Page 20 of Training the Heart

Goddammit. Cleaning the barn. The dentist. Cole’s bare ass jumping into the creek,I repeat to myself as my cock instantly deflates. Cole’s ass does it every time.

I sigh and prepare myself for battle as I pull into the driveway. Janelle has always been a force to be reckoned with. I should have known the first weeks we got married that it was destined to end up a dumpster fire. The girl I thought Janelle was disappeared right before my eyes the day the wedding was over and it wasn’t all about her anymore. She was no longer a bride. She was only a wife—her words. But I went with it for a long time. Happy wife, happy life, right? Wrong. We were complete opposites and not in the good ways.

I like the outdoors, she does not, I wanted to stay in and she wanted to go out, I wanted kids and she never did. I really knew there was no hope for us when my dad got sick and she was out drinking and screwing townies instead of being there for me and my family. A couple months before my dad died, I made the choice to leave. I’d trusted her, and once I couldn’t anymore the rest seemed pointless. It made sense for her to stay in the house when I knew I needed to be at the ranch all the time, and it didn’t feel like my home anymore.

When our divorce came through at the end of the summer, I agreed to let her keep it. Now I’m so close to the house being hers I can taste it and it tastes like fucking freedom. I park my truck in her driveway and raise a hand to knock, but before I can the door swings open to Janelle all fired up, looking at me like it’s taken me way too long to get here.

“I just don’t know what to do, I put buckets under it. It’s coming from the same place as before.” Nohi, thanks for coming. Justget to work, soldier.

“Probably the damn spot where the eaves trough runs off again,” I grunt out. It’s barely raining now so I decide the roof is safe. Even if I slip off it’s a better fate than staying in the house listening to Janelle tell me all the excuses why she hasn’t taken care of this.

“I think it’s fixed, but only temporarily, Janelle. I told you in the summer it needs replacing. Did you call Jake to give you an estimate?” I ask thirty minutes later when I re-enter the house after adding more seal.

Janelle pouts.

“Been busy.”In other words, no.

I frown at her.

“You can’t neglect this shit. I can’t be your first call when something goes wrong. We’re not married anymore. You have to get used to it. I’m getting Jake here tomorrow, only because I can’t sit around and hope it gets fixed. You have the money budgeted in to your refinancing?”

“Yes. Of course.” She says it as if it would be crazy that she wouldn’t, but I know better.

“Good. He’ll be here when you’re done work.”

She stands and smirks, stalking toward me with a fuck-me look on her face. One I know well. One half the town knows well.

“I don’t want to get used to it. I’ll make it worth your while if you stay a little longer, like old times. You’re looking damn good at one a.m., Wade.” She reaches a hand up to my jaw and it actually repulses me. Even the faint scent of her Chanel N°5 turns my stomach.

I scoff, grabbing her wrist. “Not a fucking chance, Janelle. Those times are over.” I sidestep her and grab my rain jacket, inspecting the bucket to be sure the leak has stopped one more time. “Empty the bucket and check it in the morning,” I bite out.

I’m out the door so quickly that I barely hear her yell, “I didn’t want to fuck you anyway, Wade Ashby.”

CHAPTER NINE

Wade

When I get back into the silos office the next afternoon after a full day of phone meetings with our auction agent and a handful of suppliers, I’m ready for the day to be over. It’s only 3:30, but after getting just a few hours of sleep and struggling to not give in to fisting my cock with Ivy’s image in my brain, I’m wrecked.

There’s a mug of strong black coffee on my desk.

“Saw you coming back. You look tired today, Chief,” Ivy says as she gathers her things to go out and work with Haden and two horses. She’s looking like a breath of fresh air in another pair of jeans and a flannel, tight and tucked in, her tattered cowboy hat over a long black braid that dances down her shoulder.

“Yeah … didn’t sleep,” I reply.

“That storm kept me up too.” She smiles.

Yeah, the storm, that’s what kept me up.

“Are you going to work with my horse?” Mabel asks from the silos door, making both Ivy and me turn to greet her in surprise.

“I am, and Cosmic too.” Ivy smiles.

I look around for the adult that brought Mabel to us.

“Where’s your—”

“Right here,” Cole says, poking his head around the corner, dressed and ready for a shift as Laurel Creek’s Deputy Sheriff.

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