Taking the Bull by the Horns

by Chant, Zoe

  “So you didn’t live here full-time?” Tora asked.

  “Nope – my dad ran a hardware store in town for most of his life,” Wyatt explained as he went to the kitchen, with its washed stone countertop and mismatched wooden cupboards. “But my aunt and uncle didn’t have kids, so when my uncle died, I inherited this place. After my dad sold up his business and retired, I decided to stay here and look after the place. I had such good memories of it when I was a kid, it didn’t feel right to sell it.”

  “I get that,” Tora said softly. “Sometimes I think about going and seeing what my mom’s restaurant looks like these days – but then I think better of it. Better to leave it as what it was in my memories.”

  Wyatt felt a spike of pain in his chest at Tora’s soft words. It was clear she’d come a long way, but he couldn’t deny he understood why she missed the place where she’d grown up.

  “I was lucky, having this option,” Wyatt said. “My dad sold up for a good profit, so he could loan me some money while I was getting on my feet. I’ve paid him back now, but without that, it would’ve been a lot harder to get this place going.”

  Wyatt’s father – a bull shifter just like him – had bought some land out in the middle of nowhere, having decided the growing town of Robson Hills was getting a little too crowded for his liking. The land, since it had absolutely nothing on it, had been reasonably priced, so he’d been happy to help Wyatt once he’d explained what he wanted to do with his uncle’s old place, for which Wyatt would always be grateful. His uncle had paid off the mortgage long ago, but there’d been a lot that needed fixing up when Wyatt had first taken the place over.

  “I can imagine,” Tora said. “So you turn a profit now?”

  “A tiny one,” Wyatt admitted. “Almost everything goes back into the animals. I don’t like turning them away, so I take in any of them that I can give a good home to. But the good news is, I don’t need much – I get milk from my cows, eggs from my chickens, and fruit and vegetables from my garden. Of course it costs money to keep all those going, but I get the satisfaction of taking care of them myself, I guess.”

  “But you have your ice cream sideline now,” Tora said, cocking her head.

  Wyatt laughed. “Well, that’s still in its experimental stage, but Sal’s got some buyers interested, so he says. But speaking of – would you like a sneak preview of the product?”

  Tora’s eyes lit up. “Oh, is that possible?”

  “For you? Anything.” Wyatt grinned as he opened the freezer compartment at the bottom of the fridge, taking out the boxes of chocolate ice cream Salvatore had brought over from his place. According to Sal, he’d been up all night getting this batch just right until he had something he felt he could take around and sell with pride, made from the milk from Wyatt’s own sheep and cows.

  “You want to try sheep or cow?” Wyatt asked, holding them both up.

  “Hmm. I’ve never tried sheep’s milk,” Tora said. “And I’m always up for trying something new.”

  “You got it,” Wyatt said, putting down the box Sal had marked with a big ‘S’ down on the counter, and putting the box marked ‘C’ back in the freezer.

  “So what’s the difference between the two?” Tora said, coming over to the counter as Wyatt got out some spoons and opened the box.

  “You’d really have to ask Sal about all that,” Wyatt said. “He’s the master dessert maker. But he told me something about how with sheep’s milk, he doesn’t need to add extras like eggs or cream to get the richness of taste people are used to with cow’s milk ice cream, so it tastes just as good but it actually has lower fat content. He thinks it’ll be a good selling point.”

  “Well, as long as it tastes good you can sign me up,” Tora said, as Wyatt passed her a spoon. She dipped it into the chocolate ice cream, rolling herself off a hefty spoonful before raising it to her lips.

  Wyatt hadn’t realized he was holding his breath a little until Tora had pulled the spoon out of her mouth and let out a truly sinful-sounding moan – and then he found he was holding his breath for entirely other reasons, mainly, that he’d forgotten how to breathe at all at the sight of Tora’s closed-eyed, blissed-out expression.

  “Oh my God,” she mumbled around her mouthful of ice cream. “That has got to be… excuse me…” She swallowed. “That has got to be the best ice cream I have ever tasted. Tell your friend Sal he’s a genius. Oh my God.”

  Wyatt’s heart was thudding in his chest – but he was also aware of the pulse of his blood in certain other parts of himself as well. Tora’s face, her moan – all of it had sent a hot rush of desire straight to his groin.

  “Can I have some more?” Tora asked, licking a little ice cream from the corner of her mouth – which did nothing to help Wyatt’s situation at all.

  “Of course,” he said hoarsely, pushing the box toward her. Right now, he would’ve liked nothing more than to sit and watch her finish the whole lot.

  Still, he felt like it might be a little weird to just stare at her while she licked ice cream off a spoon, so he grabbed his own spoonful, lifting it to his mouth.

  He already knew the ice cream was good – he’d tried it as soon as Salvatore had brought it over. But he still managed to be surprised every time he ate it at just how good it was.

  “This is seriously amazing,” Tora said, after they’d spent a few moments eating in silence. “This is going to take the ice cream world by storm.”

  “Well, hopefully it won’t get too popular,” Wyatt laughed. “It’s only meant to be a small thing – I don’t really want to run a full dairy! But as something that brings in a bit extra and maybe gets the sanctuary itself a little more attention, I’ll take what I can get.”

  “Mm, yeah, I can see how changing things up might make things more complicated,” Tora said contemplatively. “But it’d definitely help people learn more about the sanctuary, and I’m sure they’d love the idea that by buying the ice cream they’re helping out.”

  “You may be right,” Wyatt said. He looked up, and noticed that Tora had, once again, gotten a little ice cream caught at the corner of her mouth. He smiled – it was adorable, and to be honest, it was harder than he wanted to admit to stop himself from kissing it right off her mouth.

  “You have a little something,” he said instead, indicating her face.

  “Oh – whoops,” Tora said, raising her hand and wiping at her cheek.

  “No, no – on your mouth,” Wyatt said, laughing.

  “Gone?” Tora asked, wiping the wrong side of her mouth. “What?” she asked, when Wyatt just laughed even harder.

  “No – here, let me get it,” he said, raising his hand and leaning in.

  He heard Tora’s soft exhalation, as if in anticipation, as his thumb slid over the corner of her mouth, wiping the ice cream away. They stared at each other for a long moment, Wyatt gazing down into her large brown eyes, open wide as she began to lean in, clearly wanting more of his touch, more of him…

  Kiss her.

  Wyatt knew that was what Tora was waiting for – what she wanted. Her eyes flickered down to his mouth, and she darted her tongue quickly over her lips.

  Wyatt knew he couldn’t resist. Their attraction to each other was too overwhelming – it had been since the first moment they met. He was surprised it had taken them this long to give in to it.

  Wyatt raised his hand, cupping her cheek and drawing her toward him. He leaned down as she raised her face to his, her breath drifting warmly across his cheek –

  “Wyatt! Wyatt, you gotta – oh! Uh. Right. Excuse me –”

  Wyatt and Tora jumped apart like guilty teenagers, both of them turning to face the source of the interrupting voice. Wyatt’s heart was racing, even though he’d recognized it immediately. Knowing who it was didn’t do anything to quell his surprise, though – or his annoyance at having been interrupted.

  One of his regular volunteer farmhands, Nathan, was standing in the doorway of the house, having just barged t
hrough it without knocking. He did, at least, have the decency to look a little abashed at having walked in on what was clearly a private moment, but something had clearly got his dander up.

  “What it is, Nate?” Wyatt asked, managing to keep the annoyance out of his voice – he hoped.

  “Uh, there’s a bit of a problem,” Nate said, still clearly a little embarrassed. “But I –”

  He was interrupted by the appearance of Ash, his fellow farmhand and best friend, who walked in the door a moment later. Where Nate was short and stocky, Ash was tall and lanky – together they made quite the pair, but they’d been invaluable around the farm, and Wyatt knew it wasn’t worth losing his temper about this at them.

  I’ll get more time with Tora later, he promised both himself and her.

  “A problem?” he prompted Nate, when he didn’t continue.

  “Yeah, a pretty big one,” Ash said, when Nate just cleared his throat. He seemed pretty oblivious to what Tora’s presence in the kitchen signified. “It’s those alien hunters – they broke down a fence trying to climb over it or something, and the cows from the Gunn ranch have gotten out and are roaming around all over the place. Some have gotten in over here, but he’s been rounding them up all day. He asked if we would mind bringing the ones who’ve gotten into our place back to his.”

  Wyatt sighed. It wasn’t the first time this had happened, and, as long as those lights in the sky and crop circles were appearing, he was certain it wouldn’t be the last. He looked apologetically at Tora.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “I really do need to go help the Gunns out with this – they’re good neighbors, and I’d be remiss as a good neighbor myself if I didn’t.”

  “No, no, that’s totally fine,” Tora said, sounding a little breathless, but totally sincere. “I understand completely. I wouldn’t want you to stay back on my account. I can definitely manage by myself for the rest of the day.”

  “I’m not sure how long this’ll take,” Wyatt said. He looked over to Nate and Ash. “Any idea how far the cows’ve spread out?”

  “Not sure at this stage,” Nate said. “We had a quick look, but it looks like they’re all mixed in with ours. We’ll have to take our time checking their tags and separating them out.”

  Wyatt grimaced. “It’ll be a pretty long job, then.”

  He most likely wouldn’t get to see Tora again this afternoon – and maybe he’d still be gathering the Gunns’ cows well into the evening, not to mention all the other little jobs he’d planned on doing today that’d now need to be pushed back.

  “Really, it’s fine. I have plenty to do – lots to look at, lots of books to read,” Tora reassured him with a smile. “Maybe we could catch up again tomorrow?”

  Tomorrow is too long! Wyatt’s bull roared. Tonight! Tell her we’ll see her tonight!

  “Tomorrow would be great,” Wyatt said firmly. But no matter how sure he was that his bull was coming on a little too strong in its insistence on seeing Tora this evening, he thought he detected just the slightest hint of disappointment in Tora’s eyes.

  Maybe I should tell her tonight after all…

  “C’mon, Wyatt,” Nate said. “Dan’s getting a horse saddled up for you, but we better get going.”

  Wyatt knew he couldn’t, reasonably, even be annoyed at Nate’s insistence he hurry – he was totally right. They needed to get moving while there was still daylight, and every minute counted.

  “All right,” he said. “Let’s go.” He turned to Tora, picking up the box of ice cream and putting the lid back on it. “You should take this back to the cabin with you. You seemed to be enjoying it.”

  “I was,” Tora said, smiling. “And thanks – I appreciate it.”

  Tora took the box from him, and, nodding to Nate and Ash, who tipped their hats and said hey to her, she made her way out the front door, pausing only to give Wyatt a lingering look before she disappeared through it. It took everything Wyatt had not to groan out loud.

  “Uh, sorry about busting in on you there, Wyatt,” Nate said, after Tora had left. “I didn’t realize you were, uh, seeing someone.”

  Ash glanced at him in confusion. “Oh – did you, uh, interrupt something?” He looked over at Wyatt, raising an eyebrow. “You’ve kept that quiet, boss!”

  Wyatt shook his head. “It’s… well, it’s only just started,” he said, truthfully. He didn’t really want to talk much about this yet – not until he’d had a chance to explain things fully to Tora and know that she was totally comfortable with being his mate, and that she truly wanted to stay here with him. “But c’mon, there’ll be time for gossip later. Right now, we need to get those cows in.”

  He made his way to the door, and resolutely ignored Ash and Nate smirking and raising their eyebrows at each other when they thought he wasn’t looking. Dan was just beginning to bring the horse he’d saddled for him around from the stables, and Wyatt gave the horse, Jessa, a quick pat before hauling himself into the saddle. For delicate jobs like this, horses were still the quickest and best way of getting things done.

  “All right,” he said, glancing around to where Tora was still just visible on the path leading up into the hills and feeling a tight longing in his chest, “let’s get this mess sorted out.”

  Chapter 5

  Tora’s heart was still beating wildly in her chest as she made her way up the path that would lead her back to her cabin. She was still fit enough that it couldn’t be the uphill walk that was making it go crazy, so it must have been…

  …Well, obviously it was the almost-kiss.

  She was sure Wyatt had been about to kiss her – and she’d wanted him to. She’d wanted it more than she’d ever wanted anything in her life. She was pretty sure if he’d hesitated even a moment longer she would have grabbed his face and pretty much swallowed him whole.

  Tora let out a loud, frustrated sigh, knowing that there was no one around but the cows in the fields and the birds in the trees to hear her. She appreciated that Wyatt had a farm to run and cows to help, but why just at that exact moment…?!

  Ugh. It can’t be helped. But Wyatt did say he’d see me tomorrow…

  Warm anticipation filled Tora’s belly. Tomorrow seemed an age away, but she’d just have to get through it. Maybe she could finish off this amazing ice cream and read a racy book – she had enough of them on her ebook reader, that was for sure. Her friend from college, Yana, ran a book recs blog and was always sending her links to things she’d especially liked, not that Tora had really had much time to read them.

  Eat some ice cream and read a sexy book – not a bad way to spend an evening, Tora told herself with a smile. And tomorrow, she’d see Wyatt again and they could pick up where they’d left off.

  The sun was low over the hills by the time Tora made it back to the cabin – it was a longer walk than she’d realized, and she hoped Wyatt wouldn’t be out too late helping his friends with the cows.

  Those alien hunters really were causing more trouble than they knew, she thought grumpily as she went to the kitchen to grab a spoon, before flopping down on the sofa and scooping up the slightly melted bits of chocolate ice cream from the edges of the box.

  She closed her eyes and savored the taste as it spread over her tongue. This really was the creamiest, richest ice cream she’d ever tasted – she wondered if it was the sheep’s milk that made the difference, or if Wyatt’s friend was just a genius at chocolate ice cream.

  Feeling decadent, she rested the ice cream box on her stomach and picked up her ebook reader, flicking through the titles she had saved. She finally found something that looked suitably racy – The Dragon’s Fae Bride – and settled in for a good, relaxing evening.

  * * *

  Huh – wha –

  Tora jerked awake suddenly, not even remembering when she’d drifted off to sleep. Blinking, she sat bolt upright, running a hand through her hair.

  Where am I?

  It was completely dark, but Tora knew she wasn’t in her dorm at th
e training facility. It only took a moment for things to come back to her though, as her eyes adjusted to the lack of light and she looked around.

  Geeze. I must’ve been dead asleep to be so disoriented, Tora thought, shaking her head at herself. She’d knocked her empty box of ice cream and her ebook reader to the floor when she’s sat up suddenly, but there didn’t seem to be any damage done. Sighing, she picked them up and put them both down on the coffee table.

  Time to get myself to bed, I guess, she thought. She must’ve been more worn out by her long drive than she thought. She’d had a strict early bed time for the last few years, but she didn’t usually nap! Maybe it was suddenly being released from the harsh confines of a training schedule – her body was going to do all the things she hadn’t let it over the past few years!

  Trooping down the hallway toward the bedroom, Tora yawned, stretching. Despite her sudden lurch into wakefulness, she felt like she was just about ready to drop straight back to sleep. She’d just peel off her clothes and sleep in her underpants, rather than go hunting around in her suitcase for – for –

  Arriving in the bedroom, Tora blinked.

  There were wide windows across the back wall, looking out over the forested hills. Everything should have been pitch black, but Tora was certain she’d just seen –

  There is it again, Tora thought, her heart leaping into her throat.

  A flash of light – bright white, zooming through the trees outside the cabin. It hadn’t been a firefly, since it was the wrong time of year and Tora knew what they looked like, and it wasn’t a large, single flash of light.

  Some… some kids with a flashlight, then, Tora thought, biting her lip and going to the window. That’s what it must have been. Or those alien hunters, still at it at this time of night…

  Tora’s heart thudded, but it wasn’t with any of the warmth she’d felt earlier when Wyatt had almost kissed her.

  Or… not the alien hunters…