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“Gabriel, I swear to?—”
“Don’t you use the Lord’s name in vain,” I repeat what our great-grandmother always says.
“I’m hanging up on you,” she warns me before she does it. I look down at the phone, wondering if she really did it and see that she really did.
I pull off my shirt and jeans before grabbing my work jeans and a thermal long-sleeve shirt before rushing out the door and making my way to the barn. I pull up at the same time as my cousin JB. “Are you just getting here?” he asks me, shocked. Usually when we get a whole herd coming in, all hands are on deck.
“Alarm clock didn’t work,” I lie to him, walking into the barn and seeing Charlie there with his father, Quinn, and my Uncle Casey, who looks over at me. My eyes go to my father’s, whose eyebrows rise when he sees me walking in.
“Where the fuck have you been?” my uncle asks me when I get close enough.
“I slept in.” I avoid looking at anyone and look around at nothing.
“You slept in?” My father immediately calls me on my bullshit. “You haven’t slept in since you were one day old.” He glares at me. “Hated sleep, thought you would be missing out on something.”
“He was with a girl.” Charlie snickers, and JB smacks my shoulder.
“Thought you were walking lighter. Your balls aren’t hitting your knees anymore,” JB jokes, snickering.
“Are we going to stand around and discuss my balls”—I grab my cowboy hat from the hook by the desk—“or are we going to unload the horses?” I don’t wait for them to answer me before I walk out.
“The horse whisperer has spoken,” Quinn says, and I look over my shoulder when he uses my nickname. “Saddle up.”
From the time I was able to sit up straight, I was on a horse. I was on them with my father, uncle, cousins—if they were going on the horse, I wanted on with them too. There was something about getting on a wild horse and showing her how she could trust you. How you could tame her. Apparently, I had a gift, and that was it. From when I was ten, I think, they took me with them when they received the horses. I would help guide them into their new stable and pick a couple to train. I knew this was what I wanted to do. The bar sort of fell into my lap. My grandmother used to own it but then passed it to Amelia, but then she was thinking of selling it. So my sister, Aubrey, and I decided to buy it and expand. She takes care of the big one while I run the smaller one, which is where I met Zara.
I walk into the stall my horse is in, grabbing his reins. “How are we doing today?” I ask him as I walk with him out to the field.
“Don’t know what you did last night,” Charlie says, “but you are definitely walking lighter.” They all laugh, but my Uncle Casey just eyes me. There is no smile on his face but a look that says he’s watching me.
I put my foot in my stirrup before mounting my boy. “We have a long day, boys.” I look at them. “Time to work and not think about what I’ve been doing with my balls.”
“The question is,” my father ponders, coming beside me on his own horse, “who have you been doing?”
I look down at the reins in my hands. “You should know, Dad, a gentleman never tells.” I smirk, before giving my boy a little kick.
13
ZARA
I slide on the black pair of tights before grabbing the white bra and then the thick knitted turtleneck sweater that fits just a bit past the hem of my tights. I slide on a pair of white socks while the phone rings from beside me on the bed. Sofia’s name pops up with the picture of her and RC, their baby boy, who is named Reed Cooper, but we call him RC. “Hey,” I answer.
“Please, for the love of everything that is golden,” she starts, and I can’t help but laugh at some of her expressions, “tell me you did not, will not, sleep with Gabriel.”
I gasp out in shock. “What?”
“He called me not too long ago and wanted your number.” I close my eyes, and if he was here in front of me, I’d kick him in the shin. She whispers, “Zara.”
I close my eyes. “It’s nothing.”
She immediately groans, “Why? How? He just came to give you a key?”
I try not to laugh at her. “It sort of happened before that.”
“You’ve been there for a week.”
“It happened the first day I got here,” I mumble, hoping she isn’t going to catch it, but she does.
“Shut up.” I can hear her hand hitting some counter. “You are going to need to explain this a little bit more.”
