Page 70 of Off-Limits Love
“You have no idea how much I needed this. Time in nature, fresh air. I love the sound of the water and the birds.”
Yeah, he understood all of that. He had regularly scheduled groups that came to ride as part of their mental-health therapy. The groups ranged from kids and teens struggling with suicidal thoughts and dealing with ugly histories and home lives, to a group that was entirely special needs. Their caregivers said the rides typically helped calm them for several days afterward.
The difference in their moods upon arrival versus when they left was heartrending, and it made him appreciate his life all the more.
People needed nature. To breathe, to heal, to soothe the chaos bombarding them from the news all over the world and in their own houses.
Riding had been part of his recommended therapy after the accident. To help him cope with the loss of his parents and the rage that exploded out of him so often when the stutter didn’t go away. When the kids at school made fun and he wanted to burn the world down in his anger and grief.
“I googled you.”
The words drew him out of his thoughts with the smack of a fist.
“I read about how you worked at the farm for the original owners as a teenager and then bought them out when they retired. You’ve done so much to expand a simple boarding business, though.”
He nodded and inhaled a slow breath. He’d hated the biography Isla had written for the website his brothers insisted the farm have.
In the age of information, a sign at the end of the farm’s driveway wasn’t good enough. And while he knew that to be true, it still rankled that his siblings had ganged up on him—and won.
Thankfully they’d kept the details to the bare minimum, leaving out the fact he’d first come to the stables to work with the horses as part of his trauma therapy. “H-had t-to be m-more…to st-stay afloat.”
“Yeah, butyoudid it,” she argued softly. “And the clubs and groups that come to ride? The pictures were so sweet, Finn. You built the farm to what it is now, and that’s seriously impressive. You should be proud of yourself.”
Her words brought a surge of emotion to his chest. This farm had his blood, sweat and tears soaked into the soil, and it made him feel good that she noticed.
He liked helping the kids especially. He knew what it was like to be different. To not be looked at as “normal” and treated as a freak as a result.
“Finn, I want to…ask you something.”
Mak’s words drew him from his thoughts. But it was her hesitant tone that left him frowning.
“It’s about something Brad said to me.”
He ground his teeth, knowing without a doubt he wasn’t going to like whatever it was.
“I-I shouldn’t bring it up because it’s probably not the time—but I don’t think there is a good time to ask so—I’m just going to, I guess. What I mean is— I just wanted you to know that you don’t have to pretend to l-like me or want to date me because of Sam and his illness. Brad said— Well, he implied you’re only helping me because I might— Finn, Sam hasn’t told me his plans. I think he would’ve if he intended to leave me anything when he passes, but he hasn’t, and if that’s why you— If your friendship is because you want the property, you need to talk to Sam directly.”
They’d made it to the spot where the path widened, and he shifted Duke to the left and slowed for Mak and Sadie to come alongside them.
Anger boiled in his blood, and it took everything inside him not to rage at the sky above. To hunt Brad Jensen down and strangle him with his bare hands. “That’s wh-what you th-think?”
ChapterEighteen
Mak had never given thought to how attractive a man could be sitting a horse in a good-fitting pair of jeans.
But Finn?
As Sadie ambled along behind Duke at a slow pace, Mak had practically nothing to do by way of guiding the animal. So once she’d taken in the scenery—she took in the scenery.
One very broad-shouldered and muscular male who rode his massive horse like he’d been born in the saddle.
Man and animal moved as one, and Finn rested one lean, veined hand casually on his thigh as they rode through the woods.
But all the looking had led to thinking. And all the thinking had led tooverthinking and just wanting to clear the air once and for all as to whether Brad’s words held any weight.
Because she had to know. Because for all the talks she’d had with Sam since she’d moved in with him, they hadn’t discussed her being his heir or what he planned, and she absolutely wasn’t about to ask because she didn’t feel it was her place to do so. That wasn’t why she’d agreed to stay with him and help him. Especially not when Sam’s invitation allowed her the ability to save. What Sam decided, he decided on his own.
But in her rambling search for answers from Finn, she could tell she’d angered him.
