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He needed her to leave on her own because he didn’t have the strength to turn her away himself. What he hadn’t expected was her change in attitude when she touched him. He had wanted her to fight with him, to call him out, yell at him. It would have made it easier to break it off. Like she had said in the beginning, this couldn’t last like he wanted it to.
It had only been nine days since he met her, and every passing moment had him more convinced that he never wanted to let her go.Even now, as she rounded the corner, and Zhair met her along the way, he felt the urge to work beside her, to not only make sure she was safe, but to touch her, feel her.
He shook off all these feelings and blanked out his mind.
She had made it clear this wasn’t the life for her. She was meant to be on the road, reporting news and fueling her creativity. So, he turned back, making his way to the circle pen. He was still worried about Ursula hurting Bailey, and he hated to admit it, but with Zhair there, he felt better. His cousin wouldn’t let her take any extra risks with that wild horse.
What surprised him was how much her being around the corner and safe, relaxed him more than her being in Aisling, doing Goddess knows what. Before he knew it, it was lunchtime, and they were both hanging on the fence, chatting, and watching him work.
“Hey, handsome. You gonna take a lunch break with us? Zhair says there’s a ranch lunch every day, but you choose not to take part in it? How you gonna make me eat sandwiches last week when we could easily have been eating hot meals?”
He didn’t answer her, merely kept running the last horse through its exercises. He needed to keep his distance, and if she wanted to eat lunch with the other ranch hands, she could.Even thinking it, his stomach was in knots, knowing the attention she would get. But this had to be the first move to stepping away. Shewould be gone by this weekend, and he needed to wrap his mind around that.
After a few minutes, they both left, laughing, and sharing random stories he only half listened to. He focused more on the enthusiasm and dramatics she put into each retelling. It fascinated him and alienated him simultaneously.It was a different world, one that he had no interest in, but it was her world, her whole life, and one she planned on going back to. He had to come to terms with that.Eating his own lunch of sandwiches at the picnic table, he wished she was sitting across from him, nibbling on a pile of pickles. He didn’t want to admit he had bought a new jar of pickles over the weekend, just for her, and now it sat unopened in the kitchen fridge.How, in such a short amount of time, had she interrupted his routine, his idyllic life?
____________________________________________________
“Zhair with Braulio?”
“Yeah.”
“She doing basics?”
“Something like that.” Braulio ducked his head, hurrying away, and he wondered if she was struggling, and they didn’t want to tell him. She’d be pissed if he went to check on her.
So, he went back to work. He had two more horses to get through before he would pull Ursula in for his training time with her. Maybe she would be too tired to fight with him after Bailey and Zhair put her through training first. Hopefully, Zhair knew to let her rest before coming to him. Scratch that, Zhair wouldn’t know that. He never paid attention to his ranch training.
“Z. Don’t work her too long. I still need to do my set with her. She will need rest before that.”
“Don’t worry about that. Bailey’s doing more petting than anything.”
That was a relief. He had visions of her fumbling around trying to do what he did, and Ursula finally snapping on her. But if she thought feeding that wild horse treats and giving her too much love would change her whole temperament, then she could do that all day. Horses, especially horses like Ursula, needed structure, routine, and to know who was in charge. He’d never had a horse that didn’t eventually calm down, and he refused to let Ursula best him.
Handing off the last horse to Braulio, he took a breath before heading to the back pasture gate to grab Ursula, but he didn’t have to go far. Bailey and Zhair were side-by-side, leading her into the training pen like she was already the most docile horse on the planet. When Bailey handed him the lead rope, she looked him up and down deliberately before smirking and brushing by him. But the slap on his ass surprised him enough to turn and look at her.
“Loosened her up for ya, hoss. Don’t undo all my work.” Her face lit up in a slow, lazy smile before she wiggled her eyebrows at him. “You should relax a little too. If you need help with that, let me know.”
He couldn’t help the tiny smile that ghosted his lip as she walked away backwards, her eyes giving him heated looks and hotter promises. Ursula stood almost completely still, watching Bailey walk away and ignoring Zhair, who had already climbed the fence and found a seat before Bailey joined him.
Surprisingly, his groundwork with Ursula went quickly and easily, like she was mocking him, until it didn’t. Just like before, she got tired of listening and as back to her old ways. He tried not to show his frustration, hoping that whatever Bailey did would have Ursula tired enough to follow commands today, but it was fine. Every day was progress.
Afterwards, when Bailey stepped into the door of the stall behind him, she didn’t need to say anything. He could feel her, but he kept his back to her to remain aloof.
“So, this is how it’s going to be? All week? You won’t even look at me?”
He clenched his jaw at the hurt in her voice. This wasn’t what he wanted, but he couldn’t relax again. It was too easy to get wrapped up in her addicting presence, to fall into the easiness of her jokes, the beauty of her smile. No, he didn’t need to look at her to see her. Her image was seared into his mind.
“It’s all business? All responsibility and obligation? Just another job for you. That’s what I am?”
“It’s how it should have been from the beginning. That’s my fault. I will fix that now.”
She didn’t move, but she also didn’t speak for a long time. So long, he thought she might have left. But when he turned, putting the hose away, she was still there, so he attempted to brush past her. Instead, she moved swiftly, surprising him enough to push him against the closed stall door.
“Unfortunately for you, I don’t feel that way. And I will continue doing what I want. Game on, Nas.”
He froze in place when she dropped to her knees, her hands expertly undoing his buckle. Before unzipping his jeans, she flattened her tongue, running it along the outline of his dick, and following it with the light touch of one finger.
“Bailey…” The raspiness in his own voice surprised him, his dick instantly hardening under her touch. But she didn’t stop, unzipping his jeans enough to pull his dick into her soft hands.
