“Yes.” She linked her hand to his arm and fell into step with him. “Is that what they’ve done?”
“Sounds like it.” He was going to need eyes in the back of his head. “Rex’s brother Drax and his team are known for being the queens of Glitter Wars. Looks like Rexar has picked up a few things.”
“He wasn’t on the plane, was he? Because I don’t remember him being there.”
“Nah. Rexar’s mostly turned cowboy and doesn’t leave the ranch often. When he does, you know shit’s really hit the fan. If he and the boss are gone at the same time, then the person who’s in shit is someone important. If Lina goes too… then the whole world is fucked.” They walked into the barn, and he stopped when she did. “Never been in a barn before?”
“Nope, first time.”
“Then welcome.” Jack, the ranch foreman, strode out of his office. “Let me introduce you to the other new residents.” The older man nodded to him, then ignored him in favor of Rose.
Old charming bastard.
Jack loved women, all women. It didn’t matter what shape, size, or form they came in. The only woman Caleb had ever seen him have a problem with was Lina, and that was because of their dogs. Namely, Lina’s pup wanted to mate with Jack’s collie, but Jack was having none of it and banned Buddha from the barn for the duration of his girl’s season. He trailed down the center aisle of the barn as Jack introduced Rose to the horses inside.
“They have access to the dry lot through the back doors in each stall, see?” Jack pointed them out to Rose when she asked if they had to stay in their stalls all day. “It’s almost their dinner time, so they’re in here to remind me, just in case I forget.”
“You wouldn’t,” she asked, “would you?”
He shook his head. “I haven’t yet.”
The old bastard was enjoying this, and Caleb was enjoying the excitement and pleasure on Rose’s face as she petted and stroked muzzles. She even dared to smack a kiss onto a nose or two, and he was a fool for being jealous of the damn horses.
“Can you ride, Ms. Rose?” Jack asked. “Because if not, we can teach you, and if you do, then we have some trail horses. Your Caleb knows a good picnic spot. He can take you there.”
He tensed. Shit, how did Jack know where he went when he needed to breathe or to settle something in his head? “Sure. We can do that.” He immediately felt like a heel when Rose’s excited expression fell. Jack scowled at him, silently telling him he’d screwed up.
He pulled his head out of his ass, scowled at Jack behind her back while she was stroking the nose of a pretty pinto mare, and took her hand. “Did you say you have new residents, Jack?”
“I do. Come on down to the big stalls with me.”
They followed him toward the back of the barn and down the ramp into a newer part of the building.
“Did I screw up?” Rose whispered.
He shook his head. “No, not at all. Jack just surprised me, is all.” He should have known she’d take it that way. He bit down the frustration at himself. He considered himself pretty confident most of the time; hell, the US Government had trusted him with million-dollar weapons from the time he was eighteen. They’d neglected to teach him how to be a normal freaking human.
“Y’all coming, or are you gonna stand there staring at each other all day?”
He jumped back from her, aware of Jack’s snickers. He was winding him up on purpose. Maybe those hoses Rexar and RJ had mentioned would be useful for more than fucking with his team as they trained tomorrow. “Uh—yeah, we’re coming.” He gestured for Rose to go ahead of him and discretely adjusted his pants to give himself more room for the semi he had going on.
This is freaking ridiculous.
Acting like a fool is going to backfire on me. I just know it.
“Oh, aren’t you the cutest thing?” Rose stared over a stall door. “Look, Caleb, a baby.”
“I’m thinking this one might be a true black,” Jack told them. “But we’ll know more when he sheds out his foal coat.”
“Is he out of Logan’s stallion?”
“Yep.” Jack brushed his hand down the mare’s neck. “Do you want to come see the foal, Miss Rose? Her mama is a good girl. Aren’t you, Breezer? You’ll let the pretty lady in to see your baby, woncha?”
“Are you sure?” Rose’s question was whispered as if she was afraid to disturb the mama and baby.
Despite her soft voice, Caleb could feel her excitement. He took out his own phone as she slipped into the foal stall with Jack. Flipping through the app, he snapped some photos. He probably wasn’t anywhere near as good as she was, but he didn’t think she’d complain about him capturing the memory for her. If he kept some on his phone, and they happened to back up to his hard drive, then nobody needed to know.
Rose petted and loved on the foal with one hand and took so many photos with the other that Caleb lost count. He figured it didn’t matter how much time they spent here or how many photos she took; she was happy and enjoying herself, and that counted.
