Page 62 of Never Left You

She hummed again, looking up at Luna. The horse moved then, taking a few steps before kneeling down, laying on her side with her head resting on Abi’s lap. Abi began playing with her mane. Her fingers threaded through the dark black hair. She seemed at peace here with Luna, even if she was tired beyond allreason. The more I watched her interact with the mare, the more sense it made.

“You don’t care that Rhett hasn’t been mucking out the stalls, do you?”

She shook her head, her hands running through Luna’s mane. “Not in the slightest.”

“You like it in here,” I stated.

Softly, she nodded again. “I love it here.” Her head hit the gate with a bang. “The stables are probably my favorite place on the entire ranch.” She shrugged her shoulder. “I’ve always loved being around the horses. I spent most of my time growing up in here.”

“Getting in everyone’s way?” I teased.

“Hell no.” She looked shocked that I would suggest such a thing. “I was mucking stalls. I was feeding the horses. I was giving them baths. I was riding them, breaking them. I was walking colicky horses all night long. I barrel raced—”

“You barrel raced?” I asked, taken aback that in the years I’d known her I hadn’t known that.

“Not professionally, just for fun. I was the flag girl at some rodeos, though. Smaller ones mainly.”

My imagination drifted to Abi in her teenage years, spending all of her time with her favorite horses, dressed to the nines as she waved the flag for the national anthem, maybe even entering into Miss Rodeo Idaho. I smiled at the thought. Even if it was all made up, not really knowing who Abi was before I had met her that day at the rodeo, I could see it.

“What are you thinking about over there?” Abi’s voice pulled me back to reality. I turned to see her, her neck tilted away from me, both her eyebrows raised.

“You as Miss Rodeo Idaho.”

Abi let out a loud laugh that echoed through the stable. Luna lifted her head slightly but laid it back on Abi’s legs.

“I would never pass as Miss Rodeo Anything. Miss Rodeo Has-the-Most-Manure-Under-Her-Nails maybe.” Lifting a hand Abi looked at her fingers. “I can never keep them spotless.”

I looked at her hand. “Do you remember when we met?”

“Oh.” She dropped her arm back on Luna’s mane. “When you thought I was a buckle bunny?”

I scuffed, “No—”

“I clearly remember you hitting on me.”

“How could I not? I saw a beautiful woman standing alone, only my pickup line was terrible.”

“Didn’t you say something like, ‘Is this your first rodeo?’” She mocked my accent, turning to look at me.

Any fear that I had said the wrong thing drifted the moment I saw the blush hit her cheeks. I tilted my lips into a smile. Chuckling breathily, I broke her gaze and looked at her hand. I gently slid her palm in mine, turning to hold her fingers to take in the delicate features, even if she claimed she could never keep them spotless. “You told me, and I think your exact words that day were, “More often than not, I have some kind of shit under my fingernails.’”

“Well, I do.” Abi’s laugh was light, but fun. Her fingers moved against my skin, slowly wrapping around my own, taking in the moment just as I was.

Me and her, just us. There were no distractions of the ranch to take us from each other, and I had the deepest urge to kiss the pinkish tint that still lingered on her cheeks, and then her lips.

“You look good with that shit under your fingernails,” I finally said, almost a whisper.

“I’m not sure if I should take that as a compliment or…”

“Definitely a compliment. You’re not a buckle bunny. You’re not a rodeo queen or a spotless girl who thinks she knows what it takes to run a ranch. You get your hands dirty. You muck the stalls, you ride and break them, you care for the horses and theranch. You raise your little boy to be just as strong as you. You’re absolutely amazing, Abi. The shit under your fingernails just proves it.”

She inhaled, her lips parting softly.

I could kiss her, right here, right now. No one to stop me, nothing to ruin it. And I wanted to. I could almost feel her lips on mine…

Reaching up, acting on pure instinct, my fingers lightly brushed her chin. Her skin was warm even in the chill of the barn, and soft…just as soft as I’d imagined. The specks of blue in her eyes, that perfect Cupid's bow of her lips…

She blinked; her eyelashes fluttered as she took a deep inhale. Moving the weight of her body, she rested her head on my shoulder. Did she know I wanted to kiss her? For the second time in less than a week? She had to have known. She looked as if she wanted me too. Next to me, I felt her body rise and fall with each breath she took. I kissed the top of her head, resting my cheek against her hair.

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