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“Fastest way to get that colt broke is to go out there and break it.”
She nods and leans her head down to touch her forehead to the pony’s. “Guess we’re both taking off soon, huh?”
Her words cause my stomach to drop.
When she turns around, it damn near bottoms out.
I’ve never seen beautiful look so sad.
“Hey,” I say, closing the space between us. The sight of her sad face is like a gut punch. Her blue eyes, always filled with joy and sunshine, are dim. “What’s wrong?” I glare around the ranch. “Someone say something to you?”
“No. Nothing’s wrong.”
A lie. The red rims around her eyes tell a different story.
“Bullshit.”
Her lower lip trembles and I don’t like it. Not one damn bit. I want to track the motherfucker down who stole the sunshine from her face and beat him to a pulp.
I sweep my finger under her chin, lifting her gaze to mine. “Baby, out with it.”
“I don’t know,” she whispers, a single tear trailing down her cheek. “I had a bad day.”
I run my hands down her shoulders. “That’s why you’re here? You had a thorn day?”
A little gasp pops out of her mouth. “You remembered.” The faintest smile tugs at her lips.
I can’t forget. I’ve had thorns every damn day of my life, but this summer, my sunflower has been Ruby.
“I did. I had a thorn day. And I love the horses,” she says with a reverence that twists my stomach. “They calm me.” She casts her eyes down. “I just needed somewhere to go.”
Fuck but I hate that she didn’t come to me. That she’s trying to solve our problems at the ranch but won’t let anyone solve hers.
I wait for her to elaborate, but she doesn’t. Suddenly, I’m pissed as hell. I don’t like where we are. Some sort of tentative in-between. We’re not together, but I sure as fuck don’t want to be strangers.
Not anymore.
I’m losing it. Losing my edge, that casual indifference I’ve tried so hard to keep ever since she set foot in my town.
I used to think her a distraction on the ranch, but not anymore.
She’s more than a distraction.
More than joy.
She’s become my person to seek out. The one I want to see every morning when I wake up. I like telling her about my day, asking about hers, sleeping beside her at night and earning that dreamless, fucking fantastic night of sleep.
She’s my everything.
It feels wrong not knowing more about her.
“Horses calm me too,” I say, rubbing her arm. She smiles, despite the sad look on her face. Whatever’s bothering her, it’s my business to get to the bottom of it.
“They do?”
“Yeah. Whenever shit went wrong when I was a kid, I just lit out of my house and saddled up,” I tell her. “Spent the day at the creek and when I’d get back home, I’d be in good shape. There’s nothing as free as bein’ on a horse.”
“Free,” she whispers. Then she clears her stormy eyes and blinks up at me. “Was it like that in the rodeo?”
