Page 51 of Lost and Lassoed

Wes, Emmy, and I went to work haltering the six horses we were bringing out. Applejack—that old trickster—did his best to evade me, but I got him after a while.

“Looking a little rusty, Gus,” Wes called.

“Fuck off,” I called back.

I heard tires coming down the gravel road toward the stables. I looked up and saw a silver Dodge pickup approaching. The vet—Dr. Bowski, better known as Jake, or just “the vet”—had quite the truck for a man who came from the city, worked in town, and had never pulled a trailer a day in his life.

I didn’t have anything against the vet—I just thought his truck and its stupid lift kit was a bit fucking much. And when he got out of the truck, I noticed he was wearing boots. What the fuck did a vet need boots and a cowboy hat for?

Once Jake started on his exams, it was constant movement—taking horses in, bringing them out. We had thirty horses in our family herd, so we were looking at a good chunk of time.

After an hour or so, we got through the retirees, and I went to grab Maverick—Hank’s old horse.

A four-wheeler drove up and Maverick started to whinnyand nicker and swish his tail. He helped me get his halter on with enthusiasm, and when I turned to walk him out of the pasture, I saw why.

Teddy and Riley were walking toward the hitching area hand in hand. I tried not to think too hard about the way the sight of them made my stomach jump to my throat.

Teddy’s ponytail was swinging back and forth as she walked. She had on a tiny pair of denim shorts that you could barely see under her oversize Dolly Parton shirt, which I was learning was a favorite outfit of hers, and a pair of cowboy boots. In the hand that wasn’t holding Riley’s, she was carrying a bag of…Twizzlers.

Once Riley saw Emmy, she said something to Teddy, and Teddy nodded and Riley took off like a shot toward her aunt, who greeted her with open arms.

Teddy started walking toward me, and I realized I’d frozen before Maverick and I made it out of the pasture. When she reached us, she put a hand out. “I’ve got him,” she said, and I handed over the reins wordlessly—still dumbstruck.

I thought I’d have had a little more time to process our kiss this morning before seeing her again.

Fuck.

I’d kissed her this morning. After we’d said no kissing. And I wanted to kiss her again. And again. And again.

Maverick was making a hell of a lot of noise—excited to see Teddy—and she said, “Tell me all about it, Mav” as she hugged his broad neck.

“Hey,” I finally coughed out.

“Hi,” she responded. Her tone was cool. Why was her tone cool? My heart was beating at a rate that couldn’t possibly behealthy and she was just…fine? She asked me not to walk away, not to hurt her again, and now she was just…fine?

She walked away with Maverick, and I stood there, dumbfounded, staring at her back.

To add insult to injury, she walked Maverick directly to Jake. When she got close enough to him, she touched his fucking arm.

I clenched my jaw and walked out of the pasture toward Emmy and Riley. Riley jumped into my arms when I got close enough.

“Dad!” This was exactly the distraction I needed while Teddy and the vet were…making eyes at each other.

“Hi, Sunshine. What are you doing here?”

“I texted Teddy and told her we were doing exams today. She hasn’t ridden Mav in a couple of weeks, so she wanted to see him,” Emmy said as I held my daughter close to my chest.

“Why does she have Twizzlers?” I asked as I set Riley down, trying to ignore the fact that Teddy had just thrown her head back in laughter at something the vet said, which meant that the motherfucker had a prime view of her neck.

I wished that things had gone further last night. I wished that I’d left a mark that the vet could see.

“Mav likes Twizzlers.”

Riley tugged on my shirt sleeve. “Dad, can I go pet Sweetwater?” The filly had her head over the pasture fence with her eyes on Riley. They had a bond.

“Yeah, Sunshine. Looks like she wants to see you.” Riley’s curly hair bounced as she scampered toward her horse.

I looked at Teddy again, who was still smiling with the vet. What the hell were they talking about?

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