before I can say my sarcastic comment about her cheating on her boyfriend, Wyatt wraps his arm around me.

"Good morning, I'm sorry I didn't catch your name," Wyatt says nicely.

McKenzie's mouth drops open like a fish.  "Who are you? I've never seen you around the rodeo circuit."

She means, "I've never sucked face with you before. Would you like to?"

I beat Wyatt in responding. "He's actually my school's quarterback."

McKenzie glares at me. "Oh."

"I heard Katie say she needed a partner so I volunteered. What kind of boyfriend would I be if I don't help her out." Wyatt says with his amazing smile.

"So you don't know how to ride then?" McKenzie asks.

"I do," Wyatt says with a fake smile.

McKenzie nods her head with a flirtatious smile. "Well if you ever need anything I'm right over there. Katie's quite boring if you know what I mean."

Wyatt's eyes harden. "Noted."

"If you look up the word bitch in the dictionary you will find a picture of her," I tell Wyatt dryly.

He chuckles and wraps his arm tighter around me. "No, you'll find a picture of her and Stacy holding hands."

Wyatt
"Wyatt you okay?" Katie yells across the arena.

I give her a thumbs up and continue lengthening and shortening Sammy's canter strides.

After we finished feeding the horses this morning we ate breakfast and changed clothes.

Now we're warming up.

Katie rides Ripley towards Derek leaning against the fence and I follow.

"Loving the shirt, Wy," Derek says grinning.

I look down. We had to wear matching shirts so Katie chose light pink.

You would think I would be agitated, but the thought of wearing something Katie chose made me giddy.

"Actually pink happens to be my best color," I respond confidently.

Derek gives me a blank look. "Sure."

"Gracie, Dad says for y'all to go to the starting line."

"Alright," Katie says as she nudges Ripley forward.

We arrive at an open field and we ride over to the other teams.

Everyone is lined up to who goes first and so on. Katie and I are going forth.

I notice Katie fidgeting with her saddle bag with worry written all over her face.

I move Sammy closer to her and take her hand. "Katie baby, it's going to be okay."

She looks at me and I notice her relax.

Last night was the best night of my life. Then waking up to Katie cuddling in my arms made my crush ten times bigger.

I don't think it's a crush anymore. I like Katie and I want more than anything for this to be real.

Today I'm going to give my heart the satisfaction of pretending it's real, and that Katie is mine.

Tomorrow I don't think my heart will be very happy.

You gotta live in the moment I guess.

I hear a scream and look over my shoulder to see McKenzie's horse spinning in circles while she tries to get on.

Finally, she jumps on and yanks on her horse's bit.

"She going to rear if McKenzie keeps on," Katie whispers.

McKenzie's horse finally calms down but you can still see the white of its eye.

Her team goes third, right before us.

Team after team leaves till it's our turn.
A judge checks our horse's tack, then a whistle is blown and we're off.

Katie
"Is that McKenzie?" Wyatt yells.

We're in the final stretch of the ride. "Yeah, that's them."

Wyatt gives me a look then lets Sammy take off causing Ripley to leap forward.

"Wait, Wyatt," I yell pulling on Ripley's mouth.

Wyatt slows down so Sammy and Ripley are side by side.

I watch McKenzie's horse and when I see it take a deep breath and shorten its stride I let Ripley go.

He takes off and Sammy follows.

All you can hear is the sound of their feet hitting the ground.

We cross the finish line two horses ahead of McKenzie.

"Do you think we were fast enough?" Wyatt asks out of breath.

"Let's hope so."

We ride back towards our trailer and get the horse cooled off and untacked.

We let the horse hand graze and Derek keeps checking the scoreboard on his phone.

"Der, you just checked it's not going to change that fast," My dad says.

"Oh my gosh!" Derek yells.

"What!" We all exclaim.

"Y'all won."

Wyatt picks me up and spins around while Derek yells, "Suck it, McKenzie."

"Derek Miles Fleming!" My dad yells.

Wyatt sits me down and stares into my eyes. "We did it, baby."

I smile and feel my body warm. "Yeah, we did."

All that planning and we won. All our hard work paid off.

We load the horses up.

Then we stop by the front desk to get our prizes.

Derek rides back with Wyatt and I ride back with my dad.

Once we get to the barn we unload the trailer and put the horses away.

Wyatt stops me. "Today went amazing."

I smile. "Yeah, it did. I guess you're a true cowboy now."

Wyatt grins then his face turns serious. "There is something I've been wanting to tell you for a while now."

I nod my head. "Okay, what is it?"

Right before he responds Derek yells, "Come on Gracie you're going to see him in three freaking hours. I am tired!"

"Hold on!" I snap.

Wyatt smiles softly. "That's okay I'll tell you later."

"Are you sure?"

Wyatt hugs me. "Yes, I'm sure. I'll be at your house at six to pick you up."

Now the easy part of the day is Dad's work gala.

Hey guys!! Sorry for the long wait.

Can't wait for the next two chapters.