“I’ll lead.” He says with a wink and a squeeze, when he again wraps his dangerously large hand around mine.There aren’t many people inside the building—I guess it is a weekday after all. Chris leads us to one of the front desks and steps to the side, giving me room to step forward and address the clerk.
“Hi. My name is Dixie Wilder and…”
“Dixie!” The woman looking at me through the plexiglass gasps, then reaches through the little hole at the bottom to grab my hand resting on the small counter. “Dixie Wilder… is that really you?” I smile at her, mostly confused, because I don’t recognize her off the bat. And here I was, wanting people to recognize me. Damn, I feel rude.
“It is.” I chuckle and lean in a little further to see if I can pinpoint who this sweet woman is. “Oh, my hell—Billie! Girl, you ‘bout had me thinkin’ I was losin’ my mind!” She throws her head back and laughs with me. I can’t wipe the dang grin off my face because I found an old friend. We weren’t close by any means, but we raced together at rodeos and had fun together occasionally when we were teenagers. “It’s so good to see an old friend!”
“It is!” She squeals quietly. “What can I help you with, Dee?” I immediately feel more comfortable and at ease doing this. I slide the stack of papers through the opening and let her know why I’m here. She flips through the papers with a greedy smile then looks up at me. “So this is the old man’s deathbed repentance for being a shit father?” I smack the counter with the palm of my hand. “Ha! I guess so. How many zero’s are attached?” I can feel Chris holding in his own laughter, behind me.
“Oh…” She hums. “About six…”
“You’re shittin’ me…”
“No ma’am, I am not!” And then we both quietly squeal, stomping our feet a little when we do. “He’s got some in his account and the rest in a safe deposit box in the back. I can wire the amount in his account to yours and I’ll give you the key to empty what’s in the box at your own convenience. How does that sound?”
“It’s perfect!” I say, hushed so no one but the three of us standing in this little cubby, can hear. She asks me to provide my routing number and give a signature, then slides the key through the opening, placing it in the palm of my hand.
“I really want to catch up—how long are you in town? You know they had to postpone the Fourth of July rodeo right?”
I furrow my brow. “No, I haven’t even talked to anyone but the lawyer since we got here, how come?” She looks around me, eyeballing my protector.
“We? Who in the world is that? Tell me he’s yours because if he’s not, I’m takin’ him home! Damn, Dee… have you ever seen a manthatbuilt in your life? Where’d he come from? This is why you have to stay! I need all the details…” She whispers low, gritting her teeth.
I bite my lip and lean in. “He’s mine.” Billie melts onto her side of the counter and sighs. “Well, when did they reschedule it?” I demand.
“Friday! It’s only two days away. Surely you can stay… For old time’s sake? There’s a team roping event, and I’d love it if you’d be my partner. I was going to go solo or just forget about it all together, but if you stay… we could kick all the boys’ asses!”
Kick all the cowboys’ asses—that sounds tempting. I look over my shoulder at Chris and smirk… “Can we, boss?”
“Shut up! He’s your boss?” I turn back to her and make a face to say,not so loud…“Oh, sorry!” She whispers and covers her mouth.
He steps closer, wrapping his hands around my waist, his hips pressed hard to my ass as he leans his bearded chin over my shoulder to talk to Billie. “I’d sure as hell love to see that.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
My dad always kept our horses boarded with a local farrier. If I remember right, there were quite a few horses of his own there too. I wonder if he’d let me use one for a few days? So we could get acquainted and be ready for Friday. I don’t have anyone’s number in my phone, but I remember where he’s at.
“I’ll need a horse, and I think I know a guy. Mind taking a detour?” I tip my hat to the right as we roll up to a stop sign.
“You got it, blondie.” Chris winks and I give him directions for the rest of the way. When we get there, the place looks exactly the same as I last saw it. I can see the owner working a shoe on his anvil in the center of the large stable. I hop out of the truck, gently, I’m not stupid, don’t want to ruin my ankle again just yet—and head over to see him.
“Hey, Lester!” I call as I approach him. He squints and shades his eyes with his hand. He’s a lot older than he was. Probably in his sixties now. “Remember me?” Hedrops his hand as I get closer and I see a smile form on his dirt covered face.
“Dixie? Girl, where the hell have you been all this time?” He drops his tools and greets me with a hug. I tell him a bit about what I’ve been up to, but Chris is right behind me and when Lester lets me go, I introduce the two men.
“Les, this is my boss, Chris.” They both stretch out their arms and give each other a firm handshake. “Do you have a horse I can borrow for the rodeo on Friday? We planned to head back to Montana, but I ran into Billie at the bank, and she convinced me to ride with her for the team roping event.”
Les scratches his chin. “I think I’ve got the perfect fit. We can saddle her up and you can ride her as much as you want until Friday. You girls are gonna piss some people off—but it’s gonna be a damn good show.” Lester takes us into the stable where he shows me my new horse for the next couple days. “Her name’s Penny. She knows what to do. Just get her to trust you and she’ll out perform any other horse in the state.”
I lift my hand to touch her nose; she breathes out hard and smells me. Penny leans over and sniffs my shirt, my hair and my face. I’m surprised when she brushes her cheek against mine and lets out a quiet whinny. “Well, hello to you too, pretty Penny. With a name like that, I think I’ve just won my good luck.”
We stay the rest of the afternoon, Chris watches outside of the corral where I practice with Penny. He’s smirking and catcalling us both the entire time. I don’t think my good luck started today, with my inheritance orthis horse—it all started the day I got a phone call from Toby. My life has done an entire one hundred and eighty degree turn in a month, and I’ll destroy anything that tries to steal my happiness from here on out. I belong to that man, and I don’t even care if it took becoming a damsel in distress to do it.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Fuckin’ hell, it was a long sweaty afternoon getting to know that horse, and the shower is calling us both. We picked up burgers to eat on the way home, and now… I’m headed for round two, with the woman my dick’s been aching for since I woke up this morning. I lead her into the bathroom, open the glass enclosure and turn the water on. “You gettin’ in there with me?” She teases.
“You’re damn right I am.” I reach over my head, tugging my solid T-shirt up and over, then tossing it to the floor. “I’m still hungry. How about you?”
