Wild Horses in Love

by Terri A. Wilson

  “Is it safe?”

  “They think whoever did it isn’t around anymore. And there are several police officers there right now. You’ll be safe, or he wouldn’t have suggested you come by.” She reached out and took Opie’s hand. “It’ll be okay. You’re the only one who will know for sure if anything was taken.”

  “I know you’re right.”

  “Look, we just fought off an army of dragons. I’m not scared by one horse shifter or even a crime boss.” Sybil laughed at her joke.

  Fifteen minutes later, Opie walked into her house. It was overwhelming to see the mess left from the intruder. Couch pillows were slashed, the stuffing all over the floor. Drawers were upturned with papers scattered everywhere. Picture frames laid on the floor with broken glass.

  Her chest felt squeezed as her throat tightened.

  “Take your time checking to see what’s missing,” Hank told her. The sheriff standing next to him nodded.

  She stormed past them into the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, and pulled out the butter dish. There just as she left it was the storage card.

  “Let me in. Where’s Opie,” Dominic’s voice rang out over everyone’s. “Opie, are you here? Are you okay?”

  She stepped around the corner and into the living room. Hank and Sheriff Rentschler blocked him from coming inside.

  “Opie—” he pushed against them, “—are you all right. I panicked when I couldn’t find you in the parking lot. Were you here when this happened?”

  Her anger burned. She clenched her fists. “Why do you care? Did you send them here to get this?” She held up the card.

  “Opie, you need to let me explain. I would never do anything to hurt you. Tonight, was the first time I met that guy.”

  “So, you say, but isn’t it interesting that tonight’s the first night you met him, and someone chooses tonight to break into my house?”

  Dominic’s face lost all expression. He stopped fighting. “Do you think I had something to do with this.”

  Opie rolled her eyes to the ceiling and took in a deep breath. Her tears were close to the surface again. She would not give him the satisfaction of crying. “I don’t know what to think.”

  The sheriff called over another officer. “Would you please take this man into custody. It seems like he had something to do with this, and I want him out of here for right now.”

  Dominic glared at the sheriff. “You need to think twice about arresting me. I have enough lawyers to obliterate you.”

  “I’m not arresting you, yet. I just want to bring you in for questioning.”

  “Then I will go to the station on my own.”

  “If you leave right now and head there—” he nodded to the deputy, “—I won’t have my deputy take care of things. Can I trust you to go now?”

  Dominic turned to Opie. He was defeated, and Opie wanted to go to him. Nothing made sense, but then she glanced around her house. It was in shambles, and someone was responsible for this.

  Dominic shook his head and walked out the door. She didn’t know if she’d ever see him again, and instead of providing relief or security, it only made her miserable.

  “What’s on this card that’s so important?” the sheriff asked as he turned to her.

  She found her camera in pieces. It made the pain of everything worse. Without a camera, she was out of business, and since all her money had gone to buy Dominic, she had nothing left to buy a new one.

  He turned out to be a great investment.

  Her computer was trashed too.

  “I have no way of showing you here, but there’s a picture of a secret meeting with Vince Harper and Pablo de Torres.”

  Hank whistled, and the sheriff mumbled something she didn’t understand.

  “I think we need to go down to the station and get this worked out,” he said.

  “I’ll take her,” Sybil volunteered.

  The rest of the night was a whirlwind of questions and telling her story again and again until she wanted to throw up.

  It was all over by the early hours of the morning. Sybil and Hank let her stay at their place until her house was straightened and repaired. She was so tired, she’d have slept anywhere, but their offer provided her a place to hide, so she jumped on it.

  Her horse longed to be connected to Dominic’s. She was restless and frustrated. The connection Opie had to her horse was suffering, and she was worried that Dominic was the only cure.

  Two days later, Wednesday, Sky, Eliza, and Tatum came by for a visit. They bought her a new camera and wanted to book her for two jobs when she felt better.

  “Oh, and you need to see the best part.” Wednesday pulled out her phone and found something to show her.

  It was a news article with de Torres’ picture. Her picture had been anonymously leaked to the press, and it spurred an investigation into his business dealings. This was not the first time he had turned to Vince Harper to fix a problem.

  “Can you believe it? He’s been charged with several things. Looks like he’s going to be in prison for a long time,” Wednesday said. “But the best part is Vince Harper is being investigated now too.”

  Opie gave them a weak smile and handed back the phone. “I guess that’s good.”

  “Good. You are a hero, I’d say,” Sky said.

  “But no one knows it was me who took the photo, right?” Opie asked.

  Wednesday nodded. “Right. No one knows it was you.”

  The five women went to sit outside on the porch. Winter was ending faster than normal. Spring would be there soon, and there would be plenty of weddings, birthday parties, and graduation celebrations to keep her busy.

  “Oh, I almost forgot,” Wednesday said. “The boys finished your house yesterday, but I’ve got some bad news.”

  Nothing would phase Opie at this point. “What?”

  “They found rot, and you’ve got termites.”

  Opie gave them a cynical laugh. “That sounds about the way my luck is going these days.”

  Sky put her arm around Opie’s shoulders. Opie laid her head on Sky’s shoulder. “You’ve had a rough streak. I’m sorry you had to go through all of this.” She took in a deep breath. “I hate to rub salt on your wounds, but have you heard anything from Dominic.”

  “I feel totally responsible for this,” Wednesday said.

  “We all do,” Tatum said.

  Opie lifted her head. “How are all of you responsible?”

  “It was our fundraiser that brought him here,” Tatum said.

  “I can’t believe Gerri was that wrong about the two of you,” Sky said.

  “Barbara led us to believe she was right all the time,” Wednesday said.

  Opie forced a smile. “Well, we did have a good time the couple of times we were together.”

  “I’m just so sorry that he broke into your house. I can’t even imagine that,” Tatum said.

  Opie jumped up. “He didn’t break into my house.”

  “Well, the sheriff said there was no proof he did, but isn’t that what you thought?” Sky said.

  Opie sat down again. How could he have broken in when he was with her at the club the whole time?

  Eliza pulled out her phone and held it out to her. “I didn’t know if you’d want to see this or not. My sister sent it to me this morning.”

  “What is it?” Opie asked.

  “It’s a small article from The San Francisco Chronicle. It’s about Dominic.”

  Opie took Eliza’s phone and scanned the article. Dominic had settled the lawsuit out of court. She slumped against the bench.

  “What is it? What’s wrong? Should I not have shown this to you?” Eliza asked.

  “No, it’s not that. It’s just that Vince offered to make the lawsuit go away if Dominic helped him, and there’s no way he could have broken into my house.” She sucked in a deep breath. “Is it possible he was telling me the truth when he said they’d just met?”

  An uneasy quiet fell over them.

  A
fter a few minutes, Wednesday unlocked her phone and called a programmed number. “There’s one way of finding out for sure.”

  “How’s that?” Opie asked.

  Wednesday held up a finger quieting Opie. “Hi, Gerri? This is Wednesday Hanson, I have Opal Ibarra with me, and we need your help.”

  Opie held out her hand for Wednesday’s phone. “Gerri, this is Opie. I think I’ve screwed up.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Dominic

  “Here you go, Boss.” Tex brought Dominic a cup of coffee.

  “Thanks. I could use about forty of these,” he said.

  Tex sat in the chair in front of the desk. “I’ll keep the pot on, don’t worry.” He nodded to the stack of papers in front of Dominic. “What are you working on?”

  Dominic sighed, picked up the coffee mug, and rocked back in his chair. “It’s a proposal for a new restaurant.”

  “You really think you need another restaurant?”

  “I don’t know. I’m giving serious thought to selling everything except this club, the horse ranch, and that microbrewery in New Mexico.”

  “Speaking of New Mexico, you never told me how the auction went.”

  Dominic took a drink of coffee, letting the hot, bitter drink burn his throat. “There’s not much to tell.”

  Tex winked. “No one wanted to buy you, huh.”

  Dominic harrumphed. “I brought in a lot of money for the fundraiser.”

  “Well, then what happened? Was the woman a freak?”

  He put down the coffee and let his chair flop forward. Opal Ibarra was definitely not a freak, although he never got a chance to talk to her about some of the more challenging parts of intimacy that he enjoyed. Everything happened so fast. He barely got a chance to know her, and she certainly didn’t know anything about him.

  He tried to explain that to Gerri the night he got home but she gave him a severe tongue lashing. She told him to talk to her. Her exact mandate was, “Sit that woman down, tie her up if you have to, and don’t let her go until you tell her everything that’s in your heart. If you don’t do the right thing, I will personally come and kick your horse’s ass.”

  Dominic snickered remembering.

  “Ah, she is a freak, isn’t she?” Tex teased.

  A slight warmth spread over his cheeks, a sensation he was not familiar with, and it made him very uncomfortable. “She was not a freak. It just didn’t work out.” Then wanting to change the topic, he said, “Have you completed the inventory, as I asked.”

  “Not going to tell me?”

  Dominic firmed his jaw. “Tell you what?” he said through clenched teeth.

  “What was she like?”

  “If it will get you to shut up, I will tell you that she was a lovely woman. We went out once, well twice, sort of, well maybe you could say three times, and that’s all there was to it.”

  “I’ve never seen you so confused about something like this. Did you go out one, two, or three times?”

  “It doesn’t matter.” He stood and rested his hands on the desk, leaning forward. “Now, the inventory.”

  Dominic’s aggression didn’t faze Tex. “Okay, relax. Yes, it’s done. I’ve also put in the orders for next week, created the schedule, and booked all the bands for the next six weeks.”

  He stood to leave. “Well, whatever happened on your dates, this woman certainly got under your skin. I hope someday I get to meet the woman who made Dominic Kingston flabbergasted.”

  Dominic kept his grim face until Tex closed the door. Then he sat back in his chair again, pinching the bridge of his nose. Opal Ibarra was an incredible woman, and he wanted her more than he wanted to admit. But who was he kidding? She didn’t want him that way. Yes, she should have trusted him more, but he didn’t do a good job fighting for her.

  In the six days since the auction, he’d found his mate, lost his mate, come home to settle a senseless lawsuit, and settled into his life. The routine of his world once was enough. But now he wanted more. He wanted someone to come home to, someone to talk to, and someone who was always on his side. None of that matter before and now finding it consumed every thought.

  The night he returned, he called the group leader from his anger management group. It turned out to be a miserable date as he remembered why he stopped seeing her after two weeks. He dropped her off after dinner and didn’t even bother walking her to the door. Since then, he’d been here at the club until he dragged himself home, too tired to care.

  A knock fell softly on the door.

  “Unless you have that inventory for me to check, I want to be left alone,” he said.

  The knock came again.

  He stomped over and yanked on the door. “I said, I want to be left alone.”

  The frightened eyes staring back at him made his knees buckle.

  “I can come back or just go away if you want,” Opie said.

  He froze, then rubbed his eyes. Was he dreaming?

  She turned to leave. “I see I’ve caught you at a bad time. I guess this was a mistake.”

  He stepped out and took her arm. “No, it wasn’t a mistake, and it’s a perfect time. I just wasn’t expecting you.”

  “Gerri told me she arranged for us to meet here at the club.”

  That little minx.

  “Sorry, but she never told me about it. Had I known; I would have prepared a little better. Did you fly in?”

  “Yes, I got here this morning.” She rocked forward on the balls of her feet then back on her heels.

  He dropped his arm from the door. “I’m sorry. Where are my manners?” He stepped aside. “Come in. I don’t have any food here, but I can send out for something if you’re hungry.”

  She walked in and checked out the office. “That’s fine. I’m not hungry.”

  “Well, come in and sit down.” He motioned to the couch.

  She didn’t move. “Um, that’s okay. I have a question to ask you, and if I wait much longer, I’m going to lose my nerve. So, I’ll just stand if that’s okay with you.”

  “Yeah, fine, whatever you want.”

  “Do whatever feels right to you.” He closed the door and stood in front of her with his hands in his pockets.

  She took a deep breath, held it, then said, “Did you work with Vince Harper to steal my picture?”

  He wrinkled his forehead. “No. I truly met him for the first time at the club. I would have never hurt you like that.”

  She narrowed her eyes, studying him. “What about that lawsuit he offered to take care of for you?”

  “I had already planned on settling with Christopher Stevens when I came back home. Fighting wasn’t worth my time. Yeah, he was in the wrong, but in the end, I came out better.”

  She inclined her head to the side. “How’s that?”

  Dominic walked past her and pulled out a banded collection of blueprints. He unrolled them on his desk and motioned her over.

  “Is this for a restaurant?” she asked.

  “Yes. It used to be his family’s restaurant.”

  Her eyes widened, and a look of horror covered her face. “You bought his family’s business?”

  “Yeah, but it’s not as bad as it sounds. I wanted to work with him to restore it to what it once was. I worked with his father and grandfather for years, but Chris is nothing like them. He’s an ass, and in the end, he’s going nowhere fast.”

  “Oh.”

  He couldn’t read her face, so he continued explaining his plans. “I’m turning it into an old family diner. It should go over very well in this building. Nostalgia is very popular right now. Retro, I think they call it.”

  She thumbed through the plans and listened to his ideas, but when he finished, he didn’t know what else to say. The words in his head were not making their way to his mouth. Was it sorry enough?

  “Dominic, I came here to apologize.” She sat in a chair.

  He wasn’t expecting that. He rubbed the purlicue on his left hand. “Um, er...”

&n
bsp; “I don’t know why I thought you wanted to work with Vince Harper. I just really freaked out. Nothing like that has ever happened to me. I didn’t know how to deal with it.” She stood up, smoothed down her skirt, and clutched her purse tighter. “I’m sorry. You’re a decent man, and I should have known better. Should have trusted you.”

  He spent the last several days beating himself up because he ruined all his chances with her and didn’t know how to start over. He fantasized about a thousand different ways to get her back. Now, she was here in his office, and he was paralyzed.

  Shifters mated. It was a primal instinct and one that couldn’t be fought. He knew that. He had just been so busy playing at living a life that he never thought about actually living a life. At that moment, he realized that this was the moment. This was when his life was going to start. And he was too afraid to do anything about it.

  Opie was out his door before he realized she left.

  Damn it.

  He took off after her. “Opie. Opie, wait.”

  She was at the bottom of the stairs and stood in front of the bar. The pictures. Her pictures. She stared at her pictures.

  “You were the one who bought them?” she asked.

  He put his hands in his pocket. “Yeah.”

  “When did you see them?”

  “Ronnie showed them to me that night. I bought them for this place. We had just broke ground on the building, but I knew I wanted them to be a focal point. I told the designer to set up the interior around these pictures.”

  She turned her head to the pictures and then back to him. A tear slid down her face.

  He rushed over and held her shoulders. “Don’t cry. I’ll take them down if you want them back.” He held her close and inhaled honeysuckle and denim. He pulled her back. “Opie, come sit with me.”

  They walked to a table, and he took down the chairs sitting on the tabletop.

  “I should have never let you go that morning. You are this amazing, talented, sexy-as-hell woman, and it intimidated me.”

  She found a tissue in her bag and wiped her face. “Wait a minute. I intimidated you? You have no idea how intimidated I’ve been of you. You are so much better than any guy I’ve known. And the horse inside me wants nothing more than to be with you. She’s drawn to you. She’s been so mad at me. It’s the first time we’ve never been connected.”