by Maggie Way
Giving up chocolate was worth every struggle, every second at the gym, every missed indulgence. Even though she was still 20 pounds shy of her goal, she deserved her just reward, even if it was in the form of a horse she really couldn’t afford to buy.
“I know, it’s boring. Common,” Darren drawled.
On the contrary. For Maddie, brown was the new black.
While red was her favorite color and revealed the passionate side of her nature, brown represented what she wanted, to be grounded, dependable.
“That’s not what I implied,” she corrected, not willing to explain her attraction to most things brown. “She’s dark bay,” Maddie said, nodding at the bay horse with the black mane and tale. Chocolate. The horse’s name was what initially drew Maddie to her, but it was Chocolate’s nature that captured Maddie’s heart. “That’s a shade of brown.”
“It certainly is,” Darren said, stroking the horse’s muzzle. Chocolate seemed to lean in to Darren’s touch, as if they were long lost friends. Jealousy prickled deep. Maddie didn’t even know this man, but she’d never in her life wanted to be a horse as much as she did now, nuzzling into the man’s strong hands and absorbing his affection. “What brings you here?” he asked.
Shaking off the green, which wasn’t her color anyway, and the abundance of desire, a clear indication she needed to change the batteries in her Plan B, Maddie smiled. She’d been as surprised to see Hot Shirtless Guy — Darren Brown — as he was to see her, but she didn’t know him from Adam and no way was she ready to tell him she was in the market for a horse. Buyers could be ruthless, as could sellers. She didn’t want to see the price on this precious animal go up because of her interest. “I love horses. I come here sometimes just to say hello.”
“Do you ride?” Darren asked.
“Since I was ten. My parents thought horse riding lessons would settle me down.”
His laugh reflected the humor in that statement. “Did it?”
Maddie laughed with him. She could tell him no. In fact, she should lie and tell him yes, but there were some impulses she couldn’t control, and flirting with an attractive man was one of them.
“That’s my dirty little secret,” she teased, reaching out and stroking Chocolate’s neck.
From the corner of her eye, Maddie saw Darren studying her. The attention raised goosebumps all over her body and made the tingles from that initial electric shock fire up again. Her nipples even joined the party, remembering how they’d been invited the last time she saw Darren. “I’m intrigued. A woman who works hard at the gym and has dirty secrets.”
She wasn’t sure about the gym part, but if looking like an idiot equated to working hard in his mind, who was she to argue. “What brings you here?” she asked.
“I own a stable in Lilac Ridge. I offer boarding, riding lessons, trail rides, the whole lot. I’m looking to add to my family.”
Maddie’s heart joined the tingly party as she watched Darren’s easy affection with Chocolate. Family was how Maddie felt about the horses, too. The first horse she bought all on her own was a thoroughbred stallion Maddie named after her twin brother. Sergeant Matty was Maddie’s kindred spirit — wild, a bit unpredictable, and completely unreliable, but she loved that horse the moment she met him.
Not unlike Chocolate. Chocolate was the exact opposite of Sergeant Matty, calm, predictable, reliable — like her brother Matthew, the soldier. As much as Maddie wanted the thoroughbred stallion in her life, she needed the quarter horse mare.
She hoped Chocolate was the perfect horse to establish the equine assisted therapy center Maddie and Clarissa had dreamed of for so long.
“The old Ridge View Riding Center?” she asked. It had been sold recently, but Maddie had been too wrapped up in her self-improvement initiative to worry about who bought it. When it first went on the market, she and Clarissa scoped it out as a potential property for their therapy center. It was perfect for what they wanted to do, but so far outside their budget they hadn’t even given it a second discussion.
“You know it?” Darren asked.
Maddie nodded. It was too easy to tell him that was where she’d learned to ride, or about the dream she shared with her best friend. “Another one of my dirty secrets,” she teased. Maddie didn’t see it as a loss since the property they were negotiating for had more character than the old stables.
“How about you tell me all your dirty secrets over dinner?”
Maddie’s nipples screamed yes while every muscle clenched with anticipation. Her skin tingled, desperate for more contact. Her body wanted all the wonderful things that came with a date … subtle touches, intense eye contact, the goodnight kiss. They were all things that would lead to a second and a third date and all that followed.
But this was not what Maddie was expecting from a little harmless flirting. After all, this was Hot Shirtless Guy. While he might have his shirt on now, that didn’t mean he was the type of man who would be interested in a woman who still had twenty pounds to lose and an infinite measure of independence to gain.
Besides, based on their first interaction in the gym, he was the kind of man who would try to fix her. It always started out so simple with the men she dated, passing suggestions on what to do or how to do something. It didn’t take long before they were blatantly trying to change her, to “help” her, according to them. As if she needed help to know her flaws.
“Sorry, I’m busy,” she said, flipping her hair over her shoulder as she pulled herself away from Chocolate and the man who could put a kink — yikes, not the best word — in her plans for self-improvement. A warmth lingered in her palm, the same warmth she felt when her hand passed over a tarot card, her intuition speaking through that energy.
She needed to go home and read her cards because where the logic of textbook psychotherapy ended, her intuitive spirit gave her strength when she allowed it to. It had been too long since she let that strength push her, but it was what had driven her to Chocolate and a path of physical and emotional well-being. It was time to open to it even more.
Chapter Three
“Sorry mate, I already have an offer on Chocolate,” Cooper Harris said as he leaned back in the chair and crossed his ankles on the desk.
“From who?” Darren asked, leaning forward in the chair on the other side of Coop’s desk.
“Can’t divulge that, mate,” he drawled with the Australian lingo he’d brought home after a recent vacation.
“Can’t or won’t?” It’s not like Coop was a doctor or a lawyer and patient or client confidentiality was at stake. He was a farrier who also bought and sold horses. Many of the horses he sold were rescues from bad situations. Darren respected the man for finding these horses forever homes. Coop was always the first person Darren went to when he was ready to add to his herd.
Coop laughed. “Does it matter? Either way, I’m not telling you.”
“Then tell me what the offer is. Maybe I can do better.”
Another laugh echoed through the office. “That would be bad business.”
Darren disagreed. “How is more money in your pocket bad for your business?”
Coop got up and looked out the window. “There’s a difference between my checking account and my business. I wouldn’t want it getting around that I’d let a higher offer undermine a verbal agreement.”
“So the horse isn’t under contract?” Darren asked.
Turning, Coop angled his head, obviously trying to figure out Darren’s keen interest.
“It’s important, man,” Darren insisted. “Chocolate was my sister’s horse.”
Coop’s eyes widened before he groaned. “You said her name was Cocoa.”
“And I said my parents changed the name so I wouldn’t find her.”
“Then how do you know it’s the same horse?” Coop asked.
“It’s her. I bought her for Tawny. We spent a lot of time together. She remembered me, too.”
Cooper shook his head, “Don’t do this to me, mate.�
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“I’m just trying to make things right.” While Darren had come to terms with his parents’ reason for selling the horse, that didn’t mean he couldn’t take action of his own. He’d bought the horse for his sister. Tawny was gone, but even in the brief time he’d spent with Chocolate in Coop’s stable, Darren felt connected to his sister.
Coop paced the room and while Darren could sympathize with the man’s dilemma, he prayed Coop would see things his way. Shaking his head, Coop said, “I can’t go back on a deal. I won’t.”
Darren respected that, but it didn’t deter him. “Then do me a favor and set up a meeting with us. I can explain the situation and maybe the other buyer will withdraw. I’ll still pay more than whatever the current offer is.”
He’d been looking for Cocoa — Chocolate — for a long time. His parents refused to tell him who they’d sold the horse to, only that they made enough money to pay for Tawny’s burial.
“You’ve got a dozen horses. Maybe you should just let this go,” Coop insisted.
“I can’t,” Darren sighed. Tawny’s death had taught him life was short and you had to go after what you wanted. He wanted Chocolate. He needed that connection to his sister. Maybe then he could understand why she’d chosen to end her life.
“Fine,” Coop huffed. “I’ll make the call, but I’m not making any promises.”
Darren stood and shook hands with Coop. The man had always been honest and fair, something Darren truly appreciated. “I owe you, man.”
Coop gripped his hand. “Damn straight you do and I will collect.”
Sometimes saddling up was exactly what the doctor ordered. Other times, it was dinner with her best friend. Maddie always looked forward to the nights when Rissy made it home from work at a decent hour and they could enjoy a sit-down dinner together. As the veterinary practice continued to grow, however, the dinners became more infrequent. Fortunately, tonight was an exception and Rissy had come home in time to not just eat, but to help cook.
“The bank wants a bigger down payment,” Clarissa said in her no-nonsense way as she chopped up lettuce for the salad that was now a staple of Maddie’s diet. There was a time when Rissy’s wild side rivaled Maddie’s, before Matt left for the army and took Rissy’s heart with him.
Sadness was a potent enemy for a comfort eater. Most people assumed since she was a psychotherapist she had all her shit together, but Maddie often found inspiration to heal her soul from her client’s determination and successes.
That’s why this shared dream with Clarissa was so important. Equine assisted therapy was on the rise. Maddie had known ever since her undergrad internship that this was the direction she wanted to go with her career. She’d spent countless hours learning from the experts and she wasn’t about to toss that investment aside because the bank wanted more money — money she didn’t have.
“Did you smile and bat your eyelashes,” Maddie teased. Todd Wilson, the mortgage specialist at Lilac Ridge Savings Bank was new in town, but it was obvious even at their first meeting he had a crush on Clarissa.
“You’re the shameless flirt, not me,” Rissy reminded her.
Maddie turned the chicken over in the pan and replaced the cover before checking the consistency of the curry-flavored quinoa. “Yes, but he’s not all googly eyed over me. You need to work that angle, get us a deal.”
“I’m not dating our mortgage guy,” Rissy insisted, holding up the large butcher knife she used to chop the lettuce. “I’m not dating any guy. We have a pact, remember?”
Maddie did remember. While she was thrilled to not be on the celibacy path alone, and who better to suffer abstinence with than your BFF, she was willing to walk that long lonely road on her own if it meant they could get the loan they needed. When Rissy went back to chopping, Maddie offered an out to their pact. “He’s cute. He’s a mortgage guy, so he must be smart. It’s okay if you break the pact.”
Rissy glanced up at Maddie, disapproval furrowing her brow. “You mean take one for the team.”
Shrugging, Maddie turned the burners to low and grabbed a knife to chop some vegetables for the salad. “Spin it however you want, but I guarantee if you go on a date with mortgage guy, we’ll get the loan.”
“I’m not whoring myself out for this. There are other ways to come up with the money.”
There weren’t. While they both had good credit, they also had college loan debt up to their eyeballs. Clarissa’s veterinary practice was booming, so she had great income, but because she owned the practice rather than working for someone else, it was a liability. Maddie was holding her own with her practice, paying bills and saving every month, but she wasn’t saving enough and the bank saw her in the same light as Clarissa. Because she was self-employed, her income was more of a liability than an asset.
“I can’t ask my parents,” Maddie said. They’d helped pay for college and grad school and were looking forward to retirement. They’d worked hard their whole lives and even though Maddie wasn’t looking forward to them leaving Lilac Ridge in the RV they couldn’t stop talking about, she wouldn’t squash their travel plans with her own dreams.
“Agreed,” Rissy said. “I thought about asking my parents for a short-term loan, but I can’t. Dad retires next year and Mom the year after.”
“What are our other options?”
“I’ve got my regular savings I can dip into, and you’ve got your horse money.”
“I need my horse money. Cooper agreed on my offer for Chocolate.”
Clarissa studied her so intently Maddie felt like one of her own clients. “A horse named Chocolate isn’t going to cure your comfort-eating. Hell, Mad, you’ve already lost 20 pounds without the horse. You don’t need her.”
“Twenty-five pounds, and we need each other,” Maddie admitted. “She has a wounded soul. I don’t know what happened to her, but she needs me as much as I need her.”
Rissy chuckled. “Head over heels in love with a horse. What would you say to one of your clients?”
“I’d encourage my client to buy the horse.”
“Liar,” Rissy laughed.
“So not,” Maddie countered, tossing chopped peppers into the salad bowl. “If the horse was my client’s spirit animal, like it is mine, and the horse was a necessary partner to help my client find balance, which Chocolate is for me, then I would most certainly encourage my client to buy the horse.”
“What’s more important?” Rissy asked, taking that no-nonsense tone again. “Establishing the therapy center or buying this horse?”
“Without horses, we have no therapy center.”
“We have three,” Rissy pointed out.
Maddie disagreed. “Sergeant Matty is a little too wild and unpredictable to be a good therapy horse. And, no offense, but Cleo is getting a bit ornery in her old age.” That left them with Crystal, Maddie’s horse from her teen years. Crystal was a couple years older than Cleo, but she was sweet and mellow.
“We’re all getting ornery in our old age.” Clarissa worried her lip, tossing the last of the chopped lettuce in the bowl and grabbing the onion. “You could sell Sergeant Matty, or maybe work out a trade with Cooper.”
“I am not selling Sergeant Matty. I can’t believe you’d even suggest that.” The therapist side of Maddie knew it was ridiculous, but when she rode that horse, she felt free. “Are you willing to sell Cleo?”
Clarissa rolled her eyes in response. “The only other option is to bring in another partner. We need a horse person anyway, right? Someone to be there with you during a session who can read and interpret what the horse is doing?”
That was a good point. Maddie knew they would have to hire someone once they had the business established, but she’d never considered bringing that person on as a partner. She had always thought of the therapy center as her and Clarissa’s dream, but it would be nice to have the horse person as committed as they were.
Maddie used the food chopper to make quick work of the carrots she’d peeled earlier. “
Do you have someone in mind?” Clarissa was always so thorough with her thought processes. She didn’t speak an idea until she had a plan for it.
“I thought we could talk to Cooper. Since he is always buying and selling, he might know someone.”
Darren flashed through Maddie’s mind. He owned the riding center, worked with horses every day. He wouldn’t have time himself, but he might know someone who would be interested.
“I just saw the light bulb come on,” Clarissa laughed. “What are you thinking?”
“I found out this morning that Hot Shirtless Guy owns Ridge View Riding Center. I could ask him?”
“Darren Brown is Hot Shirtless Guy?” Clarissa asked, clearly surprised, but not as surprised as Maddie, who had to fight back the jealousy rearing up. “How do you know him?”
“Down girl,” Clarissa teased, looking at Maddie like she had three heads, or maybe it was just the onion wreaking havoc with her tear ducts. “If someone owns an animal in this town, I know them. You forget, I’m the only vet in the area who makes house calls.”
“Why don’t you talk to him, then?” It was safer that way. Maddie didn’t want to give the man who was as tempting as chocolate a chance to ask her out again.
“Afraid he might mention your nipples?”
Mention them. Look at them. Offer to touch them.
“He asked me out,” Maddie confessed. After all, this was her BFF and she told her everything.
“Shut the front door!” Clarissa beamed with watery eyes.
“I didn’t shut the door. I ran away. As far and as fast as I could.” Looking back, it was a little embarrassing how quickly she had fled the scene, as if she’d just committed some heinous crime and the cops were on their way.
“You’ve been drooling over him three times a week since you started at the gym. What was that, a month ago? Two months ago? Why would you deny yourself?”
