Page 34 of Love Is a War Song

In the late hours of the night, a foal was born. It was all we talked about over breakfast. That and the morning rainstorm that hadn’t let up for hours. I’d never seen a baby horse before, and I cleaned the kitchen at supersonic speed to head down to the barn.

Lottie was out at the Realtor’s office to discuss a lowball offer on the property. I had to contact my team again to find a solution to save this place. A baby horse needed a stable home after all.

My Golden Goose sneakers sloshed in the red, sticky mud. All the horses were in the paddocks, happily flicking their tails in the break of the rain. Their energy made it seem like they were all aware and excited about the new addition to their ranks.

I was too. I was bigger than a baby horse, so surely it wouldn’t try to eat me.

The barn was quiet as I walked toward the stalls where I saw Tilda chewing on some fresh hay and a brown baby horse resting on the ground by her feet.

“Hello, Tilda,” I said as I approached the gate of the stall, crouching down to get a better look at the baby.

Tilda snorted at my arrival in what sounded like a friendly snort and not a get-away-from-my-baby snort. She kept chewing her snack in lazy circles.

I kissed the air and stuck my hand in through the gate. “Come here, horsey, horsey.”

The baby looked interested as it stretched its neck to sniff my fingers. It uncurled its long, skinny legs and came up to the bars to let me pet it through the gate.

The foal was still sticky from birth, but completely adorable.

“You are such a cutie, you know that? The cutest horse in all the world!”

“Careful, he already has Rakko for a dad. He doesn’t need a bigger head.” Lucas crouched down next to me, materializing out of nowhere—or more accurately, from the back of the barn—and I was so engrossed in the cuteness that I hadn’t noticed his approach.

“He? I didn’t know Tilda had a little boy. He is a prince,” I cooed as I scratched under his chin.

“All right, you’re gonna make all the other horses jealous since you don’t pet or talk to them like this.” He stood back up, and I straightened, following him.

“It’s their own fault since one tried to eat me.” I looked around the barn, noticing it was just me and Lucas. “Where’s Red and Davey?”

“They went to walk the property to make sure the fences were still intact after the storm. I stayed behind to let the horses out.” Lucas rested his arm on the gate, leaning casually.

“Sounds like you got the easier job.” I crossed my arms and cocked my hip, getting ready to tease him some more.

“Well, I had to muck the stalls too.” His smile caught on his hooked tooth and it did things to me. I was turning to jelly. This was not good, because there was no way I could be friendly with him without it leading into serious flirting…which then turned into—horniness. I had to get out of here.

Right after I looked at him some more.

We were standing there like two idiots.

“What are you going to name the baby horse?” I asked to break the lusty spellbound moment.

“We haven’t talked about it. You have any ideas?”

“Me? Oh no, I couldn’t name a horse. That’s so much pressure!”

Lucas laughed. “No, it’s not. Look at him. What does the look of him and his personality inspire?” When I didn’t say anything, he added, “It’s just for fun. Besides, everyone knows I pick the best names.”

“You?” I was skeptical. “What ideas do you have?”

“I’ve always wanted to name a horse Brego after the horse Aragorn rode in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers movie, extended edition.”

“Huh?” It was like he was speaking in another language.

“You’ve never seen The Lord of the Rings ?” he asked, completely aghast.

“Nope.” I smiled.

Lucas put his hand over his chest in outrage. “How have you worked on movies but have never seen the best franchise ever made?”

“You’d be surprised by how few movies and shows I have had the time to see.” I shrugged.

“ Star Wars ?”

“No.”

He threw his hands in the air and walked away from me toward the open barn door. I followed him. “ The Matrix ?”

“Nuh-uh.”

“ Indiana Jones ?”

“Nope.”

“ Back to the Future ?”

“Again no. I am sensing a theme here—”

“ Batman ? The Tim Burton ones? Superman with Christopher Reeve? Terminator , Alien , Spaceballs , Willow , Star Trek , Jurassic Park —please, I’d take any of them.”

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no, and yes,” I listed on my fingers.

“Finally! She’s redeemed!” He threw his hands in the air and walked outside of the barn, picking up a shovel.

“I only saw Jurassic Park because I was approached about auditioning for the reboot with Chris Pratt.”

“Now that’s cool.” Lucas took the shovel and started walking up the path.

“Where are you going?”

“I am going to fill a hole so a horse doesn’t walk in it and break a leg, or the cart doesn’t get stuck.” He used the shovel to point to the deep puddle toward the side of the barn.

“So, you really like movies?” I asked, trailing after him.

“Yeah. Staying in and watching movies has saved me from a lot of trouble. What do you do in your downtime if not watching movies or TV?”

“I like to read or listen to music.”

“I’ve seen the books you read.” He turned over his shoulder with a sardonic look, one dark brow raised, and a teasing smile.

“I didn’t pick that book out. My friend, Chelsea, gave it to me to read on the bus.”

“Sure. You’ve never mentioned Chelsea before. Sounds made up to cover the fact you read books about Native warriors and white women with heaving bosoms.”

“Chelsea is indeed my friend and very real. She is also my hair and makeup stylist who tours with me.” I crossed my arms, defending the only real friend I had…

even though she’d only been able to email me back once since she was working on another artist’s tour.

I also didn’t get many chances to use the laptop, since it was a shared resource.

My hands had a mind of their own, and I started picking at a hangnail.

I worried me being alone here for the foreseeable future and our sporadic communication would cause us to drift apart.

She was the only real friend I had ever had.

We told each other everything, and right now, I wished I could tell her about Lucas and get her perspective on, well, everything.

Lucas’s mud-covered hand gently stilled my worrying fingers.

“I was only teasing. I never believed she was fake, and you can read whatever you want to read.” He caressed my hands. “Though…you won’t find those kinds of Native men out here.”

I snatched my hand back and playfully pushed his shoulder. “I told you, I don’t read those books.”

“What do you read then?”

“Rom-coms mostly.”

“What kinds are your favorite?” he asked, his smile deliciously wolfish.

“Oh, you know, the ones where the girl is a fish out of water and a grumpy handsome man has to show her the ropes.” I winked.

“I think I know what you’re talking about.” Our eyes locked as we smiled at each other. I even wrapped a loose strand of hair around my finger.

“Watch out, lovebirds!” Davey’s voice broke our trance.

A dark, cold wave hit both me and Lucas as Davey and Red flew through the puddle in the cart, narrowly avoiding the hole.

“Come on, man!” Lucas yelled.

“I said watch out,” Davey laughed over his shoulder as they drove the cart to the other end of the barn.

“This is disgusting.” I wiped at the clods of mud on my face. “Did I get it?” I asked Lucas.

“No, you smeared it even more. Let me.” He brought his work-rough hand to my cheek, using his thumb to swipe away the muck.

“Better?” I asked.

“No, it’s worse.” He lifted his hand away from my face and waved his filthy hand at me, laughing.

I laughed too. This was ridiculous. We stood there giggling, covered in mud, and I loved it.

“Come on.” He jerked his head toward the side of the barn where there was a hose on a black plastic reel.

I hurried over and reached down for the nozzle, stopping as a huge spider perched comfortably on the nozzle handle. A scream erupted from my throat.

“What is it?” Lucas was next to me in an instant.

“A mutant spider!” I pointed at the tall brown spider with a fat round bottom.

“What? That?” Lucas leaned down and brushed it away with his hand. “It’s just a cellar spider.”

“Huh?”

“A daddy longlegs. Totally harmless.” He walked to the spigot to turn on the water.

“Our daddy longlegs don’t look anything like that. Ours are small and keep to ceiling corners. That thing was not a normal daddy longlegs.”

“Welcome to the country. Everything is bigger.” He gave me a cheeky grin.

With the spider gone, I reached for the hose and pulled to unwind it from the reel. Aiming for Lucas’s middle, I pulled the trigger of the nozzle and fired away.

“Hey!” he shouted.

“You sure everything’s bigger in the country?” I aimed the stream lower.

“It’s cold water!” His voice went an octave higher.

“Still impressive.” I bit my lip.

“Yeah, yeah, give me that. Fair’s fair.” He reached for the hose, which I happily acquiesced.

Lucas twisted the nozzle of the hose to a gentle shower. I didn’t know it could do that. Now I felt a little bad for hitting him with a jet stream. Oops.

Lucas stepped closer to me. “Turn around,” he said, his voice throaty.

I did as he directed. Cool water streamed down my hair; I closed my eyes.

I felt his deft fingers comb through my strands, breaking up the mud clots.

The spray felt amazing on my skin as the sun rose higher along with the temperature.

He started spraying my shoulders, gently batting the worst of the gunk off my back. It was completely innocent, but with my eyes closed and the memory of what his mouth felt like on mine, it was indecent. His touch left goose bumps in its wake.

My tank top was thin and flimsy, and my bralette was unlined.

My breasts felt heavy, and my nipples ached as they pressed against the cold material trying to weigh them down.

I brought my hand up to my collarbone to help wipe away the grime, letting my fingers fall down over my breasts as Lucas’s hand trailed down my back. I moaned.

Lucas stilled his hand; his face was inches from my neck. I felt his hot mouth on the sensitive skin below my ear. “Make that sound again,” he growled.

I gasped, turning around quickly in his arms. He dropped the hose, immediately forgotten. The water was doing nothing to cool down the moment. “Lucas,” I said breathlessly. We had talked about this. This couldn’t happen. We couldn’t happen.

But how badly I wanted it to. I looked up into his flint-colored eyes. There was a fire smoldering behind them. I tracked the movement of those beautiful eyes as he narrowed his focus on my lips.

He lowered his head, and it was bliss. I know we said it was wrong, but it felt so right. I had kissed quite a few men professionally and in my dating life and never had it felt like this. Lucas’s lips were soft, plush, and so warm. I kissed him back with everything I had.

Then he slipped his tongue inside my mouth and my knees buckled. He gripped me closer to him as he walked me backward and my back felt the wall of the barn. Lucas pinned me there against the wall as I wrapped my arms around his neck, trying to fuse myself as close to him as possible.

What I would have given in that moment to have been in a room with a bed.

“Touch me, Lucas,” I whimpered against his lips.

He moaned as he deepened the kiss and brought his right hand to my breast, cupping me and rolling my nipple between his fingers.

“Hey, Luke?” Davey’s voice sounded close.

I gasped against Lucas’s mouth and pushed him away from me. I frantically wiped my face and hair.

Lucas adjusted himself in his pants and picked the hose back up.

“Yeah?” Lucas sounded annoyed. They did purposefully spray us with mud, so the tone was justified.

“My bad,” Davey said, appearing from around the corner. “Was just checking on you.”

“Just rinsing all this crap off. Will be done in a minute, and we can get the stockroom ready for the feed shipment.”

“Cool.” Davey stood there looking from me to Lucas. I crossed my arms to cover my chest. “I didn’t interrupt anything, did I?” he asked in a teasing way.

“Nope!” I mustered all my cheer and marched back to the house, not sparing Davey or Lucas another look.

That was too close.