Page 32 of The Cowboy and the Stray

I couldn't stop staring at the foal, couldn't stop marveling at the delicate perfection of her. The way her ears flicked and swiveled. The spindly awkwardness of her legs as she tried to stand as her mama licked her all over.

She was brand new. She was everything. And somehow, she was cleaner than I was.

"You're a natural."

Calder's voice was soft, but it still made me jump. I'd almost forgotten he was there, so caught up in the wonder of the moment.

He nodded to the wobbly foal, now nuzzling at her mama's side. "She likes you. Animals can tell, you know. When someone's got a good heart."

Heat crept up my neck, prickling across my cheeks. "I've never done anything like that before. Never even held a baby animal."

Calder raised his brows. "Never? Not even a kitten or a puppy?"

I shook my head, swallowing against the sudden tightness in my throat. "We moved around a lot when I was a kid. My mom always said pets were too much trouble. Too much to lose." Too much to feed. Too much to bury.

Too much responsibility, more like. Too much commitment for a woman who could barely commit to keeping a roof over our heads or food in the fridge. The older I got, the more I understood why.

But the little girl I'd been had never stopped dreaming of soft fur and wagging tails. Of something that would love me just for me. Not for what I could do or what I could give, but simply because I existed.

"I always wanted one, though," I admitted, stroking the horse's velvety muzzle. "Something that was mine, that needed me. Is that stupid?" Cue the neon sign flashing please validate me.

"No, it ain't stupid at all."

Something in his tone made me look up. He was watching me, his eyes dark and deep, like still water with currents running beneath. There was a softness in them I'd never seen before. A tenderness that reached right into my chest and squeezed.

"Everyone needs something to love," he said quietly. "Something to be responsible for. It's how we know we matter."

I swallowed hard, blinking against the sudden burn of tears. "I've never really had that. Never been responsible for anything but myself."

Now here I was, hiding out again, like that lost little girl wishing for a puppy to make it all better.

Calder touched my shoulder, his rough palm gentle through my filthy shirt. "You've got it now, whether you like it or not. That foal? She won't forget you. She'll always be the first one you pulled into the world."

I looked down at the foal, now butting impatiently at her mother. I had shown up for her, hadn't I? Even scared witless, covered in unnamable goop, I'd stayed. I'd seen it through.

Calder smiled. "What are you going to name her?"

Me? I stared at him in shock. I'd never named anything in my life. "Um."

He chuckled. "Just nothing stupid like Starshine or Cupcake."

I snorted. "Actually, I was thinking Cassie. For Cassiopeia."

"After a constellation." He stared at little Cassie. "Perfect."

Maybe I wasn't just running, after all. Maybe I was finally running toward something that mattered. Weird. That almost felt like progress.

Calder shifted, stripping off his sweat-soaked T-shirt to mop at his face. "Here," he said, handing it to me. "You can clean up a bit. Ain't much, but it's better than nothing."

My hands closed around the damp fabric, still warm from his body. Still smelling of him, that mix of horses and hay and clean male sweat. This shirt had no business smelling that good.

It shouldn't have felt so intimate, taking his shirt. He was just being kind, being practical. But as my fingers brushed his, my whole body flushed hot. It was impossible not to notice the breadth of his naked chest, the sculpted muscles of his stomach. The dark hair arrowing down into the waistband of his jeans.

Yep. Definitely not looking. Definitely not drooling. Definitely failing at not looking or drooling.

Oh sweet lord. I'd known he was big, known he was strong. But seeing it, all that power and coiled grace, sent a bolt of pure, shocked want straight through me.

I jerked my gaze away, fumbling with the shirt. "Thanks," I managed, my voice reedy. "I'm sure I look like something the cat dragged in."