Page 10 of Training the Heart

It wasn’t an easy road to get here, but I made it.

And now, as long as I can keep my new boss from combusting with pure, unfiltered irritation for the next few months, I have a home and a job I’m really loving, not to mention a great addition to my resume when it’s my time to move on.

I pop the leader rope and halter on the front of Nutmeg’s stall, close it up and breathe out a sigh, taking in the mountain beyond the barn. Brad Bellingham isn’t ruining my mood today—no one is, because Ivy Grace Spencer is about to train a derby horse!

HADEN

Sarge is looking like he’s going into overdrive waiting on you, he’s pacing around on the phone and shit.

HADEN

Better hurry up and get in here before he changes his mind about looking for a new horse.

I grin.

Maybe you should try giving him a hug, he sounds like he needs one.

HADEN

I’d like to keep my arms

CHAPTER FOUR

Wade

“You could’ve just pissed around her ankles, Sarge. Might have been easier than committing to hundreds of thousands of dollars on a horse,” Haden says smugly from my office doorway, his arms folded over his chest. I’ve known him since he was thirteen and sometimes it makes him a little mouthier than the other hands I have on staff. “We all know the ranch rules. She’s off limits,” Haden adds.

“For fuck sakes.” I pull my hat off and throw it on my desk. “She has nothing to do with my decision,” I grunt. I have zero patience for this, I’ve been calling Nashville hotels for reservations for an hour. Of course, the horse auction would be the same weekend as the Nashville Marathon so there’s nothing available online. I’m hoping by phoning I may get lucky. So far, I’m coming up empty-handed for a trip I supposedly already booked. This is why I never do things without thinking them through.

“So, if she’s got nothing to do with your decision, you won’t have any issue with me taking her fine ass to dinner? Maybe a movie? Snuggle in the back row?” Haden grins.

I give him a look of warning. One he knows well by now.

“You’re pushing your luck, and you already know my answer to that.” He’s taking her to dinner over my dead body. “You just said you knew the rule. The last thing I want to do is have to look for another new trainer when you pull your fuckboy routine on her,” I add.

Haden chuckles and pulls his hat up to rub his forehead.

“Just getting a rise out of you, boss. But hey, congrats on the path to racing again. Your pa would be proud,” he says seriously. “And I mean it, anything you need, I’ve got you.”

I nod in response. As annoying as he is, I know he’s got my back around here.

Ivy’s husky voice echoes down the hallway. I hear her before I see her, singing a Sierra Ferrell song, and the sound isn’t bad. Alright, it’s actually really fucking good, as she breezes through her office door, which just so happens to be directly across from mine.

She catches both mine and Haden’s attention through my glass window that looks into hers as she pulls a trademark scrunchie, cherry red this time, from her long thick hair. Masses of shiny waves tumble down around her shoulders like water lapping the shore. Haden audibly gulps. To make matters worse, she bends forward to reach into her bag for something and her cleavage makes a spellbinding appearance as her hair falls in front of her. For the second time today, my dick takes notice of her in the most inconvenient moment.

“Fuck,” Haden whispers, pulling the word right out of my head. I backhand him in the shoulder for looking at her.

“Sorry, but shit, you had to go and find the hottest horse trainer on the planet and then tell us all she’s off limits?”

“You got enough notches on your bedpost,” I reiterate, watching in my periphery the way her breasts curve to her slender waist. I bet I could fit both my hands right around her while I—

“Maybe it’s time you head to Lexington with Cole, meetyourself a woman so you can follow your own rules,” Haden snickers in a whisper, as he claps a firm hand on my shoulder.

I grunt, pissed that he noticed me looking at her when I’m supposed to be the example here.

“How are you making out, boss?” Ivy knocks on my door frame as she speaks, poking her head into my office and shutting Haden up instantly. He clears his throat and walks around the side of my desk.

“Have you had a chance to go through the auction registration yet?” She looks at her cell phone and approaches us, and from my full height I can see right down her shirt, which is not helping my dick to stand down. I avert my eyes, but fuck—tight, low-cut t-shirts and cleavage are a man’s biggest weakness.

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