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I drop my gaze to the ground below Romeo. She’s wearing the boots I bought her. Glad they fit.
She steps around to my side and gives Romeo a pat. “He’s doing so well now, isn’t he?”
“Yes. he is,” I continue grooming but glance up briefly at Molly. The sun is just beginning to poke up behind her. “You’re here early.”
“Yeah. I was hoping to catch you. We finished the sleigh.”
She looks pleased with herself. She should be. They got that done a lot faster than I thought possible.
“Great. I’m impressed. How did you get that done so quickly?”
“Well, I have you to thank for that. After you talking to Bobby, he finally started moving his ass when I told him to.”
I laugh because I can’t help it. “Good.”
“So I wanted you to see it and also maybe see if you can stick around this morning and teach me how to harness the horses? And we need to check the harnesses, too, because, like the sleigh, I’m pretty sure they won’t be right.”
“Sure.” I finish checking over Romeo for signs of his blanket rubbing and go about my other checks.
Molly lifts a hoof and starts picking it out. “Is Romeo your last check?”
“Yup.”
“You know you don’t need to come out here anymore. I really do have it under control.” She stands and uses her forearm to swipe some of her shiny, chocolate hair off her face. “And Jolie and I had the training session for all the staff who are still here. We taught them everything you taught me and then some.”
Molly is the kind of person who needs to feel like she’s needed and doing a good job. I won’t deprive her of that. “I believe you do. I don’t come here to check up on you. I come here because I like being useful.”
“Oh. Well, in that case, I’m sure the horses love the extra fuss.”
We finish the morning checks, and Molly goes to grab Romeo’s super-heavy rug; her strength surprises me. It’s damn sexy, but I take the blanket out of her hands anyway, like a gentleman does.
“I got this.”
After letting Romeo off the ties, I open the corral for our boy and all but two Belgians to graze. Molly and I head over to the storage barn.
Our boots finally hit gravel.
She gazes at the ground as she talks. “I never thanked you for the boots. I wanted to do it in person, but you never came back to the apartment, and I haven’t really seen you much in general.”
“No need to thank me,” I say, but a warm sensation climbs up my torso. I’m glad she likes them. It took me longer to decide on them than it does on my own.
“I sure as hell am going to thank you. I was wearing plastic bags over my feet in the other ones.” She leans over and bumps into my arm. “That’s our secret, though.”
The corner of my mouth raises into a half-smile. I know Molly is just one of those friendly types. She’s always hugging people hello, and when she walks around with my sister, they often have their arms looped through one another’s. But all the times I had my dick in my hand thinking about her, and how highly I regard this woman… it feels like flirting.
And I like it.
She continues. “I hope you think we did a good job on the sleigh. We worked really hard. All the seasonal workers apart from two are gone now.”
“I appreciate you making this happen…”
We turn the bend of the open, double barn doors, and there, in all its glory, is one stunning twelve-person horse sleigh. I’m speechless. It hardly seems possible this got done in a week. Maybe Molly sleeps less than I do. Or maybe she charmed the remaining seasonal workers into helping for fun. Apart from Bobby, people respond to her and always seem eager to do what she needs. And even Bobby is on board now, apparently. Good thing, too, because I meant what I told him.
I walk toward the sled slowly, like I’m inspecting the Rosetta Stone or something, and start walking a circle around it. “Well, I’ll be damned. This is… something else.”
“You like it?” she asks, beaming like she’s staring at her newborn child. “I didn’t want to go with red, it seemed too cliché and obvious. It did cost extra to get the exact shade mixed at the hardware store, but I color-matched the Starlight Ranch logo, that deep purple…”
I smooth my hand along the side. “… and the trim in gold.” Yet again, Molly impresses me. Even I can’t wait for a ride in this sleigh.
