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Burying my face against his neck, I took a shuddering breath and let him be the man he needed to be for me, because that was what fed his soul. That was what made him Bodhi. The fact that I’d been hung up on him made sense because of who he was and had always been, and I needed to start letting him go in my heart, because we weren’t going to happen.

“What are you thinking about?” he murmured as he loosened his arms around me, but nowhere near to let me go or even move.

“Not much,” I replied, sighing so long it made him chuckle.

“Good.” He tilted his head until he could rest it against mine, and then we just sat there.

A few minutes later, he suddenly let go of a long breath like I’d done, and somehow it reminded me of a horse that had some sort of stress release treatment done. I smiled. I loved this man so goddamn much.

After a few more minutes, I finally winced and pulled away, and he let me. “My back,” I explained.

He moved his large hands to my hips, and well, my stupid brain connected that to less platonic things. I gasped, my gaze flying to his lips without my permission.

Bodhi stilled, and when I looked up, there was a little frown on his face. He didn’t say anything though, it looked as if he was puzzling something together. I tore my gaze off his face and rolled my shoulders, one of them making a delightful clicking sound.

“Okay, I was promised food. I need to straighten my back, and you need to feed me,” I said in a gently teasing tone as I lifted myself off his lap.

Luckily, miraculously, I hadn’t gotten hard. I stood and took a couple of steps away, then bent from the waist to reach for the floor, because my back really was acting up a little. The ever-familiar crack was nice and released some of the tension, even more so when I stretched toward the ceiling and then twisted my body from side to side.

“I really need to marry a massage therapist,” I said, making Bodhi snort from his little kitchen.

“Isn’t there a saying about that sort of thing? The cobbler’s children go barefoot or something?”

I snickered, because I’d heard that sentiment, too. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

I wandered into the kitchen area and propped my hip against the counter, clearly in his way just to be a shit about it.

Bodhi narrowed his eyes at me. “I’m making shrimp tacos.”

“Sounds good. Do we wanna eat on the couch and watch something?”

He shrugged. “Sure. Any suggestions?”

“I’ve been watching this really funny horror show that I like.”

He went around me, frowning. “Funny horror?”

“Yeah. It’s genuinely pretty low on horror. Oh, and get this, if you google the name of it, on top of the page it says ‘did you mean: the next Martha’s Vineyard and definitely not cursed.’” I felt a flutter in my chest at seeing him laugh at the silly joke.

“Okay, I’ll watch an episode.”

I knew he’d want to see more than one or would watch more for me anyway.

“Deal.”

The demolition proceeded to a point where I could start making more concrete plans. The chat with Mike had been a good way to bounce ideas off someone who knew a lot about the practical side of what I was going to try to accomplish.

Now I needed to get an actual expert on recording studios on board to help. Not that finding someone to help would be hard whatsoever.

I had my phone in my hand as I walked on my property after the demo crew had left for the day. It was so close to being done. I tended to drive a ranch truck if I knew I’d be there for a while, because I hadn’t built a paddock yet. I would most likely do that, or maybe a corral type situation, depending on what Hawk thought was smartest. I’d take his expertise anytime.

Movement from the path to the ranch caught my eye, and I laughed.

“Well, hello there, girl,” I called out, and Nyx lifted her head, her tail wagging once. “Did you come to supervise?”

She’d started to hang with me more. Whenever I was on the ranch, she’d appear like a ghost and then keep an eye on me. Luke, who had taken most responsibility of the dogs figured that she was trying to make me her human.

I scratched her large head and dug out a dog treat from my pocket. These days, I kept those in my left pocket, and mints for the horses in my right.