Her smile was a little tight. “Bondage is a steady guy. He’ll take care of you even if no one else is there.”
“Reece plans on riding Trixie. He’ll be with me.” I slid my gaze to her. She was staring out into the ring. “Is there something you’re not telling me?”
She shrugged. “He has a reputation—”
I frowned, wanting to come to his defense. “If you’re talking about him being gay,” I began, but she waved her hand.
“That’s not the issue. Plenty of guys around the show circuit are gay.”
She had my full attention now. “If his sexuality isn’t the issue then what is?”
“Well, he’s left several clients high and dry on short notice.”
What? “I have a contract with him.”
She shrugged, not saying anything, but the implication was clear she thought my contract wasn’t worth shit.
“Sherry, if it was a problem, then why the hell did you recommend him?”
She gestured to the ring where Trixie was performing some complicated move in which her legs crossed over each other as she moved diagonally across the ring. “Look at him. He has the ability to get the most amazing performances out of both horses and riders. There is no one else with more talent around here.”
I relaxed a little. It made sense. Sherry had been a fantastic neighbor introducing me to people, finding Reece, selling her horses. Besides, Jack and Maitland had both added their props to Reece’s ability.
Still, he had been available on amazingly short notice. Had he dropped other clients to take this job? I leaned on the top rail of the fence, watching as he slowed Trixie to a walk and let her stretch her neck and relax. My jaw tightened. He was good. I had him under contract, and I was paying him enough money, he wasn’t going anywhere.
For some reason, the whole exchange with Sherry left me with a vaguely hollow feeling.
8
Whitt
As much as I wanted to dismiss Sherry’s comment, it wasn’t easy to get it out of my head. After my lesson the next morning, I hustled back to the house to clean up. I had a tour of the recycling facility scheduled with Maitland.
The current owner was eager to sell, not because the business was decreasing—exactly the opposite. With the population explosion over the last few years and the added attention to recycling, his business growth was outpacing his desire to work. Majors wanted to cash in and move farther south.
I felt sure I could put the two of them together so all of us ended up with a good deal if I could just nail Maitland down and convince him this was a perfect pairing with his paper company.
After we toured the facility, he was still as noncommittal as ever, making me want to grind my molars. Instead of focusing on the company, he asked, “How are things going with the riding? Mary said Reece was able to purchase Bondage and Trixie. They’re a good pair.”
“They are. I’m still working with Reece’s school horse, Mac. Reece says he wants me comfortable over fences before I make the transition to Bondage.”
Maitland nodded as we walked back to where our cars were parked. “Makes sense. Reece has sound instincts. I guess it’s in the blood.”
“You know his family?”
“Knew. His dad kind of dropped off the face of the earth. Shame really. Amazing horseman. Trained Thoroughbreds for the track. Did a lot of racing in West Virginia. Had one, though, that was golden. That colt should have been a champion.”
“Should have? What happened?”
Maitland shook his head, warming to his topic. “Bad owners. Insisted on racing the colt too much, too early, and too long. Last race as a two-year-old, he broke down and had to be humanely destroyed. Owners wanted to blame Reece’s dad, but it wasn’t his fault.”
“He could have said no.”
Maitland chuckled. “Hard to do when you have a family to support. He wasn’t as free to pick up and go as Reece is.”
“And has he—picked up and left other clients?”
“A few. Don’t know the stories behind it. Now this last one? He deserved dumping. Best thing Reece did was come over to your place.” Maitland checked his watch. “Got to go. I have a meeting at my company. See if you can get me last month’s paper recycling tonnage. Majors didn’t know what it was off the top of his head.”
“No problem.” We shook hands. I waved as Maitland reversed and drove away, but for once it wasn’t working the deal that was uppermost in my mind. I had hoped Maitland would be able to lay the doubt Sherry had planted to rest, but what he’d described of Reece and his dad had only increased my worry on two fronts. I couldn’t afford to have Reece walk out on my training, and I also had to admit I was attracted to him—a guy that might dump me, something I’d steered clear of since leaving my family and a few failed relationships in my past.
My relationships had a way of not working out. Right now, I couldn’t afford to take that risk.
I got back home in time to change clothes and go to the barn for my afternoon lesson. Mac was already saddled. Reece stood nearby with a smile creasing his cheeks.
“I thought I’d get things rolling for your last ride on Mac.”
I twisted my head trying to relieve some of the tension knotting my neck. “My last ride? This means we’re jumping?”
“Small fences. I think you’re ready. Mac’s taught you well.”
“Don’t you mean you?”
Reece handed me my hard hat. “It’s a team effort. Everything go okay with Maitland?”
I had mentioned the meeting this morning. It shouldn’t give me such a feeling of pleasure that he remembered and asked about it. “Yeah.”
My response was a little abrupt, but Reece didn’t seem to notice, probably figured it was nerves about jumping. What was jumping was my heart, and no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t stop that from happening whenever I was around him.
“Mount up.”
I swung into the saddle and gathered my reins, already so far from where I had started. While Reece went through his usual drill of setting obstacles, I took Mac through his paces, warming the older gelding up until the stiffness of standing in a stall eased.
“Okay,” Reece called once more in his position in the middle of the ring, sunglasses on and a baseball cap partially covering his honey-colored hair. “Take him through the cavaletti a couple times. Don’t forget, eyes up and close your hip as he jumps.”
It worked beautifully. The more things went right, and I listened to Reece’s praise, the more I fell under his spell. Seeing him in his zone, in my ring, in my house—it was nearly impossible to believe he could cut and run.
“After you go through the cavaletti this time, I want you to turn left and take Mac over the two jumps along the rail.”
They were small, but after we cleared them, I couldn’t help the feeling of pride flowing through me. I was doing this. Two weeks ago, I had barely known one end of a horse from the other.
Reece raised the height. He had added another higher pole behind the second jump to make it wider. I’m sure my eyes must have gotten huge. He laughed. “You can do this, Whitt. If I had any doubts, we wouldn’t even attempt it.”
He rotated his finger in a circle to indicate I needed to circle around and jump. I blew out a breath, patted Mac on the neck, and clucked to him. The big gelding handled both jumps like the pro he was, and I let out a whoop.
“All right! That’s enough for today.” Reece jogged toward us, his smile the brightest thing I had seen all day.
I couldn’t look at that smile and believe everything I had heard about him. But questioning and digging were how I’d ferreted out the deals that had made me rich, so I also couldn’t leave it alone.
As Reece took Mac’s reins and we started back to the barn, I said, “I can’t believe how lucky I was to find you at a loose end. You should have had oodles of clients standing in line to get you.”
“My friend, Steffy, inherited a lot of my school-age students. All except Beanie.”
“Beanie?” I asked. “Who would name their kid that?”
“It’s a nickname, short for Sabina. She’s homeschooled, so I do her lessons between yours a couple days a week.”
“She comes here?” I asked, wondering if I needed to make changes to my insurance policies.
Reece laughed. “No. She has a little demon of a pony named Buttercup. I drive over to their place to teach her.”
We had reached the barn by this time. While I exchanged Mac’s bridle for a halter and clipped him into the cross ties, Reece ran up the stirrups and unfastened the girth. It looked like Ricky had finished for the day. His car was gone, so he’d probably driven over to his girlfriend’s house. That left Reece and me alone in the barn. My awareness of him ticked up a notch.
“You mentioned school-age students. Did you teach any adults?”
Reece’s brows lowered. “Jordy Edgerton. He dumped me the day you called.”
Reece held his hand out for the bridle, disappearing for a moment to put the tack on the cleaning rack, before returning to where I was sponging Mac with water mixed with liniment.
“Dumped you? As in boyfriend?” I glanced at Reece from where I had squatted next to Mac’s front legs so I could rub them to help prevent any soreness.
An expression of distaste crossed Reece’s face. “Client only. Jordy was definitely not my taste in men. Steffy called him ‘Jerky.’”
I couldn’t help the laugh that erupted. In my imagination, I had already built a mental picture of the guy that was far from flattering. I wanted to know what he did find attractive in men. There was only one way to find out.
I stood and dumped the bucket’s contents down the drain in the wash stall. Behind me, I heard the snaps on the cross ties, followed by the clip-clop of Mac’s hooves as Reece returned him to his stall. Leaning against the wall, I studied Reece. He murmured to Mac, shooed Ripper out of the stall, and latched the door.
“What kind of man do you find attractive?” I jammed my hands inside the pockets of my breeches as I waited for his answer.
Only a few feet separated us. Reece paused, the lead rope clutched in both of his hands. His gaze met mine, his expression serious. “I would want someone who could share my interests. Someone kind. Someone I could talk to.”
“No tall, dark, and handsome?” I asked only half-jokingly. He had surprised me by not giving me a physical description of his ideal guy.
Reece shifted a little uncomfortably. His gaze roamed over me and his mouth tightened. “Why all the questions, Whitt? Are you volunteering for the job?”
He caught me off guard. I opened my mouth and closed it again. Here was the opening to let him know I was gay…and interested. But I didn’t take it. After another heartbeat of silence, Reece laughed a little bitterly.
“I guess not. Excuse me. I need to run some errands in town. Turn the lights off when you’re done.” He snapped his fingers for Ripper to follow him and stalked past me. As I stared grimly toward the ring, the rumble of Reece’s truck filled the air followed by the crunch of gravel as he reversed and headed down the drive.
Chicken. Shit. I was a complete and total coward. How fucking hard would it have been to open my mouth and say, “Yes, I am volunteering for the job.”
I entered the tack room and cleaned the saddle, bridle, and girth I had used for Mac. In the back of my mind, I suspected I could have paid for more help so I didn’t have to do this, but it was relaxing. At the moment, it was precisely what I needed. I focused on what I was doing and kept every other thought at bay, especially any that centered on a certain blue-eyed horse trainer with broad shoulders and a tight ass.
That worked great until I walked back to the house. My mind played back the scene with Reece, inventing all the possible ways it might have ended if I had opened my mouth to tell him that I was gay, that I found him attractive, and found out if he would go out with me.
The fact that I had done none of those things only reinforced what I had known for a while. When it came to being able to relate to people on a personal level, I sucked. Making money was what I was good at. I discovered that in college about the same time I figured out I was attracted to men.
At the front door, I stopped and looked back over the pastures to the barn. The money had made up for a lot over the years, but right now all I wished was a shot at being able to re-do that scene in the barn with Reece. Judging from the way he had high-tailed it out of there, I doubted I would get a second chance.
9
Reece
Since a drunken night at a horse show almost a decade earlier, Steffy and I had been each other’s confidants. Man, did I need her now. Whitt’s reaction—or lack of one—had punched me in the gut. I headed to Steffy’s farm in need of some TLC. Most of the time, sharing confidences meant Steffy listened to me bitch about my current boyfriend because she avoided any and all personal entanglements. She had her reasons, and they were ugly ones. I was glad she was willing to let me cry on her shoulder.
Right now, I felt closer to crying than I had in eons. I had put myself out there and been rejected. Maybe ignored was more accurate.
I hopped out of the truck with Ripper on my heels. Steffy was closing the barn for the evening. She turned in surprise.
“Hey, Reece. What are you doing here?”
When she got a better look at my face, her expression morphed to one of concern. “Uh oh, what’s wrong?”
“I’m an idiot.” I wiped my hand over my face, my fingers rasping over beard stubble. She tucked her arm through mine and leaned into my shoulder.
“Come to the house and you can tell me all about it.”
I let her lead me toward the big yellow farmhouse that had once belonged to her parents, Ripper running ahead on a never-ending search for rodents, bugs, or whatever he could find. Once we reached the wide, wraparound porch, she pointed to the glider swing.
“Sit. I’ll bring us out some iced tea.”
While she was in the house, I replayed the scene with Whitt in my mind. I didn’t think I had been reading his tone and body language wrong, but damn if he hadn’t shut me down cold.
As if sensing my mood, Ripper trotted up the steps and leaped into my lap. With his front paws on my chest, he leaned his head against my cheek. It was his version of a doggy hug and warmed me from the inside out.
“Thanks, buddy,” I murmured. “You and Steffy are the best friends I have.”
“Oh my god, I actually rank as high as Ripper? I am truly honored. Here.” She handed me the glass with a quirky smile before sitting next to me. “Now. Spill.”
“Whitt had a great lesson this afternoon. As we came back in the barn, he started asking questions about my former clients. We got on the subject of Jordy, and he asked if dumping me had been a personal thing or business. I said he wasn’t my type,”
Steffy snorted. “Jerky isn’t anyone’s type.”
“So, he asked what type of man I was attracted to.”
“He did? Oh, Reece, that’s great. That means he must be interested.”
I set my iced tea glass on the table next to the glider. “Yeah. What I thought, but not the case. He made some crack about tall, dark, and handsome, kind of half-joking, you know.” I scrubbed my hand over my face again. “I asked him if he was volunteering for the job, and he stared at me.”
Steffy didn’t say anything. My throat tightened, and my chest hurt.
“I felt like an idiot, Steffy.”
“Because you wanted him, and he didn’t want you? Or do you think you’ve scared him enough he’ll fire you?”
Shit. I hadn’t even considered that possibility. And as I sat there, I realized I knew next to nothing about Whitt Dailey. If he dated guys, it would be less of a problem, but I didn’t know that. What if he wasn’t gay? I mean, I’d gotten some feelings, but I didn’t know. Shit.
“Steffy, can we use your computer and do a little research?”
“Sure. What are you trying to find out?”
&nb
sp; “I need to figure out if Whitt even dates guys. What if I asked a straight guy if he was volunteering to be my boyfriend?”
“Hm. I see your point.” She stood and grabbed my hand. “Come on, let’s find out.”
We searched but couldn’t find anything conclusive. There were images of him with men and women in social situations. None of the stories about him had anything concrete, only speculation, usually tying him to an attractive woman. After a half hour, I slumped back in my chair.
“I am so screwed, Steffy.”
She perched on the edge of a nearby chair, thinking. After a moment, she said slowly, “I think you’re okay. You could laugh the whole thing off as a joke or ignore it and go on with your lessons as though nothing happened. He needs you as much as you need him, Reece.”
That sounded good, but the truth was I didn’t see where my talents as a trainer were a trade-off that put me on equal footing with his financial status. If I lost his backing now, I was toast. I was less than two weeks away from the deadline for entry fees into the Maysburg show, and I didn’t have the cash on me at the moment, I was still paying off my lease on the other barn, plus payments for my truck and trailer.
What really pissed me off, though, was feeling like I had to tiptoe around Whitt, so I didn’t risk losing his backing.
“I think ignoring it is the best way to go, Steffy. I was an idiot to get too comfortable with him. Right now, I need to keep things on a purely business footing.”
She leaned over and gave me a hug. “Remember, if it all goes down the toilet, I got you. Just bring Mac and Satin over here. We’ll figure something out.”
I tried to keep Steffy’s upbeat attitude in my mind the next morning as I waited for Whitt to appear for his morning lesson. I was going to move him to Bondage today. He needed to get used to different mounts, and definitely needed to get accustomed to the horse he would be hunting. After a quarter hour, my phone chirped. A text. He’d sent a fucking text to tell me he had a meeting and wasn’t going to make it.
Dr. Perfect: A Contemporary Romance Bundle Page 42
