Page 9 of A Taste of Whiskey
She wasn’t a chickenshit, and she wasn’t a quitter, either. Her brothers’ overprotectiveness hadn’t afforded her much privacy over the years, but that had driven her to be competitive and prove she could do anything they could do. Well, almost anything. Dare did terrifying stunts she’d never even thought about trying, and her brothers were Dark Knights, which was only for men, but short of those things, she could do anything.
Except kiss Ezra.
She accelerated, her frustration mounting anew. The tires kicked up dirt as she snaked between trees and around ruts, overthinking the situation with Ezra. Bobbie was always saying that guys wanted what they couldn’t have. Sasha had never bought into that theory with Ezra, since she’d been off-limits for years and it hadn’t made a difference. But maybe she’d never given him a reason to see her as anything more than a good friend who sometimes flirted with him. She’d always stayed on her own side of that invisible line in the dirt. Maybe she needed to treat him like any other guy. A little jealousy could go a long way in getting noticed.
She maneuvered around a branch and caught air over a hill, feeling a rush of adrenaline. The end of the trail appeared in the distance, and she opened the throttle. The engine roared. As she sped off the trail, flying into the long grass behind the main house where Ezra and the other therapists worked and everyone who lived and worked on the ranch gathered to eat meals together, her determination returned.
She wasn’t that inexperienced little girl anymore.
She knew what she wanted, and it was time she either got that sexy single father on board or forgot him altogether.
SASHA SPENT THE rest of the morning in the rehab barns doing critical-care rounds with the horses. They took in rescues from all types of abusive and neglectful situations. Most of the horses probably wouldn’t have survived if they hadn’t been rescued and nursed back to health. Some had been malnourished and were on a refeeding program, others were recuperating from various surgeries, injuries, or illnesses, and the majority of them suffered from some level of anxiety. But on Redemption Ranch, the horses were treated with loving hands and promised a good life in which they would never go a day without food, shelter, or kindness. Like the people who went through their programs, every horse that came through the rescue became family.
Sasha gave the horses extra love as she monitored temperatures, gave medications, replaced bandages, removed stitches, turned out the horses that could be put in catch pens and paddocks, and took care of anything else they needed.
She was walking Gypsy, a four-year-old mare who was three weeks post-surgery on her left front leg, when she saw her oldest brother, Doc, the ranch veterinarian, coming down the hill from the main house. Doc was the deep thinker of the family, while Cowboy, the biggest and most overprotective of her brothers, managed the ranch hands, and Dare was a therapist and one of Ezra’s closest friends.
Doc waved and raked a hand through his short brown hair. Her brothers had all inherited their father’s height. Cowboy was six four, and Dare and Doc were just shy of that. Doc kept his thoughts close to his chest, which gave him a mysterious air. Doc was six years older than Sasha, and he was the reason the ranch had a no-intracompany-dating policy. When Doc was nineteen, he’d fallen for a politician’s daughter who had interned at the ranch one summer, and although Sasha didn’t knowallof the details that had led to their breakup and the new rules being put into place, she knew their relationship hadn’t ended well. She’d watched Doc go from a cocky, rambunctious teen to more of a guarded observer. He could charm women with nothing more than a glance, but he never dated anyone for longer than a few weeks. She and Doc were close, and he was such a great guy, she hoped he’d allow himself to fall in love again someday.
“Doc’s going to be so happy with how well you’re doing,” she said to Gypsy as they walked around the paddock.
“Her gait looks good,” Doc called out as he came to the fence. “Any issues?”
“No. She’s doing great. She’s confident and responsive, and her wound healed up nicely.” She petted Gypsy’s neck. “Another couple of weeks, and she’ll be as good as gold.”
He gazed out at Hurricane, a beautiful gray thoroughbred with white socks and a white blaze they’d rescued from a breeder nine months ago. “Did he give you any trouble?”
“Not any worse than usual.” Hurricane could be ornery, but she didn’t blame him. He’d changed hands three times and had been suffering from a number of injuries when they’d saved him from a slaughter truck. He’d done well, but they feared he’d hurt himself if he was put with other horses, so he was kept in a catch pen in a paddock of a herd of geldings, safely getting the socialization he needed. “One of the cats left me a present in the office. Would you mind taking care of it for me?Please?”
He chuckled and shook his head. “I’ll never understand how you can deal with seeing awful wounds on the horses and still be squeamish about dead mice.”
“And I’ll never understand how you can be squeamish about relationships with women when so many of them vie for your attention, so we’re even.” That always shut him up.
His brows slanted. “Are you doing rounds after this? I’ll walk with you.”
“I already did them. I got up early and went for an ATV ride.”
Doc’s brows knitted. “You only ride the ATV when you’re pissed or stressed. What’s going on?”
“Nothing. I just felt like riding.”
“Come on, Sash. We both know you don’t take joy rides at the ass crack of dawn. What’s bugging you?”
“I don’t know. I guess now that Dare and Billie are getting married and Cowboy and Sully are engaged, I’ve been thinking about things.” Dare and Billie were childhood best friends and Dare had been in love with her forever. They’d finally gotten together last summer, and they were getting married July Fourth weekend on the ranch. Cowboy had fallen hard for Sullivan Tate last fall, when she’d come to the ranch for protection after she’d escaped from a cult. They’d gotten engaged in April but hadn’t set a wedding date yet.
“What kind of things?” Doc asked.
“Everything. Life. The future.” She mulled over what she wanted to say as she walked Gypsy around the far side of the paddock. When they neared Doc, she said, “Do you ever get lonely?”
“It’s hard to be lonely with all these horses to care for.”
“You know what I mean. Lonely for a deep relationship. You’re in your thirties. You’ve had time to sow your wild oats, and you’re a great guy. Don’t you want someone special to share your life with?”
“I’ve got the club and our family. My life is full enough.”
“I get that, but you really don’t want something real with a woman, beyond a few weeks of good sex? Someone you can share everything with? The good, the bad, the scary, the fun? Dare and Cowboy are happier than I’ve ever seen them. Doesn’t that make you want the same?”
His jaw tightened. “They got lucky. Love like that is hard to find. But if that’s what’s on your mind, you need to be careful—”
