15
C aleb shut the front door of the building behind them and gave her time to just soak up the view from the front porch.
“How could anyone not be happy to see this every single day?”
He hummed in agreement. The view of the mountains, like those spread out in front of them, was epic. He loved it. This was the view that told him he was home. There was something about it that called to his soul.
“Which mountains are those?”
“Foothills of the Crazies.” It looked to him at least like she was enjoying the view. It remained to be seen if her love of that view would last or if it would turn into something she came to hate. He knew so many people who moved out of the city into the mountains and couldn’t handle it for more than a year or two.
It would suck if she hated it here after a while.
The other women don’t… yet.
He heard the sound of an engine just as she was about to step out into the path that led to the barn, and he tugged her back. The four-wheeler barely missed her toes.
“Shit.”
“This is a ranch, baby girl. You have to be aware of your surroundings. There are way too many things that can hurt you here, like a four-wheeler driven by a six-year-old. RJ, where’s your dad?”
The tow-haired boy climbed off the four-wheeler, which was bigger than him. “He’s coming. He stopped to close the gate from Uncle D’s.” His eyes widened when he spotted Rose, and just like Rexar had taught him, he shucked his hat and twisted it in his hands. “Ma’am.”
Caleb bit back a laugh. He recognized the move as belonging to another member of Nemesis Ranch. The kid had been hanging around the barn with Jack way too much.
“He’s adorable.”
“Mr. Adorable nearly rolled over your toes.”
“I did?” RJ’s eyes filled with tears. “I—I’m sorry…”
Of course, Rexar Mitchell chose that moment to roar up on his own four-wheeler. Why wouldn’t he? The man had a freaking nose for something being wrong in his word, especially when it came to the son he hadn’t known for the first four years of his life. “Why the fuck is my kid crying?”
“I almost rolled over the lady’s toes.”
Caleb winced. He understood why Rexar was a touch overprotective of the boy. But sometimes, that over-protection went a little far. He tugged Rose closer to him, not that he thought Rexar would take it out on her, but there was a saying: better safe than sorry for a reason, and in his opinion, Rexar and Drax Mitchell were the reason that saying existed at all. “No harm done. Almost, but not quite.”
Rexar scowled in his and Rose’s direction and dropped to his knees in front of his son, talking softly to him.
“Should we go?”
“Nope,” he whispered back. “Just wait here a second.” He knew better than to draw the attention of a predator who was protecting its young. “Just give them a sec.” What she didn’t know, but he did, was that while Rexar was protective of his kid, he was also brought up with more than a little southern charm. “Just watch.”
Rexar got to his feet and moved behind his son. He kept his hand on RJ’s shoulder as the boy stepped forward.
“I’m sorry for almost running you over, Ma’am.” RJ looked directly at them. “Caleb, you should have stood in front of your lady. Your job is to protect her like Daddy does Momma.” He glanced up at his father. “Did I do it right?”
“You sure did,” Rexar smirked at Caleb, winked at Rose, and hugged his kid into his side. “Your mom will be back in about fifteen minutes; we better get cleaned up before she turns the hose on us both.”
RJ shuddered. “Yeah. I don’t want to be sparkly green.”
“Rex.”
“Don’t use the hose on the training ground,” Rexar advised as he followed his son around the side of Bravo block. He tipped his hat. “Ma’am, don’t touch any hose, especially if anyone tells you to. You never know what’s going to come out of it.”
“Umm, does he mean a snake or something? I don’t understand.”
Caleb scrubbed his hand down his face. “Remember us mentioning glitter war on the plane?”
“Yes.” She linked her hand to his arm and fell into step with him. “Is that what they’ve done?”
“Sounds like it.” He was going to need eyes in the back of his head. “Rex’s brother Drax and his team are known for being the queens of Glitter Wars. Looks like Rexar has picked up a few things.”
“He wasn’t on the plane, was he? Because I don’t remember him being there.”
“Nah. Rexar’s mostly turned cowboy and doesn’t leave the ranch often. When he does, you know shit’s really hit the fan. If he and the boss are gone at the same time, then the person who’s in shit is someone important. If Lina goes too… then the whole world is fucked.” They walked into the barn, and he stopped when she did. “Never been in a barn before?”
“Nope, first time.”
“Then welcome.” Jack, the ranch foreman, strode out of his office. “Let me introduce you to the other new residents.” The older man nodded to him, then ignored him in favor of Rose.
Old charming bastard.
Jack loved women, all women. It didn’t matter what shape, size, or form they came in. The only woman Caleb had ever seen him have a problem with was Lina, and that was because of their dogs. Namely, Lina’s pup wanted to mate with Jack’s collie, but Jack was having none of it and banned Buddha from the barn for the duration of his girl’s season. He trailed down the center aisle of the barn as Jack introduced Rose to the horses inside.
“They have access to the dry lot through the back doors in each stall, see?” Jack pointed them out to Rose when she asked if they had to stay in their stalls all day. “It’s almost their dinner time, so they’re in here to remind me, just in case I forget.”
“You wouldn’t,” she asked, “would you?”
He shook his head. “I haven’t yet.”
The old bastard was enjoying this, and Caleb was enjoying the excitement and pleasure on Rose’s face as she petted and stroked muzzles. She even dared to smack a kiss onto a nose or two, and he was a fool for being jealous of the damn horses.
“Can you ride, Ms. Rose?” Jack asked. “Because if not, we can teach you, and if you do, then we have some trail horses. Your Caleb knows a good picnic spot. He can take you there.”
He tensed. Shit, how did Jack know where he went when he needed to breathe or to settle something in his head? “Sure. We can do that.” He immediately felt like a heel when Rose’s excited expression fell. Jack scowled at him, silently telling him he’d screwed up.
He pulled his head out of his ass, scowled at Jack behind her back while she was stroking the nose of a pretty pinto mare, and took her hand. “Did you say you have new residents, Jack?”
“I do. Come on down to the big stalls with me.”
They followed him toward the back of the barn and down the ramp into a newer part of the building.
“Did I screw up?” Rose whispered.
He shook his head. “No, not at all. Jack just surprised me, is all.” He should have known she’d take it that way. He bit down the frustration at himself. He considered himself pretty confident most of the time; hell, the US Government had trusted him with million-dollar weapons from the time he was eighteen. They’d neglected to teach him how to be a normal freaking human.
“Y’all coming, or are you gonna stand there staring at each other all day?”
He jumped back from her, aware of Jack’s snickers. He was winding him up on purpose. Maybe those hoses Rexar and RJ had mentioned would be useful for more than fucking with his team as they trained tomorrow. “Uh—yeah, we’re coming.” He gestured for Rose to go ahead of him and discretely adjusted his pants to give himself more room for the semi he had going on.
This is freaking ridiculous.
Acting like a fool is going to backfire on me. I just know it.
“Oh, aren’t you the cutest thing?” Rose stared over a stall door. “Look, Caleb, a baby.”
“I’m thinking this one might be a true black,” Jack told them. “But we’ll know more when he sheds out his foal coat.”
“Is he out of Logan’s stallion?”
“Yep.” Jack brushed his hand down the mare’s neck. “Do you want to come see the foal, Miss Rose? Her mama is a good girl. Aren’t you, Breezer? You’ll let the pretty lady in to see your baby, woncha?”
“Are you sure?” Rose’s question was whispered as if she was afraid to disturb the mama and baby.
Despite her soft voice, Caleb could feel her excitement. He took out his own phone as she slipped into the foal stall with Jack. Flipping through the app, he snapped some photos. He probably wasn’t anywhere near as good as she was, but he didn’t think she’d complain about him capturing the memory for her. If he kept some on his phone, and they happened to back up to his hard drive, then nobody needed to know.
Rose petted and loved on the foal with one hand and took so many photos with the other that Caleb lost count. He figured it didn’t matter how much time they spent here or how many photos she took; she was happy and enjoying herself, and that counted.
“Bye, baby.” She got to her feet when the mama’s fussing told them she’d had enough of sharing her baby for one day.
He opened the stall door for them to exit and closed it behind them. “You liked the foal?”
“She’s beautiful.” She took a handful of animal crackers from Jack and opened her hand flat like he had shown her, offering the cookies to the mama. “Oh, that tickles.” She giggled as the horse lipped them from her palm and crunched through her treats. Rose wiped her hand on the back of her jeans and flipped through the photos she’d taken. “Look.” She turned the phone toward him. “These are so awesome.”
“They are fab.”
Rose surprised the crap out of him when she spun on her heel, threw her arms around Jack, and hugged the stuffing out of him. “Thank you for letting me see her.”
Jack patted her back awkwardly. “You come on back anytime you want to love on my babies. The more they are handled, the better. Just make sure you close every door behind you and double-check them twice. We don’t want anyone to escape and hurt themselves.”
“I promise,” she replied seriously.
He decided he much preferred to see her like this, happy, laughing, showing him photos, and chattering up a storm with Jack. It was so much better than the unease that he saw trying to push in around her eyes more times than he’d like.
The dinner bell clanged loudly in the distance. “That’s our cue to go to the mess for dinner.” He reluctantly pulled her toward the barn sink to wash her hands. “You coming, Jack?”
“Nope, I’m going into town tonight.” Jack handed them a towel and caught the bar of soap as it tried to escape. “I have to meet up with Jasper.”
“Sheriff Jasper?” He stilled when Jack nodded. “Is there a problem?”
Jack shook his head. “Nope, I just gotta kick his ass about something.”
Caleb winced. He had no idea what the sheriff had done to piss off Jack, but as someone who’d been on the receiving end of one of an ass-kicking from him, he didn’t envy the sheriff at all. “Have fun,” he called over his shoulder as he tugged Rose from the barn.