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From the corner of his eye, he watched as she pressed her face into the soft, velvety spot on the side of the thoroughbred’s nose and breathed deep while her lashes drifted closed. Her husky hum of contentment slowed his hands as his dick twitched as he imagined her making that sound with her face buried against his neck.
Fuck. He was going to be rock hard in no time if she kept that up.
He moved to Taz’s other side and resumed brushing with renewed energy.
Raine ducked under the gelding’s neck and came up on the side Reyes had just moved to. “Is he a rescue, too?”
Reyes shifted toward the gelding’s hindquarters to keep some distance between them. “Yep. After my discharge from the military, I drove home from Fort Bragg through Lexington and Louisville. I spent a little time at Churchill Downs, just to see where some of Janine’s horses came from.”
She nodded as she held out her hand in obvious request for one of his brushes. “I’d want to see, too.”
So much for stress relief. He passed her the dandy brush, torn between resignation and joy at her company. “The majority of the people treat their horses like royalty,” he clarified. “They’re their bread and butter—as you well know.”
“Of course. But there are always the select assholes who view them as nothing more than a piece of equipment to be used until they stop being profitable.”
Yeah, she definitely knew. “That was Taz’s owner to a tee. The woman had so much money she could’ve easily invested the time and money into her horses, but all she cared about was racking up the wins for her stable to elevate her standing in the profession.”
“That’s pathetic,” Raine fumed. “People like that don’t even realize that true horsemen see them for the manure they are no matter how many wins they get at the expense of their animals.”
Her passion reminded him how wrong he’d been about her at the beginning. “I walked up on an argument between the owner and her trainer about putting Taz down after he’d lost three races in a row.”
Her eyes went wide in disbelief. “Like put him down put him down?”
“I was just as shocked,” Reyes said. “And so furious, I bought him on the spot.”
“I would’ve too.” Giving a low growl, she hugged his horse’s neck while turning her head to meet his gaze. “Thank God you were there.”
The emotion in her eyes had him averting his gaze or risk giving in to the urge to push her up against the wall so he could claim all that passion for himself. “I’d like to think the trainer would’ve held his ground, but I wasn’t taking any chances.”
“Did she give you a good deal?”
He snorted. “You’d think, but no. I had to clean out my savings and borrow a couple of grand from Dev.” Thirty-five thousand all total. And worth every penny when he considered the hours of therapy Taz had given him. They’d saved each other, really. “Thankfully, the trainer told her where she could shove it and then offered to drive him to Colorado for me, so that helped.”
“Surely Aunt Janine would have helped?” she asked as she resumed brushing.
Reyes shrugged. “Probably, but the only thing I asked for was a place to keep him when we got back.”
“And a job?”
“I always had the job.”
“Ah.” She smoothed the brush over Taz’s ribs, the move brin
ging her closer to where Reyes stood. “Is the woman still in the business?”
A satisfied smile tugged at his mouth as he met her gaze. “Nope. Janine made sure she got out and stayed out. Diamond connections and all.”
Raine’s answering grin skipped his pulse.
“What about the trainer?” she asked.
“Matt Wesley. He went to work for Big Sur Stables in California. In fact, one of his colts won the Derby last year.”
“Good for him. Do you guys keep in touch?”
He nodded. “He sends us horses that need to be rehabbed from time to time.”
A soft smile curved her lips as she murmured, “He makes a difference.”
