Page 20 of Home Hearts Hooves

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There’s a screech, and I jolt awake.

“Boss, you in here?” Skye calls, and I pull on my boots in a flash and stand and find Skye and Connor walking through the doorway.

“Yeah, I’m here,” I reply, running my hand through my hair and pulling out a few bits of straw. Preston stirs beside me on the ground.

“How’s Daisy?” Conner asks, heading for her stall.

“She did great. We had to pull her calf, though,” I say, nudging Preston with my foot to try to get him to wake up. He makes a soft moan noise, not that dissimilar to the noises he made last night with my cock in his mouth, and it twitches at the memory.

“It was a wild storm,” Skye says, following Connor. “I can’t believe you stayed in here all night. Where’s the vet? His van’s still up by the house.”

“He’s still asleep. It was a…late night. With Daisy and the calf. You know, after the pulling we had to be sure she’d be okay, pick up on mothering and all that.”

Skye nods and follows Conner, who’s already congratulating Daisy on the birth of her new baby. I crouch beside Preston.

“Hey,” I whisper, nudging his arm. He’s lying curled up on his side, his chestnut hair a mess, straw and hay sticking out of it at all angles and his jacket unzipped halfway down, showing off his chest full of much darker hair. I resist the urge to slide my fingers through it, just barely when he stirs again.

“Hey, is it morning?” he groans.

“Yep, and Connor and Skye are here to see Daisy,” I whisper, and that has him sitting bolt upright and straightening himself up.

“Oh, okay, umm, what a wild night, hey, guys?” he calls to them, and both Connor and Skye reply with a “Yep.”

“How is the rest of the menagerie of madness?” Preston asks.

“What now?” I ask, looking down at him as he fumbles with his shoes. Boots are much easier; I slipped mine on in a second when Skye opened the barn door.

“Sorry, it’s just with all the oddballs you’ve taken in over the last twelve months, it sort of became my nickname for this place.”

It’s a pretty fitting name given what we deal with every day on this ranch, that’s for sure. Last night’s activities included. But I don’t know how I feel about the madness part; mayhem may have been a better fit.”

“Atlas is checking on the horses, the cows and minis are all fine, and the goats are on the roof of the main house, so I guess they’re good, too,” Connor replies.

“I guess I’ll go deal with them. How about the lamas and the pigs?” I ask.

“Perry is with them, said they’re fine. Good thing we got them all away when we did. That was a hell-fired storm.”

“Sure was.”

“So how is our new mama? Bet she never thought becoming a parent would be so darn exciting,” Connor says, and I swear I see Preston frown for a second as he stands.

“I should go check on the clinic,” Preston says, heading for the door.

“Sure, umm, okay.”

“See you later.”

“Yeah… ahh, see you, and umm, thanks again for…last night.”

“Don’t mention it,” he replies, and then he’s gone.

What the fuck was that?

Chapter eight

PRESTON

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