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“Not itching to go home yet?”

I think about it, then shake my head.

“Okay.” He holds his hand out to me.

“Where to?” I ask as I take it.

“Want you to meet Indigo.”

We walk back to his truck, and he opens my door, of course. I hold back the eye roll and just climb in.

“Who’s that?”

“You’ll see.”

He smirks and drives us out of the sunflower field.

After we’ve been driving for a while, I recognize the road.

“You’re taking me home?”

“No.”

That’s all he says.

“But this is the road that leads up to our ranches…”

“It is.”

Of course he doesn’t elaborate. I sigh and shake my head. “Do you ever say more than three words?”

He looks over at me, the smirk still in place. “I do.”

I roll my eyes.

When we arrive back at the ranch, he parks his truck in front of his house, then gets out and comes around to open my door. He holds his hand out to me.

“Ready?”

“Sure.” I shrug and take it.

As soon as I’m standing, he leads me around the back of his house toward the stables.

The smell of hay and horses reaches me before we even step inside. The building is bigger than I expected, with wide wooden stalls lining both sides and sunlight slipping through the open doors behind us. A few horses lift their heads as we pass, ears turning in our direction, while another hangs its head over a stall door as if hoping we might have brought breakfast.

Jude barely seems to notice them as he walks toward the far end of the stable and stops in front of one of the darker stalls.

“Meet Indigo.”

He nods toward the stall, but at first I don’t see anything. Then I hear a horse neigh, sharp and frustrated, and my eyes adjust enough to find her pressed against the wall farthest from us.

She’s beautiful. Almost completely black, with strong legs and a powerful body that makes the way she’s trying to disappear into the corner feel wrong somehow. Her head is high, her muscles tight beneath her coat, and her ears flick back as her eyes move between Jude and me, watching every tiny movement we make.

“Hi, Indigo,” I whisper as something inside me breaks a little.

She’s one of the most beautiful horses I’ve ever seen, strong enough that she shouldn’t have to be scared of anything, and yet every part of her is waiting for us to hurt her.

“What happened to you, girl?” I whisper, and I swear she studies me.