Page 25 of Holding The Reins

“I’ll say this, the fact that he even chose to look at another woman tells me he is either insane or the stupidest mother fucker alive.”

It’s too much, his eyes, these words, his thumbs tracing my skin. It’s intoxicating.

Kiss me. My pussy screams.

We both jump when we hear a knock on the door.

Nash’s hands slide down my arms and he clears his throat, backing away from me.

“Sorry, CeCe. I left my hat and sunglasses here earlier,” Cole’s voice calls from the door.

I sober up and look around for them, my body still on fire from Nash’s rough hands sliding down my arms only seconds before.

I find Cole’s things on my coffee table and hand them to him.

“You heading out?” Nash asks Cole.

“Yep, right now,” Cole says, oblivious to the tension in the room that was just roasting me alive.

“Cool, I’ll walk with you to my truck.” Nash turns back to me. “I’ll see ya, Rae,” he says, returning his hat to his head as he leaves.

“See ya,” I mutter as the door closes and I ask myself what the fuck just happened.

“Iappreciate your help with the new trainer’s salary, you know. It’s not charity. When things start turning around here, we’re going to pay you back,” Wade says to me from across the stall.

I nod. “It’s no trouble, I’ll say the same thing to you that I told Mama Jo—don’t sweat it. We’re family, I don’t think twice about it.”

He nods so I continue. I’ve been meaning to touch base with him for a few weeks on this.

“Have you given any more thought to trying to qualify for the derby next year? Good way to earn some decent cash if you place. Now that I’m home, I’d help you any way I can around here when you have to go to qualifiers and I’d be happy to help with any costs.”

Wade grunts, his brows furrowing like they do when he’s uncomfortable.

“I hate taking money from you, Nash.”

“It’s everyone’s money. I wouldn’t even have any money if it weren’t for your mom and dad. There’s no better place to invest it than this family.”

Also, I’d never say this to him, but I have so much of it I don’t even know what to do with it. The Stars paid me millions of dollars a year for the nine years I played with them and I invested it right at every turn. Derby costs mean nothing to me.

“I appreciate it, we’ll see what kind of trainer we end up with and what his or her experience is. And thanks, brother. I mean it,” Wade says with a grin.

It’s seven am already and we’re picking hooves. We’ve been at the daily chores for almost two hours now and I’ve had no sleep.

“You seem a little keyed up today, you alright, man?” Wade asks as I drop my second hoof nipper in ten minutes.

“Fine,” I bite out.

All I can think about is your little sister’s soft warm skin under my fingers, and it’s really fucking with my head.

“Just tired, I have a lot on the go today.”

“And you only have one day until CeCe takes over your office with Post-It Notes and planners and all the weird shit she does when she’s trying to control everything. But thanks for giving her this job, she needs the distraction.”

“I need her too, I’m grateful for it.”

“I swear if I see that fucker Andrew around here, you’re gonna have to hold me back.” He starts into a story about Andrew answering his phone in the middle of CeCe’s college graduation, talking loudly before leaving the room in the middle of a slideshow.

I half listen to him, but I have my own problems today. Like trying to figure out why I couldn’t help myself last night, why I grabbed CeCe like that. I wanted to kiss her. Not only did I want to kiss her, I wanted to bury myself so deeply in her that she’d forget another man ever hurt her… and oh yeah, if I ever see this Andrew character, I’ll be cracking his fucking skull. Wade’s going to be the one to hold me back.

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