I didn't know what the hell I was doing.Coming to Mustang Mountain was supposed to be temporary.A stopgap while I fought to get my horse back and figured out my next move.Training with Dawson's stock made sense.Kissing him didn't.
But damn, I didn't want to take it back.
I sank into the chair and held the ice pack in place, watching through the window as Dawson crossed the yard toward the barn.His stride was long and sure, his shoulders squared strong.He carried himself with a quiet confidence that probably served him well when breaking horses.
People weren't that different from animals.We both ran when we got scared.We both fought when cornered.And we both learned to protect ourselves after getting hurt enough times.
I'd been protecting myself for years.Walking away from bad contracts and worse partnerships.Keeping my distance from anyone who might complicate things.It worked.It kept me safe.It also kept me alone.
My phone buzzed in my pocket.I pulled it out and saw three missed texts from my lawyer.Updates on the case.Nothing good.The promoter's legal team was stalling, and my savings were running thin.
I shoved the phone back in my pocket and closed my eyes.
Outside, a low sound cut through the quiet.It wasn't a bark, but something deeper.I crossed to the window and looked out.
A wolf stood in the yard, massive and unmoving, his dark coat blending in with the late afternoon shadows.Dawson walked toward him from the barn.The wolf didn’t move until Dawson crouched, then stepped forward and let Dawson run his hand over its head.
My lungs squeezed tight.
The wolf lifted his head and looked straight at the house.At me.
Before I could move, he turned and padded toward the porch.Dawson followed, and a moment later the door opened.
“Hey, Lilah.Hades wants to meet you,” Dawson called out.
“Meet me or eat me?”I moved toward the door, my steps slow and cautious.I’d heard about Hades, the wild wolf that looked after the residents of Mustang Mountain.But hearing about him and seeing him standing ten feet away weren’t the same thing.
“He won’t hurt you.”Dawson stood just inside the door with the gigantic wolf next to him.
This close, Hades looked even bigger than he had through the window.He took a couple of steps toward me, his nose twitching like he was studying my scent.I stayed still, trusting that he wasn’t about to rip me to pieces.
After a long beat, the wolf pressed his nose to my hand.I exhaled and rested my fingers against his thick fur.The wolf sat down at my side like he’d made up his mind that I was safe.
“He likes you.”Dawson gave me a rare smile.“Looks like you’ve made a new friend, Trouble.”
“Trouble, huh?Is that what you’ve decided you’re going to call me?”
“Suits you.Don’t forget to ice your side.Twenty minutes.”He turned to go, leaving me there with a bruised side, a wolf sitting at my feet, and the uneasy sense that something had just shifted.
CHAPTER5
DAWSON
I wokebefore dawn with Lilah's taste still on my tongue and the image of Hades pressing his massive head against her thigh burned into my brain.
Temporary, I told myself.This whole thing was temporary.
The lie sat heavy in my chest as I pulled on clothes and headed downstairs.Coffee first.Then work.The kind that required focus and left no room for thinking about how Lilah's curves felt pressed against me or the way she'd looked at me like I wasn't already halfway to breaking.
She was a complication I couldn't afford.She'd leave in a few weeks.I'd stay here, same as always.The facts were simple.Except nothing about this felt simple anymore.
I grabbed my mug and headed to the office before the sun peeked over the mountains.The paperwork wouldn’t do itself, and Ruby's deadlines weren't going to fade away just because I'd kissed a woman who made me forget why I kept to myself.
Stock verification forms covered my desk.There were insurance requirements and ownership documentation for every animal we planned to use in the rodeo… exactly the kind of tedious work that usually settled my mind.
Today it just reminded me how much was riding on getting everything right.
I pulled the filing cabinet open and started digging through old records.Birth certificates for the horses.Vaccination logs.Purchase receipts going back years.Ruby needed proof of lineage for half the stock, and the insurance company wanted more documentation than I would have had to provide to a federal auditor.
