Page 28 of Taking What Was His

“No, I promise everything is good. I know how cops are with widows, but he seems to be excessive about it.”

“I know, that’s why I told him he needed not to come over so much. I still think it’s too much, but I don’t want to hurt him. He has been incredibly kind and caring, and he’s been great to have around.”

“I’m glad you’ve had him.”

She nodded. “Me, too. Maybe I should think about telling him I’ll call him if I need him. That way, he won’t just stop over any time.”

“Maybe give him time to get over the shock first.”

“You’re right.”

“One thing you should know is I’m always right.”

She snorted out a laugh, making him chuckle.

All he knew was he had a bad vibe with the guy, so he was going to find out more about him and keep his ears and eyes open. If there was any threat to Beth, he’d squash the man like a bug. It was his job to take care of Beth and Jayden now, so Evan better get used to it.

Chapter Nine

Roman pulled up to the barn Beth indicated, came around the car, and helped her out. There was more action around the place that morning than the previous night, and it was exciting to watch.

Several people and horses were moving around.

“This way.”

He followed her into a barn.

“Vicki, this is Roman, a friend of mine. He’s going to watch me put Loki and Diego through their paces.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” she held out her hand and shook his. “You’ll enjoy that.” She turned to Beth. “Diego is sassy this morning.”

“I figured. He hasn’t been run in over a week. I’ll run him first.”

Roman stood back and listened to them. He didn’t understand a lot of what they were saying, but if he was going to be in Beth’s life, he wanted to be involved with everything.

Roman stiffened when the huge horse from the previous night was brought out to stand in the aisle by one of the young men he’d talked to the night before. It had its saddle on and looked ready to go. The horse side-stepped and even tried to rear a few times.

Holy shit. Beth wasn’t going to get on that thing, was she? He watched the woman hand Beth a helmet, and then Beth put it on while they talked.

The guy started walking the horse their way and stopped when he got to Beth and handed her the reins.

Beth continued to talk as the horse tried to act up, but she shushed him and then ignored him.

She finally turned his way and started walking. “Let’s go outside. Mike will help me on.”

She turned to the guy. “Mike, could you take Roman to the barn I’ll be in?”

“Sure, boss.”

Beth stopped just outside and stood close to Roman. “Do you want to pet him?”

Roman wanted to say, ‘hell no,’ but took a step toward the big animal. He watched how Beth showed him and mimicked what she did.

“He’s softer than I thought he’d be.”

“The horses here get spoiled a bit. They like to be bathed.”

He grinned. “Really? How in the hell do you bathe an animal this big?”