Out To Get You: An MM Contemporary Romance

by Oliver, J. P.

  Ripper seemed happy to see me, although with a bone in his mouth, his greeting was more of a playful growl. I pulled my boots back on and snapped my fingers.

  “Come on, buddy. Bring your bone with you.”

  In less than an hour, I had loaded Satin and Mac along with my tack. I left the custom-tailored boots and coat behind and headed to Steffy’s farm. I wish I could say she was surprised by my call, but I heard in the tone of her voice that she had expected it.

  “I’ll get a couple stalls ready for Mac and Satin.”

  “I’ll sleep in the barn,” I told her.

  “Absolutely not. You know this house is as big as a freaking hotel. Get your horses settled and get your ass in my kitchen. I bet you haven’t even had dinner yet.”

  “Not exactly hungry,” I told her.

  “We’ll see about that.”

  She was waiting for me at the barn, as though she didn’t trust me to come to the house. That was all right because the hug she gave me when I stepped out of the truck was just bone-crushing enough to make me bury my face in her hair.

  “If I could love a girl, Steffy,” I muttered in her ear, “you would be the one for me.”

  She hugged me tighter. “It’s going to be okay, Reece.”

  Quickly and quietly, we worked together getting my horses off the trailer and settled in roomy box stalls at the far end of her barn. The other horses had their heads poked over the tops of their stall doors, watching curiously. We stood near the entrance while I reassured myself that Satin was all right. Having Mac in the stall next door seemed to calm her.

  I glanced at Steffy. Her arms were crossed over her chest and she was studying me critically. “You are planning on taking that mare to Maysburg Saturday, right?”

  Neither my heart nor my head was in it.

  “Reece!” Steffy glared at me. “Don’t let him fuck with your dream. This is the culmination of everything you’ve busted your ass to achieve. I will not let you throw it away.”

  For about the fifth time since I’d gotten to her place, I felt my phone vibrate. For also the fifth time, I ignored it.

  “I’m sure everything will look better in the morning.”

  “Everything will look better once you have some of my chicken and dumplings.” She grabbed my arm. “Come on. Food, a stiff drink, and a good night’s sleep. Then tomorrow, Steffy Burke, coach and trainer par excellence, will ensure that you are ready to beat the shit out of Jerky and all the rest of the competition Saturday.”

  I took a deep breath and managed a smile.

  * * *

  Whitt

  Where the fuck was he? I left my office to find the rest of the house still dark. The barn was dark too. I called but didn’t get an answer. Same thing when I texted. Damn. Now was not the time for him to get pissy. On the off-chance he was holed up in his room, I took the stairs two at a time, flicking on the light. No Reece. Then my roaming gaze took in the bareness of the bureau. I crossed the room to the bathroom and flicked the light switch. No toiletries. A check of the closet showed it was equally bare.

  What the hell?

  I jogged to the barn. No truck or trailer out front. Already knowing what I would find, I turned the light on. Bondage and Trixie poked their heads over their stall doors and nickered, but there was no sign of Mac or Satin.

  Pain tightened my throat, nearly as suffocating as what had driven me to call an ambulance. I fought the panic and opened the door to Reece’s office. The coat I had ordered for him, hung on a hook on the wall, still covered in plastic. Beneath it, in their bags, were the custom boots.

  “God damn it,” I ground out. I walked over to his desk. An account ledger was open there, the column of figures written in a neat hand and totaled at the bottom. I ran my finger over them and the entries that identified what they were. Who even kept books this way anymore?

  I swallowed on another wave of pain. Reece did.

  But he was gone, just as everyone had warned me. After sitting in his chair, I pulled out my phone and checked my calls and messages. No response to my texts, no calls I might have missed. Picking up the ledger, I threw it at the coat hanging on the wall.

  It didn’t help the pain.

  I had wanted him to be different. I hadn’t wanted to believe the warnings that he was unreliable. In ignoring it all, I had gone against everything that had helped me amass a fortune. I had refused to believe the evidence that was right there in front of me. With a harsh laugh, I stared around the room. Well, there was no ignoring it now. Reece had lived up to everything Sherry had warned me about and done exactly what Jordy Edgerton had told me would occur.

  When I needed him most, Reece was gone.

  And I was who I had always been—the brilliant billionaire banker who had something missing, something that made me unloved and unlovable.

  “Fuck this!” I snarled. I turned the lights off and stalked back to the house. I had work I could do. There was always work I could do.

  22

  Reece

  Steffy’s barn was a hive of activity as mine had never been. In addition to the kids who would be there in the afternoon, she had a lot of adult clients who must have been working second or third shift because several of them were there bright and early the next morning.

  “Hey, Reece,” she called from the other end of the barn. “Can I use Mac for lessons while you’re here? My old quarter horse’s arthritis is acting up this morning.”

  “No problem.” I was in picking out his stall and glanced over at where he was peacefully munching hay. “Sorry, buddy, looks like you’re getting drafted.”

  Mac gave me the stink eye when I clipped a lead to his halter and led him from the stall. I ended up assisting Steffy throughout the morning, but it had an unexpected side effect. I was able to keep my mind off Whitt.

  “You owe me,” I told her during the midst of the afterschool rush. She had a number of students who were going to the Maysburg show and had scheduled extra lessons this week.

  “I’ll give you and Satin a lesson after we’re done here. We can turn on the lights in the ring.”

  “Deal.” Steffy had given up life on the show circuit, but she had a wealth of experience I could tap and probably should have a lot earlier. I had been so determined to do everything on my own and so wrapped up in Whitt, I had ignored what should have been right in front of my face. Well the opportunity was there now.

  Once she had the last student of the day in the ring, I got Satin out and ready to ride. I took the mare around the perimeter of the small cross-country course Steffy had built so that Satin could relax and get her mind on her work.

  Unfortunately, it opened the door for thoughts of Whitt to intrude. He had tried to call me again today. Several times. I ignored him.

  “Come on, Wilder!” she called from the ring. “The lights are on and I’m waiting on you.”

  We talked about the trouble I was having with triple combinations, so Steffy set one up. “Let me see you go through this, so I can get a handle on what might be going on.”

  After three times through it—only one time clean—she called me into the middle of the ring. “All right, I know this is going to piss you off, but I think the problem is you, not this wonderful mare.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You’re neglecting a couple of basics that you would chew out any of your own students about. It’s a triple, Reece. You’ve got to sit back because you’ve only got a split second to let Satin know what you want to do with that next fence. Sit back and get your chin up. That’s exactly what you did the one time you went clean. The time you took the front rail of the oxer down, you had let your eyes drop. The tick on the vertical was because you were on her neck.”

  I felt like an idiot. She was right. I knew all this stuff.

  “Let me have another go at it, and then let’s call it a night. I don’t want to overwork her.”

  She patted Satin’s neck and gave a squeeze to my thigh. “You two are dynamite
together, Reece. Help her and she’ll help you.”

  This time though, I concentrated on the basics, things I had known and taught for years, and they worked. As soon as we were through, I vaulted off Satin’s back and gave her a soft pat on the neck. “Good girl.”

  Steffy walked alongside us. “Okay, so now you need to let me know what’s got you all fucked up. You arrive here last night looking like your world has ended, and your concentration has been mostly shitty this whole session.”

  “I keep worrying about him.”

  She gave me a sidelong glance. “Has he tried to contact you?”

  “Calls. Texts. I’ve ignored him, but it won’t go away, Steffy. I can’t get him out of my head.”

  “What about your heart?”

  I sighed. “Especially not there.”

  “If you’re that hooked on him, Reece, why the hell did you leave?” She had stopped right at the gate to the ring.

  I stared off into the darkness before answering. “I don’t think I’ll ever matter as much to him as the next deal he has to work. And I don’t want to be some toy that he takes out only when he’s bored or lonely. I can’t live like that.”

  “Did you tell him how you felt?”

  “Kind of.”

  She punched me in the arm. “Seriously? Kind of? What the hell is this, Reece, middle school? You have a right to demand a place in his life.”

  “He’s got this deal going with Quinn Maitland, and he’s paranoid going public with our relationship will kill it.”

  “Bullshit. Quinn and Mary aren’t stupid. They know you’re gay. They’ve got eyes in their heads. The way you all were making googly eyes last Saturday was about as obvious as waving a banner that says, ‘we’re fucking each other.’ If that’s the only thing he’s offered, then he’s playing you.”

  “He’s not playing me. He…I don’t know, Steffy. I don’t think he can separate the whole billionaire banker part of his life from the rest of it.”

  She shook her head. “Well he needs to figure that shit out. And you need to either get over it or decide how you’re going to fit your life in between his business meetings.”

  “That’s harsh,” I told her, feeling as if someone had ripped my chest open.

  She looked over her shoulder as she walked along the barn aisle. “That’s life. It has bumps and potholes like my driveway. You can spend an eon trying to navigate so you avoid all of them, or you can ease on through and deal with the little jolts that come with it. You pick.”

  * * *

  Whitt

  When had my house gotten so huge and silent? It was the question that struck me as soon as I walked downstairs and headed to the kitchen. There was coffee of course. Maggie took care of setting that up before she left each evening. There was no mug in the sink or a spoon that had been used to stir in cream and a touch of sugar.

  I knew exactly how Reece drank his coffee.

  I drank my coffee on the way to the barn. It didn’t matter Reece wasn’t here. Ricky would have the two horses fed. I could ride Bondage and not have to worry about arranging my schedule for another session in the afternoon.

  Everything in the barn reminded me of what was missing. I missed Mac’s placid, gentle expression, his morning nicker because he knew I had a treat for him. Most of all, I missed the easy way Reece talked to everyone. Bondage still viewed me as a necessary evil, or so it seemed. Trixie had her butt turned toward me.

  “Morning, Mr. Dailey,” Ricky said as though there was nothing unusual going on. “Will you be riding this morning?”

  “I thought I would take Bondage out.”

  “I could go with you on Trixie, if you like.”

  I appreciated his offer, and eventually I might accept it, but not today. I needed to be alone.

  “Maybe tomorrow, although I would like you to make sure Trixie gets some exercise today.”

  “Sure thing.” He got the wheelbarrow and a pitchfork to begin cleaning stalls while I tacked up and rode out.

  I needed to feel the wind on my face this morning. Bondage loved nothing better than a chance to gallop. The solid hunter that he was, I never got the feeling we were out of control. He was always listening, so when I asked him to slow, he did.

  As we walked the grassy roads between fences, I kept trying to convince myself I was better off with Reece gone. I could concentrate on finalizing the deal with Maitland and getting the information together on a new business negotiation that might mean spending some time on the West Coast.

  Deep down, though, I felt Reece’s absence everywhere I turned. Sure, the horses were a way to relax, but it was Reece who had truly gotten me out of my head. He had quickly become so much more than a teacher. On the long rides we had begun to take lately, he had become a sounding board, a friend.

  Most of all, he had become my lover, someone who looked at me as more than a bank account. I knew that last night as soon as I walked into the barn office and saw the coat and boots still there. Once I’d picked up the ledger, and looked at it again, I realized something else as well. He had been a good steward of the budget I’d given him to work with.

  I hated being conflicted. I hated being introspective. Most of all, I hated the regrets that were eating me alive.

  Ricky was gone when I returned to the barn. I guessed he’d gone into town to run some errands since his truck was gone. Cooling out Bondage and putting him up was second nature now, part and parcel of what it meant to be a horseman.

  Maggie greeted me at the door when I returned to the house.

  “Has something happened to Mr. Wilder?” she asked, concern in her gaze.

  “He…” I had to pause and clear my throat. “He’s had to leave for a few days.”

  I couldn’t tell her he’d left me. It was impossible to put into words. She nodded, gave me a confused smile and retreated to the kitchen. Once more, silence descended. No scrabble of Ripper’s claws on the hardwood floors, none of Reece’s laughter or one-sided conversations with his dog.

  Without bothering to change, I went to my office. Work would stop all these depressing reminiscences. It did. For a while. Until I heard a car on the driveway. I glanced up, I guess in the secret hope that Reece had changed his mind, but it was a black luxury sedan I didn’t recognize. A minute later, the front bell sounded.

  Out of habit, I glanced at the security camera. Mary Maitland? My heart pounded as I hit the intercom to let Maggie know I would answer the door. The warm smile on Mary’s face eased my concern that something had happened to her husband.

  “I hope I’m not interrupting,” she said with a smile.

  “Not at all. A visit from you would never be an interruption. Please,” I stood aside, “Come in.”

  She eyed my jeans and paddock boots. “It’s a nice day. Why don’t we walk outside? I have always loved this estate.”

  “Of course.” I had hoped to avoid discussing Reece’s whereabouts, but if we ended up at the barn, it was going to become pretty obvious he was no longer there. Yet, how could I make any plausible argument for staying inside.

  To my relief, she didn’t head toward the barn. Instead, we strolled along one of the grass lanes between pastures. She didn’t say anything, so I finally prompted, “I have to admit, I’m curious about your visit. Is everything all right with Quinn?”

  She laughed. “Oh, yes. Like you, he works way too hard, but he has learned how to relax.” She sent me a sidelong glance. “I believe that’s something you still struggle with. I had hoped Reece would be able to help.”

  I cleared my throat but didn’t say anything. Mary chuckled. “You are such a gentleman. A lot of people would have taken that opening to drive the bus right over top of Reece Wilder, but not you. And before you have to ask, yes, I know he left.”

  “Is—is he all right?” I couldn’t help asking. But it was embarrassing not to know.

  She hooked her arm through mine as we continued to walk. “Yes. He’s at Steffy’s house. Don’t look so surprised th
at I know more than you do, Whitt. I’ve been around this area a long time. One of Steffy’s boarders called me first thing this morning to say Reece and his horses were there. She was curious because she’d heard he was living here and working for you.”

  “So, are you here to find out what happened?” I asked in a cool voice.

  “Don’t sound so stuffy, Whitt. No, I’m not going to ask that. Instead, I want to tell you what I’ve seen and heard over the last few weeks. I think you might find it enlightening.”

  “All right.”

  “How well do you know Sherry Rowland?” Mary asked, surprising me with what appeared to be an about-face in the conversation.

  I shrugged. “She’s been a good neighbor. Helpful. She introduced me to people, actually recommended Reece.” I stopped there because it still bothered me that she had recommended him and then begun to undermine him almost immediately.

  “Did she also volunteer helpful information about conversations she’d had with other people in town? My husband, perhaps?”

  I glanced at Mary’s smooth cap of hair. “Yes,” I said slowly, wondering where she was heading with this.

  “She’s given us helpful information too, dropping hints about how close Reece and you had become. She also brought up the recycling company Quinn’s talking to you about, dropping some concerns she had heard about.”

  “What the hell?” I stopped, closed my eyes for a second, and looked at her clear gaze. “I apologize.”

  She patted my arm with her free hand. “You don’t have to. That was kind of the end of it for me. Quinn would never tell you, but I have really pushed him to close this deal with you.”

  “You have?”

  “I like you. More than that, I am deeply interested in taking advantage of every opportunity we can to conserve resources. Not always an easy task for a company that has made its profits over the years from cutting trees to make paper. I had been after Quinn for years when you turned up with this business proposal. I could have kissed you.”