But when I got to the stables, I realized what had happened. We had them turned out in their pasture for the night, since it was finally cooling down, and the gate closest to the house was left wide open. Someone must not have closed the latch completely.
Oh, the joys of running a ranch.
I grabbed some bridles and reins and got busy chasing after horses all morning. I’d only managed to get three by the time Claire came over at six. They were being more stubborn than usual, soaking up their freedom. “What the hell happened?”
I’d had a nice hour of not thinking about last night, too focused on the horses, but seeing Claire almost had me blurting it out.
She put her hands on her hips, brows raised. “Em?”
I cleared my throat. “Someone left the latch to the pasture open.” I tossed her a few bridles. “Nice of you to show up.”
She was fifteen minutes later than usual, and the way she suddenly avoided eye contact told me I wasn’t the only one having fantastic sex. Fantastic was putting what Delilah did to me mildly. It was more like the best sex I’d ever had, and it had nothing to do with the fact that it’d been three years and everything to do with the way Delilah and I just seemed to…click.
But I couldn’tclickwith her again. Never. And God, if that didn’t absolutely fucking suck.
“Shut up,” my sister grumbled, fighting a smile, and got to work.
Another thirty minutes passed, and we were down to only six horses loose. Claire and I were both sweating, irritated, and wondering how the fuck this happened. We’d be having a long talk with the ranch hands assigned to this part of the ranch when they got here at seven.
“Get over here!” she snapped across the yard, arms splayed out while she backed Cinnamon into a corner.
“Don’t think she likes that very much,” I laughed, wiping sweat from my brow.
“Well, I don’t like that she decided to go for an evening stroll, but here we are.” She lunged, slipping the bridle over Cinnamon’s head and led her to the stables. “You’re in time out, young lady.” Cinnamon huffed, her tail flicking. “Yeah, yeah. Cry me a river.”
The low thrumming of a bass blasted down the driveway, followed by Delilah’s cherry red Jeep coming to an abrupt stop.“Goddamnit,” I hissed, watching as the horses bolted. My eyes slammed shut with a heated breath.
“What’s going on?” Just her voice had my stomach flipping, and I was already wondering how much longer I had to endure this before things went back to normal.
I couldn’t even look at her as I said, “You just scared off the fucking horses after I’ve been chasing them for the last two hours,” half pissed at her, half scared to face her.
“How was I supposed to know?”
“Maybe don’t—” Words failed me when my eyes met hers. It all came rushing back like a tidal wave. The way she moaned for me, the way she clung to me, the way she kissed me like I was all she’d ever wanted.
Her eyes widened slightly before lowering to my mouth. God, I wanted to kiss her. And that was the problem, I didn’t know how to stop wanting just yet.
“Just forget it,” I forced out, my voice too deep to be considered normal. “Get Willow and help me chase after them. Lassos are in the tack room.” For never competing or wrangling cattle, Delilah had always been good with a lasso—a natural talent.
I wondered what othernatural talentsshe had as she wordlessly walked to the stables, hips swaying in a way that made me feel like I was burning from the inside out.
Not even two minutes later, Delilah bolted out of the stables. “Where’s my fucking horse?” she shrieked. She ran out into the pasture, chest heaving. “Where is Willow?”
My stomach sank. I squinted down at the horses that had run off. The six of them stayed close together, but none of them were Willow. I figured those were the last six, and the other nine had already been caught.
“Have you seen her?” she asked Claire, her voice dripping with worry like tar. It clung to my insides, sticky and thick. “Have you seen Willow?” she yelled across the pasture to me.
“No,” I called back. “I thought she was in the stables.”
I could hardly make out the pained expression on her face, and my heart fucking plummeted. Shit, shit,shit. My teeth ground together as I went to the stables. Nearly breaking out into a run.
Delilah came in through the other side, racing towards me. “Did you see her when you drove in?” I asked, grabbing my fifty-pound saddle out of the tack room. I propped it on my shoulder, carrying it to Birch’s stall.
She palmed her forehead, following after me. “I didn’t know to be on the lookout for wild fucking horses on my way in!”
“Don’t get pissy with me just cause you’re freaking out,” I warned.
“Yeah, I am freaking out because my fucking horse is missing, Emmett!” Her voice cracked. “What if she’s hurt? What if she ran off and made it to the highway and got hit by a truck?” I’d never seen her panicked like this, and a part of me wondered if she was letting me see her crash out because of last night. Because we were…closer now.
