Page 51 of Head Over Spurs

“Do you think it’s possible for someone to take up residence in your heart after a single night?” she asked absently, watching the rise and fall of the horse’s flank.

“Sure do,” he replied quietly. There was a reverence to his tone that caught her by surprise.

She turned to find him watching her with abundant warmth in his eyes. Her heart stuttered, her core clenched. She never imagined a simple response could elicit such a full body reaction. But that’s what she was experiencing. Her skin heated under his gaze and her body remembered the pressure of his embrace from moments ago.

She never imagined any of this if she was being honest. Her life plan was always about the next destination. The next adventure in the wide open. Suddenly, she was finding herself reimagining the word home. New feelings being attached to the familiar concept.

And speaking of home… the twin pillars that represented her past notions of it hung at the edge of her thoughts. She wondered how much backlash there might be for running out like she did tonight. It was more of a musing than a worry, though. And she was certain that had something to do with the man sitting beside her.

Tilting her head to his shoulder, she said, “Thank you for tonight. For going, and for listening to all of our issues. And really, thank you for speaking up when my mom started in about my job.”

“I meant what I said. Including my offer to continue educating her on how special of a daughter she has.”

“Her story sounded eerily similar to my own. I was always interested in photography, but in the back of my mind I figured I’d just end up working at the equine center. The trips out of town for shoots used to be occasional, and I spent my time working for my dad in between. But it felt worse and worse being there, not like home anymore. I couldn’t stand it, so I took off. Pretty shitty of me, right? Hypocritical too.”

Riley paused for a moment, considering her question. “Itdoesn’t sound shitty of you. Or hypocritical. You lost a lot, Jules. And you did what you needed to get through it.”

“I get tired of it sometimes, the constant traveling. But I don’t know if I can trust my heart to connect with a home again.”

“You’ll know when something is worth trusting. Or someone.”

She lifted her head from his shoulder and met his stare. Jules opened her mouth to tell him that maybe she had found someone worth trying. But no sound came out.

The rustle of hay pulled their attention back to the foal. He stirred, waking.

“Hey you,” she cooed, her heart melting at his dazed expression and mused fuzz from sleep. “I’ll go make a bottle.”

She rose to return to the feed room, locating the horse-specific milk replacer that Maddie showed her only minutes ago. As she prepared the bottle, she swore she could hear Riley talking in a dulcet tone to the horse.

Oh, she needed to fortify her defenses tonight. Because the only thing hotter than the rugged side of him, was the side that spoke with her about what was on her heart and comforted baby animals.

And she’d be here overnight with that version of Riley.

Taking a deep breath, she tightened her grip on the bottle and strolled confidently back across the aisle.

The confidence didn’t last long.

As she entered the stall, she found Riley sitting with the horse’s head on his lap, stroking him and murmuring sweet nothings to the frail animal. He lifted his gaze at her return, stealing her breath with his tender expression.

“He cozied right up to me,” Riley started hurriedly. “I fully believe imprinting is bad, but he has no one. We can’t even introduce him to the herd until we’re sure he’s not carrying an infection.”

Jules smiled, dropping to her knees at his side. “You don’t have to explain anything to me.” She held out the bottle to him. “But soon we will need to put the bottle in a bucket instead of holding it. We don’t want him associating humans with food and getting an attitude. Tonight though, it looks like you’re his mama.”

He accepted the milk with a soft chuckle. Then he sat the horse up and cradled his jaw. “He needs a name,” Riley said. She didn’t register his words, though. Instead, she watched him feed their foal, devastatingly gentle with those strong, rugged hands of his. Her heart swelled to the point of bursting.

“Jules?”

She blinked back at him. “Yes?”

“Any names coming to you right out the gate here?” he asked.

“A name, right.” She nodded, her eyes trailing over the animal. “Well, with all things considered, what do you think about Lucky? Plus, I swear he was smiling while he slept. Like maybe when he’s healthy, he will be a pretty happy go lucky fella.”

“Yeah, that’s perfect,” Riley agreed, angling the bottle under his arm until the last of the milk reached the soft nipple cap. It seemed feeding was not going to be too big of a concern with Lucky, and her shoulders relaxed seeing the animal consume the milk from the bottle so readily.

Once the container was empty, Riley rose, gently easing Lucky’s head back onto the soft pile of hay. “I’m going to get my bedroll,” he explained, starting for the stall door.

“Cooper’s is big enough for two,” she replied quickly.

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