Page 10 of His Wilde Little (Saddle Up #2)

Waiting and watching the horses come to life from their sedation was like watching a bear come out of a hole after hibernation.

They didn’t all come thru at the same time, but with thirty-minute increments.

It happened late evening with Jace in the stables, trying not to get too close to any of them.

I had him noting the times and when they were being fed and drinking.

The vets work to rehabilitate them went as far as giving them their shots and making sure any cuts were covered with gauze and ointments.

Coal was the worst when he woke from his sleep, the most vocal of the three horses. He was their protector it seemed, and he was desperate to be reunited with them.

One by one, Bramble and Ashwind popped their heads over the stalls, huffing and neighing almost in response to him.

“Come on boy, you’re in a nice home now,” I whispered to him, bowing my head slightly and stroking his nose. “Let’s get you on those feet, you need to come drink.”

It took a while to get him to listen to anything I had to say, and with Jace still backed into a corner of the stable, I was doing it alone. It was rewarding once Coal was up on those stilts he called legs; he nearly stumbled over trying to get to Bramble and Ashwind across the stable.

“You’ve got this,” I said, keeping myself level with him at his side, trying not to let him sway too far in either direction. I feared a fall would send him right back to the vet with broken bones.

“I don’t think he’s going to listen,” Jace said.

“Not helpful,” I said. “But I’ll take any ideas.”

He stuttered a little. “You could let them be together.”

I didn’t want them all together because they were all in need of healing, and I was still trying to give them one on one attention, which would become impossible the moment I let them cramp and sleep together in their stalls.

“I guess, you can lead a horse to water and all that,” I grumbled, giving in to the suggestion.

I unlatched the stalls to Bramble and Ashwind and they seemed to bounce right out, nuzzling at Coal’s head.

“Oh god, are they coming over here?” Jace let out in a squeal, scampering further back against the stable.

Trying not to lose focus, I kept my eyes on the horses.

“Come on,” I said, guiding them to the water trough.

“Let’s get some water.” Now the real test, they couldn’t drink too much, they couldn’t handle large amounts of water just yet, and thankfully only Coal drank, his head almost dropping into the bottom of the trough to inhale it.

It was a bit of a hectic forty minutes, from giving them water to feeding them some of the high-quality feed in small increments, and then they were all a lot quieter.

It took more effort to get them into their individual stalls now, but they didn’t put too much of a fuss up when they were in there.

I suppose full bellies would do that to them.

I joined Jace at the back of the stable where he’d written notes as I’d told him on the times they drank and ate. “Sorry about that before,” I told him. “It’s gonna be a lot to handle. And I noticed a couple things on them.” I held my hand out for the notepad.

Jace nodded and then yawned. “I don’t know how you can be near them and not think they’re going to stampede all over you.”

“It’s trust,” I said. “They trust me to take care of them and feed them, and I trust them not to buck or go wild on me. “

“It must take a while for you to learn that,” he said. “I wonder if I’ll ever begin to think like that.”

“I hope so, one of the staples of any ranch is their horses,” I told him. “And you want this place to go on for generations to continue.”

He snort-laughed. “I was talking about generation stuff earlier with my mom,” he said. “My sister is convinced this place will go to me, and she was saying how I won’t have kids, but I told her I could adopt, and it became a thing.”

“I’ve had that talk with my folks before,” I said. “It’s one of the reasons I avoid the topic of my sexuality altogether. Although you definitely look more well-adjusted and happier to show your pride.”

“You can show your pride here,” he said. “You saw the town. We’re not going to come burn your house down or chase you out with pitchforks.”

“Jeez, where did you think I was living? Nobody thought I was the wicked witch, they weren’t chasing people out of the village for practicing hoodoo.”

He laughed again, harder, startling a neigh from one of the horses. I pressed a finger to his mouth. “Oh,” he let slip through my finger.

“It’s ok,” I said removing my finger as he took hold of it. “We should turn the lights out in here and close this place up to keep it warm.”

“I thought they needed around the clock watching,” he whispered back. His hand squeezed on my finger, and I was beginning to wonder if this was akin to holding his hand.

“They do. I’ll be staying in here with them. You should go home and get something to eat, and if you could fill another thermos with soup and a little bread, I’d be very grateful,” I said. “And then I’ll probably haul up in here for the night. I’ve got plenty of blankets.”

Jace licked his lips before sinking his top teeth into them gently. “Do you need me to stay here overnight as well?”

“No, it should be fine,” I said. “And if you could grab me a pillow or something from my bed, that would also be good for me.” I knew I could leave them, but I didn’t want them to for even a second call out and think they weren’t being heard, even for Mary.

She had three new friends, albeit unruly and malnourished ones.

If she wanted, she could’ve taken on a mothering role to them.

***

A month went by in the blink of an eye taking care of the horses had occupied nearly all of my time.

The horses were bulking out, their coats growing back in and looking a little glossier.

It was raining a lot more, not quite storming, which I was grateful for because a spooked horse was the worst type of horse.

Working with Jace meant we were constantly together, and while we hadn’t done anything else besides kiss that once, we were occasionally brushing up against one and other, holding eye contact for longing amounts of time, and even letting our hands caress when passing objects between each other.

The horses, including Mary had grown closer which was nice because it was something I’d felt Mary had been missing out on was socializing.

They also gone from eating small handfuls of feed to needing a lot more, and much to Olivia’s annoyance, she still placed the orders.

It was obvious she had a crush on me, and I would be lying if I said I hadn’t used that to my advantage.

Jace had also grown a little more confident around the horses, he could be around them, which he could already do, but now, he wasn’t pushing himself up against walls or trying to hide behind other things.

Each morning and evening, I took out of the horses out alone on a walk around the stable and then getting closer to the barn and coop where they could see the other animals. It was going to be a while before they were completely comfortable, I knew that, but these small steps were necessary.

“I think there’s a conspiracy involving the horses and me,” Jace said as I got Bramble fitted with the bridle for her guided tour. “It’s just the way they look at me.”

“They look at you weird because they’re trying to figure out why you keep a couple paces away from them at all times,” I told him. “They’re not going to bite atcha, well, not anymore.” They might’ve tried when they first arrived, but they were doing much better since then.

He hummed. “Likely story, is that what they’re telling you?”

“No, they’re actually just happy to be getting better.” I gave Bramble some head pat. She was like a big dog, leaning into the comfort of my touch. “Come on,” I said, gesturing him over. “Give her a stroke.”

“You promise she’s not gonna bite,” he said.

He was fixated on them biting as if they were land sharks.

“I promise,” I said, making room for him in front of me.

“Come on, let me show you.” I placed my hand on his and reached up above to the horse with it.

His fingers trembled as mine slipped between his, interlocking.

“You’re not getting out of it like that. ”

“Did you just want to hold my hand?” he asked through a heavy breath catching in the back of his throat.

“You’re restarting that, are ya?” I asked.

I’d be lying if I hadn’t thought what might’ve happened if we’d had more physical contact.

Maybe we would’ve kissed again, or maybe we would’ve done something very silly in here, because there hadn’t been a moment when we were both out of the stables since they arrived.

“I’m not starting anything,” he said, looking at me from the corner of his eyes. “I’ve barely even thought about that.”

“About what?” I asked, and in the distraction, I’d managed to get him to press the palm of his hand against Bramble’s face, rubbing it softly alongside the natural pattern of her coat, growing in nice and glossy now.

“Come on,” I continued, hoping to keep him distraction. “About what? I wanna know.”

It was so quiet that I thought for a second, I’d heard his heart throbbing right out of his chest. There was a pulse of heat radiating off him, and I returned fire, feeling hot under my shirt collar.

“I did it,” he let out. “Do I get a reward?” He pulled his hand and my arm away.

Near our legs, the space heater was on, and the source of the now uncomfortable heat, trapping us. “Next step is you actually doing it without my hand holding yours.”

“I can do it,” he protested. “I have done it before.”

He wasn’t lying. He had stroked the horses when they were in their stalls and he wasn’t fearing the worst, almost like he’d watched a failure compilation filled with horses doing the worst to their owners. “Then next step is you taking one of them out for a walk.”

Jace choked back a little, stuttering. “I—I—I—well, I—”

“I’m kidding, I think you’re a bit far from doing that just yet, but never say never, I think you’ll be ready in no time.”

He shook his head, once more keeping several paces away. He walked to Mary’s stall and extended his hand to her, as if showing me he could do it, but his face winced the moment she stuck her tongue out and touched his skin, as if thinking he’d brought her something to snack on.

“Gold star,” I said. I’d seen them on him, occasionally half-sticking to his clothes.

“I wish you would,” he said, wiping his hand off on his shirt. “It would make coming out here and doing all of this worth it.”

I winked. “You think about what I’d reward you for, and I’ll think about getting some gold stars.”

“?” His eyes lit up, staring right into my soul. “Because I think that would actually motivate me to do more of—” he gestured with a hand to Mary’s face, “this.”

“If it helps you, then I don’t see why not.” I shrugged. “But I can’t be giving you gold stars all the time, you’ll get too reliant on them.”

He nodded. “I’ll think about what I can do to earn them then,” he said. “And you’ve already given me one, so I’m not going to forget that. What about stuff like, letting them eat right off my hand, and maybe even getting to the point of brushing them. Or you know, just standing close to them.”

“Sure, think about all that stuff while I take Bramble for a walk.” I also needed the walks to clear my mind about things.

The conflict of feeling something for Jace and not wanting to get involved with someone who owned the place was pulling at me in all different directions.

Relationships like that caused roots to grow, and I didn’t know if I wanted to grow my roots here.

I was a Texan with immigrant folks, but a Texan, nonetheless.

Jace had talked about his stars and talked about how he’d used them ever since he was in high school for tracking his homework. I’d been too busy to even question what he used them for now, but now that I was curious, and with the excitement in his eyes, I knew there had to be something more to it.

After a thirty-minute walk around the ranch where Bramble would take long pauses to embrace the cool breeze rolling in from the surroundings mountains, we got back to the stable where Jace presented an idea to me in the notepad I’d been using for monitoring the horses.

Ok, so you give me a star every time I do one of these each day, and then if I get—uh I don’t know, like twenty stars, I get a reward,” he said.

Taking the bridle off Bramble and giving her a light brush down, I looked at the notes Jace was presenting me from the side, definitely further than I should’ve been straining to see. “The reward is the experience you get from doing all the things.”

He rolled his eyes. “But I also think a reward reward would be a good thing as well.”

“And what type of reward?” I asked.

Batting his lashes and shrugging, there was something mischievous to his smile. “I’m sure you’ll think of something.”

I didn’t want that responsibility, but if it meant he was overcoming his horse fright and helping cut my work in half, I was willing to do anything—ok, almost anything.