Relief had her leaning forward onto her forearms on the counter. “Thank you. And don’t worry, I promise you’ll be impressed when you see us next.”
“I better be.”
“You will.” She fiddled with the charger cord. “If there’s nothing else, I have to be down at the barn by eight, so I should get to bed. Say hi to Mom, and love you both.”
“Love you, too, sweetheart. I’ll talk to you soon.”
Raine disconnected the call and pushed up with her palms flat on the counter as she blew out a breath. She had not expected the panic that had hit at the thought of going home early. She hadn’t lied when she told her dad she wanted more training time, but she hadn’t been completely truthful, either. It wasn’t only the training, it was Reyes. Despite the impenetrable wall he’d erected between them, she still looked forward to seeing him each day, and not only because he was so damn sexy.
After their initial butting of heads, they’d had a couple of good days that first week, and when she wasn’t so frickin’ hyper aware of him as a man, she thoroughly enjoyed learning about the horses and the rescue operation from him.
She made her way over to the patio doors that offered a clear view of the barn with the upstairs apartment still lit up in the dark of night. There was a lot more to learn before she left—about the horse rescue, and about Reyes. And maybe that was her problem. After that second kiss, she’d been focusing too much on the sizzling physical undercurrents when she should be concentrating on the friendship aspect. She had two weeks to scale his wall, and like with the jump, instinct told her failure wasn’t an option.
16
Three weeks into her stay, and Reyes still couldn’t force his gaze away from the sway of Raine’s ass as she left the barn on her way back to the guest house after practice. One more week. He just had to hang on for one more week and life would go back to normal.
He snorted at his wishful thinking before taking a couple of brushes to Taz’s stall. The woman had slowly been driving him insane over the past week and he desperately needed some stress relief. Last time he tried cleaning tack, she’d grabbed a clean cloth and joined him. Watching her rub the leather turned him on while she peppered him with endless questions on the horse rescue operation.
She took in everything he shared with her and kept asking for more. His heart greedily hoarded every second they spent together, because it was killing him to keep her at arm’s length and act as if her going home to Texas in one more week was no big deal.
Taz gave a soft wicker as he entered the stall, and Reyes offered the thoroughbred a couple sugar cubes and a firm forehead rub. Then he settled in with a brush in each hand; curry comb in one, dandy brush in the other. Unfortunately, the rhythmic motions over the gelding’s silken hide didn’t offer the usual meditation effects as his mind remained firmly fixed on Raine.
Not only did she tempt him every damn second of every damn day in those curve-hugging T-shirts and skin tight breeches, but as he’d feared the first week, he found he really, really liked her. He respected her work ethic and was impressed with her thorough approach to learning about the rescue, as well as her intuitive suggestions from a different perspective. He’d be talking to Janine about implementing a few of Raine’s ideas.
As for the horses, similar to her riding, she possessed a natural talent working with them whether in the saddle or on the ground. Saving Grace and Willow Moonlight were progressing beautifully under her gentle hand.
The woman also had a dry wit that had him fighting hard to keep the barriers up between them. He’d bitten back more grins and laughter in the past week than he had in the past three years. Genuine laughter, not the fake response he’d perfected so everyone would believe everything was okay.
The close quarters of the office were the most difficult. Seduced by her unique floral and horse scent, he used the excuse of paperwork to get close enough to feel her heat, but then had to resist reaching out to skim his rough fingers over her smooth skin. It was pure torture not to touch.
Self-inflicted, sadistic torture.
Yeah, he couldn’t wait for her to leave and go back to Texas, and at the same time, he feared once she did, he’d never know normal again.
“So what’s RazMaTaz’s story?”
Reyes flinched hard at the unexpected sound of Raine’s voice at the stall door. With his heart thumping in his chest, he shot her a quick glance. “I thought you left for the day.”
Talk about being distracted—he hadn’t even heard her boots on the cement.
She slid the stall open to step inside and rub her hand on Taz’s forehead. “I forgot my phone in the office.”
From the corner of his eye, he watched as she pressed her face into the soft, velvety spot on the side of the thoroughbred’s nose and breathed deep while her lashes drifted closed. Her husky hum of contentment slowed his hands as his dick twitched as he imagined her making that sound with her face buried against his neck.
Fuck. He was going to be rock hard in no time if she kept that up.
He moved to Taz’s other side and resumed brushing with renewed energy.
Raine ducked under the gelding’s neck and came up on the side Reyes had just moved to. “Is he a rescue, too?”
Reyes shifted toward the gelding’s hindquarters to keep some distance between them. “Yep. After my discharge from the military, I drove home from Fort Bragg through Lexington and Louisville. I spent a little time at Churchill Downs, just to see where some of Janine’s horses came from.”
She nodded as she held out her hand in obvious request for one of his brushes. “I’d want to see, too.”
So much for stress relief. He passed her the dandy brush, torn between resignation and joy at her company. “The majority of the people treat their horses like royalty,” he clarified. “They’re their bread and butter—as you well know.”
“Of course. But there are always the select assholes who view them as nothing more than a piece of equipment to be used until they stop being profitable.”
Yeah, she definitely knew. “That was Taz’s owner to a tee. The woman had so much money she could’ve easily invested the time and money into her horses, but all she cared about was racking up the wins for her stable to elevate her standing in the profession.”
“That’s pathetic,” Raine fumed. “People like that don’t even realize that true horsemen see them for the manure they are no matter how many wins they get at the expense of their animals.”
Her passion reminded him how wrong he’d been about her at the beginning. “I walked up on an argument between the owner and her trainer about putting Taz down after he’d lost three races in a row.”
Her eyes went wide in disbelief. “Like put him down put him down?”
“I was just as shocked,” Reyes said. “And so furious, I bought him on the spot.”
“I would’ve too.” Giving a low growl, she hugged his horse’s neck while turning her head to meet his gaze. “Thank God you were there.”
The emotion in her eyes had him averting his gaze or risk giving in to the urge to push her up against the wall so he could claim all that passion for himself. “I’d like to think the trainer would’ve held his ground, but I wasn’t taking any chances.”
“Did she give you a good deal?”
He snorted. “You’d think, but no. I had to clean out my savings and borrow a couple of grand from Dev.” Thirty-five thousand all total. And worth every penny when he considered the hours of therapy Taz had given him. They’d saved each other, really. “Thankfully, the trainer told her where she could shove it and then offered to drive him to Colorado for me, so that helped.”
“Surely Aunt Janine would have helped?” she asked as she resumed brushing.
Reyes shrugged. “Probably, but the only thing I asked for was a place to keep him when we got back.”
“And a job?”
“I always had the job.”
“Ah.” She smoothed the brush over Taz’s ribs, the move brin
ging her closer to where Reyes stood. “Is the woman still in the business?”
A satisfied smile tugged at his mouth as he met her gaze. “Nope. Janine made sure she got out and stayed out. Diamond connections and all.”
Raine’s answering grin skipped his pulse.
“What about the trainer?” she asked.
“Matt Wesley. He went to work for Big Sur Stables in California. In fact, one of his colts won the Derby last year.”
“Good for him. Do you guys keep in touch?”
He nodded. “He sends us horses that need to be rehabbed from time to time.”
A soft smile curved her lips as she murmured, “He makes a difference.”
Reyes forced his gaze away from her mouth. Since their trail ride when he’d argued she could show jump and do something else, she’d gone all in on the rescue route. “I can put you in touch with him, if you want. For when you start your own thing.”
“That’d be great.” Her gaze lifted, hazel eyes bright with a glimmer of excitement that dimmed slightly as she added, “My dad’s probably going to freak out when I tell him what I want to do, but it’s not like he can stop me.”
Her words said one thing, but there was a hint of a question in her voice, as if she were asking him to back her up.
“You’ve seen the financials,” he reminded, unable to offer false reassurance. “Adoption fees barely cover the cost of the horses and feed. You’re going to need your dad’s barn—and his staff for when you’re away at events.”
She was quiet for a long moment. “Not if I buy my own place and hire my own staff.”
He arched his brows in surprise. “You could afford that?”
“I have a trust fund,” she said nonchalantly.
Right. Of course she did. All the Diamonds probably did.
Raine stood up a little straighter, her shoulders squaring. “I’ll put together a detailed business plan and he’ll see I’ve thought it through—that I’m not just jumping in blind. Dad loves a good business plan.”
“You ever created a business plan before?”
“Ah…no. Have you?”
He shook his head.
She grimaced, her shoulders drooping before she perked up again. “We’ve got a whole week to figure it out if you’re willing to help me?”
The hope in her voice sent the word sure to the tip of his tongue so fast he barely caught it from slipping out. Crafting a business plan would throw them together in close quarters for whole hell of a lot more hours and resisting her was getting harder by the second. But she’d be gone in a week, and the tightness in his chest told him he needed to maintain distance if he wanted his heart intact when she left.
Giving Taz’s hind quarters a final swipe, he headed for the stall door as he stated, “Loyal’s the one to ask.”
Her older cousin was a financial wizard in charge of his own accounting firm and the Cole-Diamond Veterans Foundation, and he’d advised both Shelby and Dev while they were setting up their businesses this past spring.
“Yeah, I guess,” Raine agreed.
His chest tightened at the disappointment in her voice, but he avoided her gaze as he waited for her to exit the stall before sliding the door closed.
“I’ll ask him tonight at Asher and Honor’s. Hopefully he’ll have some time before I leave.”
Reyes clenched his jaw against a wave of guilt and took the brush she thrust in his direction. Her boots sounded behind him on the way to the tack room.
“You know, we’re all getting together for dinner tonight. You should come with me.”
He admired her tenacity while simultaneously cursing it. The overwhelming desire to take every second with her when he knew it would only hurt him in the end was frustrating.
“I already have plans.” To do absolutely fucking nothing, but she didn’t have to know that.
“Oh, okay, then.” Her voice sounded tight after his curt retort. “Have fun.”
He kept his back to her as he straightened the brushes in their bins. “Yep. You, too.”
The moment she was gone, he cursed under his breath and swiped up a cloth to start cleaning saddles. They didn’t need it, but most of the time on deployment, his guns hadn’t either.
He was still at it an hour later when his cell phone vibrated on the office desk. Reyes grimaced when he saw his brother’s name.
“What exactly are these plans of yours?” Dev demanded when he answered.
“Hello to you, too.”
“Yeah, hi. Now, why did I hear Raine telling Shelby you’re too busy to bother with family?”
“I didn’t say that,” he protested with a frown.
“Neither did she, but that’s what I heard.”
“Maybe you should clean your ears then.”
“What are you doing tonight?”
Reyes fisted his hand in the cloth, resting it on the shining leather in front of him. “I have a few things to get done here, and some work to do on my jeep.”
Dev’s impatience sounded across the line. “Whatever that vague bullshit is, I’m willing to bet none of it has to be done tonight. You’ve been pulling away again, Rey, ever since brunch a couple of weeks ago. Either tell me what’s going on or come on over and have dinner with us.”
Reyes clenched his jaw, then blew out a rough breath. “The more time I spend with her, the more I like her.”
“Raine?”
He rolled his eyes. “Of course, Raine. Who else would I be talking about?” In fact, he more than liked her, but admitting that out loud would make it too real. Too hard to move past later on.
“I thought you two were friends now?”
“You know damn well being friends with her isn’t the problem.” He raked a hand through his hair as he leaned back in his chair.
“Yeah, I do,” Dev agreed.
“How the fuck did you keep Shelby at arm’s-length when you were with her twenty-four, seven?” When he was being paid by her father to guard her, not sleep with her.
“We talked,” his brother said with a grin in his voice. “There was a lot of talking. But honestly, taking time to get to know each other now can be a good thing for when you’re free to act on what you’re feeling.”
“Free to act.” Reyes snorted and shoved to his feet. “When exactly would that be? When she goes back to Texas? Or when she’s out chasing Olympic gold?”
“I didn’t say it would be easy.”
“It won’t be anything because it ain’t happening, Dev. She’ll go home, and I’ll just be some guy who trained her for a few weeks. You all have a good night. I’ll stick to working on my jeep.”
17
Raine sat on her cousin’s back patio, sipping a glass of wine with Honor, Shelby, Mae, Celia, and Roxanna. Honor laughed at something Mae said, and Raine forced a smile to make it appear she’d been listening. Then she made herself pay attention. After brunch that first weekend, they’d all gotten together for drinks a few days later, and Shelby insisted they had to do it one last time before Raine went home to Texas.
The guys were across the street at Mae and Merit’s house with the three kids. Well, all but Robert and Reyes. She was dying to know exactly what Reyes’ plans were, but when she considered maybe he’d had a date, her stomach soured. It didn’t matter that he’d kissed her senseless two weeks ago and avoided physical contact with her ever since, she didn’t want to think of him with another woman. Like Jess’s cousin’s niece, maybe.
She made a face, then quickly smoothed out her expression when Mae lifted the bottle of wine to offer refills. Raine shook her head, sticking to her one-drink limit so she could drop Celia off at her house on her way back to the guest house in Aunt Janine’s car. Honor took a refill, because all she had to do was walk upstairs to bed, and Rox and Shelby finished off what was left in the bottle, since their designated drivers were across the street.
While their small patio fire flickered, lightening in the distance drew her attention to the storm clouds gathering over the
mountains to the west. Each flash illuminated the jagged peaks of the Rockies for a few seconds before they melded back into the dark sky. The storm mirrored her emotions lately. Bright flashes of hope quickly swallowed up by gloomy reality.
“We’ve got about an hour before that hits,” Rox commented as the sky lit up again.
And it was already nine-thirty, Raine noted on her phone—in addition to the battery being low. “I should head out soon anyway. I’m not training tomorrow, but I still want to get down to the stables at a decent hour. I know I’m going to sound old, but usually I’m in bed before ten.”
Honor snorted. “That’s old? Between the bakery and Ava, Asher and I are eyeing the clock by eight every night. I might have two four a.m. bakers, but I still try to get there by six every morning.”
“I always wake up when Robert gets up for his run at five-thirty, so I just head into the office early,” Celia said. “Even on a Sunday, he still gets up for his run.”
Raine heard the hint of annoyance in her oldest cousin’s tone just as Mae raised her hand.
“Five-thirty here, too, and to the construction site by seven now that Merit takes Ian to school before taking Maverick to his studio for a few hours.”
“Ditto with the clinic,” Shelby chimed in.
Raine gave a wry grin. “So what you’re all saying is seven a.m. is sleeping in?”
Amidst a chorus of yeses, Roxanna raised her glass. “I’m with you, Raine. I don’t open the shop until eight.”
She clinked glasses in solidarity with the brunette, and then sat back for another sip of wine as the fire crackled in the center of their circle. The emotion swelling in her chest now had her speaking past a lump in her throat. “I have to thank you guys for these nights. I’ve really enjoyed being here these past three weeks and getting to know everyone. And I pray my brothers find partners even half as awesome as all of you.”
“I’m going to miss you,” Shelby said with a pout. “I can’t believe you’re leaving in a week.”
Don't Dare a Diamond (Must Love Diamonds Book 5) Page 10