“We’ll see.” Cook gave us a little wave and walked briskly to the house.
Seb came out of the office with Abe at his heels. The boy was talking a mile a minute and followed Seb toward the stable.
Dr. Cobb came to us with a plate piled high with food. “All of this looks amazing.”
“Tastes even better,” Ben said, smiling. “Cook and Rey really outdid themselves.”
“I’m going to go find some coffee. Anyone else want a mug?” I asked them.
Neither of them did, so I headed inside for my caffeine fix.
* * * *
The party went off without a hitch, and as exhausted as we all were when we closed the doors at six, we deemed it a success.
Cook and Rey were happy that they’d managed to make almost enough food, and they’d gotten several compliments on it, too. Not that it surprised anyone, Cook was a legitimate private chef, after all.
There were a couple of families who wanted to potentially buy a couple of the ponies we had when they were ready to be rehomed. Theo had had a long conversation with them and seemed hopeful.
Lake was overwhelmed in the best of ways. He’d gotten a taste of what his life would be like as the official majority owner of the rescue. When they’d announced that Sierra and Theo now owned part of the rescue—twenty percent each—there had been happy exclamations and applause from the people who knew them, and Lake had been praised for deciding to make them part owners.
It was a good thing, I thought, that Lake had finally found his place in the world. He’d been hesitant to come back to Illinois after what had happened to him before we met, but the bravery had been worth it.
I walked out of the shower to find Ben sitting on the edge of my bed. He was wearing his pajama pants and another tank top which I heartily approved of.
When he noticed me, he gnawed on his bottom lip for a couple of seconds, then said, “River, we need to talk.”
Chapter 12
Ben
I didn’t have the words for seeing River for the first time in several weeks. He looked so gorgeous in his simple attire and a bit of makeup to enhance his individuality. His hair looked great, too, in its almost natural color.
Some part of me felt extremely satisfied by the fact that he found me so hot when he saw what I was wearing. I’d thought of it for a while, and then decided to go for it. What I hadn’t expected was the way I wanted to keep kissing him in the stable. I felt like trying to climb inside his skin to get as close to him as possible. In a totally not weird and not at all serial killer-y way though.
The event was great. I had fun meeting people and didn’t feel stressed or overwhelmed even once. I think that had more to do with the way we were mostly outdoors, I knew a lot of the people by sight, and there weren’tthatmany people around anyway. It was still a crowd on the rescue’s scale, just nothing like what I was used to in the city and while traveling.
Meeting River’s boss was interesting. The man was as handsome as I’d heard, not that he did anything for me personally, but I could see more than a few heads turning his way while he walked around the place. Same with Seb, of course, but people knew him better, so I guess he was less exciting.
River seemed to think there was something brewing between the two docs, which could be interesting. From my few times meeting Seb, I had thought that the man seemed a little bit lost. Meanwhile, Dr. Cobb seemed like a man who liked to be the anchor for others. Maybe they’d be a good fit? But then again, what did I know about romance and relationships?
Dr. Cobb’s nephew Abe was hilarious. He charmed the visitors with his exuberant nature and his knowledge of all things Twin Star Rescue. He even had a kid sized T-shirt like the other volunteers.
Eventually, things wound down and we spent a couple more hours cleaning everything up. Some of the work would be done the next day, but at least everything looked nice and neat.
Theo and Lake promised to take care of the horses together and there was the implication that Lake would be staying at Theo’s cabin that night. They were so great together. You couldn’t help but see how much they cared about each other.
And that was what sparked my need to get the truth out of River as soon as I could. I didn’t want anything between us.
So, after we’d showered separately, I walked to his room where I expected to spend the night sleeping next to him and sat on the bed to wait for him.
I could see his expression drop and become guarded when I told him we needed to talk.
“Not like that,” I said, because even I knew what the phrase usually meant.
“Okay…” River said slowly, then walked to his dresser to pull on some underwear. His hand hovered over another drawer, but he seemed to decide against pulling out a shirt.
He rubbed the towel he’d had around his hips against his hair, then went to take it back to the bathroom.
