Page 5 of His Wilde Little (Saddle Up #2)

Working with Lorenzo was fun, considering I’d been adamant about enjoying working alone, except for the mornings when my mom was up early, she would make the rounds with me, or whenever I was sick and forced to stay away from the animals, she picked up the slack.

Since Lorenzo had arrived, I hadn’t spent much time not thinking about him.

It was stressful, right from the jump, he was right there, and I was being told to tone it down like I was flamboyant or something, and trust me, I could be, but regular days at the ranch, I was not smearing my face in glitter.

In my bedroom, it was the late morning. I’d eaten some eggs and toast and mentally prepared myself for the walking tours to visit soon.

I laid on my bed, hugging my alpaca plushie, made from alpaca yarn.

I’d tried my hand at crochet before, but my hands were more equipped for use in the kitchen, whipping up batters and doughs.

My bedroom had changed a lot, but it didn’t represent the real me. The me that hid away in the corners, searching for a universe where I could jump on pinky marshmallow clouds and where it rained juice-filled candies. Tucked under my mattress, I pulled out my coloring book and part-time journal.

The coloring book was filled with drawing of farm animals and crops. And we actually had a small vegetable garden around the back of the house. That was my mom’s pride and joy, although she would’ve said having three bright kids if asked.

“Where are you?” I grumbled to myself, searching for a specific drawing.

A horse. “We’re gonna become good friends.

” Although horses continued to frighten me, I knew that this was something I was going to have to do.

It wasn’t so much Mary Popping in the stables, she was harmless, but three new horses, stressed and scared. My heart thumped in my ear drums.

Horses weren’t inherently bad, just my experiences with them. They looked like they were going to take my hand off every time I brought a salt lick near them, specifically, Mary, but that was because her eyes always looked like that.

After about ten minutes coloring in the horse in fun pinks and purples, the anxious thump in my ears quietened and I didn’t feel too bad about the upcoming change to my schedule, because at least Lorenzo would be there, and he seemed to know what he was doing with horses.

I stuffed the coloring book back under my bed and my crayons back to where they came from. Before the afternoon kicked in, I went to my closet and opened up the door to see a calendar, and under that, my reward chart.

“Woke up early,” I said, taking a sparkly pink star sticker and dotting it under the column.

“Eggs, did that.” I placed another sparkly star, this one blue.

“Milked the goat, check.” Another pink star.

“I had breakfast, another tick.” And another star.

The charts were on tearable pieces of paper that I changed monthly, and once they were done, I added them to a neat binder in order of when they were done.

I added stars twice a day, depending on what I’d done.

The other sections of the chart included the petting zoo, followed by feeding the animals, and finally a nightly shower.

There were more columns I added random things to, like completed drawings, or anytime I baked something that everyone loved, I would add a sticker.

Each month, a completed reward chart meant I got a reward. They were small things, like new crayons, or glitter pens, or even a new coloring book. I liked rewards, and without someone to give me them, or call me their good boy , I’d developed my own system, which wasn’t all that unique.

My current goal was to save up enough so that I could buy my own petting zoo with figurines of the real thing. I’d recalled toys I had from when I was little and I’d wanted to get some more now, but every time I looked online, they sold them in packs with animals I didn’t want.

A knock came at my door. “Hey, sweetheart, are you in there?” my mom asked.

I closed the closet door and was confronted with the full body mirror across from me. My body straightened right out. “Hey,” I said, opening the door to her. “Is it that time already?” I asked, glancing to my wristwatch.

“Oh, no, we’ve got a little bit yet before that,” she said, standing in front of me with a big smile.

“I’m just checking in on you. I told your dad last night that if you didn’t want to work with the horses, you didn’t have to.

He would just have to go see someone about his back and get it sorted out. ” She rolled her eyes.

“It’s fine,” I said. “I spoke to Lorenzo, and I think it’ll be fine, if not maybe a little fun.”

She cooed and patted my arm. “That’s good. I was worried the two of you would class, you know, considering Lolo is from the South and you’re so used to be in control over all the animals.”

I raised a finger. “Except the horses. They’re not my territory.”

“Except for Mary out in the stables,” she said. “We think it’ll be good, and it’ll probably take a while for the new horses to adjust and recoup after what they’ve been through, but your father thinks it’ll be good for the visitors.”

“And what has Olivia said?”

“She’s happier now knowing that some expenses are covered,” she said. “And she has agreed to spend some time with the horses as well, alongside Max, who needs to learn some responsibility.”

“Absolutely not.” I shook my head. “Max bullied the barn cats.”

“That was years ago, and from what I recall, they were chasing him.”

“Because he had a laser pointer and they’re just smarter than him.”

Speaking of Max, he walked right by with his headphones on and his eyes fixed on his phone, completely unaware we were talking about him, and he definitely hadn’t looked up to see us standing there.

“And of course, I will help with the horses too, and I was just telling Diane, and she’ll help,” she continued.

“Diane had a crush on him, that’s why.”

Her voice cooed from the hallway. “Did I hear my name?” she asked, giggling as she approached us in my bedroom doorway.

“Are we talking about that dish you’ve got and is he waiting around for me to grab a spoon and dig right in?

” She waved a hand dismissively. “I’m just joking.

But if he’s single, I’m ready to mingle. ”

“He’s married, I think,” I said.

“No, he’s not,” my mom added. “And I’ve already told you, no distractions for him, he’s here to take care of business and your father will blow a fuse.”

He was the one Olivia had gotten her fuse from, and it was just as short. “That won’t take much,” I chuckled. “Oh, also, have you been to the factory? Lorenzo took the milk inside, thankfully.”

“He has an interest in the factory?” Diane took that to mean. “I can give him a tour.”

“That’s a good idea, but hands off, ok. The last thing we need is you breaking his heart and him leaving us with a stable full of horses we’re not ready to take care of.”

“I would never break anyone’s heart,” Diane said, scoffing. “Not like Rhys, the monster. I gave him seventeen years of my life, and all for what? Sure, I got the house, and we didn’t have any kids, but that man probably fathered a soccer team of players with the countless affairs he had.”

Once Diane got going, there wasn’t much stopping or even slowing her down. Nor would I want to, I’d learned that some people don’t scribble or journal their feelings of frustration, and some people needed to scream the pain from the rooftops.

During the window of time people came to the ranch to be among the animals, it didn’t feel too much like work.

I was getting to do what I loved, and that was being around all the animals, except for the horse, who I kept a safe and manageable distance from, but with the deal I’d made, that safety zone was soon going to be under threat.

It felt like I was in therapy for arachnophobia and being forced into aversion therapy, just a little step closer a day will help me overcome my fear.

Watching over as people came into the fencing outside the coop to try their best to pet the hens, I received a tap on my shoulder. Lorenzo stood with a smile on his face, which was immediately strange because I didn’t know he was capable of smiling.

“Everything ok?” I asked.

“Yeah, I just got word from the vet and transport team bringing the horses,” he said, as if he could smell my fear and he wanted to mention it. “They’re coming tomorrow. So, I’ll need a hand clearing out three stalls to make room for them.”

“And that makes you happy because?”

“Because none of the horses are injured, they’ve been given shots, and all they need is feeding, love, care, and a couple of cowboys to help build their muscle up,” he said, that smile growing stronger.

I couldn’t help watching his lips as they moved, his tongue prodding at his lower lip making it glossy.

“That’s good news, but I’m not riding a horse.”

“Not yet you’re not, but eventually, I’ll have you in a saddle and you’ll be having the time of your life,” he said.

I chuckled. “I’ve had the time of my life in less,” I quipped. “We’ve got like seven months until the event my dad wants them paraded around for, you think they’ll be ready for that?”

He shrugged. “It depends on the seed, if he’s trying to stud them out, he’ll need to prove they’re worth it.”

I didn’t like to think of the reason my dad had nearly begged to take the rescue horses in. I didn’t know when he’d concocted the idea of getting some male horses in to turn a profit, but since he met Lorenzo at the last Saddle Up event, I was sure it had something to do with it.

“So, whenever you get a minute, I could use your hands,” he said.

“I’m busy, but maybe you’ll want to help me in the meantime,” I suggested. “I know people are going to get a little too handsy with the alpacas and get spit on, you could be the warning sign.”

He nodded and sighed, looking around. “It doesn’t seem too busy, but since I’m dealing with alpacas that spit, you’ll be able to deal with horses.”

Fuck. He was a mind reader… although, it wasn’t like I’d been secret about my horse phobia. “Except horses bite a lot harder, and they kick.”

Lorenzo just smiled, it was unsettling.

“What are you looking at?”

“You’ve got something on your neck,” he said. It’s where his eyes had been darting to. I’d just assumed he was looking at my lips the way I had been looking at his.

Quickly rubbing both hands at my neck. “Did I get it?”

He reached in close, his warm hand against my skin. He plucked a pink sparkly star sticker from my skin. “Just this,” he said.

I took it from his fingertips. “How’d that get there?”

“I don’t know, but if I had to take a guess, I’d say you were laying in a pile of glitter,” he said.

“I wish. I’d be all glowing and sparkly.

” Although as much as the idea was fun, it was not something I wanted to put into practice.

Glitter was not something you wanted to mess around with.

One wrong move and it went everywhere, never to leave your body ever again.

“If you want, you can keep this one.” I held the star sticker out on a fingertip, and he accepted it with his finger.

“Maybe those darned alpacas will respect me if they smell you on me,” he said, applying the sticker to his jacket.

I didn’t know if he’d meant for his words to sound like that, but since he’d said it, I was stuck in a pattern of thought where our bodies were mashing together as if that was the only way of exchanging scents on each other.

I wondered if he thought it would help me around horses too, but that would mean he’d have to give me something in return.

And if he knew anything about me, it was that I was the good boy deserving of a sticker for my chart—or body.

Lorenzo strutted away and I couldn’t take my eyes off him.

He was a distraction.

This was a huge problem.