Page 106 of Hot Ice, Tennessee

“I love you more than you could possibly know,” he said before kissing me.

“Have I told you lately that you’re amazing?”

“Only about ten times today. But keep bringing that on, babe.”

I smiled, following after him as he pushed past the doors, walking inside.

As we walked in, the whole bar erupted.

“Surprise!” they said.

I looked up and saw a bunch of little streamers and garland strung around the place, most of which had little drawings of horses dangling from them.

“What?” I said.

“Surprise, love,” Jesse said, beaming at me. “Tonight we celebrateyou.”

As we walked into the place I saw why the Red Fox was closed: Ori, his parents, and even Finn and Thomas were all here, ready to… celebrateme, apparently.

What the flipping fuck?

“Wait a minute,” I said to Jesse as Kane came over to pull me into a hug. “This party can’t be for me.”

“Why not?”

“I go to parties. I help organize parties. I’ve loved other people’s surprise parties, right here in this bar. But the parties are never forme.”

“Well, this one is,” Kane said. “You can thank Jesse for that one. He planned this.”

I had a strange feeling rearing its head inside me.

Do I deserve this?

Do I even deserve someone who would think to put me first?

But as Jesse put his arm around me, I wasn’t sure I gave a damn anymore about whether or not I deserved it.

I was lucky enough tohaveit. And I wasn’t going to let this moment pass me by.

“Jesse told me that you have riding clients lined up for this week,” Kane said. His eyes met mine, and for a rare moment, I saw nothing but pure pride there. “I was so happy to hear that, Mason.”

“Oh no. Don’t make me cry, guys.”

“I know it’s not going to be easy to get back into it, but I think you’ll love what’s on the other side.”

I nodded. “I think so, too.”

Soon, we made our way over toward the bar and had cocktails in our hands within a minute. Max’s creations tonight were a mix of Coke, tequila, mango juice, a hint of thyme, with tiny cut up strawberries floating throughout.

“Bizarre, and incredible,” I said.

“God, that is tasty,” Jesse agreed.

Max nodded at us. “A yellow sticky note fell onto the ground in the back office, and I knew it was the ghost cat trying to put the idea ofyellowinto my mind. My first thought was mango, and then this cocktail was born.”

I smiled. “Ghost cat, helping people fall in love and helping Max make insane cocktails.”

“Cheers to that,” Jesse said.

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